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Medium humanoid (sarrukh), neutral evil
Armor Class 16 (natural armor)
Hit Points 133 (14d8 + 70)
Speed 30 ft.
Saving Throws Dex +6, Con +9, Cha +8
Skills Arcana +14, Deception +8, History +14, Intimidation +8, Investigation +14, Medicine +8, Perception +8, Persuasion +8, Religion +14, Stealth +6
Damage Immunities fire, poison
Condition Immunities poisoned
Senses darkvision 60 ft. ft., passive Perception 18
Languages Sarrukhar
Challenge 9 (5,000 XP)
Magic Resistance. The sarrukh has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.
ACTIONS
Claws. Melee Weapon Attack: +10 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 10 (1d8 + 6) slashing damage.
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +10 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 10 (1d8 + 6) slashing damage, and the target must make a DC 18 Constitution saving throw, taking 45 (10d8) poison damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.
Frightful Presence. Each creature of the sarrukh's choice that is within 120 feet of the sarrukh and aware of it must succeed on a DC 18 Wisdom saving throw or become frightened for 1 minute. A creature can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success. If a creature's saving throw is successful or the effect ends for it, the creature is immune to the sarrukh's Frightful Presence for the next 24 hours.
Scale Mutation. The sarrukh mutates one scaled creature from the same plane of existence as it that is not a construct, dragon, undead, amphibious or aquatic, such as a kobold, lizardfolk, or guardian naga, that is within 5 feet of it. The target must succeed on a DC 22 Constitution saving throw or become unconscious for 1 minute or until the sarrukh loses concentration. If the target remains unconscious in this way for 1 minute, the sarrukh may grant it any of the following:
- Body Morph. The creature's appearance changes, such as its scales turning a different color, its head changing shape, or it gaining or losing a limb.
- Ability Transformation. One of the creature's ability scores decreases to a minimum of 1 or increases to a maximum of the sarrukh's corresponding ability score.
- Natural Weapon. The creature gains a natural weapon such as a tentacle, claws, or spikes, which it can use to make unarmed strikes. If it hit with this natural weapon, it deals bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing damage equal to 1d8 + its Strength modifier, instead of the bludgeoning damage normal for an unarmed strike.
- Wings. The creature gains a flying speed equal to its walking speed. It can not use this flying speed while it is wearing medium or heavy armor.
- Enlarge/Reduce. The creature's size increases or decreases by one category.
- Envenom. On a hit with one of the creature's natural weapons, the target must make a Constitution saving throw with a DC of up to 18, taking up to 45 (10d8) poison damage on a failed save, or half as much on a successful one.
If the target is a sarrukh, the target may choose to automatically succeed this saving throw or cause the transformation to occur instantaneously without falling unconscious. A creature that receives a mutation passes it on to any offspring.
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| A sarrukh wielding a trident, source
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In ancient times, long before the blood of Corellion and Gruumsh sprouted the elves and orcs or the dwarves, gnomes, and halflings sprung from the earth, four "creator races" conquered the world of Abier-Toril: the avian aeree, the amphibian batrachi, the paleolithic humans, and the reptilian sarrukh.
The sarrukh are an ancient species of reptilian humanoid. Each sarrukh could expect to live for upwards of 1000 years, though they only laid a single egg only a handful of times in their lifetime. In ancient times, they worshiped the World Serpent, a great primal spirit that lead the gods against the primordials and whose aspects are known today as numerous greater gods, potentially including Asgorath, the overgod of creation. Their language, Sarrukhar, either descends from or descended into Draconic, allowing for partial understanding between the two.
At the height of their power during the Days of Thunder, sarrukh realms stretched across Faerûn from northern Anauroch long before it was a desert to the tip of the Chuultan Peninsula. With their great might and greater intelligence, they mastered not only their natural mastery of mutation but biological and arcane discoveries they may have been the first to harness to transform lizards into legions of servants. Nagas, pterafolk, troglodytes, yuan-ti, and numerous other scaled ones were created to serve specific purposes, such as delving the underdark or assisting their research.
Roughly 35,000 years ago, their empire began to crumble as global temperatures began to drop. Weakness without invited lesser polities like Netheril to begin chipping at their border, while weakness within allowed their more spiteful servitors, especially the yuan-ti, to rise up and gain control over their cities. Today, though they are individually powerful, even those who forgo training their magic, they are weak as an organized society, with no known group of exceeding eight members. Among these groups, survival is all that matters; it is accepted that the empires of old will never rise again.
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