Sahuagin
Climate/Terrain:
| Temperate/Salt water |
Frequency:
| Uncommon
|
Organization:
| Tribal
|
Activity Cycle:
| Night
|
Diet:
| Carnivore
|
Intelligence:
| High (13-14)
|
Treasure:
| N (I, O, P, Q (x10), X, Y)
|
Alignment:
| Lawful evil
|
No. Appearing:
| 20-80
|
Armor Class:
| 5
|
Movement:
| 12, Sw 24
|
Hit Dice:
| 2+2
|
THAC0:
| 19
|
No. of Attacks:
| 1 or see below
|
Damage/Attack:
| 1-2/1-2/1-4/1-4/1-4 or weapon type
|
Special Attacks:
| See below
|
Special Defenses:
| See below
|
Magic Resistance:
| Nil
|
Size:
| M (6'), some L (9')
|
Morale:
| Steady (12)
|
XP Value:
| 175
|
| Lieutenant: 270
|
| Chieftain: 420
|
| Priestess: 650
|
| Baron: 975
|
| Prince: 2,000
|
Sahuagin are a vicious, predatory race of fish-men that live in warm coastal
waters. They are highly organized and greatly enjoy raiding shore communities
for food and sport.
Typical sahuagins are blackish green on their backs, shading to green on their
bellies, with black fins. Their great, staring eyes are deep, shining black.
They have scaly skin, with webbed fingers and toes, and their mouths are filled
with sharp fangs. About 1 in 216 sahuagin is a mutation with four usable arms.
These specimens are usually black shading to gray. Females are
indistinguishable from males, except that they are slightly smaller. Hatchlings are a light
green color, but they darken and attain full growth approximately one to two
months after hatching.
Sahuagin speak their own tongue.
Combat: Though they wear no armor, their scales are tough and equal to AC 5. Sahuagin
wear a harness to carry their personal gear and weapons. A group of these
creatures is typically armed as follows:
Heavy crossbow & dagger
| 20%
|
Spear & dagger
| 30%
|
Trident, net & dagger
| 50%
|
Spears are used only as thrusting weapons. Nets are set with dozens of hooks
that make escape virtually impossible for unarmored victims or creatures not
able to grasp and tear with a Strength of 16 or greater. Nets are replaced by
three javelins when the band forays onto land. The crossbows fire a maximum of 30
feet underwater and normal ranges on the surface. Tridents have three uses -- to
spear small prey, to pin prey trapped in nets, and to hold threatening
opponents at bay.
Sahuagin are well-equipped to attack even without weapons, for their webbed
hands each end in long, sharp claws that can inflict 1-2 points of damage per
attack. Their powerful rear legs are likewise taloned, and if they kick an
opponent with them, they inflict 1d4 points of damage with each hit from either foot.
The sharp teeth of the sahuagin cause 1d4 points of damage if a bite is scored
on a victim. Thus, it is possible for an unarmed sahuagin to attack three or
five times in a melee round causing 1-2/1-2/1-4 and an extra 1-4/1-4 if the legs
can rake.
The eyes and ears of these monsters are particularly keen. They can see for
300 feet underwater at depths of up to 100 feet. For each 100 feet of greater
depth, their vision is reduced by 10 feet (e.g., when 500 feet deep they can see
260 feet; when 1,000 feet deep they can see 210 feet). Their ears are so sharp
as to be able to detect the clinking of metal at one mile, or a boat oar
splashing at twice that distance.
A band of sahuagin is always led by a chieftain. He has one lieutenant for
every ten members of the group. The chieftain has 4+4 Hit Dice, and his
lieutenants have 3+3 Hit Dice. All are in addition to the normal sahuagin in the group.
When raiding villages, sahuagin attack en masse, with leaders in the second
rank. As long as there is no truly spirited resistance, they continue in their
plunder and violence.
Underwater, in their natural element, the sahuagin are far more confident.
Using the three-dimensional aspect of underwater fighting, they sometimes dive
down on a group of underwater explorers, coming in from behind, and swooping down
and past them, dropping nets on their intended victims.
When sahuagin attack ships, they swarm up from all sides and try to overwhelm
with numbers. They often grab their opponents and hurl them into the sea, where
at least a fourth of the raiding party lurks, waiting for such an action or as
reinforcements. Some leaders carry a conch shell, which when sounded gives the
signal for the group of sahuagin in reserve to enter the fray.
Sahuagin have an almost paralyzing fear of spellcasters. They direct their
strongest attacks toward anyone who uses spells or spell-like powers, such as the
functions of some magical items. Their saving throws vs. fire-based spells
suffer a -2 penalty, and they receive an additional point of damage per die of
damage from such attacks.
Habitat/Society: The sahuagin are sometimes referred to as "sea devils" or "devil men of the
deep." They dwell in warm salt waters at depths of 100 to 1,500 feet. Sahuagin
are predatory in the extreme, and they pose a threat to all living things because
they kill for sport and pleasure as well as for food. They abhor fresh water.
They dislike light, and bright light such as that created by a
continual light spell is harmful to their eyes.
The social structure of the sahuagin is based upon rule by a king who holds
court in a vast city deep beneath the waves. This overlord's domain is divided
into nine provinces, each ruled by a prince. Each prince has 2d10+10 nobles
underneath him. Each noble controls the small groups of sahuagin dwelling in his
fief. The sahuagin worship a great devil-shark. Sahuagin priests above 5th level
are very rare.
The king is supposed to dwell in a city somewhere at the greatest depth that a
sahuagin can exist. This place is supposedly built in an undersea canyon, with
palaces and dwellings built along either face. There, fully 5,000 of these
monsters live, not counting the king's retinue of queens, concubines, nobles,
guards, etc., said to number 1,000 or more. The sahuagin king is reported to be of
enormous size (10 Hit Dice+10 hit points), and of greatest evil. The king is
always accompanied by nine noble guards (9+9 Hit Dice) and the evil high
priestess of all sahuagin (9+9 Hit Dice) with its retinue of nine underpriestesses
(7th-level clerics).
If sahuagin are encountered in their lair, there are the following additional
sahuagin:
1 baron (6+6 Hit Dice)
Nine guards (3+3 Hit Dice)
3d4 x 10 females (2 Hit Dice)
1d4 x 10 hatchlings (1 Hit Die)
2d4 x 10 eggs
Also, there is a 10% chance per 10 male sahuagin that there is an evil
priestess and 1d4 assistant priestesses, for the religious life of these creatures is
dominated by the females. If a priestess is with the group in the lair, it is
of 1d4+1 level ability, and the lesser clerics are 3rd or 4th level.
There are always 2d4
sharks
in a sahuagin lair. Sahuagin are able to make these monsters obey simple one- or two-word commands. Whenever a sahuagin lair is encountered, there is a 5%
chance that it is the stronghold of a prince. The prince has 8+8 Hit Dice plus
nine guards of chieftain strength. There are also one 8th-level sahuagin evil
high priestess and four 4th-level underpriestesses. The numbers of males,
females, hatchlings and eggs in a prince's lair are double the numbers given above.
There are 4d6
sharks present at all times.
Sahuagin lairs are actual villages or towns, constructed of stone. The
buildings are domed, and the seaweed and similar marine plants growing around and on
these buildings make them hard to detect.
Few persons have survived capture by the sahuagin, for prisoners are usually
quickly tortured and eaten. Any creatures taken alive from raids or intercepting
unwelcome visitors are brought to the sahuagins' lair and confined in cells.
Although sahuagin are able to stay out of water for up to four hours, there is
no air in the confinement areas in the typical village, but in the towns of the
nobles there are special quarters to maintain air-breathing creatures. The
sahuagin set aside a few prisoners to torture and provide sport -- typically a
fight to the death between two different creatures in an arena. The bulk of
captives are simply killed and eaten. It is seldom that any prisoner escapes, although
the sahuagin find sport in allowing captives to think that they have found
freedom, only to be encircled by sadistic guards while a school of sharks moves in
for the kill.
The sahuagin are cruel and brutal, and the strongest always bully the weaker.
Any injured, disabled, or infirm specimen is slain and eaten by these
cannibalistic monsters. Even imperfect hatchlings are dealt with in this fashion. This
strict law has developed a strong race, however, and any leader is subject to a
challenge. Sahuagin never stop growing, although they grow very slowly, and
death comes to most before the years allow growth to large size. Leaders are
always the largest and strongest. It is reported that the nine sahuagin princes are
each of the four-armed sort, as is the king. In any event, the loser of a
challenge is always slain, either during combat or afterward. Sometimes the loser
winds up as the main course at the victory feast.
Duels are fought without weapons, only fang and claw being permitted.
The sahuagin are chronicled because of their great evil, having time and again
raided the land, desolating whole coasts, and destroying passing ships
continually. The exact origin of the sahuagin is unknown. It is suggested that they
were created from a nation of particularly evil humans by the most powerful
lawful evil gods in order to preserve them when the great deluge came upon the
earth. Some sages claim that they are degenerate humans who formerly dwelt on the
seacoasts, whose evil and depravity was so great that they eventually devolved
into fish-folk and sought the darkness of the ocean depths. The tritons however,
are purported to have believe that sahuagin are distantly related to sea elves,
claiming that the drow spawned the sahuagin.
Sahuagin range as far as 50 miles from their lairs. Most of their lairs are
located 2d10+20 miles from coastal shores. Some of these creatures enjoy
collecting pearls and coral formations, fashioning them into jewelry. This jewelry is
worn as a status symbol. They are fond of wealth, which they use as a measure of
influence, and for sacrifice to the deities that they worship in exchange for
granted powers and other favors. Most of the treasure found in a sahuagin lair
belonged to former victims. There is usually a high concentration of
water-related items, such as magical boats, tridents, helms, potions, necklaces, etc.
These were gained from adventurers who explored underwater too close to the
sahuagin community.
These creatures want nothing less than full control of the sea coasts,
collecting as much wealth and power as possible in the process while maintaining the
secrecy of their lairs' locations. Those who attempt escape are obsessively
hunted down, for fear that the former prisoners may reveal the location of the
sahuagins' city.
Ecology: Sahuagin venture ashore on dark, moonless nights to raid and plunder human
coastal towns. They hate even the evil ixitxachitl, and only sharks are befriended
by them.
The feuds and outright warfare between the sahuagin and ixitxachitl have
indirectly contributed to preventing the ascendancy of the spellcasting, manta
ray-like race. Sahuagin are also fond of eating giant squid and kraken. Their
hunting of these monsters of the deep has kept the squid and kraken numbers down to a
safe level. Conversely, these beasts enjoy eating sahuagin, which prevents the
sahuagin from overrunning coastal areas.
Of all the sea-dwelling races, tritons, sea elves, dolphins, and hippocampi
are the most implacable enemies of the sahuagin. In fact, the few air-breathers
that have escaped the sahuagin owe their freedom to such beings that bravely
aided the captives.
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