Small humanoid (dwarf), chaotic evil

Armor Class 13 (leather armor)
Hit Points 13 (3d6 + 3)
Speed 30 ft.

Proficiency Bonus +2
Proficiency Bonus +2 (5th Edition Advanced Mode)

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
10 (+0)	14 (+2)	12 (+1)	11 (+0)	5 (-3)	9 (-1)

Skills Stealth +4
Senses darkvision 120 ft., passive Perception 7
Languages Dwarvish, Undercommon
Challenge 1/4 (50 XP)

Magic Resistance. The derro has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.

Sunlight Sensitivity. While in sunlight, the derro has disadvantage on attack rolls, as well as on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight.

ACTIONS

• Hooked Spear. Melee Weapon Attack: +2 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 3 (1d6) piercing damage. If the target is Medium or smaller, the derro can choose to deal no damage and knock it prone.
• Light Crossbow. Ranged Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, range 80/320 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d8 + 2) piercing damage.

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Derro

Derro are a race of evil, subterranean humanoids that resemble small, twisted dwarves. They are known for their madness, cruelty, and sorcery. They inhabit the dark depths of the Underdark, where they plot and scheme against other races.

Description

Derro have pale blue-gray skin and shabby clothing that make them look pitiable to unsuspecting victims. Their hair is usually white, yellow, or pale tan in color and always straight. Their most striking feature is their eyes, which are uniformly white and lack both irises and pupils. They can see in total darkness and in the ultraviolet spectrum, but they suffer nausea in sunlight. They are typically quite dexterous and stealthy, but also unpredictable and prone to delusions, confusions, and manias.

Derro are short, with rough skin spotted with short coarse tufts of hair. Most derro wear a loose costume woven from the hair of underground creatures and dyed in deep reds and browns. Even in full armor, exploring new territory or patrolling their own, derro are easily recognizable. Their armor is leather, studded in copper and brass. Leaders, though, wear tougher leather armors, made from the hides of creatures far tougher than cattle. Derro prefer weapons designed to cripple opponents, rather than those built for a quick kill: derro don’t see any sport in spears and axes.

Sunlight would kill a derro were he to be exposed to it for a few days. Yet derro occasionally visit the surface world at night, raiding for humans or carrying out a savant’s plans.

Combat

Derro are cunning and ruthless fighters who prefer to ambush their enemies or attack them from a distance. They often use repeating light crossbows with poison-laced bolts, hooked fauchards, daggers, spears, and aklys (a club with a cord and a weight). They also employ various traps and devices to hinder or harm their foes. Some derro are adept at sorcery, especially those who serve as leaders or savants. They favor spells that manipulate the mind, such as charm person, confusion, fear, and suggestion. Derro are fearless and fanatical in combat, but they will retreat if they are outnumbered or outmatched.

Derro are never encountered singly. From their combat tactics to their choice of spells, derro demonstrate a mob mentality. A lone derro (the last survivor of an ill-fated patrol, perhaps) is a desperate derro, seeking at all costs to return to his home lair.

Habitat / Society

Derro live in the Underdark, the vast network of caverns and tunnels that lies beneath the surface of the world. They often dwell in ancient ruins or abandoned cities that they have claimed as their own. They are organized into clans or bands that are led by the most powerful or charismatic derro among them. These leaders are usually savants, derro who have mastered sorcery and gained enhanced intelligence at the cost of their sanity. Savants often have strange and incomprehensible goals that they pursue with zeal and obsession. They may assign missions to their followers or allies, such as collecting certain types of gemstones or slaying members of a particular race.

Derro society is chaotic and cruel, with frequent conflicts and betrayals among its members. Derro have no concept of honor or loyalty, only self-interest and survival. They are paranoid and distrustful of everyone, even their own kin. They often capture and enslave other races, especially those who are weaker or more vulnerable than them. They subject their captives to torture, experimentation, or sacrifice to their god Diirinka, a mysterious entity who is said to have created the derro by stealing magic from a great evil. Derro worship Diirinka with fear and reverence, hoping to gain his favor or avoid his wrath.

Derro do not appear to worship any powers other than Diirinka, but the savants treasure knowledge and the rest of the race pretty much worships the savants. The worst criminals in the derro community, subject to the Polite Execution (which takes a good two weeks, and which roams over miles of subterranean territory), are those who do not follow the laws of the savants. Most of those laws have to do with the derros’ goals: the destruction of humanity and the acquisition of arcane and obscure information. Derro usually scour their territory for magical items, stealing them or, if necessary, purchasing them from more powerful creatures.

Derro do not share the love of gold common to their dwarfish relatives, and they have been known to pay exorbitant prices for a few potions or for a magical item with a missing command word. This serves as one of the bases of trade between derro and other races of the Underdark. Drow find derro to be dangerous opponents (due to the latter’s magic resistance) and a race of barbarians with too much interest in the surface world. The mind flayers think the derro taste bad. Duergar disapprove of the derro’s love of cruelty. And derro really don’t much care about the other races deep beneath the surface. But derro often raid the surface and acquire technology or items that other deep races desire, and so limited trade between a lair and some surrounding creatures is possible.

Every 20 years or so, the derro race mounts an all-out war against other creatures of the Underdark. This is known as the Uniting War, and no savant really expects to win it. The War is a means of winnowing out the weakest of the derro lairs, a focal point for racial identity, and a chance to really start some terror throughout the Underdark. It also serves the purpose of starting rumors.

Ecology

Derro are omnivorous scavengers who eat whatever they can find in the Underdark. They have a preference for meat, especially human flesh. They also consume fungi, mosses, lichens, and other plants that grow in the dark. They sometimes trade with other races for food or other goods, but they are not above stealing or cheating if they can get away with it. Derro have a low fertility rate and a high mortality rate due to their harsh environment and lifestyle. They reproduce by mating with other derro or sometimes with other races, such as humans or dwarves. The offspring of such unions are always derro, inheriting their madness and deformity. Derro have few natural predators in the Underdark, but they face many enemies and rivals among its inhabitants. They often clash with drow, duergar, mind flayers, svirfneblin, and other races for resources or territory. Derro also pose a threat to the surface world, as they sometimes raid villages or towns for slaves or plunder. Derro are hated and feared by most other races, who view them as abominations and monstrosities.