Homebrew Abishai Species Details

Each abishai was once a mortal who somehow won Tiamat’s favor before death and, as a reward, found its soul transformed into a draconic devil to serve at her pleasure in the Nine Hells. Each type of abishai is associated with one of Tiamat’s five dragon heads: black, blue, green, red, and white.

Tiamat deploys abishais as her agents, sending them forth to represent her interests in the Hells and across the multiverse. Some have simple tasks, such as delivering a message to cultists. Others have greater responsibilities, such as leading large groups, assassinating targets, and serving in armies. In all cases, abishais are fanatically loyal to Tiamat, ready to lay down their lives if needed.

Abishais stand outside the normal hierarchy of the Nine Hells, having their own chain of command and ultimately answering to Tiamat (and Asmodeus, when he chooses to use them). Other archdevils can command abishais to work for them, but most archdevils do so rarely, since it is never clear whether an abishai follows Tiamat’s orders or Asmodeus’s. There is inherent risk in countermanding an order given by Tiamat, but interfering with Asmodeus’s plans invites certain destruction.

Abishai Traits

Your service to Tiamat grants you the following boons.

Ability Score Increase

Your Strength score increases by 2, and your Constitution by 1.

Creature Type

You are a fiend.

Size

You are medium.

Speed

You have a walking speed of 30 feet and a flying speed of 40 feet.

Darkvision

You can see in dim light within 120 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.

Chromatic Ancestry

You have a chromatic dragon ancestor, granting you a special magical affinity. Choose one kind of dragon from the Chromatic Ancestry table. This determines the damage type for your other traits, as shown in the table.

Dragon	Damage Type
Black	Acid
Blue	Lightning
Green	Poison
Red	Fire
White	Cold

Draconic Resistance

You gain resistance to the damage type associated with your Draconic Ancestry.

Magic Resistance

You have advantage on saving throws against spells.

Languages

You can speak, read, and write Common and either Draconic or Infernal.