YOU BEING A SHIFTER WAS NOT ON MY BINGO CARD FOR 2023 BUT I LOVE IT

Slaad, Gray

Image by Rudy Siswanto, © Wizards of the Coast

[I feel like gray slaadi are the traditionally least-loved of the slaad subtypes. Most of their flavor text has usually been about how they come from green slaad and turn into death slaad. Not much about them as anything other than a transitional form. My goal was to give them a bit more personality with this version.]

Slaad, Gray CR 12 CN Aberration This froggish humanoid stands slightly taller than a man. Its limbs are lean and powerful, and bone spurs grow from the backs of its hands. A crest of spines rises from its back, and a cape of flesh grows from along its shoulders.

Gray slaadi are explorers and vagabonds, traveling the planes in pursuit of any number of quixotic goals. They are typically curious and adventurous creatures. Gray slaadi are transformed from green slaadi, and are superior shapeshifters to their former selves. A gray slaad can assume many different humanoid forms, and although they sometimes assume mortal form in pursuit of a scheme, often times they become humanoids out of sheer whimsy or curiosity.

A gray slaad enjoys combat and views it as an opportunity to practice tactics it may not have tried before. They can craft powerful symbols on the fly, and often open combat with a symbol designed to neutralize groups and reduce their active combatants to an individual or two. Many of them fight with magical weapons they have enhanced themselves or stolen from others. Some gray slaadi are hoarders, picking fights with adventurers with interesting or exotic magic items in order to add them to an ever growing collection.

Most gray slaadi dislike other members of their own kind, viewing them as competitors and rivals, and will work to sabotage them. On the other hand, they gather lesser slaadi of many kinds under their banner, often in the spirit of colonizing new places. A single gray slaad can start a cross-planar incursion in a matter of days, as it pulls recruits from the Maelstrom into unprepared and unsuspecting corners of the Material plane. On these various perambulations, many gray slaad find ways of unlocking their magical potential further and transforming into a higher form of slaad life—the transition to death slaad is the most common, but by no means the only, transformation.

Smaller than their green stage, a gray slaad is typically between six and seven feet tall, and weighs around two to three hundred pounds.

Gray Slaad           CR 12 XP 19,200 CN Medium aberration (extraplanar, shapechanger, slaad) Init +9; Senses darkvision 60 ft., Perception +18, see invisibility Defense AC 28, touch 15, flat-footed 23 (+5 Dex, +9 natural, +4 shield) hp 172 (15d8+105); fast healing 8 Fort +12, Ref +10, Will +12 DR 10/lawful; Immune magic missile, sonic; Resist acid 10, cold 10, electricity 10, fire 10; SR 23 Defensive Abilities transfer condition Offense Speed 30 ft. Melee 2 claws +17 (2d4+6/x3), bite +17 (2d6+6) or +2 greatsword +19/+14/+9 (2d6+11/19-20), bite +12 (2d6+3) Special Attacks augmented critical, etch symbol Spell-like Abilities CL 12th, concentration +17 (+21 casting defensively) Constant—detect magic, see invisibility, shield At will—dimension door, fireball (DC 18), invisibility, major image (DC 18), scorching ray, telekinesis (DC 20) 3/day—dispel law (DC 20), dispel magic, fear (DC 19), fly, quickened scorching ray 1/day— chain lightning (DC 21), plane shift (DC 22), power word blind Statistics Str 23, Dex 21, Con 25, Int 16, Wis 16, Cha 20 Base Atk +11; CMB +17; CMD 32 Feats Combat Casting, Craft Magic Arms and Armor, Dimensional Agility, Dimensional Assault, Dimensional Dervish, Improved Initiative, Magical Aptitude, Quicken SLA (scorching ray) Skills Acrobatics +20, Bluff +17, Disguise +17, Fly +20, Knowledge (arcana) +18, Knowledge (dungeoneering, planes) +15, Perception +18, Spellcraft +22, Use Magic Device +21 Languages Aklo, Common, Protean, Slaad, telepathy 60 ft. SQ change shape (Small or Medium humanoid, alter self), weapon proficiency Ecology Environment any land or underground (Maelstrom) Organization solitary or expedition (1 plus 2-10 red, blue and green slaadi) Treasure double standard (+2 greatsword, other treasure)Special Abilities Augmented Critical (Ex) A gray slaad’s claws deal x3 damage on a successful critical hit. Etch Symbol (Su) Once per day as a full round action, a gray slaad may create one of the following, as per the spell: symbol of fear, symbol of pain, symbol of persuasion, symbol of sleep, symbol of stunning. These function as per the spell, except that all symbols have a save DC of 22 and last for one day or until triggered. The save DC is Charisma based. Transfer Condition (Su) Three times per day as an immediate action, a gray slaad can attempt to transfer any of the following harmful conditions that it is suffering to a creature within 30 feet: blinded, confused, dazed, dazzled, deafened, diseased, exhausted, fatigued, feebleminded, insanity, nauseated, poisoned, sickened, and stunned. It can use this ability even if it is suffering from any of these conditions. An unwilling creature can resist this with a successful DC 22 Will save—if it does so, the gray slaad still suffers from the condition (although it can attempt to transfer it again on its next turn). The save DC is Charisma based. Weapon Proficiency (Ex) A gray slaad is proficient with all simple and martial weapons.