I really like the concept of the Slaadi and I think they have a lot of potential. I love aliens, I love horror-scifi transformations, and I love non-evil monsters that are still threats! But compared to the Modrons, the other scifi-esque planar denizens and their foils, I don't think Slaadi are developed as well as they could be.

Slaadi, in my opinion, are not Chaotic Neutral. I don't normally play Alignment so strict, but for the planes where they have a very interesting role in being embodied by these dimensions, I wish they were thought through more. The only reason Slaadi aren't evil aligned is because their description doesn't explicitly go on about how much they delight in their enemy's pain, the shortcut for many other monsters in the manual to get the evil label.

Also, I really dislike when dnd writing makes Chaotic creatures without hierarchy obey a hierarchy anyways out of fear, especially with embodiments of chaos like Demons and Slaadi. Slaadi have a fear of being annihilated by the ones above them, but... why would they do that anyways? Outside of the Death Slaad they're not supposed to be evil, just Chaotic, just like how Lawful Good isn't inherently more good than Chaotic Good. Besides, Slaadi exist to spite the god of another plane anyways. This other Slaad is more powerful than I am *says who*?

Now, while I'd love to try using Slaadi in stories, I'm actually pretty short on ideas for reflavoring them right now and I'd love to take suggestions from others who've put their own spins on these critters.

Here's some ideas I'll throw at the wall:

- The control gem in their brain is a really cool nod to their origins of the control-heavy Mechanus, and the idea that these can be acquired by people or even destroyed by some spells is really cool! To develop off of that I think Slaadi should be very, VERY averse to being controlled in any way. Maybe even spurring them to work together to get the gem away from someone who acquires it because control as a concept is disgusting to them. Even if you get past the moral hurdle of controlling an intelligent and non-evil creature, when that gem gets out of your grasp, you'd best start running.

- A way you could channel them being destructive and chaotic and making them perfect foils to the Modrons without being evil? Making them the ultimate contrarians. Slaadi aren't mindless killers, but if one of them wants to do something in one direction the other books it the opposite way. It just happens that the principles of many creatures out there includes "not dying".

- A bit of a silly spin on how, alternatively, they could work together as a species: which other Slaad the starving one gets to eat, which destination they're dropping off on to incubate some folks, and who gets their first pick of fried quasit legs is decided by games of chance, with confusing and contradictory rules to the eyes of any non-abberation onlookers. Can be a mix of the dbz ginyu force gimmick with calvinball. I like that the Modron, despite being the ultimate Lawful Neutral hivemind-y operators of an entire dimension, are kinda goofy looking and often not that smart. I think that Slaadi, beings of pure chaos, could do with some quirky traits too. (Imagine if the Slaad language was just... ribbits.)

I'd love to hear your guys' thoughts, or even hear ppl explain if they think the Slaadi work well enough as is!

I've loved Slaad ever since I was in a Planescape campaign back in the 90s.  My approach to running them is that they see the entire multiverse as nothing more than one big game of Calvinball.  They might attack you, but then they might stop in the middle of battle because they've decided to sing ABBA songs.  They might wander into a king's bedroom because they want to count all the threads in his socks.  Or try to stuff trolls under bridges and force them to eat billy goats.  Or try flinging goblins and gnomes off a cliff to see which race bounces further.  Or give people cake.  Or go to a university so they can give lectures on fighting demons.  Or trying to find out if they can fit an entire wagon wheel in their mouth without breaking it.

That's a fun approach!! I like the idea that they can be nice or malicious just depending on how they feel that day. Plus since lawful ideals usually involve holding back on what you personally want in some way, these guys just doing whatever they want whenever even if it's not strategically viable is very fun

I guess the only thing is that it might be difficult to play that practically, especially since I want to make them an antagonistic threat in some way like I think the modrons could easily be, but I can imagine making a random table of some kind for its behavior. Plus they're still gonna be scary from a human perspective, even if that lumbering silent alien creature of chaos is organizing a bouquet out of your garden

It does depend on how much you want them to be part of the story.

Quote from Swadloom >>

...I think Slaadi should be very, VERY averse to being controlled in any way. Maybe even spurring them to work together to get the gem away from someone who acquires it because control as a concept is disgusting to them. Even if you get past the moral hurdle of controlling an intelligent and non-evil creature, when that gem gets out of your grasp, you'd best start running.

 I like this idea. Chaotic Neutral isn't "Random Stupid;" it's "I am averse to a system that's focused on controlling intelligent beings, to the point that I'm willing to contest it directly when I see fit." It isn't random; it's an ethos for them to embrace and pursue. A being that's controlled is a slave and deserving of freedom. What they do with that freedom is their concern.

This nicely puts the Slaadi into the neutral zone and gives them a reason to embrace chaos. It's not madness, it's not random, it's an ethical pursuit.

I generally see Slaad as acting random due to (aside from Death Slaad) they have low wisdom scores, which I choose to interpret as having short attention spans.

Quote from 6thLyranGuard >>

I generally see Slaad as acting random due to (aside from Death Slaad) they have low wisdom scores, which I choose to interpret as having short attention spans.

 
Still not sure I’d go full-on zany antics over that. Definitely impulsive, but not to the point of essentially just having constant random compulsions, particularly for large scale actions. I’d probably have one happily punch someone on a dare or because they don’t like their face, but the bit about stronger slaad basically being able to bully weaker ones into obeying them means they have enough appreciation for consequences and objective reality to not pursue a clearly impossible or suicidal objective on a whim. Now, “because I thought I could get away with it” would absolutely be all the reason they need to try something big, so long as they have a reason to expect it to work (and not necessarily a good one).

Generally, I view a higher-ranking Slaad's authority as lasting precisely as long as the lower-ranking Slaad can see it.

Quote from 6thLyranGuard >>

Generally, I view a higher-ranking Slaad's authority as lasting precisely as long as the lower-ranking Slaad can see it.

I'd call more being within the metaphorical arm's reach; even with sub-10 WIS, they should have enough sense of self-preservation to not be collectively inclined to tick off something that can take that frustration out of their hide in the near future.

Depends on the Slaad.   A Grey Slaad probably wants to avoid angering a Death Slaad, but if a Red Slaad doesn't do something that a Blue Slaad tells it to, there's a decent chance that the Blue will have completely forgotten about the incident if they ever meet again.

Also, Slaad are classified as aberrations in 5E.  That means that their way of thinking is supposed to be pretty incomprehensible to a human.

Revisiting this thread after a little while. Honestly I don't have an issue with Slaadi having enough self preservation sense to not tick off the hierarchy, it's that they *have one* in the first place that feels unfitting. I think D&D's typical format of monsters and their tiers of different species work perfect for Devils and Modrons and Angels, but it does the creatures of the chaotic planes a big disservice. Demons and Devils should NOT work as similarly as they do, in my opinion. (but that's a different rant haha)

Not only do the Slaadi have pretty thin power gaps by rank (enough that I can see the embodiments of "screw the rules" ignore the risk), but why would a higher ranking one want to threaten the one below it in the first place? They're not evil, just weirdos.

I do like the idea of taking out frustration though. Emotions are chaotic, violence is a tool with varied moral associations, and perhaps even if a Slaadi is doing some good, it's gonna claw up the rug (and occasionally other Slaadi) if things aren't going how they wanted.

(man I hope I've been doing the plural slaad vs slaadi right for all this dhjdksjjd)