Sahuagin

Sahuagin are scaly fish-men, greenish black above and green below, with black fins, huge glossy black eyes, webbed hands and feet, and fanged mouths. About one in 216 is a four-armed mutant, typically colored gray fading from black. Females are slightly smaller than males but otherwise identical. Pale green hatchlings reach adult size and color in one or two months. They speak only their own tongue.

Their scales equal AC 5, so they wear only a gear harness. Spears only thrust. Hooked nets trap anyone unarmored or lacking Strength 16 to tear loose, and on land each net is traded for three javelins. Crossbows reach just 30 feet underwater, normal range in air. Tridents spear small prey, pin the netted, and fend off threats. Unarmed, a sahuagin claws twice for 1d2 and bites for 1d4, adding two 1d4 rakes with its taloned feet when it can.

Underwater they see 300 feet at depths to 100 feet, losing 10 feet of sight per extra 100 feet of depth. They hear clinking metal a mile off and a splashing oar at two miles.

Each band has a 4+4 HD chieftain and one 3+3 HD lieutenant per ten warriors, in addition to the normal count. Raiding villages, they surge forward with leaders behind the front line and plunder until stiff resistance appears. Underwater they dive on explorers from behind and above, dropping nets as they pass. Boarding ships from all sides, they hurl defenders into the sea, where a quarter or more of the band waits; a leader's conch calls this reserve in. Terrified of magic, they focus on anyone using spells or spell-like powers. They save vs. fire spells at -2 and take +1 damage per die from them.

Called sea devils by coastal folk, sahuagin dwell 100 to 1,500 feet down in warm salt water, loathe fresh water, and are pained by bright light such as continual light. They survive up to four hours in air and kill as eagerly for pleasure as for food.

A king rules nine provinces under princes, each with 2d10+10 nobles over local fiefs. His capital is said to fill both walls of a canyon at the deepest livable depth, housing 5,000 plus a court of over 1,000. The king (10+10 HD) and all nine princes are reputedly four-armed; he keeps nine 9+9 HD guards and the high priestess (9+9 HD) with nine 7th-level underpriestesses. Females lead the worship of a great devil-shark, and priests over 5th level are rare.

Every ten males in a lair bring a 10% chance of a priestess of level 1d4+1 with 1d4 assistants of 3rd or 4th level, and 2d4 sharks always obey simple commands there. One lair in twenty is a prince's: an 8+8 HD prince, nine chieftain-grade guards, an 8th-level high priestess with four underpriestesses of 4th level, doubled populations, and 4d6 sharks. Towns of seaweed-cloaked domed stone lie 2d10+20 miles offshore, and raids reach 50 miles.

Prisoners are caged, without air except in noble towns. A few are tortured or set to fight in arenas; most are eaten, some after being allowed a false escape that ends among sharks. Real escapees are hunted down to protect the city's secret. The strong bully the weak, the infirm and flawed young are eaten, and any leader may be challenged to an unarmed duel to the death, the loser sometimes served at the victory feast. They grow slowly all their lives, wear pearl and coral as status jewelry, and hoard victims' wealth, especially aquatic magic, seeking total mastery of the coasts.

They raid the shore on moonless nights. Legends variously say evil gods reshaped a wicked human nation to survive a great flood, that depraved coastal humans devolved, or, as tritons claim, that drow spawned them from sea elves. Only sharks are their friends. Their wars with the spellcasting, manta-like ixitxachitl keep that race in check, and their hunting of giant squid and kraken, which eat them in turn, balances all three. Their deadliest enemies are dolphins, hippocampi, tritons, and sea elves, who have rescued most of the rare air-breathers to escape them.