Saltor (5e Creature)
Saltor[edit]
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Small aberration (illithidae), neutral Armor Class 13 (natural armor)
Skills Acrobatics +5, Perception +3, Stealth +5 Deaf Senses. The saltor is deafened, and has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight. Grappler. The saltor has advantage on attack rolls against any creature grappled by it. Innate Spellcasting (Psionics). The saltor's innate spellcasting ability is Intelligence (spell save DC 9). It can innately cast the following spells, requiring no components: 3/day each: blur, magic missile ACTIONSMultiattack. The saltor makes two attacks: one with its handaxe and one with its handaxe, bite, or tentacles. Handaxe. Melee or Ranged Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft. or range 20/60 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d6 + 3) slashing damage. Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one willing creature, or a creature that is grappled by the saltor, incapacitated, or restrained. Hit: 10 (2d6 + 3) piercing damage. Tentacles. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 5 (1d4 + 3) psychic damage. If the target is Medium or smaller, it is grappled (escape DC 13). Until this grapple ends, the creature is restrained, and the saltor can't use its tentacles on another target. Shriek (Recharge 6). The saltor emits a high-pitched, piercing shriek in a 20-foot cone. Each creature in that cone must make a DC 13 Constitution saving throw, taking 10 (3d6) thunder damage and being stunned until the end of the creature's next turn on a failed save, and half as much on a successful one. Creatures with advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on hearing automatically fail this saving throw, while deafened creatures automatically succeed. This shriek can be felt up to 300 feet away.
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The body of a saltor is often compared to that of a baboon, specifically in regard to their elongated, partially-flat faces and semi-pronograde posture. The skin of most saltors is a slimy, gray, and covered in patches of dull brown fur, though some are rarely born with white, red, or violet skin as an equivalent to albinism. A saltor's large eyes are filled with murky, swirling fluid laden with black and blue particulate. All four limbs of a saltor end in three-opposable-fingered hands, and they typically stand about three feet tall. In addition to their appearance, saltors have earned the title of "flayer-baboons" by right of their intelligence; the intelligence of a baboon is about half that of a commoner, the intelligence of a saltor is roughly half that of a mind flayer. Basic tool use is nearly universal, and they have developed a unique language sometimes compared to winter wolf or blink dog, which lacks a written form. In their natural habitat, saltors live in spread-out troops to a few dozen, and primarily subsist off of subterranean insects, molluscs, fish, moss, fungi, and similar food sources. Saltors are a common source of mind flayer slave labor, two which end they are typically taught a basic form of Undercommon, which they speak using Saltor consonants due to the shape of their mouths. Saltor brains are a staple crop for mind flayers, and it is often speculated that saltor may be the origin of the modern mind flayer, as without being implanted into a host, mind flayer tadpoles can only become neothelids. Illithidae. Saltors are a member of the order illithidae, a classification of life that hails from the same strange world as mind flayers. Wherever mind flayers settle, other illithidae begin to appear, though it is unknown whether this is deliberate, or a result of stowaways. Universally, illithidae begin as parasites in a living host, which more often than not dies upon maturation. |
Variant: Jendrid Saltor[edit]Most saltors belong to the more humanoid argid subspecies. While the more canine jendrid subspecies has been all but gone extinct, being inferior at labor compared to the argid and less effective in canine endeavors compared to cessirids, some still persist. Jendrid saltors have a walking speed of 35 feet, but lose their climbing speed. Variant: Brooding Saltor[edit]Saltor reproduce by inserting small eggs into the brains of viable creatures, though they only do so roughly once every year and a half. Saltor eggs feed on a creature's intellect much like intellect devourers, storing the energy until they have enough to immediately grow to their full size. When a brooding saltor hits a creature with an Intelligence score of 6 or higher that is Small or larger and is not a construct, undead, or elemental with a bite attack, the target must also make a DC 13 Constitution saving throw. On a failure, the saltor injects its eggs into the creature's brain, causing the target to become poisoned until their Intelligence drops below 6 or they are otherwise cured of the condition. If the target stays poisoned in this way for 96 hours, they take 55 (10d10) piercing damage, and 2 (1d4) saltors emerge from the back of the creature's skull, dropping within 5 feet of the creature. |
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