Sahuagin

This humanoid has scaly skin with webbed fingers and toes, and sharp fangs fill its mouth. It has a long tail ending in a curved fin, and it has fins on its arms, back, and head. Its great, staring eyes are deep black.

Sahuagin are marine predators superbly adapted to undersea hunting. Also known as sea devils, these beings dwell in coastal waters, forming organized groups that raid shore communities.

Most sahuagin feature green coloration, darker along the back and lighter on the belly. Many have dark stripes, bands, or spots, but these tend to fade with age. An adult male sahuagin stands roughly 6 feet tall and weighs about 200 pounds.

Sahuagin are the natural enemy of aquatic elves. The two cannot coexist peacefully: Wars between them are prolonged, bloody affairs that sometimes interfere with shipping and maritime trade. Sahuagin have an only slightly less vehement hatred for tritons.

Sahuagin speak their own language, Sahuagin.

Thanks to their high Intelligence scores, most sahuagin also speak two bonus languages, usually Common and Aquan.

Combat

Sahuagin are savage fighters, asking for and giving no quarter. When swimming, a sahuagin tears with its feet as it strikes with its talons or a weapon. About half of any group of sahuagin are also armed with nets.

When sahuagin raid surface dwellers’ communities, they venture ashore on dark, moonless nights to slaughter the inhabitants and livestock for food. They attack ships by swarming up from all sides, leaving a portion of their forces in the water as reinforcements or to deal with opponents the raiders throw into the sea.

Blindsense (Ex): A sahuagin can locate creatures underwater within a 30-foot radius. This ability works only when the sahuagin is underwater. See Blindsense.

Blood Frenzy: Once per day a sahuagin that takes damage in combat can fly into a frenzy in the following round, clawing and biting madly until either it or its opponent is dead. It gains +2 Constitution and +2 Strength, and takes a –2 penalty to Armor Class. A sahuagin cannot end its frenzy voluntarily.

Rake (Ex): Attack bonus +2 melee, damage 1d4+1. A sahuagin also gains two rake attacks when it attacks while swimming.

Freshwater Sensitivity (Ex): A sahuagin fully immersed in fresh water must succeed on a DC 15 Fortitude save or become fatigued. Even on a success, it must repeat the save attempt every 10 minutes it remains immersed.

Light Blindness (Ex): Abrupt exposure to bright light (such as sunlight or a daylight spell) blinds sahuagin for round. On subsequent rounds, they are dazzled while operating in bright light.

Speak with Sharks (Ex): Sahuagin can communicate telepathically with sharks up to 150 feet away. The communication is limited to fairly simple concepts such as “food,” “danger,” and “enemy.” Sahuagin can use the Handle Animal skill to befriend and train sharks.

Water Dependent (Ex): Sahuagin can survive out of the water for 1 hour per 2 points of Constitution (after that, refer to the drowning rules.

Skills: A sahuagin has a +8 racial bonus on any Swim check to perform some special action or avoid a hazard. It can always choose to take 10 on a Swim check, even if distracted or endangered. It can use the run action while swimming, provided it swims in a straight line.

Underwater, a sahuagin has a +4 racial bonus on Hide, Listen, and Spot checks.

A sahuagin has a +4 racial bonus on Survival and Profession (hunter) checks within 50 miles of its home.

A sahuagin has a +4 racial bonus on Handle Animal checks when working with sharks.

Sahuagin Mutants

About one in two hundred sahuagin has four arms. Such creatures can make four claw attacks or use extra weapons, in addition to the claw and bite attacks.

If a community of aquatic elves is located within 100 miles of a sahuagin community, about one in one hundred sahuagin looks just like an aquatic elf. These creatures, called malenti, have a swim speed of 40 feet, can remain out of water for 1 hour per point of Constitution, and have freshwater sensitivity and light sensitivity (dazzled in bright light). Malenti have no natural attacks. They are otherwise identical with sahuagin.

Sahuagin Society

The sea devils live by a code of ritualized behavior developed over millennia. Every member of a sahuagin community knows its place well⁠—​and remains there. The sahuagin pride themselves on self-sufficiency and strict adherence to their social code. Unfortunately for others, one of their core beliefs is that the survival of the sahuagin depends on ruthlessly eradicating anything that is not sahuagin.

Sahuagin dwell in communities of varying sizes, from villages to cities, built of stone and other natural materials deep beneath the ocean waves. The creatures employ a variety of defenses, both passive (such as seaweed camouflage) and active (such as traps and tame sharks), to protect their communities. Elite groups of senior males (especially the four-armed ones) rule each community: A baron governs a village, while a prince rules approximately twenty villages. Sahuagin kings rule much larger territories and dwell within cities having as many as six thousand inhabitants. A sahuagin kingdom generally covers an entire seacoast, with villages and towns at least 100 miles apart. Sahuagin clerics function as teachers and keepers of lore, controlling religious life in their communities. Despite the presence of these priestesses within their society, the superstitious sea devils distrust and fear magic.

The patron deity of sahuagin is Sekolah, a great devil shark.

Sahuagin Characters

A male sahuagin’s favored class is ranger, and most sahuagin leaders are rangers. Most sahuagin rangers choose humanoids (elves) as their favored enemy. Female sahuagin favor the cleric class. Sahuagin clerics worship Sekolah. A sahuagin cleric has access to two of the following domains: Evil, Law, Strength, or War (favored weapon: trident).

Source: Monster Manual (version 3.5), page 217.