Sea Demon [Greater Tanar'ri]

These aloof fiends, sometimes called water lords, are hideous: humanoid torsos, bulging eyes that give them the look of a leering fish, and jaws full of needle teeth. They live in the watery reaches of the Lower Planes and occasionally elsewhere, content to be left alone. They have no magic to command other creatures, yet sea dwellers fear them so much that even mindless ones serve them.

Shrewd fighters, sea demons never hand an enemy an advantage and never grant mercy. Seeing no reason to suffer, they send minions first: 2d6 sharks, 3d6 sahuagin, 1d4 evil ray-folk of the deep or 1d3 water elementals. While the minions keep fighting and the demon itself is safe, it hangs back. If pressed, it claws twice (1d8 each) and bites (1d12), and three times a day it can breathe a 30-foot cone of boiling water, 10 feet wide at the base, for 3d10 damage.

Water and cold attacks do it no harm. Electricity hurts it fully but reaches it only half the time; otherwise the bolt rebounds on the caster for full damage. Fire deals double damage once the fiend is out of the water, and none while it stays fully submerged. Water elementals sent against it will not attack, and any that come within 100' have a 50% chance of falling under its control instead of their summoner's.

Sea demons are territorial and tolerate no powerful neighbors. Once settled they rarely roam, guarding what is theirs and ignoring the world beyond. Many dwell on the 88th layer of the Abyss, a cold, lightless realm of water ruled by the two-headed prince of demons. They need no ordinary food or drink, but enjoy eating creatures foolish enough to come close, leaving the remains outside to feed the sharks and scare off the curious.

Bad-tempered, they strain against any binding a spellcaster places on them. A summoned sea demon has a 20% chance to defy its summoner, kill him, and rampage until it tires of the plane, meanwhile gathering considerable power under the waves, though it seldom takes treasure home. On the Prime Material Plane its domain is usually a circle 25 miles across with its palace at the center, which may be anything from an undersea architectural wonder to a simple gap in a coral reef. One still seeking a domain often preys on shipping, sinking vessels on a whim and chasing away sea dragons, aquatic elves and similar creatures.