Slaad

Intro

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Slaadi (Slaad, singular) are frog-like natives of Limbo and well-known representatives of Chaos. Evolved or uplifted from the primordial soup of infinite potential, the belligerent batrachians were disorder given flesh and born carriers of chaos.

As creatures of pure entropy, slaads exist to create disorder. Their hold on reality is tenuous at best. Their thoughts are clouded with maddening images, they seem aware of things beyond other creatures’ perceptions, and they attack without provocation.

Statistics

Red Slaad

S	9	W	12	Hgt	22	Skill	10 (Claws) / 10 (Bite)
D	12	Q	8	Wgt	35	AP	15
C	10	M	5	HP	90	Init	15+10
		Ready	2	R	10	Damage	3

Family

Slaads propogate by planting embryos in their victims. As each embryo grows, the host creature succumbs to madness. Left untreated, the embryo transforms into a slaad tadpole that burrows out of its host’s skull, killing the host in the process. For this reason, most other intelligent creatures loathe and fear slaads. A slaad tadpole matures into a full-sized adult slaad (of a random type) in 4-8 days. Until then, it feeds on whatever small prey it finds.

Slaadi, in their base form, resembled large, bipedal frogs with long, sharp claws, wide mouths filled with pointed teeth and huge heads. Embedded in most of their skulls was a gemstone the size and shape of a human child's fist, a jewel that shared their color and that could be seen beneath their forehead skin. Looking closely, one could see that symbols were carved into the shard, markings unique to the slaad which could be used to determine its past kills, conquests, duels and other deeds. If one could decipher the meaning of the tattoo, it could be used to determine the relative strength of the slaad, with other slaads being able to immediately identify the slaad by their mark. Despite generally sharing the same basic, if baffling, appearance, slaadi were nonetheless creatures of chaos and so no two were exactly identical. They always had at least mild differences in height, build and eye position even within their own subtype, some breeds being human-sized and gangly while others were huge and muscular, and many possessed even more distinguishing traits. Other potential differences included additional body parts and organs, features of greater or lesser size, various body types, and wholly unique features like horns, scales, tails and hair. More outlandish traits, such as blade-like claws, wings whether functional or not, and even a medusa's snake-like hair, were also fully possible. It was also possible that, given that some of the more powerful slaadi had polymorphing abilities which allowed them to transform into humanoids, often those of their original hosts, that one might not even recognize a slaad upon meeting them.

Life Cycle

Typically reproduction fell to the common slaads, the red and blue, which propagate the race by afflicting others with a chaos phage, in a horrific, maddening process similar to those used by parasites or viruses. Red slaadi implant eggs beneath their victim's skin which would devour the host's insides from within before emerging as a blue slaad tadpole. The eggs take 4 hours to hatch and another 24 hours to devour the victim.

Slaad tadpoles, born in a bath of blood, were voracious and immature, devouring vermin, corpses and anything else they could find. Unable to properly fight and concerned only with cramming food into their wide mouths, the deformed slaad juveniles had to compensate with an extremely fast metabolism and developmental phase. It wouldn't take more than a few hours for their undeveloped hind legs to grow, their translucent tails to shrink and their flesh to darken in a revolting, molting process, and in just a few more days they would fully transform into mature members of their species. It would take several years for a fully-grown slaad to be completely self-sufficient despite being fully grown. During this time, they are generally kept in vats of water where they are fed by a caretaker.

Blue slaadi on the other hand infecting their victims with a disease that slowly transformed them into red slaads, leaving them with no trace of their memories or former skills. This process takes 1 day per Hgt and Wgt combined. This process can be seen through stages:

• First the skin will develop a pink, then reddish hue until the skin is completely a deep share of red. Each Red Slaad has a different hue.
• As Hgt and Wgt convert, the creature may translate one into another. For example, a creature with 18 Hgt and 19 Wgt may be converted into one which has 22 Hgt and 15 Wgt. Appropriate Wgt may be gained later through normal eating,
• Extra Limbs may appear. These may or may not be functional.
• Skin characteristics my change. For examples: Texture, pustules, slimy, Grows hair / looses hair, becomes translucent

If either slaad had infected a capable arcane caster, the result could instead be a magically empowered green slaad, generally superior to both its parents. Despite being integral to each others continued survival, red and blue slaads despised each other yet nurtured any green slaads that they produced.

The bizarre and complex reproductive cycles and interrelationships of the slaad helped form the basis for their social system. Realizing that it was possible to magically cure chaos phage, slaadi often established temporary prison camps to hold their incubators captive. They were known to prefer reproducing using stronger beings since they would likely spawn stronger offspring that would be better able to distinguish themselves.

The exact lifespan of slaads seemed to vary between 80 and 100 years. Slaads slain in battle permanently died, although it was said that the green slaads possibly had some system of reincarnation similar to that of a lich. Upon reaching a certain age, slaads traveled deep into Limbo, having come to some instinctive realization that allowed them to undergo a special transformation. Most, presumably, broke down into their basal essences and dissolved into the primal chaos of Limbo, but some returned as higher forms of slaad. This metamorphosis seemed to exclude the red and blue slaads, but it was possible that they too could advance into a higher form.

Abilities

Even the more magically inclined slaadi possessed dangerous levels of strength, able to rip apart most with magically empowered tooth and claw. Slaadi were also known to have the power to summon others slaads with various levels of reliability. They were also incredibly durable, possessing a healing factor strong enough that they could recover from near-lethal wounds, and being resistant to a large array of elements including acid, cold, electricity and fire, on top of being immune to sonic forces. Whether or not they could regenerate lost body parts was debated since there were reports of their heads exploding and then reforming a short time afterwards. Certain slaad mutations could grant them unique abilities, such as a petrifying gaze, breath weapon, pustules of oozing or steaming toxins on their backs or greater magical powers.

Red Slaad

• Regeneration: 10 HP/round
• Leaping Pounce Slaadi can jump 5 meters and attack with both claws at the same time.
• Horrid Croak Slaadi can bellow which acts like a Cause Fear spell (Level 7 Skill; Expect 5 drain) (AoE: 3m radius; Range: 0; Effort: 3). See the Fear page. This requires 3 Ss.

Combat

The toad-like form of the slaadi belied their agility and combat prowess, as they were skilled fighters and deadly predators. Though they thoroughly enjoyed fighting in melee, typically with their claws and fangs, they were smart enough to use their supernatural powers when needed, although they were often hesitant to summon other slaads since they were wary of their own kind and so only did so in emergencies. Outside of hunting animals in Limbo, slaadi fought to prove their greatness, their reverence for strength drastically impacting their fighting coordination, or rather, their lack of any. When fighting in groups, whether hunting animals or battling sentients, slaads never actually cooperated, instead taking turns. When they outnumbered their enemies, they would wait until the first slaad was defeated, typically sending in the weakest first to gauge the foe's strength, after which another would get to duel and so on. This sense of fair play meant that it was possible for one incredibly skilled warrior to defeat an entire horde of slaads, prompting the remaining slaadi to, in accordance to their beliefs, recognize the victor as their better and obey their rightful command. This mindset could also make fighting slaads incredibly annoying, primarily because they rarely ever ran away. Even defeating the toughest among them could prompt rivals and would-be leaders to challenge them for control, a persistence made irritating for anyone with urgent matters to attend to. Once dominance was established, there was a good chance that the slaads would go find even more powerful slaad to test the being that defeated them. Their idealism in regards to strength also meant that against individually weaker foes, even when drastically outnumbered and being mowed down, they would continue to fight, convinced that their superior strength would win the battle.