Slig

Sligs are one of the more obscure monster races to come out of Dungeons & Dragons, and in fact the name has been used twice by completely separate writers working on completely separate campaign settings! Which is either kind of pathetic or kind of impressive. Maybe a little of both...

Krynnish Sligs

Krynnish Sligs are a goblinoid cum lizardfolk race native to the Dungeons & Dragons world of Dragonlance. Their dubious honor is that they hve been almost entirely wiped from the internet! Y'see, krynnish sligs debuted in the 1e splatbook "Tales of the Lance", and then got a much larger writeup - two pages as opposed to two paragraphs - in the Monstrous Compendium: Dragonlance Appendix. Only issue is, whoever uploaded the one PDF of that book that you can find online if you look fucked up when they did it, and somehow completely left out the two pages that should come between the Skrit and the Spectral Minion. Even the online AD&D monster manual website that used to be a thing before it finally disappeared in 2023 doesn't (didn't) have the Krynnish Slig, instead only having the lore for its Athasian namesake. As a result, your only easily available source of lore is its 3rd edition revamp in the Bestiary of Kryn Revised...

Until now, baby!

In "Tales of the Lance", they appear on page 144, with a tiny little artwork that looks something like a cross between a rat, a lizard, and a chimp. Their entirety is summed up in three paragraphs, one of those for stats, and it's stated that they are larger and much more ferocious cousins of the goblin and the hobgoblin. They are proud warrior race guys, reveling in combat and despising weakness, but also very clever; they prize trapmaking and other inventive ways to defeat foes, and are called out for their skill and cunning with trapwork - you halve your chance to find a slig-made trap, and they specialize in pit traps with walls coated in slime, so they're all but impossible to scale. Obviously, they're big on ambushes, unless you look weak enough to be taken in a straight fight. Whilst they're skilled weapon wielders, they're also quite generously endowed with natural weapons, possessing superhuman strength (+2 damage), a vicious bite, the ability to spit corrosive venom up to 10' 3/day (oh, and they love to aim for your eyes!), immunity to natural fire, and resistance to magical fire.

Their expanded 2e incarnation reuses their artwork, but now much larger and clearer, and they really do look like lizardfolk with goblin ears. Physically, they are described as six-foot-tall humanoids with tough, horny, hairless hides made up of dull orange rock-like plates - infants are reddish yellow and soft-skinned, but maturity toughens their kids. They have pointed ears with large earlobes, long thin snouts bearing huge mouths filled with sharp teeth - a mixture of curved, prey-hooking fangs at the front, and broad molars for grinding and crushing at the back - and narrow, slit-like eyes. These are black or dull gray, with tiny white pupils. Their fingers and toes are thick and stubby, with hooked claws, and they sport inches-long blunt tails; females are virtually indistinguishable, save by being slightly paler and having slightly shorter tails.

They wear few clothes, but love to decorate their bodies with heavy metal loop-rings through ears, noses and lips, vine bracelets around the wrists and ankles, and body paints made from clay and berries. Warriors may sometimes paint their backs with broad black & brown stripes, but most painting is done by young sligs looking for mates, using gaudy splotches of color on the faces and chests to boost their sex appeal.

Their combat lore is a much windier repeat of what was said in Tales of the Lance; they are expert trapmakers, they get really inventive with their traps, and they prefer to ambush stronger foes and outright annihilate weaker ones.

Slig culture abhores weakness, and they associate most of the qualities that other races consider mercy and benevolence with weakness - thus, they are dedicated to exterminating the good races of Krynn. They're classified as being of average intelligence, but have a natural adeptness at picking up languages.

Sligs live in tribes about 21-30 (1d10+20) members, lairing in grottoes, canyons, or barren lands - where they take advantage of hillside caves or make simple stone and wood huts - or taking over abandoned villages, typically those of Kagonesti elves or Que-shu plainsmen. Particularly large tribes (25+ members) will build completely encircling 10ft high stone walls, using rope ladders to enter and exit; these walls will be built wide enough that sligs can run around on top to attack foes with polearms and ranged weapons.

Tribes regard thesmelves as huge extended families; sligs don't believe in formal marriages, so they fuck around as they please and raise their offspring communally. The hubs of each village are pits used to hold animals and prisoners until they are eaten, and the central firepit where prey is cooked and eaten whilst the sligs honor their dark patron gods Takhisis and Sargonnas with drumming and chants. A slig tribe is led by its strongest male, the Champion, who is aided by his four handpickekd male lieutenants, the Warriors. These guys claim the bulk of the tribe's treasure, and one warrior is always left to guard the camp with 1d4 regular male sligs for backup. Champions choose potential successors for the role of warrior ande champion from the most promising of the tribe's infants, ensuring they receive extra rations of food and personal training as they grow up.

Sligs have been known to boss around their goblin and hobgoblin cousins, ostensibly hiring out as mercenaries and allies, but always demanding to be in charge and taking the lion's share of the treasure in exchange for it. They respect ogres, however, and consider them equals (ogres think of them as inferiors, but do respect their ferocity and fighting skill); there's a 40% chance a slig tribe will have 1d4 ogres living with it. They also train giant boars and giant wolves as guardian beasts. Sligs sometimes trade with ogres and with other evil races of Krynn, such as minotaurs, but their loathing of the goodly and neutral races is unparallel - especially elves. Humans like to hunt sligs for profit as well as pragmatism; slig venom can be used as a reagent to brew potions of invulnerability and fire resistance.

Much like hobgoblins have koalinths, so too do sligs have an aquatic counterpart: the Ghagglers. Looking like sligs with webbed hands and feet and small dorsal fins running down their spines, ghagglers are nomadic predators who often attack fishermen and sailors, using hooked nets, tridents and swords. They are mortal enemies of Krynn's Dargonesti and Dimernesti elves, and much more isolationist and xenophobic than their slig cousins. Unlike koalinths, they're purely aquatic; they can only breathe air for 1d4 turns before they start to suffocate. Ghaggler champions are able to command fish three times per day - this only works on non-sapient fish of ghaggler size or smaller within 100 yards and lasts for only 2d6 turns. But they can command 10d4 fish at a time, so that's... something?

Athasian Slig

ALL SMILES

Athasian Sligs are one of the many mutant humanoid races native to the Dungeons & Dragons world of Dark Sun. Unusually intelligent compared to many other wasteland-prowling man-beasts, that doesn't make them any less dangerous... if anything, it makes them worse, because it means sligs are actively smart enough to make plans to ensure their success in the hunt.

They should not be confused with the tentacle-faced cyborg slug-men from Oddworld.

Physically describing sligs is a little tricky... This is what their entry in the Monstrous Compendium: Dark Sun Appendix II: Terrors Beyond Tyr has to say about them:

Sligs are wide-jawed humanoids of the desert wilderness. Male sligs are tall and muscular, standing seven feet tall and weighing more than 300 pounds. Their skin color varies from a sickly white to tan and deep brown. Long red or auburn hair grows on their heads, forearms, and thighs, and sometimes on the back and rump as well. This hair is sometimes braided but more often left long. They have no ability to store fat in their bodies, so are especially lean in appearance.

Sligs seldom stand to their full height, instead adopting a hunched posture that allows their arms to assist in locomotion. Their arms and legs are extremely powerful. Their hands have a thumb and three very long fingers, each tipped with blunt black claws. Their heads are tapered at the top giving way to an extremely wide, but not protruding jaw. Their teeth are nasty, broken, and yellow, and are always displayed in a maniacal grin. Their eyes vary in color from black to silver beneath thick, almost reptile like ridges. Female sligs are similar in appearance, but much smaller, standing about 5 feet tall. Their hair is always braided, and their skin color is very light, usually white or tan. All sligs wear clothing made from animal skins and leather and carry their possessions in pouches. Different clothing denotes rank within the war band.

One of the more cursed mutant races of Athas, the slig's inability to store fat forces them to eat constantly or else they will starve. As a result, they hunt three times per day - dawn, midday and midnight - and will die after three days without food. This metabolic rate is clearly unnatural, and it extends to other areas of slig biology; female sligs give birth after a three month gestation period, and baby sligs reach adulthood in a year. This, then, is the source of their animosity towards other races; it's not that the sligs have anything personal against the demihumans of Athas, it's just, well, meat's meat and slig's gotta eat!

Among the more advanced "monster cultures", sligs form permanent homes for their tribal bands, sculpting crude but sturdy environments from their terrain using whatever tools they can scavenge or assemble for themselves. Aided by their powerful racial affinity for telepathy, slig males leave these camps to hunt in war bands; they don't rely on a leader, but instead telepathically coordinate their efforts - success as a hunter improves a male's chance of being chosen as a mate by a female during the thrice-yearly breeding seasons. Slig hunters use all manner of cunning tricks and traps, including ambushes, luring victims with bait, and even kidnapping or stealing gear from travelers to lure them into a more favorable environment.

Alchemists have noted the pseudopsionic nature of the slig telepathy and seek specimens with which to experiment. It is believed that slig blood or marrow is actually a stimulant to psionic activity, but these are just old wives’ tales. Serious attempts by alchemists to prove them right, however, have made sligs quite valuable. Some in Raam and Balic have offered as much as 20 cp for a live slig.

No relation to Oddworld.

Playing Sligs

Being less "Chaotic Evil" and more "Neutral Hungry" in terms of alignment, it's perhaps unsurprising that fans of Dark Sun have experimented with playable sligs.

Athas.org

The Complete Book of Athasian Humanoids for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2e offers this profile for would-be slig-players:

Ability Score Minimum/Maximum: Strength 7/20, Dexterity 5/20, Constitution 7/20, Intelligence 5/20, Wisdom 5/20, Charisma 5/17

Ability Score Adjustments: +2 Strength, -1 Constituion, -2 Charisma (note: increase Cha by +2 when dealing with NPCs of the same race)

Racial Class/Level Limits: Fighter 16, Gladiator 14, Ranger 10, Cleric 10, Thief 10, Psionicist Unlimited

Racial Thieving Skill Adjustments: Open Locks -5%, Move Silently -5%, Hide in Shadows -5%, Detect Noise +10%, Forge Documents -5%, Bribe Officials -10%, Dig Tunnels +5%

Natural Armor Class: 8

Movement: 12

Telepathic Coordination: Sligs gain a +1 bonus to attack rolls when fighting together, whih increases to +2 if they gang up on the same target.

Natural Weapon: A slig can bite once per round for 1d3 damage.

Infravision 60'

Water Recycling: Sligs only need 1/2 gallons of water per day to stay healthy.

Ravenous Appetite: A slig must eat 3 meals per day or they will suffer Constitution loss as if dehydrated.

Obligate Carnivore: A slig can only derive nourishment from meat.

Bonus Proficiency: Hunting

Mandatory Proficiency: Any Crafting NWP (Carpentry, Blacksmithing, Weapon Smithing, etc)

Roleplaying Disadvantage: Sligs from other tribes regard each other as prey. Sligs are also unpopular with humans and demihumans in general, but are particularly in danger near Raam and Urik, where there is a bounty on their heads.

In contrast, Terrors of Athas for Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition gives them this statblock instead:

Ability Score Modifiers: +4 Strength, +2 Wisdom, -2 Constitution, -4 Charisma

Size: Medium

Space/Reach: 5ft/5ft

Speed: 30ft

Racial Hit Dice: 4 levels in Humanoid (4d8 hit dice, BAB +3, Fort +4, Ref +1, Will +1).

Racial Skills: Skill points equal to 7 X (2 + Int modifier). Class skills are Craft (Weaponmaking), Listen, Spot, and Survival.

2 feats

Weaepon Proficiency: All Simple Weapons, All Martial Weapons, Slig Natural Weapons.

+4 natural armor bonus.

Low-Light Vision

Natural Weapons: 1 Bite (1d3)

Formation Attack (Ex): If two sligs are flanking the same opponent, they get a +4 bonus to their attack rolls rather than +2. Other sligs in melee with that opponent but not flanking it receive a +2 bonus to their attack rolls.

Slig Telepathy (Su): Sligs can communicate telepathically with any other slig within 30 feet.

+10 racial bonus on Survival checks made to track or look for food.

Automatic Languages: Slig. Bonus Languages: Common.

Favored Class: Fighter

Level Adjustment: +1

Gallery

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  Krynnish Slig

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  Krynnish Slig