Sehrloth
Origins in Gehenna
Like all yugoloths, the first sehrloths were created by a sisterhood of night hags on Gehenna. It is widely believed that Asmodeus, Lord of the Nine Hells, commissioned the work, in the hope of creating an army of fiends that were not bound to the Nine Hells. In the course of making this new army, the hags crafted four magic tomes and recorded the true names of every yugoloth they created, save one, the General of Gehenna. These tomes were called the Books of Keeping. Since knowing a fiend's true name grants power over it, the hags used the books to ensure the yugoloths' loyalty. They also used the books to capture the true names of other fiends that crossed them. It is rumored that the Books of Keeping contain the true names of a few demon lords and arch devils as well.
Petty jealousies and endless bickering caused the sisterhood to dissolve, and in the ensuing power grab, the Books of Keeping were lost or stolen.
Heilidon
No longer indentured to anyone, the yugoloths gained independence, and with that, three races with similar interests joined forces - the kernuloth, the virtuloth, and the venorloth. They marched into the dark, cold, and inhospitable surface of Krangath, the fourth layer of Gehenna. There they set up a tower of colossal magnitude, which would later be called Heilidon, The Sanctuary.
While a vast majority of sehrloths reside within Heilidon, some prefer to live in other planes, such as the Feywild or the Prime Material Plane, where they study various things that they would not be able to see in Gehenna.
The Books of Keeping
When all four copies of the Books of Keeping disappeared, Asmodeus and the night hags lost control of their yugoloth creations. Each Book of Keeping still exists, drifting from plane to plane, where the brave and the foolish occasionally stumble upon them. A yugoloth summoned using its true name, as inscribed in the Books of Keeping, is forced to serve its summoner obediently. The yugoloth hates being controlled in this manner and isn't shy about making its displeasure known. Like a petulant child, it will follow its instructions to the letter while looking for opportunities to misinterpret them.
The Sehrloth
Sehrloth is the term used to refer to three different yugoloth races that joined forces a long time ago. While they may look and behave differently, they are all equally respected amongst themselves and treated as if they were the same. Their main goal is to pursue and preserve all knowledge, especially that of the arcane arts, by studying, discovering, and rediscovering all they can.
They are said to be either a variant or some of many descendants of the arcanaloths. This is implied due to their interests and goals being so similar. However, the
sehrloths are much less involved in whatever other fiends are doing, and have less of a desire to manipulate events from behind the curtain, preferring to keep to themselves instead. But even then, they will still occasionally go out of their way to do mercenary work or get involved in other fiends' affairs, though only if they have something of great interest to gain from doing so.
Neither the arcanaloths nor the sehrloths seem to care much about this theory, and acknowledge such as a plausibility. They don't let it get in the way of business, however, and the fiends hold bargains with one another, though each side is very wary of the other.
Sehrloth Names
To avoid being controlled, a sehrloth never reveals their true name to anyone. They instead use nicknames, names from other races, or simply a word in their native language as a pseudonym. They like names that sound exotic.
Male Sehrloth Names: Akbal, Aryta, Cimi, D'pak, Imix, K'an, Lakshan, Lamat, Mahendra, Manik, Muluk, Nitess, Nree'pendra, Reyansh, Veevan.
Female Sehrloth Names: Ajmak, Aria, B'aatz, Bhaavna, Cib, Ekaya, Eznab, Falak, Hiral, Kaban, Noj, Tz'ikin, Upasna, Yokana, Zora.
Sehrloth Traits
All sehrloths, regardless of their race, have a variety of abilities.
Ability Score Increase. Your Intelligence score increases by 2.
Age. Sehrloths are born as adults through magic, and live until they are killed.
Alignment. So long as they are able to work with no interruptions, they don't pay too much mind about who is ruling over their lands or what is going on around them. They are most often evil or neutral at best.
Size. All sehrloths are humanoid in shape and size. They range from 5 to 7 feet in height. Your size is medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Darkvision. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common, Infernal, and Abyssal.
Fiend. Your creature type is fiend, rather than humanoid.
Student of Magic. You are proficient in the Arcana skill.
Passionate Hobbyist. You are proficient with one artisan's tool or musical instrument of your choice, and your proficiency bonus is doubled for any ability check you make that uses it.
Invigorating Stimulus. You can read, write, or use a tool or instrument you are proficient with instead of sleeping during a long rest.
Subrace. Choose one of the following subraces.
Virtuloth
Lion-headed yugoloths with a single or multiple pairs of horns, whose manes can either resemble facial hair or be very lion-like. Their fur is usually either pale white, dark brown, or yellow-gold, and some individuals have a pair of boar-like tusks protruding from their mouths. They tend to make an indelible first impression, as they usually insist on wearing the most elegant of clothes.
They are ambitious, confident, and tend to be natural leaders, but can also be lazy and self-centered, and often prefer to order others to do menial tasks for them rather than doing it themselves. They do not hesitate to use trickery, manipulation, or cunning to defeat their rivals.
Virtuloths are very passionate artists and are often seen painting, playing music, sculpting, writing, or working on any other kind of art that suits the individual.
Ability Score Increase. Your Charisma score increases by 1.
Center of Attention. You know the thaumaturgy cantrip. When you reach 3rd level, you can cast the unseen servant spell once per day. When you reach 5th level, you can also cast the enthrall spell once per day. Charisma or Intelligence (your choice) is the spellcasting ability for these spells.
Strong Personality. You are proficient in your choice of Intimidation or Persuasion.
Kernuloth
Goat- and sheep-headed yugoloths who possess a characteristic third eye in their forehead. Although quiet, serious, and sometimes short-fused, these are very insightful and perceptive individuals. They possess an inner state of independence, make solid and realistic plans, and are often able to see what is the most practical approach to things. They have difficulties accepting differences of other people and might aggressively try to impose their values.
Ability Score Increase. Your Wisdom score increases by 1.
Third Eye. You have a magical third eye in your forehead. While closed, it's nearly impossible to tell it apart from your fur and skin. You can use a bonus action to open the eye for 1 minute, gaining 10 feet of truesight. You can use a bonus action to close the eye, ending its effect.
Once you open the eye, you cannot open it again until you finish a long rest.
Arcane Affinity. You know one cantrip of your choice from the wizard spell list. Intelligence is your spellcasting ability for it.
Venorloth
Perhaps the most savage sehrloth subrace, these lizard-like yugoloths are animalesque in shape, barely being considered humanoids. Their scales can be green, yellow, brown, or dark red, and some resemble lizards or salamanders, while others loosely resemble a dragon.
Though still bright students, they indulge in primal activities, such as hunting, and tend to make trips to the Feywild or the Prime Material Plane every so often to engage in such things. While some prefer to chase their prey, others use their ability to speak with beasts to build rapport with smaller animals over the course of several days, or even weeks, after which the animals are eaten alive. When dealing with intelligent creatures, however, they are as loyal and friendly as a fiend can be to those who prove themselves to be highly trustworthy.
Ability Score Increase. Your Strength or Dexterity score increases by 1.
Primal Speech. You have the ability to communicate with beasts.
Amphibious. You can breathe air and water.
Belualoth
A belualoth consists of two to three different sehrloth heads attached to a single body. Usually, if the body has two heads, each one gets to control their half of the body. However, if it has three heads, each one will control at least one limb, though there is no pattern to which head gets to control what.
Shortly after being freed from the control of the night hags, the sehrloths begun looking for ways to increase their numbers. Many attempts at magical reproduction were made, and failures more often than not resulted in a belualoth.
Ability Score Decrease. Your Dexterity score is reduced by 1.
Conjoined. You have two heads. Choose one or two sehrloth subraces (kernuloth, virtuloth, or venorloth).
If you choose two subraces, each of your heads corresponds to that of a chosen subrace and you gain any of their traits, except their ability score increase traits.
If you choose one subrace, you gain all of their traits. Additionally, further increase by 1 whichever ability score was increased by their ability score improvement trait.
The traits from each subrace only benefit their respective heads. For instance, if you have a venorloth and a kernuloth head, only the venorloth head will be able to speak with beasts through their primal speech trait.
Variant Belualoth Traits
If you wish to play a three-headed belualoth, you can use the following traits instead. Note that this variant is not as balanced as the other subraces.
Ability Score Decrease. Your Dexterity score is reduced by 2.
Three's a Crowd. Choose one, two, or three sehrloth subraces.
- Three races: Each of your heads belong to a different sehrloth subrace You gain all traits from each subrace, except for their ability score increase traits.
- Two races: Two of your heads are of the same sehrloth subrace, but the third is of a different one. You gain all traits from each of the chosen subraces, except for the ability score increase trait from the single head's subrace.
- One race: You gain all traits from the chosen subrace. Additionally, further increase by 2 whichever ability score was increased by their ability score improvement trait.
Three-minded. You are vulnerable to psychic damage.
Feats
Thespian
Prerequisite: Virtuloth or belualoth with at least one virtuloth head
Born to put on a show and entertain, you gain the following benefits:
- Increase your Charisma score by 1.
- You gain proficiency in the Performance skill, or any other skill if you are already proficient in it.
- You gain two performance points. When you make a Charisma (Performance) check, you can use a point to gain advantage and double your proficiency bonus for that roll. You have to announce the use of the performance point before you make the roll. You regain any expended performance points when you finish a long rest.
Piercing Gaze
Prerequisite: Kernuloth or belualoth with at least one kernuloth head
You learn how to use your third eye to probe into the minds of others. You gain the following benefits:
- You now regain usage of your third eye trait on a short or long rest.
- While your third eye is open, you have advantage on all Wisdom (Insight) checks you make.
- Once per long rest, while your third eye is open, you can cast the detect thoughts spell without any vocal, somatic, or material components. When cast this way, you can only focus on a creature within 10 feet of you, and the spell does not require concentration. Intelligence is your spellcasting ability for it.
Obsession
Prerequisite: Venorloth or belualoth with at least one venorloth head
Sometimes, a creature captures so much of your interest that it becomes difficult to focus on anything but the creature, and how you'll kill it. You gain the following benefits:
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Increase your Strength or Dexterity score by 1.
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You gain proficiency in the Survival skill, or any other skill if you are already proficient in it.
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As a bonus action, you become obsessed with a creature you can see or hear. For the next 8 hours, difficult terrain, swimming, and climbing do not halve your speed if you're moving towards the target of your obsession, and you have advantage on any Wisdom (Perception) or Wisdom (Survival) check you make to find it. If the target dies, your obsession ends. You can only be obsessed with one creature at a time.
Once you become obsessed with a creature, you cannot do so again until you finish a long rest.
Double Trouble
Prerequisite: Belualoth
Your heads have learned how to best aid each other. You gain the following benefits:
- You have advantage on Intelligence saving throws against magical effects.
- You have advantage on saving throws against being charmed, frightened, or stunned.
- Once per long rest, when you make an Intelligence check, you can add a d6 to the roll.
Art Credits
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Page 2: Virtuloth - Lovestruck Beast (Alternate) MtG Art by Tyler Walpole
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Page 3: Kernuloth - Art by Simul
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Page 3: Venorloth - Oddly Uneven MtG Art by Ben Wootten
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Page 4: Belualoth - Choir, by Inert-Ren