Copyright 2010 Wizards of the Coast.

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Kuo-toa made their 4e debut in the Monster Manual, and would get a MV style upgrade in Dungeon 193. This entry gives us extra stat blocks that don’t overlap with either, even though it came out months before the Dungeon update.

The Lore

Kuo-Toa basic lore remains the same. They’re the spear-wielding fish people that live in the Underdark and worship aboleths and other aberrant entities. Their priests, known as whips, are their absolute rulers, and discipline is enforced by individuals known as monitors.

This entry adds that whips and monitors are able to force their underlings to follow a coherent combat strategy even though those underlings tend to be very mentally unstable. If these leaders fall before their underlings, the group’s tactics will become a lot more erratic. Some will run, some will go berserk, and so on.

The Monsters

All kuo-toa in this entry have ground and swim speeds of 6. They are Aquatic and have Darkvision. Their signature ability is Slick Maneuver, a move action that can be used when they’re adjacent to an enemy and allows them to shift 3 squares, though they must end the move still adjacent to the enemy.

Kuo-Toa Mad One

As you can guess from the name, Mad Ones are unstable even by the standards of other kuo-toa. They’re afflicted by a form of supernatural insanity that originates in the Far Realm and is contagious. They hang around old ruins and temples, worshipping and guarding ancient artifacts far away from the rest of their society. If one of these is stolen, they’ll give chase to punish the thieves and recover the relic.

Mad Ones are Level 12 Minion Skirmishers, and notably lack Slick Maneuver. Instead, they have an aura (1) of Spreading Madness that gives all enemies inside 5 Vulnerability to psychic damage. Their Claw attacks damage and allow them to shift 1 square on a hit. They can also release a Psychic Scream in a Close Blast 3. It deals a small amount of psychic damage, though that gets a boost from Spreading Madness.

Kuo-Toa Drowner

Drowners specialize on raiding ships and dragging their crews to a watery doom. They wield hooks and barbed nets in combat.

Drowners are Level 14 Soldiers with 137 HP. Their hooks can be used for basic attacks and for a Dredging Hook maneuver that does the same damage as a basic attack and slides the target 3 squares to another square adjacent to the kuo-toa. Combined with Slick Maneuver, this makes the process of dragging a victim overboard into a sort of spiral dance.

The Barbed Net can be thrown as a ranged attack vs. Reflex. It deals a bit less damage than the hook, and if the target willingly moves in their next turn they take extra damage. Drowners carry 4 of these nets each.

Kuo-Toa Lash

Lashes are a caste of lesser priests, subservient to the whips and responsible for overseeing sacrifices. This includes leading raids to acquire victims. They fight with tridents and a combination of lightning and water-based magic.

Lashes are Level 15 Artillery with 115 HP. They can use their tridents in melee or throw them in a Lightning Trident attack that’s stronger, deals lightning damage, and causes the weapon to return to the lash. Its main disadvantage is that the range on this attack is only 3/6.

Their Fill Lungs spell reaches a lot farther. It targets Fortitude, does physical damage, and inflicts ongoing 5 damage. It’s also very scary.

They can also use a Forked Lightning spell that works as a lightning-based fireball that also blinds on a hit. This recharges whey they’re first bloodied, or when they reduce an enemy to 0 HP.

Kuo-Toa Cutter

Cutters are classic skirmishers, trained to slip through enemy frontlines and stab their squishies with serrated daggers. They’re Level 16 Skirmishers with 151 HP.

The barbed dagger does standard damage for their level, and they can also use it in a Crippling Strike that does less damage but inflicts slowness and ongoing 10 damage (save ends). If someone misses them with a melee attack, the cutter can shift 4 squares and use Barbed Dagger as a reaction.

Final Impressions

These go well with the Dungeon 193 updated kuo-toa, and if you’re already using those then you’ll like these ones. No big lore changes here, but the stat blocks are cool enough.