This tactic is only reasonable against an opponent who has neither Athletics nor Acrobatics proficiency and whose Strength and Dexterity modifiers are both 0 or worse, and to have any real confidence of success, they both need to be −3 or worse. But we need to consider this one carefully, because Slippery doesn’t give them advantage on grappling attacks, only grappling defense. This tells us they’re strictly subterranean and semi-aquatic, and in combination with the Slippery trait-which gives them advantage on ability checks and saving throws to escape being grappled-we can infer another possible tactic, which is hauling enemies into the water and trying to drown them. The kuo-toa have the ability to breathe underwater they also have Sunlight Sensitivity and 120 feet of darkvision. ![]() Once an opponent is netted, the battle buddies flank their target (Optional Rule: Flanking, Dungeon Master’s Guide, page 251-use it!) in case he or she wriggles free, in order to maintain their advantage. What this tells us is that kuo-toa don’t attack without a 2-to-1 numerical advantage or better. Since throwing the net uses up one kuo-toa’s action, there needs to be a second kuo-toa on hand to stab the restrained opponent. However, the net is effortless to escape from, so the kuo-toa have to exploit this advantage quickly. The net attack restrains an opponent, giving the kuo-toa advantage on attacks and giving the opponent disadvantage. One is their use of nets as a ranged weapon attack. They have a couple of features that will help with this. Kuo-toa need to be selective about their encounters and maneuver their foes into situations where they’re restrained and helpless. Ambush isn’t a realistic possibility, but neither is aggressive toe-to-toe fighting. The basic kuo-toa stat block has high Strength but average Dexterity and Constitution, and it lacks proficiency in Stealth. Religious sacrifice, maybe? Interrogation? Found-art pieces? Regardless, I’m going to examine their tactics with the assumption that they are, in fact, trying to kill the player characters. “Many weapons of the kuo-toa are designed to capture rather than kill,” the Monster Manual flavor text informs us, but it leaves open the question of what they want to capture anyone for. In fifth-edition D&D, however, the kuo-toa have been retconned into broken ex-subjects of an empire of mind flayers, their rivalry with the drow now mentioned only in passing. ![]() In the world of Greyhawk, Advanced Dungeons and Dragons’ original setting, they and the drow were fierce enemies. Old-school Dungeons and Dragons players will recall that the kuo-toa made their debut in the venerated, if somewhat incoherent, D-series of adventure modules, which also introduced the drow.
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