Today's creature feature is the mild-mannered Xalot. Can be used for either DCC or MCC, and if you are intrigued by this little dude here, please check out "Where The Drowned God Dwells" an MCC adventure I will be running (twice!) at this year's GenCon.
Xalot: (4-5 if foraging party; 30 to 40 adults plus one Elder and juveniles in tribal village); Init +1 on land, +3 in water; Atk Staff +1 melee (1d6) and/or net +2 ranged (entangle); AC 12; HD 1d8+1; hp 6; MV 30' land, 60' swim; Act 1d20; SP: amphibious, infravision (underwater only); SV Fort +1­, Ref +1­, Will +0­; AL N.
The Xalot people are generally peaceful and form medium-sized colonies of 40 to 50 adults with a single Elder and many younglings at any given time, depending on the season. Short in stature, they stand roughly the size of a halfling and have cool, moist skin in a variety of colors and patterns. Xalots also have a limited ability to alter their color to provide better camouflage while out hunting or foraging.
Elders are slightly larger than the typical xalot and possess a passive telepathic empathy with which they can communicate danger or strong feelings with their own people and outsiders. Elders are also rumored to have some small ability with magic as well.
Most xalot are inquisitive and fearless, which makes them easy prey for predators. They are natural explorers, however, especially of the deep seas as they forage for food. Although they do make their own crude items for everyday life, skilled craftsmen and artisans they are not. They also willingly trade goods they find on their explorations with nearby peoples who treat them well. They have their own language, a sibilant tongue that incorporates the flaring of the gill stalks which sprout from the sides of their heads, and most also speak the dominant language of whatever region they find themselves in.
Typically nomadic, a Xalot colony will migrate every few years to an abandoned coastal area to perform their mating rituals and lay copious amounts of eggs before moving on. The first egg, thereafter called the Elder, hatches and quickly matures much more rapidly than the first wave, acting as a lookout and guarding over the second wave, until the final wave hatches… thereby forming a new colony within the space of a year or two.
Xalot Elder: Init +1 on land, +3 in water; Atk Staff +2 melee (1d6+1) and/or net +3 ranged (entangle); AC 14; HD 1d8+3; hp 8; MV 30' land, 60' swim; Act 1d20; SP: amphibious, infravision (underwater only), telepathic empathy (120′), spells: water breathing and mending, others as desired (d20+4); SV Fort +1­, Ref +1­, Will +2; AL N.