Aboleth

Description

(From 5th Edition Monster Manual - 2014):

Before the coming of the gods, aboleths lurked in primordial oceans and underground lakes. They reached out with their minds and seized control of the burgeoning life-forms of the mortal realm. Their dominance made them like gods. Then the true gods appeared, smashing the aboleths’ empire.

Aboleths have never forgotten.

Eternal Memories. Aboleths have flawless memories. They pass on their knowledge and experience from generation to generation. Thus, the injury of their defeat by the gods remains perfectly preserved in their minds.

Aboleths’ minds are treasure troves of ancient lore, recalling moments from prehistory with perfect clarity. They plot patiently and intricately across eons. Few creatures can conceive of the extent of an aboleth’s plan.

Gods in the Lake. Aboleths dwell in watery environments, including ocean abysses, deep lakes, and the Elemental Plane of Water. In these domains and the lands that adjoin them, aboleths are like gods, demanding worship and obedience from their subjects. When they consume other creatures, aboleths add the knowledge and experiences of their prey to their eternal memories.

Aboleths use their telepathic powers to read the minds of creatures and know their desires. An aboleth uses this knowledge to gain a creature’s loyalty, promising to fulfill such wants in exchange for obedience. Within its lair, the aboleth can further use its powers to override senses, granting creatures, such as its followers, the illusion of promised rewards.

Enemies of the Gods. The aboleths’ fall from power is written in stark clarity on their flawless memories, for aboleths never truly die. If an aboleth’s body is destroyed, its spirit returns to the Elemental Plane of Water, where a new body coalesces for it over days or months.

Ultimately, aboleths dream of overthrowing the gods and regaining control of the world. Aboleths have had untold eons to plot and to prepare their plans for perfect execution.

(From Monster Manual 3.5e - 2003):

The cool, refreshing water suddenly erupts in a storm of reaching, grasping tentacles. The tentacles connect to a primeval fish, 20 feet in length from its bulbous head to its crescent-shaped tail. Three slit-shaped eyes, protected by bony ridges, are set one atop the other in the front of its head, which remains just beneath the surface as it attacks. 

The aboleth is a revolting fishlike amphibian found primarily in subterranean lakes and rivers. It despises all nonaquatic creatures and attempts to destroy them on sight. 

An aboleth has a pink belly. Four pulsating blueblack orifices line the bottom of its body and secrete gray slime that smells like rancid grease. It uses its tail for propulsion in the water and drags itself along with its tentacles on land. An aboleth weighs about 6,500 pounds. 

Aboleths are cruel and highly intelligent, making them dangerous predators. They know many ancient and terrible secrets, for they inherit their parents’ knowledge at birth and assimilate the memories of all they consume. 

Aboleths are smart enough to refrain from immediately attacking land dwellers who draw near. Instead they hang back, hoping their prey will enter the water, which they often make appear cool, clear, and refreshing with their powers of illusion. Aboleths also use their psionic abilities to enslave individuals for use against their own companions. 

Aboleths have both male and female reproductive organs. They breed in solitude, laying 1d3 eggs every five years. These eggs grow for another five years before hatching into full-grown aboleths. Although the young are physically mature, they remain with their parent for some ten years, obeying the older creature utterly. 

Aboleths speak their own language, as well as Undercommon and Aquan. 

Combat: An aboleth attacks by flailing with its long, slimy tentacles, though it prefers to fight from a distance using its illusion powers. 

Enslave (Su): Three times per day, an aboleth can attempt to enslave any one living creature within 30 feet. The target must succeed on a DC 17 Will save or be affected as though by a dominate person spell (caster level 16th). An enslaved creature obeys the aboleth’s telepathic commands until freed by remove curse, and can attempt a new Will save every 24 hours to break free. The control is also broken if the aboleth dies or travels more than 1 mile from its slave. The save DC is Charisma-based. 

Psionics (Sp): At will—hypnotic pattern (DC 15), illusory wall (DC 17), mirage arcana (DC 18), persistent image (DC 18), programmed image (DC 19), project image (DC 20), veil (DC 19). Effective caster level 16th. The save DCs are Charisma-based. 

Slime (Ex): A blow from an aboleth’s tentacle can cause a terrible affliction. A creature hit by a tentacle must succeed on a DC 19 Fortitude save or begin to transform over the next 1d4+1 minutes, the skin gradually becoming a clear, slimy membrane. An afflicted creature must remain moistened with cool, fresh water or take 1d12 points of damage every 10 minutes. The slime reduces the creature’s natural armor bonus by 1 (but never to less than 0). The save DC is Constitution-based. 

A remove disease spell cast before the transformation is complete will restore an afflicted creature to normal. Afterward, however, only a heal or mass heal spell can reverse the affliction. 

Mucus Cloud (Ex): An aboleth underwater surrounds itself with a viscous cloud of mucus roughly 1 foot thick. Any creature coming into contact with and inhaling this substance must succeed on a DC 19 Fortitude save or lose the ability to breathe air for the next 3 hours. An affected creature suffocates in 2d6 minutes if removed from the water. Renewed contact with the mucus cloud and failing another Fortitude save continues the effect for another 3 hours. The save DC is Constitution-based. 

Skills: An aboleth 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.

ABOLETH MAGE 

Among the watery tombs and dungeons they inhabit, the lords of the aboleths focus their efforts to achieve dominion through their study of wizardry. Their great power marks them as among the lords of all subterranean creatures. Still, these creatures, devoted to their arcane scholarship, spend most of their long lives alone. 

Combat: The save DC for the aboleth mage’s transformation tentacle attack (DC 21) and its mucus cloud (DC 21) are adjusted for its higher Constitution score. The save DC for its enslave ability (DC 16) is adjusted for its lower Charisma score, as are the save DCs for its psionic abilities: Hypnotic pattern (DC 14), illusory wall (DC 16), mirage arcana (DC 17), persistent image (DC 17), programmed image (DC 18), project image (DC 19), veil (DC 18). Effective caster level 16th. 

The aboleth mage uses a number of spells, such as displacement, greater invisibility, and wall of force, to protect itself while seizing control of its foes with spells and innate abilities. 

Typical Wizard Spells Prepared (4/6/5/4/4/3; save DC 15 + spell level): 0—daze, detect magic (2), resistance; 1st—alarm, charm person, color spray, mage armor, magic missile (2); 2nd—blur, bull’s strength, darkness, fox’s cunning, see invisibilty; 3rd—dispel magic, displacement, fly, lightning bolt; 4th—greater invisibility, phantasmal killer, scrying, stoneskin; 5th—hold monster, empowered lightning bolt, wall of force.

(From Monstrous Manual - 1993):

The aboleth is a loathsome amphibious creature that lives in subterranean caves and lakes. It despises most land-dwelling creatures and seeks to enslave intelligent surface beings. It is as cruel as it is intelligent.

An aboleth resembles a plump fish, 20 feet in length from its bulbous head to its fluke-like tail. Its body is blue-green with gray splotches, and its pink-tan underbelly conceals a toothless, rubbery mouth. Three slit-like eyes, purple-red in color and protected by bony ridges, are set one atop the other in the front of its head. Four pulsating blue-black orifices line the bottom of its body and secrete gray slime that smells like rancid grease. Four leathery tentacles, each 10 feet in length, grow from its head. An aboleth uses its tail to propel itself through the water and its tentacles to drag itself along dry land.

Combat: The aboleth attacks with its tentacles for 1d6 points of damage each. If a victim struck by a tentacle fails a saving throw vs. spell, the victim’s skin transforms into a clear, slimy membrane in 1d4+1 rounds. If this occurs, the victim must keep the membrane damp with cool water or suffer 1d12 points of damage each turn. Cure disease cast upon the victim before the membrane completely forms stops the transformation. Otherwise, cure serious wounds will cause the membrane to revert to normal skin. Because its sluggish movement makes attacks difficult, the aboleth attempts to lure victims close by creating realistic illusions at will, complete with audible, olfactory, and other sensory components. The aboleth can attempt to enslave creatures within 30 feet; it can make three attempts per day, one creature per attempt. If the victim fails a saving throw vs. spell, he follows all of the aboleth’s telepathic commands, although the victim will not fight on the aboleth’s behalf. The enslavement can be negated by remove curse, dispel magic, the death of the enslaving aboleth, or, if the victim is separated from the aboleth by more than a mile, a new saving throw (one attempt per day.)

When underwater, an aboleth surrounds itself with a mucous cloud 1 foot thick. A victim in contact with the cloud and inhaling the mucus must roll a successful saving throw vs. poison or lose the ability to breathe air. The victim is then able to breathe water, as if having consumed a potion of water breathing, for 1-3 hours. This ability may be renewed by additional contact with the mucous cloud. An affected victim attempting to breathe air will suffocate in 2d6 rounds. Wine or soap dissolves the mucus.

Habitat/Society: An aboleth brood consists of a parent and one to three offspring. Though the offspring are as large and as strong as the parent, they defer to the parent in all matters and obey it implicitly. Aboleth have both male and female sexual organs. A mature aboleth reproduces once every five years by concealing itself in a cavern or other remote area, then laying a single egg and covering it in slime. The parent aboleth guards the egg while the embryo grows and develops, a process that takes about five years. A newborn aboleth takes about 10 years to mature.

The aboleth spends most of its time searching for slaves, preferably human ones. It is rumored that the aboleth use their slaves to construct huge underwater cities, though none have ever been found. The aboleth are rumored to know ancient, horrible secrets that predate the existence of man, but these rumors are also unsubstantiated. There is no doubt that aboleth retain a staggering amount of knowledge. An offspring acquires all of its parent’s knowledge at birth, and a mature aboleth acquires the knowledge of any intelligent being it consumes.

An aboleth’s treasure consists of items taken from its slaves. The items are buried in caverns under a layer of slime resembling gray mud, recognizable by the distinctive rancid grease odor.