The Kuo-toa
Mad God Makers
A thick fog rolled in as a small coastal town slept peacefully, unaware of the impending doom lurking just off the shore. Vile whispers rippled through the dark waters as the Kuo-toa raiders emerged from the murky depths. With a sudden horn blast from conch shells, the raiders beset the town.
Alarm bells tolled; the town’s defenders roused from their beds, and a passing group of adventurers burst from the seaside tavern. Swords sliced through the rubbery scales and magic streaked through the air as the battle unfolded in the shrouded streets. Slowly, inch by inch, the kuo-toa raiders were pushed back to the water, being met by furious slaughter.
In a surge of accursed energy, the waters around the Kuo-toa erupted, giving birth to a colossal, writhing mass, their new god emerging from the abyss. Its eldritch form, resembling an amalgamation of the adventurers and the Kuo-toa’s own fishy forms, turned its gaze onto the town and adventurers. The kuo-toa raiders turned to the monster and started chanting "Guumoogan" repeatedly with insane reverence, giving more and more strength to their new deity. The real adventure had just begun.
Overview
These little freaks are very fun for combat and non-combat encounters in the Underdark and in coastal cities at night. While not physically or mentally imposing, they will make up for it in sheer numbers and insanity. In small numbers (one or two more than the number of adventurers), they can be a good match for low level adventurer parties. As your party gets stronger, you can feel free to throw more Kuo-Toa at them, or increase their potency from standard Kuo-Toa to Kuo-Toa Whips, Monitors, and Archpriests, giving you the ability to harass and challenge parties into Tier 3 play. Additionally, with their god creation (more on this later), you can even make these little fish-monsters a collective BBEG of your game for added chaos.
First things first, these little guys are bullies. They pick on those weaker than them and hide from anything stronger than them. This doesn’t mean that they won’t try to pick fights with those that are stronger than them if the Kuo-toa have numbers on their side. This just means that as soon as the scales start tipping out of their favor, Kuo-toa will flee to gather their strength.
Secondly, Kuo-toa are extremely religious. Every member of their community is the most zealous fanatic to take up arms in the name of their deity. A Kuo-toa Archpreist carries a substantial amount of authority in their communities, to the point where they are actual prophets of their chosen deity (or deities) and their infinite madness. Their collective subconscious thought and worship of their false gods can, and will, spawn new deities.1 This is lightly touched on within the text blocks on the Monster Manual entry.
Thirdly, many Kuo-toa were former slaves to the Mindflayers. Through generations of enslavement, the minds of the Kuo-toa have broken beyond repair. This has come with some unintended benefits. Invisible creatures and those in the Ethereal plane are sensed by Kuo-toa, and can be pinpointed if they move within the detection range.
Finally, the Kuo-toa are absolutely inspired by “The Shadows Over Innsmouth” by H.P. Lovecraft.2 If you want a good detailed description to use for these silly little freaks, I would recommend ripping "queer narrow heads with flat noses and bulgy, stary eyes" from the book and using it in your game for the initial meeting and subsequent meetings.
Stats
Since the Kuo-Toa are split into four different stat blocks for their scaling power, we will be breaking down each one in their own individual blog posts. Now, let's see what our little beastie can do.
From here, we can note the following:
Low AC and medium Hit Points for their CR makes them prime candidates for early and mid game minion monsters.
While it shares a CR with Goblins, Kuo-toa are not as weak as them and have more well rounded abilities.
With a 30 foot swim speed and their Amphibious and Slippery abilities, our little weirdos should be popping out of the water, making quick attacks, then dropping back in for quick getaways.
Kuo-toa are very average in terms of every attribute. They don’t need to be mindless monsters rampaging through the underdark. Rather, they can be just average commoners, albeit they will be batshit insane.
The Net weapon is perfect for taking captives. Being held for ransom with the party or villages, or to start a nefarious ritual for their deities. This will, however, make the Kuo-toa move at a lowered speed. More on this in the combat examples.
The Sticky Shield reaction I love the idea of, but can be used very poorly. I would not recommend using this ability on low level party members, as taking the attack action away from Martials3 before they get their abilities can be too frustrating. I would recommend only using this reaction when the Kuo-toa are fleeing back to the water, to aid the escape to allow for more encounters. If the weapon is magic allow it to fall off the shield after the
Kuo-toa has made its movement.
Combat Example
Using what we have learned so far, we will be constructing two combat examples.
The first of our examples will take place in one of the many underground lakes of the Underdark. Included will be 6 Kuo-toa against 4 level three adventurers.
Our intrepid adventurers have been traveling for the past two days in the Underdark, chasing a lead on their current adventure. Underwater, they are being stalked by a small swarm of Kuo-toa. As the adventurers draw closer to a shoreline, the Kuo-toa spring to attack the boat and adventurers, whether or not they have been detected.
Turn one, the Kuo-toa do the following: three throw spears at whichever adventurer is closest; two attack the boat attempting to render the adventurers stranded; finally, one uses a net to attempt to take a captive.
If two Kuo-toa die before they get their next turn, then the group disperses and hides until they can gather other members of their tribe/village/clan (whatever you want to call it) to return in numbers and exact revenge.
The second of our examples will take place in a small coastal town in the dead of night. Included are 5 Kuo-toa, and many more that aren’t directly involved in the combat against 4 level two adventurers.
Our adventurers have settled into the tavern to eat and drink the night away. Shrieks and screams erupt outside of the tavern; a surprise raid has been enacted on this small town in the name of a devious deity. No surprise round is given to either side.
As the party rushes outside, this is what they see: coming out of the building across the street from them, 4 Kuo-toa are rummaging through wares scattered in the street, while one is pulling a net that has a villager tangled within.
The 4 Kuo-toa will directly engage the party until one of them dies. The net wielding Kuo-toa uses its action to dash, giving it 40 feet of movement. If a party member attacks the Kuo-toa making off with the net, it will drop the net and flee for its life.
This will be the Call to Adventure for the party to go rescue the residents of this coastal town and delve into the wild world of the Underdark.
Non-Combat Encounters
From the stat block, we know that Kuo-toa are similar to commoners, which means we can create non-combat encounters. Here are a few you can feel free to use as you want.
Bloodop the Scavenger
While traveling through the Underdark the party stumbles into a Kuo-toa with a boat full of random trinkets that they will trade for “shiny things”. Items I would keep stocked with Bloodop are the Exotic Fungi from “Out of the Abyss” page 23.
The Devout of Plodrigu
A rapidly growing village of Kuo-toa who have created a goddess of “love”. This goddess has taken the shape of a Humanoid woman with several fish parts, and her “love” consists of birthing many new Kuo-toa, which cannibalize each other so that only the strong children survive. This village may grow to a dangerous horde of zealous carnivorous fishmen (think bipedal piranhas) unless they find a new god, and soon.
Slupbudoo the Mad
While traveling the caverns of the Underdark, the party finds the small camp of Slupbudoo the Mad, a Kuo-toa with a penchant for creating wild and mystical creations. This can be a magic item vendor for parties in need of a Bag of Holding or Potions of Healing (though these will be described as disgusting, fishy-smelling concoctions.)
Final Thoughts
The Kuo-toa are zealous little freaks who are a blast to run if you play into their insanity. Allow them to think they have the upper hand until they are quickly cut down by the adventurers. They can be formidable foes if left to die to the last, but I wouldn’t recommend doing that unless Whips, Monitors, or an Archpriest is present, to keep them from being too powerful for low level characters. More on those two coming soon.
The YouTube content Creator Zee Bashew provides great guidance for this process in their Kuo-toa video. Give it a watch, take inspiration, or straight up use their Kuo-toa god creation plan.
Just wanted to make a note of: Fuck H.P. Lovecraft and his xenophobia. Check out the novella and all his other works from your local library and don’t spend your hard earned money if you really want to read them.
There are 3 Types of classes: Casters, Martials, and Experts. Casters are Druid, Sorcerer, Warlock, and Wizard. Martials are Barbarian, Fighter, Monk, and Paladin. Experts are Bard, Cleric, Ranger, Rogue.