Locathah

These 5- to 6-foot, 150- to 200-pound fish-folk wear tough pale yellow scales, ivory at throat and belly, with ocher spinal and ear fins that aid hearing and large eyes made for the depths. A female is marked only by an ocher stripe over her egg sac. Ashore they reek of fish. Besides their own tongue, 10% know merman, koalinth or another sea language.

Clever rather than strong, they defeat deadlier rivals through numbers and coordination, and away from home they ride giant eels that also fight beside them. Having no claws or fangs, a disarmed locathah is harmless; it grapples if armed comrades are nearby, otherwise it hunts for a weapon or flees. They fight to the death only when cornered or defending home.

Every forty are led by an 18 hp chief fighting as a 4th-level fighter, helped by four 14 hp lieutenants of 3rd level. A clan larger than 120 obeys a female chieftain (22 hp, 5th-level fighter) and her 12 guards (12-14 hp, 3rd level). Their shamans reach at most 3rd level as priests.

Their communal, territorial hunter-gatherer society resembles that of surface humans. Tribes, from a score to hundreds strong, carve rock into castles much like those on land, sealing gaps with heavy doors, shutters or bars of coral. Some 4d4 moray eels stand guard, Portuguese man-o-war jellyfish serve as traps half the time, and giant eels are herded at the fringe.

The chieftain lays many eggs, which hatch in guarded nurseries after five or six months. Young are raised in common, but each is given a non-warrior adult 'parent' who answers for it.

Omnivorous, they farm and forage. With stone-age skills they make their own weapons, tools and trinkets and scavenge anything better from wrecks, invaders and the drowned. Peaceful visitors, especially traders, are welcome: their coral art buys forged metal, pottery and lasting magic. They also work as guides and tax fishermen who use their waters.

Ashore they can barely crawl, unused to their own weight, unless magic lifts them. After ten turns their gills dry, costing 1 hit point per round until they reach water again.

Locathah always try to rescue captured kin or retrieve their bodies. If they find them aboard a ship, they may demand their return or just cut through the hull and sink it.