Bil’Djool Soldier

Medium aberration, lawful evil

Armor Class 16 (shell-hardened leather harness)
Hit Points 157 (21d8 + 63)
Speed 20 ft., swim 50 ft.

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
15 (+2)	18 (+4)	16 (+3)	10 (+0)	12 (+1)	15 (+2)

Saving Throws Str +5, Dex +7, Con +6
Skills Athletics +5, Stealth +7
Damage Resistances cold
Damage Vulnerabilities poison
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 11
Languages Bil›djooli, Ultari
Challenge 6 (2,300 XP)

SPECIAL TRAITS

• Bil’djooli Military Training. A bil’djooli rod deals one extra weapon die of damage when the bil’djooli hits with it in melee (included in the attack). The rod is also considered to have the finesse trait when wielded by a bil’djooli.
• Contamination. Bil’djooli secrete toxins that wash away easily in water, contaminating the area within 5-feet of it with a mild paralytic. Any creature within that range must make a DC 15 Constitution saving throw or gain the poisoned condition for 1 hour. When the bil’djool is not submerged, the poison only affects those struck by its tentacle slam attacks, or who hit the bil’djooli with a melee attack within 5-feet. Out of the water, a bil’djool must make a save against this poison once per hour or gain the poisoned state.
• Hold Breath. Bil’djooli breathe water. They can hold their breath for 1 hour while out of the water, or indefinitely with water-filled helmets built into their armor.
• Interstellar. Bil’djooli travel the stars, bringing war to planets and stealing alien technology to add to their own. They are always proficient in Thieves’ Tools and any other tool the GM deems suitable.
• Jet. The bil’djooli may take a Dash action at the end of each of its turns. Underwater Camouflage. The bil’djooli has advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks made while underwater.
• Vulnerability to Toxins. Bil’djooli have disadvantage on Constitution saving throws against diseases and poisons.

ACTIONS

• Multiattack. The Bil’djooli uses one of the following attack options: bil’djooli rod and 2 tentacle slams, or 4 tentacle slams.
• Bil’djooli Rod. Melee or Ranged Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft. and range 60 ft., one target. Hit: 13 (2d8 + 4) bludgeoning damage and 3 (1d6) energy damage (acid, cold, fire, or lightning), or 18 (4d6+4) energy damage (acid, cold, fire, or lightning) if used to make a range attack.
• Bil’djooli Rod Blast (1/Day). The bil’djooli fires a single focused ray that deals 21 (6d6) points of energy damage, or half as much on a successful DC 15 Dexterity saving throw, to each creature in a 60-foot line. The energy type can be chosen as part of the attack – acid, cold, fire, or lightning damage – but it consumes the bil’djooli’s bonus action if it differs from the energy type of a previous attack made by it.
• Tentacle Slam. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 10 ft., one creature. Hit: 7 (2d4 + 2) bludgeoning damage, and the target must succeed on a DC 15 Constitution saving throw or be poisoned for 1 hour. The bil’jooli can then use a bonus action to Shove the target, and if successful can force the target to drop one held item instead of making them prone or pushing them away.

REACTIONS

• Side Shot. Any time an attack hits or misses a bil’djooli it may use its reaction to make a bil’djooli rod range attack. To do so, the bil’djooli must be wielding a bil’djooli rod.

ABOUT

Bil’djooli are an aggressive race of interplanetary travelers who raid worlds for their own gain and routinely scavenge alien technology. Once sorely pressed, the bil’djooli now range across disparate systems to find the fresh water essential for the continuation of their race. Bil’djooli physiology requires a significant amount of clean, fresh water in order to breathe and metabolize food properly. Their immune systems are strong, but delicate, and they produce toxins offensive to most living creatures very quickly. Without protective gear, bil’djooli poison is actually more dangerous for the bil’djooli than it is for most creatures they encounter. As aquatic creatures, they wear protective helmets full of fresh water they can breathe through a series of gills in their throat, lest they poison themselves and their fellow soldiers.

The bil’djooli teach a peculiar martial art that makes use of their long tentacles and superior reach. They take what they desire from enemy combatants, striking them with powerful tentacles and using agile suction to disarm their opponents or lift other equipment. In mass combat they fire their magical rods, using the most appropriate energy type and then firing into melee amid a flurry of slam attacks.

A single bil’djool has incredibly competitive instincts and a large measure of pride, but the culture rewards cooperation and team work in order to secure the race’s survival. Advancement in their militarized society requires competence and loyalty, though some level of corruption allows the truly ambitious to exploit others to their benefit. Regardless of rank or station, all bil’djooli receive intensive martial training, learning to fight with mass-produced technomagical rods that can crunch bones in melee or fire rays of magical energy.

The bil’djooli spread filth across the galaxy, polluting entire planets with a naturally occurring byproduct of their toxic skin. Hailing from a dozen different home worlds, their kind has sought a means to inhabit aquatic worlds for generations without having to leave them behind.

Bil’djooli family life is harsh from the beginning. Families are governed by ordered pair which lays hundreds of eggs over a lifetime. Though bil’djooli have distinctive male and female internal anatomies, their breeding produces a thick slime full of eggs that is then carried by both parents. The slime is spread across a flat surface when the eggs near maturity, and a dozen bil’djooli might hatch from a single clutch. Bil’djooli young learn quickly and train for survival and combat almost from birth, competing with one another for food and favor. While individual families do not always encourage violence among siblings, there are few penalties in the military meritocracy for murdering a sibling with cause.

A single bil’djooli is 7 feet long from head to tentacle. They have somewhat translucent blue or purple skin with a white or pale blue underside to their tentacles. A mature bil’djooli weighs 300 pounds. A being resembling a humanoid octopus with translucent blue skin bears an unusual metal rod with glowing arcane signals. Its leather vest is connected to a round glass helmet filled with clear fluid.

A being resembling a humanoid octopus with translucent blue skin bears an unusual metal rod with glowing arcane sigils. Its leather vest is connected to a round glass helmet filled with clear fluid.

Bil’djooli soldiers obey orders without question, owing to a combination of redundant training, negative reinforcement, honored military traditions, and the belief that conquest alone perpetuates their species. Bil’djooli are masters at guerilla and pack tactics in combat and excel at flanking and ambush maneuvers.