Slaad
Encyclopedia
In the Dungeons & Dragons
role-playing game
, slaad (pluralized as slaadi, or in 4th edition as slaads) are a fictional race of Outsiders
that resemble giant humanoid toads of various colors.
for the Fiend Factory column in White Dwarf
magazine. It was later compiled (along with many other monsters submitted to the magazine) into the TSR UK book, Fiend Folio
Tome of Creatures Malevolent and Benign (1981). Stross said of their creation,
For much of their existence, the slaadi were the subject of jokes by D&D players due to their distinctly frog-like appearance, which was overemphasized in early artistic depictions of the monsters. With the advent of the Planescape
campaign setting, TSR, Inc.
made an effort to create a more appropriately fearsome image of the slaadi, with their toad qualities toned down in favor of showing their more frightening aspects as beings of pure chaos. This Planescape
envisioning of the slaadi carried forth into the 3rd Edition of the D&D game and has persisted ever since.
Because they were created by a D&D player (and their copyrights transferred to TSR and, subsequently, Wizards of the Coast
), slaadi are one of only a handful of D&D monsters considered "Product Identity" by Wizards of the Coast
and, as such, are not released under its Open Gaming License
.
(1981), along with Ssendam, Lord of the Insane, and Ygorl, Lord of Entropy. Ed Greenwood
, in his review of the Fiend Folio for Dragon
magazine, considered the slaad "worthy additions to any campaign".
The slaadi and their role in the planes are detailed in this edition's Manual of the Planes (1987).
Another slaad lord, Wartle, appeared in the adventure anthology, Tales of the Outer Planes (1988).
campaign setting
in the first Planescape Monstrous Compendium Appendix (1994).
Ygorl and Ssendam appear in Dragon
#221 (September 1995) in the "Dragon's Bestiary" column; the same article also introduced two new slaad lords: Chourst, Lord of Randomness, and Rennbuu, Lord of Colors.
The baby red slaad and the young red slaad appear in Dungeon
#77 (November 1999).
The slaadi and their role in the planes are detailed in this edition's Manual of the Planes (2001). The black slaad and the white slaad appeared in the Epic Level Handbook (2002).
The gormeel appeared in Dragon #306 (April 2003).
The mud slaad appears in the Fiend Folio (2003) for this edition.
Another new slaad lord, Bazim-Gorag the Firebringer, first appeared in Dungeon #101 (August 2003). Bazim-Gorag later appeared in the Forgotten Realms
book, Champions of Ruin
(2005).
" debate, he attempted to consult Law versus Chaos, with a Slaad representing the latter. In a later installment of the comic, a Chaotic Evil character expresses surprise at only two shoulder devils instead of one devil and one angel appearing; as he has no Good or Lawful sides whatsoever, the devils explain that the character has only them and the slaad.
Slaadi have appeared in 3rd-party game sourcebooks such as the Tome of Horrors from Necromancer Games
. It was parodied in the HackMaster
Hacklopedia of Beasts, published by Kenzer & Company
. The plot of the Downer series of graphic novels by Kyle Stanley Hunter, published by Diamond Comic Distributors
, revolves around a slaad-created artifact.
of Limbo
. As such they are of the outsider
type, being composed of the essence of their home plane. Encountered on most other planes they also receive the extraplanar subtype. Slaadi are almost always chaotic neutral except for the death slaadi, which are usually chaotic evil and the gormeel slaadi, which are usually lawful neutral.
In the various D&D products in which they are presented, slaadi are described as frog or toad-like humanoids. Within that rough characterization they have a wide range of forms depending on subtype, and often corresponding to their rank in society. Size also varies between the different subtypes, from human sized to several feet taller than human sized.
Red and blue slaadi reproduce by infecting living hosts. The red do so by implanting eggs beneath their victim's skin which grow into a baby blue slaad that eats the host from within. The blue infect the host with a lycanthropy-like disease that slowly transforms them into a red slaad. Despite being the means of producing the other slaad type, reds and blues despise one another. If either a red slaad or blue slaad infects an arcane spellcaster, the host will spawn a green slaad, superior to its parent in that it may cast spells. A green slaad, upon reaching its hundredth year of life, will retreat into isolation for the duration of about a year. Upon its return it has transformed into a smaller, but more powerful grey slaad, which focus more on spell-casting than most other slaadi. Some grey slaadi undergo an unnamed, mysterious ritual, which transforms them into death slaadi. Death slaadi possess amazing magical and physical might, but eschew focusing on the former, as the greys do, being bent more on perpetuating slaughter and death. As such, death slaad tend more towards an evil alignment than do most other slaadi. If the death slaad survives a century, it turns into the white slaad. And if the white slaad survives a century, it turns into a black slaad in the manner of its preceding transformations. The black slaad is the most powerful slaad, excluding the slaad lords. The reproductive cycle of mud slaadi is not detailed.
The Spawning Stone is the primordial home of the slaadi, located in "a realm of their greatest dominion", and drifting about Limbo. The passage of the stone generates currents in the raw chaos-stuff of the plane, and slaadi are able to follow these currents "upstream" to the Stone's location. In the mating season, each race of slaad converges on the Spawning Stone, wresting the Stone away from the previous group, so that they may fertilize each others' internal egg sacs, and carry away the seed-like fertilized eggs for later implantation into host bodies. Sometimes, however, young slaadi are produced right there at the stone because the slaadi implant each other in their mating frenzy. Thus, dead adult slaadi routinely float about the stone until destroyed by the chaos of Limbo. True slaadi are described as beings of ultimate chaos who have no set form. Only the Slaad Lords Ssendam
and Ygorl are representative of this type. Somehow they affected the 'Spawning Stone' to prevent the emergence of slaadi more powerful than them, which keeps the slaadi within the aforementioned groups. Although anomalies do slip through in the chaos, they have less variety, and less chance of being more powerful than the Slaad Lords. One such anomaly is the Gormeel Slaad, which is a subtype introduced in an article in Dragon (magazine)
as a large, mutant variety "born from the Spawning Stone", and escaping the notice of Ygorl and Ssendam. They are lawful in alignment, serving as allies and sometimes mounts of the githzerai
against other slaadi.
Known slaad lords include Ygorl
, Lord of Entropy; Ssendam
, Lord of Madness; Chourst
, Lord of Randomness; Rennbuu
, Lord of Colors; and Wartle.
's early trilogy, the main antagonist known as the Sojourner has 4 slaadi henchmen that he refers to as his "children" named Azriim, Dolgan, Eleura and Serrin. In the books they appear to be bound to the sojourner, and serve as a constant foe to Erevis Cale
and his companions as they try to thwart the sojourner. They are all green slaadi and have been granted various powers by the sojourner. They can cast magic, shapeshift, heal at a very fast rate, and have telepathy. They all tend to choose a human form that suits their taste and only transform back into their slaad forms at certain occasions, mostly when they feed or fight. azriim (the leader) chooses a half drow form with 2 different color eyes, dolgan chooses a cormyrean warrior (basically a big human) and is the dumb brute of the gang, Serrin is dark and assassin-like and chooses a slender human. Their true slaad forms are green, very large, scaled reptiles, with powerful legs, long claws, and sharp teeth. During the series the sojourner, with the power to destroy worlds at a whim, transforms dolgan and azriim into gray slaadi as a reward. They are portrayed as a mix between a moth and reptile, and have the ability to fly. They are later transformed into death slaadi, which are portrayed as their original reptilian slaad form, with slightly altered physical features. Their most notable trait is that they appear almost see-through and have much stronger abilities. The slaadi in this trilogy are intelligent, most probably from the sojourner's tampering with them while they were in their eggs.
s. He appears as a character in the Planescape accessories Faces of Evil: The Fiends and The Inner Planes. Both of these books are written as if they were created by someone within the Planescape setting, and within that writing style, both books have an 'editor' who collected the investigations and opinions of various planar creatures on the topic at hand. Xanxost is one such character. "Though his mannerisms are often odd, his information is always reliable".
In Faces of Evil he is one of the 'authors' of the section on tanar'ri, and in The Inner Planes he 'wrote' the section on the Quasielemental Plane of Steam
. Xanxost seems less chaotic than other slaadi in that he can write a mostly coherent piece of text, though his nature still shows through in his writing style, with many wanderings off-topic (mostly to the subject of food), repetitions of earlier remarks, and a seeming inability to count. Xanxost is referred to as "it" in Faces of Evil, which makes some sense given the unusual nature of slaadi reproduction, but as "he" in The Inner Planes.
#10. The primary villain of that adventure, Azurax Silverhawk, has been officially placed in the Forgotten Realms
campaign setting. However, Zgotar also appeared in Castle Greyhawk
(1987) in an adventure scenario also written by Scott Bennie. In addition, Azurax is called a "plane
-wandering archmage" and Old Empires
said he has only recently purchased his property in the Hills of Maerth.
Dungeons & Dragons
Dungeons & Dragons is a fantasy role-playing game originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, and first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. . The game has been published by Wizards of the Coast since 1997...
role-playing game
Role-playing game
A role-playing game is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal acting, or through a process of structured decision-making or character development...
, slaad (pluralized as slaadi, or in 4th edition as slaads) are a fictional race of Outsiders
Outsider (Dungeons & Dragons)
In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, an outsider is a type of creature, or "creature type". Outsiders are at least partially composed of the essence of a plane other than the Prime Material Plane....
that resemble giant humanoid toads of various colors.
Development and licensing
The slaadi were created by Charles StrossCharles Stross
Charles David George "Charlie" Stross is a British writer of science fiction, Lovecraftian horror and fantasy. He was born in Leeds.Stross specialises in hard science fiction and space opera...
for the Fiend Factory column in White Dwarf
White Dwarf (magazine)
White Dwarf is a magazine published by British games manufacturer Games Workshop. Initially covering a wide variety of fantasy and science-fiction role-playing and board games, particularly the role playing games Dungeons & Dragons, RuneQuest and Traveller...
magazine. It was later compiled (along with many other monsters submitted to the magazine) into the TSR UK book, Fiend Folio
Fiend Folio
Fiend Folio is the title shared by three products published for successive editions of the fantasy role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons...
Tome of Creatures Malevolent and Benign (1981). Stross said of their creation,
For much of their existence, the slaadi were the subject of jokes by D&D players due to their distinctly frog-like appearance, which was overemphasized in early artistic depictions of the monsters. With the advent of the Planescape
Planescape
Planescape is a campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, originally designed by Zeb Cook. The Planescape setting was published in 1994...
campaign setting, TSR, Inc.
TSR, Inc.
Blume and Gygax, the remaining owners, incorporated a new company called TSR Hobbies, Inc., with Blume and his father, Melvin Blume, owning the larger share. The former assets of the partnership were transferred to TSR Hobbies, Inc....
made an effort to create a more appropriately fearsome image of the slaadi, with their toad qualities toned down in favor of showing their more frightening aspects as beings of pure chaos. This Planescape
Planescape
Planescape is a campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, originally designed by Zeb Cook. The Planescape setting was published in 1994...
envisioning of the slaadi carried forth into the 3rd Edition of the D&D game and has persisted ever since.
Because they were created by a D&D player (and their copyrights transferred to TSR and, subsequently, Wizards of the Coast
Wizards of the Coast
Wizards of the Coast is an American publisher of games, primarily based on fantasy and science fiction themes, and formerly an operator of retail stores for games...
), slaadi are one of only a handful of D&D monsters considered "Product Identity" by Wizards of the Coast
Wizards of the Coast
Wizards of the Coast is an American publisher of games, primarily based on fantasy and science fiction themes, and formerly an operator of retail stores for games...
and, as such, are not released under its Open Gaming License
Open Gaming License
The Open Game License may be used by game developers to grant permission to modify, copy, and redistribute some of the content designed for their games, notably game mechanics.-Language of the licence:The OGL describes two forms of content:...
.
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st edition (1977-1988)
The blue slaad, death slaad (the lesser masters), the green slaad, the grey slaad (the executioners), and the red slaad appear in the first edition Fiend FolioFiend Folio
Fiend Folio is the title shared by three products published for successive editions of the fantasy role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons...
(1981), along with Ssendam, Lord of the Insane, and Ygorl, Lord of Entropy. Ed Greenwood
Ed Greenwood
Ed Greenwood is a Canadian writer and editor who created the Forgotten Realms. He invented the Forgotten Realms as a child, as a fantasy world in which to set the stories he imagined, and later used this world as a campaign setting for his own personal Dungeons & Dragons playing group...
, in his review of the Fiend Folio for Dragon
Dragon (magazine)
Dragon is one of the two official magazines for source material for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game and associated products, the other being Dungeon. TSR, Inc. originally launched the monthly printed magazine in 1976 to succeed the company's earlier publication, The Strategic Review. The...
magazine, considered the slaad "worthy additions to any campaign".
The slaadi and their role in the planes are detailed in this edition's Manual of the Planes (1987).
Another slaad lord, Wartle, appeared in the adventure anthology, Tales of the Outer Planes (1988).
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd edition (1989-1999)
The blue slaad, death slaad, the gray slaad, the green slaad, and the red slaad appear first in the Monstrous Compendium Outer Planes Appendix (1991), and are reprinted in the Monstrous Manual (1993). The same set of slaadi appear for the PlanescapePlanescape
Planescape is a campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, originally designed by Zeb Cook. The Planescape setting was published in 1994...
campaign setting
Campaign setting
A campaign setting is usually a fictional world which serves as a setting for a role-playing game or wargame campaign. A campaign is a series of individual adventures, and a campaign setting is the world in which such adventures and campaigns take place...
in the first Planescape Monstrous Compendium Appendix (1994).
Ygorl and Ssendam appear in Dragon
Dragon (magazine)
Dragon is one of the two official magazines for source material for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game and associated products, the other being Dungeon. TSR, Inc. originally launched the monthly printed magazine in 1976 to succeed the company's earlier publication, The Strategic Review. The...
#221 (September 1995) in the "Dragon's Bestiary" column; the same article also introduced two new slaad lords: Chourst, Lord of Randomness, and Rennbuu, Lord of Colors.
The baby red slaad and the young red slaad appear in Dungeon
Dungeon (magazine)
Dungeon Adventures, or simply Dungeon, was a magazine targeting consumers of role-playing games, particularly Dungeons & Dragons. It was first published by TSR, Inc. in 1986 as a bimonthly periodical. It went monthly in May 2003 and ceased print publication altogether in September 2007 with Issue 150...
#77 (November 1999).
Dungeons & Dragons 3.0 edition (2000-2002)
The blue slaad, death slaad, the gray slaad, the green slaad, and the red slaad appear in the Monster Manual for this edition (2000).The slaadi and their role in the planes are detailed in this edition's Manual of the Planes (2001). The black slaad and the white slaad appeared in the Epic Level Handbook (2002).
The gormeel appeared in Dragon #306 (April 2003).
The mud slaad appears in the Fiend Folio (2003) for this edition.
Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 edition (2003-2007)
The blue slaad, death slaad, the gray slaad, the green slaad, and the red slaad appear in the revised Monster Manual for this edition (2003).Another new slaad lord, Bazim-Gorag the Firebringer, first appeared in Dungeon #101 (August 2003). Bazim-Gorag later appeared in the Forgotten Realms
Forgotten Realms
The Forgotten Realms is a campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. Commonly referred to by players and game designers alike as "The Realms", it was created by game designer Ed Greenwood around 1967 as a setting for his childhood stories...
book, Champions of Ruin
Champions of Ruin
Champions of Ruin is a hardcover accessory for the 3.5 edition of the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game.-Contents:Champions of Ruin is an expansion to detail the role of evil in the Forgotten Realms setting.-Publication history:...
(2005).
Dungeons & Dragons 4th edition (2008-)
The slaadi, pluralised as slaads, appear in the Monster Manual for this edition (2008).Cultural impact
The word "slaad" has been used to describe frog-like monsters in the Yamara comic, and the webcomic Shadowgirls, which uses the word "slaad" to describe a race of monsters. In Rich Burlew's Order of the Stick webcomic, when a character grew frustrated by the traditional Good-versus-Evil "shoulder angelShoulder angel
A shoulder angel is a plot device used for either dramatic or humorous effect in animation and comic strips . The angel represents conscience and is often accompanied by a shoulder devil representing temptation. They are handy for easily showing inner conflict of a character...
" debate, he attempted to consult Law versus Chaos, with a Slaad representing the latter. In a later installment of the comic, a Chaotic Evil character expresses surprise at only two shoulder devils instead of one devil and one angel appearing; as he has no Good or Lawful sides whatsoever, the devils explain that the character has only them and the slaad.
Slaadi have appeared in 3rd-party game sourcebooks such as the Tome of Horrors from Necromancer Games
Necromancer Games
Necromancer Games was an American publisher of role-playing games. With offices in Seattle, Washington and Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, the company specialized in material for the d20 System, with most of its products being released under the Open Game License of Wizards of the Coast.The company's...
. It was parodied in the HackMaster
HackMaster
HackMaster is a role-playing game produced by Kenzer & Company, being a revised expansion of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. It started out as a fictional game, a parody of the most ludicrous aspects of D&D played by the characters of the Knights of the Dinner Table comic strip by Jolly R. Blackburn...
Hacklopedia of Beasts, published by Kenzer & Company
Kenzer & Company
Kenzer & Company is a Waukegan based publisher of comic books, role-playing games, board games, card games, and miniature games....
. The plot of the Downer series of graphic novels by Kyle Stanley Hunter, published by Diamond Comic Distributors
Diamond Comic Distributors
Diamond Comic Distributors, Inc. is the largest comic book distributor serving North America. They transport comic books from both big and small comic book publishers, or suppliers, to the retailers. Diamond dominates the direct market in the United States, and has exclusive arrangements with most...
, revolves around a slaad-created artifact.
Depiction
In the D&D game slaadi are native to the Outer PlaneOuter Plane
In the fantasy role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons, an Outer Plane is one of a number of general types of planes of existence. They can also be referred to as godly planes, spiritual planes or divine planes. The Outer Planes are home to beings such as deities and otherworldly creatures such as...
of Limbo
Limbo (Dungeons & Dragons)
In Dungeons and Dragons, fantasy role-playing game, Limbo or more fully, the Ever-Changing Chaos of Limbo, is a chaotic neutral-aligned plane of existence...
. As such they are of the outsider
Outsider (Dungeons & Dragons)
In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, an outsider is a type of creature, or "creature type". Outsiders are at least partially composed of the essence of a plane other than the Prime Material Plane....
type, being composed of the essence of their home plane. Encountered on most other planes they also receive the extraplanar subtype. Slaadi are almost always chaotic neutral except for the death slaadi, which are usually chaotic evil and the gormeel slaadi, which are usually lawful neutral.
In the various D&D products in which they are presented, slaadi are described as frog or toad-like humanoids. Within that rough characterization they have a wide range of forms depending on subtype, and often corresponding to their rank in society. Size also varies between the different subtypes, from human sized to several feet taller than human sized.
Society
In various editions of D&D the slaadi have been depicted as having a complex social system bound up in the relationship and reproductive cycles of the various subtypes. Some subtypes dominate others, though as slaadi are creatures of chaos, such domination occurs not through a regimented hierarchy, but by brute force. In earlier D&D editions a symbol of power was embedded in each slaad's forehead, and non-magical tattoos on the forehead represented achievements and status. The latter physical characteristics do not appear in 3rd and later editions of D&D. In earlier editions of D&D the slaad were divided only into red, blue, green, gray and death subtypes. 3rd Edition D&D added the mud, and epic level white and black subtypes. In all editions the slaad have been dominated by the Slaad Lords, Ssendam and Ygorl.Red and blue slaadi reproduce by infecting living hosts. The red do so by implanting eggs beneath their victim's skin which grow into a baby blue slaad that eats the host from within. The blue infect the host with a lycanthropy-like disease that slowly transforms them into a red slaad. Despite being the means of producing the other slaad type, reds and blues despise one another. If either a red slaad or blue slaad infects an arcane spellcaster, the host will spawn a green slaad, superior to its parent in that it may cast spells. A green slaad, upon reaching its hundredth year of life, will retreat into isolation for the duration of about a year. Upon its return it has transformed into a smaller, but more powerful grey slaad, which focus more on spell-casting than most other slaadi. Some grey slaadi undergo an unnamed, mysterious ritual, which transforms them into death slaadi. Death slaadi possess amazing magical and physical might, but eschew focusing on the former, as the greys do, being bent more on perpetuating slaughter and death. As such, death slaad tend more towards an evil alignment than do most other slaadi. If the death slaad survives a century, it turns into the white slaad. And if the white slaad survives a century, it turns into a black slaad in the manner of its preceding transformations. The black slaad is the most powerful slaad, excluding the slaad lords. The reproductive cycle of mud slaadi is not detailed.
The Spawning Stone is the primordial home of the slaadi, located in "a realm of their greatest dominion", and drifting about Limbo. The passage of the stone generates currents in the raw chaos-stuff of the plane, and slaadi are able to follow these currents "upstream" to the Stone's location. In the mating season, each race of slaad converges on the Spawning Stone, wresting the Stone away from the previous group, so that they may fertilize each others' internal egg sacs, and carry away the seed-like fertilized eggs for later implantation into host bodies. Sometimes, however, young slaadi are produced right there at the stone because the slaadi implant each other in their mating frenzy. Thus, dead adult slaadi routinely float about the stone until destroyed by the chaos of Limbo. True slaadi are described as beings of ultimate chaos who have no set form. Only the Slaad Lords Ssendam
Ssendam
In the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, Ssendam is the Slaad Lord of Insanity.-Publication history:Ssendam was created by Charles Stross, and first appeared in the first edition Fiend Folio ....
and Ygorl are representative of this type. Somehow they affected the 'Spawning Stone' to prevent the emergence of slaadi more powerful than them, which keeps the slaadi within the aforementioned groups. Although anomalies do slip through in the chaos, they have less variety, and less chance of being more powerful than the Slaad Lords. One such anomaly is the Gormeel Slaad, which is a subtype introduced in an article in Dragon (magazine)
Dragon (magazine)
Dragon is one of the two official magazines for source material for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game and associated products, the other being Dungeon. TSR, Inc. originally launched the monthly printed magazine in 1976 to succeed the company's earlier publication, The Strategic Review. The...
as a large, mutant variety "born from the Spawning Stone", and escaping the notice of Ygorl and Ssendam. They are lawful in alignment, serving as allies and sometimes mounts of the githzerai
Githzerai
The githzerai are a fictional race of creatures in the roleplaying game Dungeons & Dragons.Githzerai are extraplanar humanoid creatures that reside on the Plane of Limbo.-Publication history:...
against other slaadi.
Slaad Lords
Slaad Lords are the defacto rulers of the Slaadi race. Though true to their chaotic nature they often do not appear anything like other Slaadi.Known slaad lords include Ygorl
Ygorl
In the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, Ygorl is the Slaad Lord of Entropy.-Publication history:Ygorl was created by Charles Stross, and first appeared in the first edition Fiend Folio ....
, Lord of Entropy; Ssendam
Ssendam
In the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, Ssendam is the Slaad Lord of Insanity.-Publication history:Ssendam was created by Charles Stross, and first appeared in the first edition Fiend Folio ....
, Lord of Madness; Chourst
Chourst
Chourst the Unpredictable is the slaad Lord of Randomness, in the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game.-Publication history:Chourst appeared in second edition in Dragon #221 .-Description:...
, Lord of Randomness; Rennbuu
Rennbuu
Rennbuu, the flamboyant Lord of Colors, is one of the youngest slaad lords, in the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game. He takes great joy in his newfound powers to transform everything around him into works of art. Rennbuu can be practically cruel and malicious as he busily roams Limbo and the...
, Lord of Colors; and Wartle.
Forgotten Realms, The Erevis Cale trilogy
In Paul S. KempPaul S. Kemp
Paul S. Kemp is a fantasy author most known for his Forgotten Realms novels. Some examples of his work include Resurrection, the final installation of War of the Spider Queen series...
's early trilogy, the main antagonist known as the Sojourner has 4 slaadi henchmen that he refers to as his "children" named Azriim, Dolgan, Eleura and Serrin. In the books they appear to be bound to the sojourner, and serve as a constant foe to Erevis Cale
Erevis Cale
Erevis Cale is a fictional character in the Forgotten Realms series of books, which are published by Wizards of the Coast and based on the Forgotten Realms campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game...
and his companions as they try to thwart the sojourner. They are all green slaadi and have been granted various powers by the sojourner. They can cast magic, shapeshift, heal at a very fast rate, and have telepathy. They all tend to choose a human form that suits their taste and only transform back into their slaad forms at certain occasions, mostly when they feed or fight. azriim (the leader) chooses a half drow form with 2 different color eyes, dolgan chooses a cormyrean warrior (basically a big human) and is the dumb brute of the gang, Serrin is dark and assassin-like and chooses a slender human. Their true slaad forms are green, very large, scaled reptiles, with powerful legs, long claws, and sharp teeth. During the series the sojourner, with the power to destroy worlds at a whim, transforms dolgan and azriim into gray slaadi as a reward. They are portrayed as a mix between a moth and reptile, and have the ability to fly. They are later transformed into death slaadi, which are portrayed as their original reptilian slaad form, with slightly altered physical features. Their most notable trait is that they appear almost see-through and have much stronger abilities. The slaadi in this trilogy are intelligent, most probably from the sojourner's tampering with them while they were in their eggs.
Xanxost
Xanxost is a blue slaad with a penchant for exploring the planes, explaining their secrets to everyone interested, and eating whatever he can catch, particularly mephitMephit
In the fictional world of the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, mephits are extraplanar creatures similar to imps.-Publication history:...
s. He appears as a character in the Planescape accessories Faces of Evil: The Fiends and The Inner Planes. Both of these books are written as if they were created by someone within the Planescape setting, and within that writing style, both books have an 'editor' who collected the investigations and opinions of various planar creatures on the topic at hand. Xanxost is one such character. "Though his mannerisms are often odd, his information is always reliable".
In Faces of Evil he is one of the 'authors' of the section on tanar'ri, and in The Inner Planes he 'wrote' the section on the Quasielemental Plane of Steam
Inner Plane
The Inner Planes are the innermost planes of existence in the standard cosmology of the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game. They are the building blocks of the multiverse, the elements and energies from which all of the material universe is made.The Inner Planes, the material building blocks of...
. Xanxost seems less chaotic than other slaadi in that he can write a mostly coherent piece of text, though his nature still shows through in his writing style, with many wanderings off-topic (mostly to the subject of food), repetitions of earlier remarks, and a seeming inability to count. Xanxost is referred to as "it" in Faces of Evil, which makes some sense given the unusual nature of slaadi reproduction, but as "he" in The Inner Planes.
Zgotar
Zgotar, a death slaad, appears in Scott Bennie's "Threshold of Evil" adventure in Dungeon MagazineDungeon (magazine)
Dungeon Adventures, or simply Dungeon, was a magazine targeting consumers of role-playing games, particularly Dungeons & Dragons. It was first published by TSR, Inc. in 1986 as a bimonthly periodical. It went monthly in May 2003 and ceased print publication altogether in September 2007 with Issue 150...
#10. The primary villain of that adventure, Azurax Silverhawk, has been officially placed in the Forgotten Realms
Forgotten Realms
The Forgotten Realms is a campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. Commonly referred to by players and game designers alike as "The Realms", it was created by game designer Ed Greenwood around 1967 as a setting for his childhood stories...
campaign setting. However, Zgotar also appeared in Castle Greyhawk
Castle Greyhawk (module)
Castle Greyhawk is an adventure module for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy roleplaying game, set in the game's World of Greyhawk campaign setting. The module bears the code WG7 and was published by TSR, Inc...
(1987) in an adventure scenario also written by Scott Bennie. In addition, Azurax is called a "plane
Plane (Dungeons & Dragons)
The planes of the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game constitutes the multiverse in which the game takes place.In the earliest versions of Dungeons & Dragons, the concept of the Inner, Ethereal, Prime Material, Astral and Outer Planes was introduced; at the time there were only four Inner Planes...
-wandering archmage" and Old Empires
Old Empires
Old Empires is an accessory for the fictional Forgotten Realms campaign setting for the second edition of the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game...
said he has only recently purchased his property in the Hills of Maerth.
Slaadi in other media
- The slaad lord Ygorl appeared as the final bossBoss (video games)A boss is an enemy-based challenge which is found in video games. A fight with a boss character is commonly referred to as a boss battle or boss fight...
in the video game Forgotten Realms: Demon StoneForgotten Realms: Demon StoneForgotten Realms: Demon Stone is a video game that was released in 2004 for PlayStation 2, Xbox and Windows PC. It is set in the Forgotten Realms campaign setting for Dungeons & Dragons , but the gameplay only vaguely models D&D's structure. The story was written by R.A...
where he was voiced by Michael Clarke DuncanMichael Clarke DuncanMichael Clarke Duncan is an American actor, best known for his breakout role as John Coffey in The Green Mile, for which he was nominated for an Academy Award and a Golden Globe.- Early life :...
. In the game, Ygorl was depicted as humanoid in appearance but was covered in tough chitinous armor and had many claw-like mandibles extending from the back of his head.
- In The Order of the Stick #68, a tiny slaad appears above bard Elan's shoulder, representing the 'chaotic' side of his conscience, along with the customary angel and devil and a modron that spouts binary code representing 'lawful.' Chaotic evil ranger Belkar is said to have a similar slaad in 'The Order of the Stick #435.
- Slaadi were illustrated in the Counter Collection II from Fiery Dragon Production.
Additional reading
- Burlew, Rich. Order of the Stick: Dungeon Crawlin' Fools. (Giant in the Playground Games, 2005).
- Duis, Joseph. Hacklopedia of Beasts Volume VII. (Kenzer & CompanyKenzer & CompanyKenzer & Company is a Waukegan based publisher of comic books, role-playing games, board games, card games, and miniature games....
, 2002)
- Greene, Scott. Tome of Horrors. (Necromancer Games, 2002).
- Hunter, Kyle. Downer: Fool's Errand. (Diamond Comic Distributors, 2008).
- Manui, Barbara, and Chris Adams. Yamara. (Steve Jackson GamesSteve Jackson GamesSteve Jackson Games is a game company, founded in 1980 by Steve Jackson, that creates and publishes role-playing, board, and card games, and the gaming magazine Pyramid.-History:...
, 1994).
- Pozas, Claudio, and Ryan Nock, James Bell, Michael Johnstone. Counter Collection II. (Fiery Dragon Production, 2002).