Sisiutl
Image by Jim Nelson, © Wizards of the Coast. Accessed at the Stormwrack Art Gallery here
[The Sisiutl is a common symbolic monster in Pacific Northwest art, with the Kwakwakaʼwakw version being the best described online. It’s also one of the few First Nations monsters to appear in D&D. The Stormwrack version has a petrifying gaze, but I stripped that out to make it a little less TPK-able, given its pretty good melee capacity. I replaced that with flesh to stone, so it can still petrify foes, albeit one at a time, and arrow-themed abilities, which are more in keeping with what lore I could find.]
Sisiutl CR 10 LN Outsider (native) This creature resembles a massive serpent with three faces, two each at the ends of long necks, and a more human-like face in the middle where the necks meet. Its scales are like flakes of stone.
A sisiutl is a creature that bridges the boundaries between the Material and Outer Planes. It is a wise councilor and fearsome guardian, and serves to protect and mediate interactions between mortals and extraplanar outsiders. They are usually found near portals between planes, places where planar boundaries are thin, or even as advisors and guides to shamans and spiritual leaders of all kinds. Sisiutls are somewhat stern and no-nonsense, but they have a fondness for cooked meats and other gifts that are difficult to make or obtain without hands.
In combat, a sisiutl prefers non-lethal measures, petrifying a single foe and then negotiating with its allies to restore it to flesh in exchange for meeting the sisiutl’s wishes (which are typically to withdraw the trespass). They are skilled at melee and ranged combat, however, mixing powerful bites and constriction attacks with scales flicked from the ends of their tail like arrows. They can even enhance a scale such that it acts as a deadly weapon against a specific type of creature. If they are mollified or allied with, a sisiutl may give up this scale willingly as a reward, although they choose the type of creature it is attuned to. Common types include animals for assistance with hunting, or a creature type that matches a local menace to the community’s stability.
A sisiutl can speak through all three of its heads, and may carry on multiple conversations simultaneously in different languages with ease. All three heads have the same personality and goals, however.
