Tasloi

(originally in the 2nd Ed. Monstrous Manual. These are homebrew 5e stats modified from corwyn.wikidot.com).

Tasloi are small lizard-ape humanoids that populate the vast, deadly jungles of Mlastina in the southwest of the continent, and are found in smaller numbers in the south of Pilaan and the jungle mountains of Baar Zaal and Pantanh. Those of the latter two follow Goblin customs and religion, while those of Mlastina conduct primitive cult rituals including sentient sacrifices to appease the wrath and avoid the attention of the Vilemother.
Small humanoid (tasloi), chaotic evil
DEFENSE

• Armor Class 13 (15 with shield)
• Hit Points: 14 average, 4d6
• Speed 30 ft., climb 30 ft.

ABILITY SCORES STR 11 (+0) DEX 16 (+3) CON 10 (+0) INT 8 (-1) WIS 9 (-1) CHA 7 (-2)
STATISTICS

• Proficiency: +2
• Skills: Stealth +6
• Senses: darkvision 60 ft., Passive Perception 9
• Languages: Tasloi
• Challenge 1/2 (100 XP)

TRAITS

• Poison Frog Darts. The tasloi does an additional 1d6 poison damage on a successful dart hit.
• Nimble Escape. The tasloi can take the Disengage or Hide action as a bonus action on each of its turns.
• Speak With Apes and Monkeys. The tasloi can communicate simple concepts to apes and monkeys when it speaks in Tasloi.
• Cold and Light Sensitivity. While in cold temperatures or bright light, the tasloi has disadvantage on attacks, ability checks and saves.

ACTIONS Strategy: The tasloi will typically attack from stealth whenever possible; If it can sneak up on or see its enemies first, it will hide as a bonus action, make a poisoned dart ranged attack or net attack with advantage (except in cold or sunlight), then move to a position out of line of site in order to repeat the steps on its next turn. if caught up in melee it will fight with its spear rather than its claws if it can, and disengage to flee to a position out of line of sight to attempt to hide/attack next turn. Attacks will be concentrated on victims of net-throws first, and most Tasloi carry a couple of folded nets in their clothes or sometimes, as their clothes. They are also nimble to use the trees and branches for AC bonuses (+2 for 1/2, +5 for 3/4) and to break line-of-sight in order to hide and get advantage on the next turn.
Dart. Ranged weapon attack. 1d20+5 to hit, range 60'/120', one target. 1d4+3 piercing damage plus 1d6 poison damage. Target must succeed on a DC12 CON save, or suffer the poisoned condition until the end of its next turn.
Net. Ranged weapon attack. 1d20+5 to hit, range 15'. Target is restrained on a hit, but takes no damage. A tasloi net has 5 HP and can be broken with a DC25 Strength check as an action by a restrained creature on their turn; only one creature may be restrained in a net at a time. A tasloi net is ineffective on creatures above medium size.
Spear. Melee or Ranged Weapon Attack: 1d20+2 to hit, reach 5 ft. or range 30 ft./120 ft., one target. Hit: 1d6 piercing damage.
Claws. Melee Weapon Attack: 1d20+5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 1d3+2 slashing damage.

Basic Information

Anatomy

Tasloi have greenish-grey skin visible through their thin, black hair. Their eyes are golden and cat-like, with an extra reflector that will glow in the dark in the presence of nearby light. Most Tasloi stand about four feet tall.

Genetics and Reproduction

Tasloi are a genetic throwback to very old Hyinch and Aeld bloodlines, due to a strange quirk in their genetic proportions that makes it impossible for them to cross-breed with other species - the closest living relatives are wild apes or lizardfolk, but the genetic gap between them is simply too great. As such they must take great care of their females and young, and understand the importance of both genetic diversity and elimination of genetic defect and sickness from the bloodline. Females are protected to the death and considered less expendable than males, as a single male can fertilize any number of females, but females cannot easily be replaced; and family groups organized into clans travel long distances and do not interbreed under long-standing taboos, even where direct genetic relationships are distant or nonexistent; rather than maintain the clan bloodline, the goal for females is to birth more children from multiple other clans, and for the males to impregnate many females of many other clans. Marriage is a totally foreign concept; pairings last only for the purposes of insemination, after which the females are protected by the males of her own clan. Pregnancy is relatively quick, and young are born helpless after about 4 months of pregnancy. A normal pregnancy produces at least fraternal twins and commonly, quadruplets; identical twins are rare and considered a bad omen, perhaps due to their lack of genetic diversity for the clan.
Tasloi do not have strong sexual dimorphism; males and females are hard to tell apart at a glance, but females do have slightly more prominent breasts. Females have large milk glands under the surface that replenish quickly, and will commonly nurse two at a time with the other two slung over her back, then swap them out and nurse the other two; cultural slang and insults have grown up around which infants were in the first set compared to the second, by which time the mother might run out of milk. Milkstealer is also a strong insult, implying that as an infant, one purposely took too much milk and starved one's siblings. Regardless, infants are very small relative to adults, making this a fairly painless configuration, and runts of the litter normally are the same average size as the rest by age two.
Infants bond strongly to their mothers, and to the males of the clan who are, by definition, not their fathers.

Growth Rate & Stages

Tasloi infants are helpless and small at birth, clinging to their mother for food and warmth for about eight weeks, after which they mature rapidly into curious children able to walk and form basic words by their third month. They reach a vigorous adolescence at around 14 months of age and are sexually mature adults at between 20 and 24 months. The high birth rate and rapid maturity compensate somewhat for a high infant mortality rate and the fact that hundreds of Mlastinan species consider baby tasloi a special treat.

Ecology and Habitats

Utterly at home in the trees, Tasloi swing like monkeys from the vines and can cover great distances quickly and in relative safety. They sleep with an arm and a leg entangled in the vines, living in shifts at sunset and dawn with a short break for sleep in the midnight hours and a longer one through all the daylight hours; Tasloi are diurnal.
They wear ragged, generally stolen clothing and ill-fitting leather armor, and are proficient with nets, blowguns, spears, and shields. Historically, Tasloi are themselves often sought as sacrificial victims by the larger races of Mlastina, but their niche in the middle canopy protects them somewhat.
However they can't set fires in the trees, and use the various Cumaean ruins and abandoned cult sites for a modicum of protection and privacy when they are vulnerable on the ground.

Dietary Needs and Habits

Though they will cook meat for food if the fire is available, they live primarily on nuts and raw small animals they can snare in the trees, and will only take the risk of a fire on the ground if their matriarch or shaman decides they have need of a sacrifice.

Additional Information

Social Structure

Life in Tasloi society is fairly communal and equitable for the clans, with a decentralized leadership dictated by one or more matriarchs who hold no particular advantage over the others, beyond respect and consultation on matters where a decision is needed, and the power to decide if the clan is in need of a sacrifice to the vilemother for continued avoidance of her notice. Males have a strong bond to the clan but are also ultimately interested in self-preservation, and will flee a losing battle.

Facial characteristics

Somewhat football-headed with superficial resemblance to Goblins, they have narrower, flatter ears, more apelike facial arrangements with broad noses and wide-set golden eyes compared to goblinoids.

Geographic Origin and Distribution

Concentrated mainly in the jungles of Mlastina, though large populations of more outgoing Tasloi can be encountered in southern Pilaan and the Caetica, and even more reclusive Tasloi live in the mountainous jungles of Pantanh and Baar Zaal. Their skin and health is adapted to temperatures and humidity that other sentients may find suffocating, and none live outside the jungle or among other sentients without very unique circumstances.

Average Intelligence

Dull, generally, but with a cleverness for traps; none of them have the heads, it would seem, for spellcasting of any kind; what passes for a Tasloi shaman is more a prophet figure able to throw knucklebones and read entrails to avoid outsider threats and the Vilemother, not a caster of any kind.

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

Diurnal by nature - active mostly at dawn and sunset - Tasloi have excellent low-light darkvision but are at a significant disadvantage in bright light or sunlight. Their large eyes are well-adapted to life in the tree canopy, and wide-set, forward-facing sockets give them excellent depth perception, helpful in the use of poisoned blowdarts and other small ranged weapons. Their hearing is equally excellent. Their sense of smell, on the other hand, is very poor, but considering the offal they are willing to eat if nothing better presents itself, that might be best.

Origin/Ancestry

Tasloi are, interestingly, not closely related to goblins; they are strongly Hyinch and much less Aeld. Their language is nothing like Goblin.

Lifespan

25 - 30 years

Conservation Status

Found only in jungles, the Tasloi of Mlastina are savage cult worshippers of the Vilemother, while those of Pantanh and Pilaan are more integrated into tribes and may pass for goblin - and in some casaes may even think that they are, in fact, Goblin. They are not at all fey creatures, however, and lack the gloomy outlook and malicious streak of true Goblins.

Average Height

3.5' - 4.5'

Average Weight

60 - 90 lbs

Average Physique

Bony, long, and agile in the trees; gawky knuckle-draggers on the ground. They tend to begin life more plump as children and get thinner and bonier as they age. A 30 year old Tasloi is as wrinkled and gaunt as an 80 year old human; it's not just the dangers of the jungle, but a fast-aging physique, that limits them to 30 or so years at most. they tend to be weak but quick and dexterous. Though they often use poison, they have no particular immunity to it, and must take care not to poison themselves when working with dart frogs, mushrooms and the like.

Body Tint, Colouring and Marking

Covered with a thin, black fuzz, the skin underneath is a dark green to blend well with the undergrowth and tree canopy, helping them use stealth and surprise when attacking or fleeing an attack.