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Transformed into creatures called skum, they barely resemble their past forms, their skin turning slimy and translucent while their limbs warp to resemble those of deep-sea oddities. The change makes them dependent on water, which they must immerse themselves in regularly lest they experience painful-and potentially lethal-skin eruptions.
Skum (sing & pl[2]) were a slave-species created by the aboleths.[2] Skum resembled horrific hybrids of humans and fish, and were similar in height and weight to the former. They had a spiny frill on the back, bulbous eyes, and a tail.[2]
Skum Medium aberration, lawful evil: Armor Class: 14 (natural armor) Hit Points: 93 (11d8 + 44) Speed: 20 ft., swim 40 ft. STR. 19 (+4) DEX. 11 (0) CON. 18 (+4) INT. 7 (-2) WIS. 12 (+1) CHA. 9 (-1) Skills: Perception +4 Damage Resistances: psychic Senses: darkvision 120 ft., passive Perception 14 Languages: Common, Deep Speech, telepathy 60 ft.
Find skum monsters, a type of aberration created by aboleths, in various D&D sources and adventures. Learn about their abilities, traits, and encounters in the game.
- Skum Lore
- Skum Strengths
- Skum Weaknesses
- How to Play A Skum
- 5 Skum Plot Hooks
- Conclusions
A skum was once a creature, typically humanoid, that have been the unfortunate targets of an aboleth’s disease-baring magic. This magic specifically transforms the creature into a skum which is a disgusting-looking aberration with slimy, translucent skin and tentacle-shaped limbs. Needless to say, a skum bears practically no resemblance to its orig...
Respectable Damage
32 damage per round is a respectable amount for a CR 5 creature in 5e. It’s not amazing by any means, but it’s nice. The +7 to hit is, however, above-average for a CR 5 creature. I think this is necessary for the skum considering their role of “minion” to an aboleth master. Consistently landing Mind-Breaking Touchwill ensure that the aboleth has at least one target every turn to target with their mind control abilities. Mind-Breaking Touch is the MVP of the skum’s kit due to the Wisdom saving...
Solid “Minion” Creature
A skum or a couple of skum on their own can make for a fine basic encounter in any dungeon or adventure. They’re solid picks for guard creatures due to their excellent darkvision and +4 Perception as well. Plus, with their 60 ft. of Telepathy, they can work as a short-range communication network. A boss creature, particularly an aboleth, could make excellent use of a few skum around their base of operations. Mind-Breaking Touchis a fantastic tool to pair the skum up with a creature like an ab...
Lack of Ranged Attack Options
Skum are great melee brutes to throw at the party. They’re solid bodies to have on the field in a boss fight. They can even be solid guards or patrol creatures in an underwater dungeon. However, they’re still one-dimensional when push comes to shove in combat. Their max range is 5 ft. These are melee creatures through-and-through. Skum have no answers for ranged combatants outside of their excellent swim speed. While it’s true that martial ranged combat is less effective underwater, a party w...
Volatile Resistances and Immunities
Resistance to psychic damage is flavorful for sure, but it’s niche. This can be effective for some parties, but I’d wager that the majority of the parties won’t be impacted by this damage resistance. Everyone has resistance to fire damage underwater which is a great common damage type for the skum to have resistance to. Though there’s a good chance that once the party realizes this resistance is universal they’ll hold off on using their fire damage spells and abilities. Regardless, it does li...
Pair With a Creature That Uses Wisdom Saving Throws
I swear I’ve stated this a million times in this article, but the skum are fantastic minion creatures. Particularly so if they are minions to their canon masters, the aboleth!Who’d have thought? For a CR 10 creature, the aboleth’s Enslave action has a piss-poor DC of 14. Sure it’s a very powerful ability and this is trying to balance everything out, but you’re forgoing 3 attacks just to attempt an Enslave. Throwing a few skum on the board to utilize their Mind-Breaking Touch will give your ab...
Keep Them Near Water
The skum’s statblock is practically begging to be used in the water. They have an exceptional swim speed, one that more than doubles a typical player character in the water. They also are missing a common damage type resistance which underwater combat also solves,or at least entices the party to limit their fire damage attacks. At the very least, Water Dependencylimits your options to place your skum on land for long periods. They will begin to take extra damage if they aren’t exposed to wate...
A Mysterious Body – The city guard found the body of an otherworldly creature in an allyway. Rumor has it, the creature’s skin was almost translucent and the body looked unbelievably dehydrated. Wh...Disappearing Trade Ships –A once-thriving trade route has recently become the source of trade ships being lost at sea. There is one point of this route in particular that ships are now avoiding due...Sunken Treasure –You’ve come it posession of a treasure map that leads to a shipwreck on the ocean floor. Oddly enough, the ship captain you purchased the map from as eager to get rid of it…Skum City – The largest port city in the continent has recently discovered that it has an aboleth problem. This creature has stayed hidden and is slowly transforming drunken sailors and merchants i...If you’re in the market for some odd-looking muscle for an aquatic adventure, skum are a great choice. Pairing your skum up with an aboleth or any other creature that calls for Wisdom saving throws will be a frustrating hurdle for the party to overcome. Their fast swim speed will be a nightmare for the party to deal with. However, take the skum out...
Ulat-kini, also known as skum, are amphibious humanoids created by the aboleth as slaves. Learn about their traits, abilities, and history in this 5th edition Dungeons & Dragons creature entry.
Skum are bound to their aboleth master not just by their cursed state, but by a psychic bond that compels them to serve its every sinister whim. Several poor souls around the Styes have succumbed to an aboleth's magic through its disease-bearing touch.
