Kuo-toa Archpriest

Kuo-toa have slimy, humanoid bodies and the heads of goggle-eyed deep-sea fish. They claim they once dominated whole worlds, their empires spanning land and sea under the blessings of piscine gods. The kuo-toa can't say what disaster brought their glorious civilization to an end, but elves, humans, mind flayers, and the kuo-toan gods bear the brunt of their blame. From the lands and seas of the surface, the kuo-toa retreated into cavernous trenches and Underdark seas. In these hidden realms, kuo-toa brood over all they've lost and forgotten, nursing plots to avenge themselves for slights that might never have occurred. Kuo-toa hate the civilizations of the surface and the Underdark, believing themselves to be victims of age-old slights and ongoing conspiracies. Kuo-toa undertake contrived plots to propel themselves to dominance, often kidnapping people to learn their secrets or making dubious sacrifices to bizarre gods. To facilitate such plots, kuo-toa try to capture creatures alive using nets or strange weapons. Drow, dwarves, and gnomes dwelling in the Underdark, as well as surface communities near submerged subterranean passages, are frequent targets for kuo-toa raids and other plots. Kuo-toa frequently serve depraved masterminds such as aboleths and krakens. Such kuo-toa believe these powerful creatures are avatars of kuo-toan deities or gods in their own right. Kuo-toa might temporarily ally with other evil creatures, but these alliances shift as kuo-toa leaders interpret omens from their unpredictable deities.

Kuo-toa Deities: Kuo-toa ever seek to placate their inscrutable deities. However, few kuo-toa can agree on the identities of their gods, and little consistency exists between kuo-toa communities. Only Blibdoolpoolp the Sea Mother, a figure with a human body but the head and claws of a crayfish, sees broad worship. Lacking information about what their other gods look like, kuo-toa priests invent new forms for them, creating divine idols with whatever objects are at hand. But whether these kuo-toa priests draw power from belief or delusion, aberrant talent, or a stranger supernatural source, some power answers their petitions. Roll twice on or choose results from the Kuo-toa Deity Features table to inspire how kuo-toa represent a deity.

Kuo-toa Deity Head Features:

Kuo-toa Deity Body Features:

Kuo-toa Sanctuaries: Kuo-toa typically organize their communities around sites they believe to be important to their deities. These might be structures or series of caverns, and most feature both air-filled and submerged chambers. Important places within these sites suggest the rituals of kuo-toa faiths, the demands of kuo-toa deities, or the whims of omen-seeking archpriests. As with kuo-toa deities, the features of these locations vary between communities. Roll on or choose a result from the Kuo-toa Ritual Sites table to inspire features and suggest adventures within a kuo-toa community.

Kuo-toa Ritual Sites:

Kuo-toa Archpriest: Kuo-toa archpriests lead kuo-toa communities by interpreting omens and messages from their strange gods. They wear grotesque ceremonial regalia honoring their deities. Archpriests channel their faith into spells to support their followers.