By Nick Olivo
Freeing slaves is something that comes up a lot in RPGs. Maybe the party needs to liberate a specific NPC from bondage, maybe they’re trying to thwart a political faction by denying them the slave labor needed to build infrastructure, or maybe the party liberates slaves just because it’s the right thing to do. Usually, the slavers wind up being humans, though you’ll see drow and the occasional derro thrown in there, too. But there’s one monster race that are the hardest-core slavers in D&D, and I haven’t seen them used nearly enough (read, ever). I’m talking about neogi.
Not to be confused with “kittens”.
Appearing in Volo’s Guide to Monsters, neogi are aberrations from a remote location on the Material Plane. They have the head and neck of an eel, and the body of a spider. They travel across multiple planes in vehicles built by umber hulk slave laborers, and make their living trading living beings with more powerful entities. Many of these trades result in warlock-like pact bargains, granting some neogi magical talents. They’re crafty, devious, and have the ability to control other creatures’ minds. In short, they’re the perfect thing to throw at your PCs.
Unless they encounter a gang of chimpanzees, in which case you should always throw shit at them.
And because they’re CR 3 or 4, an individual neogi is capable of serving as a good low-level boss, or a group of them is a sufficiently challenging encounter for a mid-level party.
Here are 4 reasons why you should use neogi in your games.
1. They’re exotic.
If your players have been playing D&D for a while, they know what to expect from humanoid slavers, whether they’re humans or drow. Neogi are nothing like what they’ve seen before. They can mentally dominate creatures, and said compulsion lasts for 24 hours. In combat, a neogi’s bite attack is poisonous, and Neogi Masters have access to spells as if they were warlocks, including eldritch blast, arms of Hadar, invisibility, and counterspell. Add that to a native spider climb ability, and you’re looking at something that can assault your mind from any angle. And to a neogi, if your brain can be controlled, then it should be controlled, and they’re the best ones to do it.
You could certainly do worse.
2. They enable you to introduce extraplanar threats.
Neogi sell slaves to creatures from across the planes, which means some of the buyers are going to be powerful extradimensional entities. If the party frees a group of slaves intended for work in the Shadowfell, then the buyer may come looking for the party to take revenge. That simple mission to free an NPC from bondage suddenly gains the party a powerful adversary who likely has reach and resources, and who definitely holds a grudge. Some of the slaves freed may also be extraplanar themselves, and that can spawn adventures where the party tries to help someone get home.
Raise the stakes. If the party doesn’t help them, they’re forced into a life of prostitution.
3. They’ve got access to plane-shifting ships.
Neogi have ships that enable them to travel across planes. If the party steals one of those, they can theoretically travel to any plane they want. This lets you turn your humble, let’s-stop-the-orcs-from-destroying-the-kingdom type campaign into something completely different, enabling you to introduce whatever monsters and beings you want. Want the party to have a side quest with modrons in the Clockwork Nirvana of Mechanus? Maybe take a vacation in the Twin Paradises of Bytopia? And then, as they’re returning from said vacation, refreshed and relaxed, have them suffer a crash landing on the Tarterian Depths of Carceri. A neogi ship can let you make that happen.
“My sensors indicate this place sucks.”
4. They’re great deal makers.
Some players may try to negotiate with neogi rather than fight them. If so, perfect. Neogi write contracts on par with devils, so the fine print in a neogi contract will likely be littered with indentured servitude clauses, or the party agreeing to willingly go into slavery should they fail to keep their end of the bargain. This makes for some great roleplaying possibilities and adventure opportunities – if the party fails to deliver on a bargain, now they’re being hunted by neogi and need to deal with mentally enslaved creatures pursuing them as well as extraplanar aberrations.
“Twelve CDs for just one penny! Where do I sign?”
A simple “free the slaves” mission can become much, much more complicated when the slavers are neogi. Imagine your party’s surprise when, instead of seeing a bunch of drow with slaver’s lashes, they come across people being mentally compelled by eel spiders. The look on their faces will be priceless.
