Monster Manual: Sahuagin to Stirge

Man, that was quick...I ordered the November stuff on Saturday, and today it arrived. Four days. Meanwhile, I hadn't finished unpacking the October stuff. So, I already got the Pool of Radiance: Attack on Myth Drannor module, and now I also have Dragon #277, Dragon Annual #5, Dungeon #83, Living Greyhawk Journal #2, Forge of Fury, and the Living Greyhawk Gazetteer. Unfortunately, this copy doesn't have the map of Greyhawk included, and neither did the first Gazetteer I picked up, so I'm stuck without one. I can always print a copy, I suppose, but it would be nice to have an actual map.

So, let's get through the 'S' section, which is a big one. We begin with the mighty Sahuagin, who first appeared in the Blackmoor supplement in 1975. They are a nasty crew of Aquatic Humanoids (Medium-sized) with 2 HD and a CR of 2. They hang out with sharks, are amphibious, don't like fresh water at all, and go into a blood frenzy when they take damage, which makes them completely berserk (even more than a raging barbarian), giving them +2 Con and +2 Str, but -2 AC, and they fight until either they or their target are dead. They advance by character class, and their favored class is ranger; their most common favored enemy is elves. Again, it's weird to see evil creatures with ranger as their favored class, but that's the way it is in this edition. Their clerics (and they have plenty of those) worship Sekolah, and their domains are Evil, Law, Strength, and War.

We also get a bit of a writeup on their society, which is very ritualized and structured; there is no societal advancement for anyone. There are also mutant sahuagin with four arms, meaning they can use extra weapons or claw attacks. And if they live within 100 miles of an aquatic elf community, there will be about 1% of the sahuagin who look just like those elves. They're still sahuagin, but they can easily pass as an elf...until they start killing other elves around them. These are a classic of underwater adventuring, and I'm glad to see them here.

Next we have the Salamanders, who are all Outsiders with the Fire subtype. There are three types of them: Flamebrother (Small, 3 HD, CR 2), Average (Medium-sized, 7 HD, CR 5), and Noble (Large, 15 HD, CR 9). The flamebrothers are a different species, but have a lot of common traits with the other salamanders. All of them can constrict with their tails, and they generate so much heat that their constriction does additional fire damage besides the squeezing. Noble salamanders can constrict more than one creature at a time, as long as they are all two sizes smaller than the noble. Nobles also have spell-like abilities involving fire (no surprise there), cast as a 15th-level sorcerer. Flamebrothers can advance to 6 HD; average salamanders to 14 HD, and nobles can get all the way to 45 HD and Huge size. However, they can also choose character classes; flamebrothers don't have a favored class, and sometimes become adepts or warriors. Average or noble salamanders can be clerics, sorcerers, or fighters, the latter of which is their favored class.

I first saw salamanders when I got the Cook/Marsh Expert Set way, way back in the early 1980s. There was a frost version of the salamander in that set, and I've never seen it in any other edition. Too bad.

Alright, Satyrs are up next. This is another creature that surprisingly didn't show up in the earliest books. In fact, it wasn't until the Gods, Demigods and Heroes book in 1976 that the satyr made its debut in the game. Here they are Medium-sized Fey with 5 HD and a CR of either 2 or 4. The difference is that one satyr in a group uses pan pipes with which they can create some magical effects. That guy gets the 4; the rest have a CR of 2. Satyrs, or fauns, are found in temperate forests and that's it. They're usually chaotic neutral, which means they really don't give a crap about anything other than their latest party. Tougher satyrs can get up to 10 HD. I'm surprised they didn't give them character class options, but it is what it is.

Sea Lions! These first appeared in the first Monster Manual. They are Large Beasts with 6 HD and a CR of 4. They look a lot more menacing in this edition than they did before, that's for sure. Their main attack is their claws, and they can use them to rend their prey. They can advance to 18 HD and Huge size. Otherwise, there's not much to say about them.

Shadows are a 1974 original. They are Medium-sized Incorporeal Undead with 3 HD and a CR of 3. It's interesting to note that originally, they weren't actually undead; they couldn't be turned. It wasn't until the advent of 1st edition AD&D that they made their way to the undead team. In BECMI, they never did. Anyway, their main attack is an incorporeal touch that does 1d6 temporary Strength draining. If they drain someone to 0 Str, the victim quickly becomes another shadow. And they are resistant to turning, as well. You know what would be not fun? Running into a swarm of these things (up to 11 at a time). Nasty. And they can advance up to 9 HD, too.

A Shadow Mastiff, which first appeared in the Monster Manual II in 1983, is an evil Medium-sized Outsider with 4 HD and a CR of 5. They're big, nasty black hounds that come from the Plane of Shadow and hunt on the Prime. They can advance to 12 HD and Large size. Their main ability is their bay, which panics anyone within 300 feet. Defensively, they can blend into the shadows, gaining 90% concealment, as long as they aren't in full daylight (or a daylight spell). These I've never used, but they would be a fun creature to throw at unsuspecting players.

Next we have a classic, the Shambling Mound. This first appeared in The Strategic Review #3. It's a Large Plant with 8 HD and a CR of 6. They are immune to electricity and have fire resistance 30, so they aren't easy to hurt. They can grab their victims and constrict them with their 21 Strength,  or just smash them for 2d6+5 damage instead. They live in forests, marshes, and underground, and they can advance to 24 HD and Huge size. I love shambling mounds, especially against lightning bolt-wielding wizards and druids. They'll find out quick why those are a bad thing to use on shamblers.

The Shield Guardian is...new? I seem to recall seeing something like this in a Baldur's Gate game, but I can't find a writeup for it from 1st or 2nd edition. Anyway. it's a Large Construct with 15 HD and a CR of 8. They are basically automaton bodyguards for wizards, and they have the ability to store and release a single spell. They are controlled by an amulet, and the amulet's wearer can command the shield guardian to shield the amulet wielder. And the shield guardian will absorb half the damage taken by the wizard, too. They can also home in on the amulet anywhere on the same plane. They're expensive to make, costing 100,000 for the base model, and they can be constructed with up to 45 HD and Huge size.

The Shocker Lizard is another new creature. It's a Small Magical Beast with 2 HD and a CR of 2. The name says it all; this is a lizard that generates electrical shocks that can be stunning (subdual damage) or lethal, if there are two or more shocker lizards working together. In this case, the shock has a radius of 25 feet, and deals 2d8 points of damage per lizard involved. Did I mention the part where they live in colonies of up to 11 lizards? Be afraid of that. And they can advance to 6 HD and Large size. They live in...warm aquatic and marsh regions. Because why not have an electric lizard in a swamp or a lake? Hunting would certainly not be a problem for them.

Skeletons! Yes, these are original, going back to 1974, and here we actually get multiple versions of this creature, all based on size. You can have Tiny skeletons with 1/4 of a HD (1 hp), all the way up to Colossal skeletons with 32 HD and a CR of 9. I mean, there's not much to these things, they're skeletons. Everyone knows they are the weakest form of undead, and I am amused at the thought of a cleric of 4th or 5th level blasting a Colossal skeleton into tiny fragments. Unfortunately, that can't happen in this edition, since turning has changed drastically and now is based on the undead's hit dice. Ah, well. Skeletons smaller than Large size don't get to advance at all, while Colossal ones can get up to 64 HD. That is one hell of a big skeleton.

Next up is the Skum, which first appeared in 1994. I'm not sure what the original source was, but it did appear in the Monstrous Compendium Annual for that year. Anyway, this is a Medium-sized Aquatic Aberration with 2 HD and a CR of 2. They are the creation and slaves of the aboleths that were originally human but have been crossbred with fish. Ew. They're basically cannon fodder for aboleth encounters, although they can advance to 6 HD and Large size. They can attack with their claws, although some are trained to use weapons. But there's not much to them.

The Slaad, on the other hand, have a lot going on. There are five different types here, all of which first appeared in the Fiend Folio way back in 1981. They are the Red (Large, 7 HD, CR 7), Blue (Large, 8 HD, CR 8), Green (Large, 9 HD, CR 9), Gray (Medium, 10 HD, CR 10), and Death Slaad (Medium, 15 HD, CR 13). Each has its own special abilities. The red slaad is basically a froggy xenomorph, implanting eggs in their prey which eventually explode out of them in a gory shower, and I still don't want to watch the original Alien movie. What's weird is that the baby slaad will either be a blue slaad or, if the victim is an arcane caster, a green one. Where do the red ones come from, then?

The blue slaad has a few spell-like abilities, and they can infect those they bite with a nasty disease that...transforms the victim into a red slaad. Well, that answers that. It's a really warped circle of life thing, isn't it? The green slaad has more spell-like abilities, and can shapeshift into a humanoid form at will. Incidentally, all slaad can summon other slaad with varying degrees of success. The gray slaad has a lot of spell-like abilities, and prefer to fight that way. Like the greenies, they can shapeshift, as can the death slaad, the most powerful of the bunch. These guys also have a bunch of at-will spell-like abilities, including fireball. Yes, fireball. At will. When they get bored of using that, they can use finger of death. Again, at will. Fortunately, their implosion ability is once per day only. You don't want to make them too powerful, right? All their spell-like abilities are cast at 18th level, too. Oh, and death slaadi are telepathic.

We get an interesting table that shows a bunch of possible variations for slaad, considering they are creatures of chaos who come from Pandemonium. Some of these variants include different skin colors, extra limbs or eyes, wings, and charming things like oozing pustules that poison those who touch them. Charming. All of the slaadi can advance to triple their base hit dice, gaining a size category in the process.

Next is another original 1974 contestant: The Spectre. No, not the guy from DC Comics. These are Medium-sized Incorporeal Undead with 7 HD and a CR of 7 that give you two negative levels when they hit you. Note that these are touch attacks, not normal attacks, so your armor isn't going to protect you at all. If a spectre drains all your levels, you're a baby spectre. And they spook any natural animals nearby. It's nice that they are completely powerless in sunlight, but how often can you expect to catch them that way? They can advance up to 14 HD, too.

Ah, the Sphinxes. There are four of these, and only one, the gynosphinx, appeared earlier than the first Monster Manual. The gynosphinx (just called the sphinx) was featured in the Gods, Demigods and Heroes book the year before. All four of them are Large Magical Beasts, and they include the Androsphinx (12 HD, CR 9), the Criosphinx (10 HD, CR 7), the Gynosphinx (8 HD, CR 8), and the Hieracosphinx (9 HD, CR 5). The androsphinx is always chaotic good, the hieracosphinx is always chaotic evil, and the other two are totally neutral. The androsphinx is like a winged lion with humanoid facial features, and they can rake like a lion and roar like a lion, which is a very impressive ability that has multiple effects depending on how many times they use it in an encounter. Oh, and they are also 6th-level clerics who can choose from the Good, Healing, and Protection domains.

The Criosphinx doesn't have any of that cool stuff; they are like androsphinxes except they have a ram's head, and all they do is rake; they don't have the roar or the spells. Same with the hieracosphinx, which has a falcon or hawk's head. The gynosphinx, however, does have some spell-like abilities that aren't so much combat-heavy as they are good for information gathering; they are more diviners than evokers.

The Spider Eater appears to be a new monster. They are Huge Magical Beasts with 4 HD and a CR of 5. They're like dire hornets, except people like to ride them for some reason. They have a poisonous bite, and do the xenomorph egg implant thing like red slaad. And they have the freedom of movement ability at all times. That's pretty handy, although it doesn't extend to the person riding them. And yes, you can train a spider eater as a mount. They can advance to 12 HD, too. I don't know...yeah, seeing a bunch of bandits swooping down on a bunch of spider-eaters would be terrifying as hell. But it's still a weird idea.

Sprites are next, and there are three varieties. Originally these all had their own, separate listings, but now 'sprite' is a category of Fey that includes the Grig (Tiny, 1/2 HD, CR 1), the Nixie (Small, 1 HD, CR 1) and the Pixie (Small, 1 HD, CR 4). The grig first appeared in the Monster Manual II; the nixie and pixie are 1974 originals. They can all advance to 3 HD, although they all have different abilities. Grigs have a few spell-like abilities, and one in each band carries a tiny fiddle that forces anyone within 30 feet to save or start dancing as if hit with an Otto's Irresistible Dance spell. Nixies, on the other hand, just live in the water and can cast charm person and water breathing on their victims. Pixies are pranksters who are naturally invisible and have lots of mischievous spell-like abilities like dancing lights, entangle, and permanent image. And 10% of them can cast Otto's Irresistible Dance but without the fiddle. Oh, and they sometimes use arrows that erase memory or put targets to sleep. Fun.

Finally, we have the Stirge. I hated these things when I was younger; they are like bat-sized mosquitos. They live in forests and underground in groups of up to 13, and they are Tiny Beasts with 1 HD and a CR of 1/2. They attack by dive-bombing their targets and latching on to them, then shoving their pointy beaks into you and draining your blood. Like I said, big-ass mosquitos. They are one of the very few creatures that don't have an advancement line, so you're not going to see any albatross-sized stirges around, thank the gods.

And that is it for the 'S' monsters. Quite a few of them here, in fact. 34, to be precise, bringing our total to 342. We're into the home stretch, though; after the 'S' section, the rest of the alphabet has a lot fewer monsters.