The Kuo-toa Monitor
Priest's Insane Enforcers
Zugglikk found himself fervently inspired by the whispers of Bahgloopah Blee, the Matron of Crabs. His glassy, bulging eyes reflected the phosphorescent light of the Underdark’s mushrooms. With an maddening fervor, he envisioned a grand raid on a Drow encampment, convinced that any captors from the raid would surely please his god. He started to grab his spears and began chanting a battle hymn from his father’s raiding days and his father’s father’s raiding days.
The Kuo-toa gathered around, Zugglikk’s webbed hands gesticulating wildly as he spoke of the glorious favor that awaited them if they dared to raid the Drow. His words echoed through the cavernous chambers, stirring a mixture of fear and excitement among the normally docile Kuo-toa. Promises of glory, treasure, and captives grew a terrible fervor in the hearts of the Kuo-toa as they descended into the water.
Clutching their primitive weapons tightly in their scaly hands, Zugglikk led the small army of zealots with unwavering confidence. The dark waters grew still as the army submerged completely, obscuring themselves from the watchful eyes of the Drow. They gathered near the shore line and waited for their moment, waiting for the guards to turn their back. The moment came; the army sprang forth from the waters and began tearing into their prey. Bahgloopah Blee would feast on their souls soon enough.
Overview
The Kuo-toa Monitor, unfortunately, does not provide any real meaningful difference from the standard Kuo-toa, at least not mechanically. While they can be used in Tier 3 play1, I cannot recommend it with their current Stat block. I personally believe that the Monitor’s optional addition was born from the fluff text depicting them as enforcers, and the developers took the opportunity to attempt to make an enforcer with a slightly different stat block. However, they failed to make them enough of an enforcer, which is evident in the following Stat Block breakdown.
Stat Block
Here, we are going to compare the Kuo-toa Monitor to a Kuo-toa:
Here is our beastie breakdown, featuring the most interesting differences:
The initial difference we should note is in the Armor Class. While the Stat is the same, how the creature got there is different. The Monitor has a natural armor of 13, and the Kuo-toa has a natural armor of 11 and gets a +2 bonus from its shield. This will be brought up again soon.
Now, the Hit Points. While the Monitor does have a higher hit point total for a CR 3 creature, the rest of the stat block does not provide enough to be a threat to players.
The heart of my argument is in the Actions. Here, I feel the Monitor falls off. While the Unarmed Strike CAN prevent players from using reactions, there aren’t enough reaction spells/abilities to make using the unarmed strike worthwhile, even with Multiattack. Having a variety of attacks will, in my eyes, always be better than a one-trick-pony with a situational modifier.
Furthermore, the d6 lightning damage plus the 1d6+2 isn’t enough of threat for most third level characters; in the worst possible situation, a Wizard or Sorcerer will be at 14 Hit Points (this is, of course, them using the average hit points with a +0 Con).2No Shield. This is rather important for the character. Without a shield, the Monitor has an AC of 13; with a shield, it becomes 15. With the lack of a shield, we now have a character meant to be an enforcer that is neither beefy enough to be a bruiser, nor tanky enough to be a tank. If the idea is, “they are enforcers because they have little taser fists,” then the concept is rather flimsy.
Additionally, the Monitor lacks the Sticky Shield reaction since they do not carry a shield. Now, I understand that a pugilist monster with a shield seems a bit wonky, but the Sticky Shield is one of the best abilities for the Kuo-toa.
Final Thoughts
Ultimately, I do not think the Monitor is different enough from the standard Kuo-toa to use them as a monster. IF you want to have a different type of Kuo-toa in a combat encounter, then I would grab a Kuo-toa Whip and just rename it as a Monitor, or alternatively, homebrew your own monster for the Kuo-toa Monitor.
Used strictly as a minion monster and cannon fodder, but there are better alternatives.
This is a bit of White Room Theorizing*, but the point of 1d6 lightning damage still stands.
*White Room Theorizing refers to looking at information in complete isolation, and not factoring in many (if any) factors that may change the outcome.