Bog Imp (5e Race)

Bog Imp

Physical Description

Most people who have survived an encounter with Bog Imps will describe them as smaller, scalier, and scarier Goblins with small, reptilian eyes, aquatic features, extra fins along their oversized heads, and massive maws full of needle-like teeth. Those that get a closer look, preferably at a dead Bog Imp rather than a living example, will note the gills hidden behind their wide ears, dorsal fin, sharp claws, and webbed feet. Bog Imps are usually green brown or dull yellow in color and tend to smell like rotting fish or seaweed.

History

No one knows exactly what pit the first Bog Imps crawled out of, but the smart gold is on some swamp in the Feywild before they spread to infest marches on the material plane as well. Bog Imps are terrible little creatures that like to kill other creatures, preferably by drowning them, for fun unless doing so conflicts with their particular codes of conduct, each specific to their different clutches. In addition to their venomous claws, they can enchant creatures into drowning themselves. They also have some intrinsic water magic which they mostly use to corrupt water supplies.

Bog Imps have two methods of reproduction. The first is the standard fashion of most warm-blooded mammals. The second is by drowning an elf and leaving their corpse to fester in fetid water with their poison in their system. Over thirteen days afterwards, the body will shrivel and transform, eventually transforming into a fully grown Bog Imp with almost no memory of its past life and all its sire’s compulsions.

Society

Bog Imps naturally organize themselves into clutches inhabiting a bog or, in the case of larger wetlands, sections of the swampy area. Each clutch is largely structureless with individual Bog Imps doing whatever they feel like, which is usually mischief and murder directed towards anyone in or near their territory. What keeps them organized are their various behavioral compulsions that guide each clutch and dictates their interactions with outsiders. While largely violent, a clutch might have rules such as letting anyone that beats them in foot race go unmolested or ignore people wearing orange. The Bog Imps hod these rules sacrosanct and will never break them unless they join a different clutch with different rules, which replace the old ones. One other notable behavior of the Bog Imps is that those born from Elves will rarely attack any other Elf the original Elf knew.

Bog Imp Names

Bog Imp names are usually Elven with some Sylvan influence mixed in, making them similar to Eladrin.

Male: Bervan, Fylameral, Jaheros, Walmorn, Xanworn

Female: Cyltora, Eilzora, Prysglyn, Sariele, Vabis

Bog Imp Traits

Small, Scaly Swamp Serial Slayers
Ability Score Increase. Your Charisma score increases by 2 and your Dexterity score increases by 1.
Age. Bog Imps reach maturity at about 14 years of age and can live up to 120 years.
Alignment. Bog Imps tend towards a lawful evil alignment.
Size. Your size is Small.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet. You have a swimming speed equal to your walking speed.
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.
Amphibious. You can breathe air and water
Bad Water. You know the shape water cantrip. In addition to its normal effects, you can use shape water to turn a 5-foot cube of water poisonous for 1 hour. Any creature that drinks it must succeed on Constitution saving throw or be poisoned for 1 round. Your spellcasting ability for this cantrip is Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma (choose when you select this race).
Fair Play. You have proficiency with a gaming set of your choice. You cannot cheat while using this gaming set.
Mud Miner. You have a burrowing speed equal to your base walking speed. However, you can only use your burrowing speed in wet, loose soil such as mud or saturated sand.
Poisoned Claws. You can use your poisoned claws to make unarmed strikes. When you hit with them, the strike deals 1d6 + your Strength modifier poison damage, instead of the bludgeoning damage normal for an unarmed strike. When you score a critical hit with your claws, the target is poisoned until the start of their next turn.
Swamp Strider. Moving through nonmagical difficult terrain caused by mud, standing water, or dead vegetation costs you no extra movement.
Thalassophobia. As an action, you can magically compel a creature you can see within 30ft of you to drown themself for 1 minute. The creature must make a Wisdom saving throw. On a failure, they will spend their turns moving towards the nearest body of water capable of drowning them by the fastest means possible and enter it to start suffocating. Until this effect ends, the creature cannot willingly leave the water. At the end of their turn, the creature can repeat the saving throw to end the effect. Creatures that can breathe water, don’t need to breathe, or are immune to the charmed condition automatically succeed on the saving throw. If already underwater, the creature will just start suffocating. Once you use this trait, you can’t use it again until you complete long rest. The Wisdom saving throw’s DC equals 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma modifier (choose when you select this race).
Water Dependency. If you fail to immerse yourself in water for at least 1 hour during a day, you suffer 1 level of exhaustion at the end of that day. You can recover from this exhaustion only through magic or by immersing yourself in water for at least 1 hour.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and Elven.

Random Height and Weight

Base Height	Height Modifier*	Base Weight	Weight Modifier**
2′ 0''	+2d6	25 lb.	× (1d4) lb.
*Height = base height + height modifier **Weight = base weight + (height modifier × weight modifier)

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