Olm, Sacred

Family: Olm

Small fey (enrooted), any

Armor Class 14 (natural armor)
Hit Points 44 (8d6 + 16); Wound Threshold 11
Speed 20 ft., swim 40 ft.

STR	WIS	CON	INT	SAG	CHA
8 (-1)	11 (+0)	15 (+2)	13 (+1)	18 (+4)	18 (+4)

Skills Perception +6, Stealth +2, Survival +6
Damage Vulnerabilities fire
Damage Immunities radiant
Senses blindvision 60 ft., passive Perception 13
Languages Sylvan, Undercommon, and any one language
Challenge 4 (1,100 XP)

SPECIAL TRAITS

• Amphibious. The sacred olm can breathe air and water.
• Innate Spellcasting. The sacred olm’s innate spellcasting ability is Charisma (spell save DC 14, +6 to hit with spell attacks). The sacred olm can innately cast the following spells like a 7th-level spellcaster, requiring no material components:
  • At will: create or destroy water, detect poison and disease, purify food and drink, sacred flame
  • 3/day each: fog cloud
  • 1/day each: control water, invisibility, water walk

ABOUT

An olm is an amphibian creature halfway between a freshwater salamander (with its slender black-spotted body) and an axolotl (with its beautiful gills that surround its head like feathers). Viviparous and feeding off insects and small fish, it favors pure waters where it grows and breeds. Olms live in colonies of a dozen individuals, and can grow up to a foot long in their natural environment. Their blue spots and crystalline gills are bioluminescent, and their eyes can be blue, red, or golden.

Olms are sought for their elegance and their eye-pleasing bright colors. They are docile creatures that usually let themselves be handled and enjoy being petted. They find dryness very unpleasant, and so it is recommended to give them a wet cloth that they can curl up in when at rest.

Certain communities raise olms in springs, wells, and even cisterns, since these creatures’ leaving or dying is a surefire sign that the quality of drinking water is compromised.

Water Sense

Olms have such an essential connection with water that they may seem gifted with supernatural abilities.

At the GM’s option, the following features may be given to olms, and be potentially made use of by explorers of the Netherworld:

• Detect Water. Feeling the humidity in the air and sniffing out its source, the olm is intuitively aware of the position and size of the nearest body of freshwater within 1 mile of it. The “best” path that the olm will discern toward the water will not necessarily be the most convenient for humanoid travelers. There may be a large chasm between the olm and the body of water, or a narrow hole that only Tiny creatures will be able to squirm through.
• Portable Source of Water. The olm naturally draws atmospheric humidity to it. Water condenses and trickles off its body in amounts depending on the environment. For example, in a desert, the phenomenon will be barely noticeable and insufficient to sustain the olm, while in a rainforest during the wet season, water will dribble from its body like a small fountain.
• Detect Water Quality. The olm can smell the quality and temperature of water. It knows whether it is drinkable, and will refuse to come near it if it is not. The olm will not approach water that is poisoned, overly acidic, filled with mutagens, salty, or stagnant and dirty. The greater the taint in the water, the further away the olm will detect it. For example, the olm may smell the salty water of an ocean from several hundred yards, but only notice the presence of mutagens in water when within 5 feet of it. Thus, the olm may actively seek a body of water, only to realize that it is undrinkable once it has reached it.