Kuo-Toa (CR 2)
Medium Monstrous Humanoid (Aquatic)
Alignment: Often neutral evil
Initiative: +0; Senses: keen sight, light blindness, Listen +7, and Spot +11
AC: 16 (+6 natural) or 18 (+6 natural, +2 heavy wooden shield), touch 10, flat-footed 16 or 18
Hit Dice: 2d8+2 (11 hp)
Fort +3, Ref +3, Will +5
Speed: 20 ft., swim 50 ft.
Space: 5 ft./5 ft.
Base Attack +2; Grapple +3
Attack: Shortspear +3 melee or bite +3 melee
Full Attack: Shortspear +3 melee and bite -2 melee
Damage: Shortspear 1d6+1, bite 1d4
Special Attacks: Lightning bolt, pincer staff
Abilities: Str 13, Dex 10, Con 13, Int 13, Wis 14, Cha 8
Special Qualities: Adhesive, amphibious, immunity to poison and paralysis, resistant to electricity 10, slippery
Feats: Alertness; Great Fortitude
Skills: Escape Artist +8, Knowledge or Craft (any one) +4, Listen +7, Move Silently +3, Search +8, Spot +11, and Swim +9
Advancement: By character class
Climate/Terrain: Temperate aquatic
Organization: Patrol (2-4 plus 1 3rd-level whip), squad (6-11 plus 1 or 2 3rd-level whips, 1 or 2 4th-level monitors, and 1 8th-level fighter), band (20-50 plus 100% noncombatants plus 2 3rd-level whips, 2 8th-level fighters, and 1 10th-level fighter), or tribe (40-400 plus 1 3rd-level whip per 20 adults, 1 4th-level monitor, 4 8th-level fighters, 1 10th-level whip, and 2 10th-level fighters)
Treasure/Possessions: Standard
Source:
Monster Manual
The kuo-toa are an ancient line of aquatic humanoids noted for their sinister nature and diabolical tendencies.
Although most people shun contact with these loathsome creatures, sometimes avoiding them is simply not possible. Kuo-toas know much about long forgotten, ancient evils dwelling in the deepest parts of the ocean.
An average kuo-toa stands roughly 5 feet tall and has a more or less humanoid appearance. Its rounded body is covered with fine scales giving it the appearance of being pudgy or bloated. The arms and legs are slender, almost willowy, ending in broad hands and distended feet that look very much like flippers. The bullet-shaped heads are piscine, with bulging, silver-black eyes and wide mouths full of needle-sharp teeth. Although kuo-toas are generally a silver-gray color, their pigmentation changes with their mood. An angry kuo-toa is dark red, while a frightened one becomes pale gray or even white. The air around a kuo-toa carries the almost overwhelming odor of rotting fish.
Kuo-toas speak Kuo-Toan, Undercommon and Aquan.
Combat
Kuo-toan tactics and weapons vary greatly depending upon the training and skills of the individual encountered. A group of kuo-toa warriors usually fight in formation, throwing their spears before closing to melee range.
Lightning Bolt (Su): Two or more kuo-toa clerics (known as "whips") operating together can generate a stroke of lightning every 1d4 rounds. The whips must join hands to launch the bolt but need merely remain within 30 feet of one another while it builds. The lightning bolt deals 1d6 points of damage per whip, but a successful Reflex save halves this amount (save DC 13 + number of whips).
Pincer Staff: Many kuo-toa fighters and all whips above 6th level carry this Large exotic weapon. A pincer staff deals 1d10 points of bludgeoning damage, threatens a critical hit on a 20, and deals double damage on a critical hit. It has a 10-foot reach and cannot be used against an adjacent opponent. A wielder that hits an opponent of at least Small but no larger than Large size attempts to start a grapple as a free action without provoking an attack of opportunity. If the wielder gets a hold, the staff grabs the opponent and deals 1d10 points of damage each round the hold is maintained.
Keen Sight (Ex): Kuo-toas have excellent vision thanks to their two independently focusing eyes. Their eyesight is so keen that they can spot a moving object or creature even if he is invisible, ethereal, or astral. Only by remaining perfectly still can such objects or creatures avoid their notice.
Slippery (Ex): All kuo-toas secrete an oily film that makes them difficult to grapple or snare. Webs, magic or otherwise, don't affect kuo-toas, and they usually can wriggle free from most other forms of confinement.
Adhesive (Ex): Kuo-toas use their own body oil and other materials to give their shields a finish almost like flypaper, holding fast any creatures or items touching them. Anyone who makes an unsuccessful melee attack against a kuo-toa must succeed at a +1 Reflex save (DC 14), or the attacker's weapon sticks to the shield and is yanked out of the wielder's grip. Creatures using natural weapons are automatically grappled if they get stuck.
Immunities (Ex): Kuo-toas are immune to poison and paralysis. The various hold spells also have no effect on them, and their keen sight automatically detects figments for what they are.
Light Blindness (Ex): Abrupt exposure to bright light (such as sunlight or daylight spell) blinds kuo-toas for 1 round. In addition, they suffer a -1 circumstance penalty, to all attack rolls, saves, and checks while operating in bright light.
Amphibious (Ex): Although kuo-toas breathe by means of gills, they can survive indefinitely on land.
Skills: Kuo-toas receive a +15 racial bonus to Escape Artist checks and a +4 racial bonus to Spot and Search checks.
KUO-TOAN SOCIETY
Kuo-toas dwell in subterranean communities that are well supplied with pools for recreation and breeding. They spawn as fish. do, raising their young in special pools until their amphibian qualities develop (about a year after hatching).
Thanks to the efforts of the whips, virtually all kuo-toas are devoted worshipers of the goddess Blibdoolpoolp, whom they refer to as the Sea Mother Every kuo-toan community has at least one shrine to the Sea Mother. Larger communities with major temples serve as hubs for clusters of smaller settlements. These are also centers for inter-group trade and politics. Virtually all kuo-toan communities are open to drow and their servants, who provide useful goods and services, although the drow are both feared and hated by the kuo-toa. This enmity leads to many minor skirmishes and frequent kidnappings between the peoples.
KUO-TOAN CHARACTERS
A kuo-toa's favored class is rogue. Most kuo-toan leaders are cleric/rogues or clerics (whips). Whips worship Blibdoolpoolp and can choose any two of the following domains: Destruction, Evil, and Water. Kuo-toan monks, called monitors, also exist.