Slaad

The chaotic planes seethe and roil with random energy and bits of matter. Weaving their way amid this cacophony of light and sound are the slaadi.

Creatures of chaos, slaadi have been likened to humanoid toads, but that description belies their agility and fearsome fighting prowess.

All slaadi speak their own language, Slaad. Green, gray, and death slaadi also speak Common, and in addition death slaadi can communicate telepathically.

Mud Slaad

Though the red slaad is thought by many to be the weakest member of the race, this is not true. The mud slaad is an even lower creature. Derided by some of its more powerful relatives, the mud slaad is still a challenging opponent for many groups of adventurers.

Mud slaadi stand about 5 feet tall and weigh around 170 pounds. Their skin varies in tone through shades of brown to a sickly brownish green. They have a slaad’s characteristic wide mouth full of sharp teeth, and strong, sharp talons on the ends of long, spindly arms.

Mud slaadi are insecure and cowardly creatures. They have a strong survival instinct, though, and often find ways to stay alive even in the face of overwhelming odds.

Mud slaadi speak the language of slaadi.

Combat

Mud slaadi usually begin combat with their sonic screech or with an attempt to summon more slaadi. If faced with odds they find overwhelming, they try to cower or feign death.

A mud slaad can be summoned using a summon monster VI spell.

Cringe (Su): As a standard action, a mud slaad can cower in fear. This is a mind-affecting effect. Any opponent attempting to strike or otherwise directly attack the cringing creature, even with a targeted spell, must attempt a Will save (DC 12). If the save succeeds, the opponent can attack normally and is immune to the effect of that mud slaad’s cringing for 24 hours. If the save fails, the opponent can’t follow through with the attack, that part of the attacker’s action is lost, and the attacker can’t directly attack the mud slaadi for as long as it continues to cringe. If the mud slaad stops cringing and then cringes again, the opponent may attempt a new Will save to attack it.

Disease (Ex): Any creature hit by a mud slaad’s bite attack must succeed on a Fortitude save (DC 15) or be infected with a disease that transforms the victim over the next week into a mud slaad. The infected creature can attempt a new save each day (DC 15) to throw off the infection.

Sonic Screech (Su): Once per day, a mud slaad can emit a tremendous screech. Every creature within 30 feet must succeed on a Fortitude save (DC 15) or take 5d6 points of sonic damage.

Summon Slaad (Sp): Once per day a mud slaad can attempt to summon 1 mud slaad with a 40% chance of success (result of 61–100 on d%) or 1 red slaad with a 20% chance of success (result of 81–100 on d%).

Feign Death (Ex): If an opponent strikes a mud slaad and reduces it to 10 or fewer hit points, it can immediately attempt to feign death as an immediate action. This ability comes into use on the opponent’s turn. Any creature that witnesses a mud slaad that is feigning death, including those creatures that watch it fall, can make a Sense Motive check (DC 22) to determine if the slaad’s death is genuine. A Spot check will not reveal that the slaad’s death is feigned, and even a Heal or Search check isn’t guaranteed to discover the deception, so adroit is the mud slaad at stilling its breathing and reducing its heart rate. A successful check using either skill (DC 22) is required to reveal that the mud slaad still lives.

Source: Fiend Folio, page 157. Changes applied as per the D&D^® v.3.5 Accessory Update. Marked the Feign Death special ability as an immediate action.