Bullywug (3.5e Race)

Bullywugs

Bullywugs

Personality

Life as a bullywug is nasty, brutish, and wet. Bullywugs kill for sport, frequently destroy their own hunting grounds systematically, and make a religious fetish of summoning monsters who may or may not stay within their control.

More intelligent than frogs, all bullywugs live in organized or semi-organized socially hierarchial groups, cooperating for the purpose of hunting and survival. They inhabit swamps, marshes, meres, or other dank places, where they live primarily on fish and any other game, preferring a diet consisting almost entirely of meat. They are adept hunters and fishermen, and skilled in the use and construction of spears, snares and nets, which they employ both for hunting and warfare; a distinction rarely made.

The leader of a small bullywug community is usually one of its largest individuals, often a barbarian but sometimes a cleric or shaman. Communities of 30 or more bullywugs usually have five subleaders of this kind, and a more powerful leader. Communities of 60 or more bullywugs have a chieftain and five subchieftains. Lasting communities larger than this is incredibly rare, but many different bullywug communities can be forced to work together in times of crisis, but rarely result in lasting alliances.

Bullywug society is a savage one. Males are the dominant sex, and females exist primarily to lay eggs. Though females and young make up about one-half of any tribe, they count for little in the social order. The only signs of respect that most bullywugs ever bestow are toward their leader and their bizarre frog god, Ramenos.

On an individual level, bullywugs lack the greed and powerlust seen in the individuals of other chaotic races such as orcs. Fighting among members of the same group, for example, is almost nonexistent. Some would say that this is because they lack the intelligence to pick a fight, and not from a lack of spite. The tribes are lead by the dominant male, who kills and eats the previous leader when it is too old to rule. This is one of the few instances when they fight among themselves.

Physical Description

Bullywugs are a race of bipedal, frog-like amphibious humanoids covered with a smooth, mottled olive green, gray, or yellow hide that is reasonably tough. They have long, flicking tongues that can barely fit themselves around a form of stunted Common. They are all natural jumpers, and can jump roughly 30 feet forward and 15 feet vertically, and fight with spears and other sharp weapons they can poke out of the water.

Bullywugs can vary greatly in size, from smaller than the average human to about seven feet in height, standing 3 to 7 feet tall, with a weight from 100 to 300 pounds. Their faces resemble those of enormous frogs, with wide mouths and large, bulbous eyes; they have four webbed fingers on each hand and three webbed toes on each foot. Bullywugs are notable for not having opposable thumbs, but instead have a two digits on each hand that can swivel and pivot around to fulfil that function. Though they most often wear no clothing, all bullywugs use weapons, armor, and shields if they are available, and make it a point of pride to wear at least leather armor if possible, even though swimming in armor isn’t easy.

Relations

In the marshes of Chelimber, the bullywugs and the sivs fight a never-ending war for possession of the fringes of the marsh. That’s what the bullywugs think, anyway. The sivs know better: The war is over, and the bullywugs lost. In these great marshes, the sivs allow the bullywugs to survive because the bullywugs serve as a buffer zone between warriors from outside the marsh and the sivs’ own dwellings. Elsewhere in the Realms, in marshes too small to suit the sivs’ desire for isolation, the bullywugs still lord it over their sinkholes without interference from the better organized sivs.

Bullywugs prefer to fight in or near water, and they always attack in groups if possible, trying to use their numbers to surround their enemies. Whenever they can, bullywugs attack with their hop, charging the enemy from cover. This skill, combined with their outstanding camouflage abilities, frequently puts the bullywugs in an ideal position for an ambush. Whenever possible, they use summoned monsters as their first wave of attack, and in any given fight there is a 50% chance that bullywugs will fight to the death, no matter how stupid that seems, and a 50% chance that they will flee for their lives when some of their number has fallen, even if they could otherwise win the fight.

The vast majority of bullywugs hate humans and have more than a passing distain for most of the other civilized races, and will attack them on sight, but most bullywugs also prefer to dwell in isolated regions far from human beings.

A small number of bullywugs are larger and more intelligent than the rest of their kind. These bullywugs make their homes in abandoned buildings and caves, and send out regular patrols and hunting parties. These groups tend to be well equipped and organized, and stake out a regular terntory, which varies with the size of the group. They are more aggressive than their smaller cousins, and will fight not only other bullywugs but other monsters as well. The more intelligent bullywugs often organize regular raids outside their territory for food and booty, and often tend to prize the flesh of other sentients.

Since they tend towards chaotic evil, all trespassers, including other bullywugs, are considered threats or sources of food. For every 10 greater bullywugs in a community, there 10% chance of a shaman or cleric being present, but most bullywugs encountered outside their homes are warriors.

Alignment

Bullywugs are largely savage and uncaring towards other races, and almost always chaotic, and they tend toward evil, usually considered as lacking in any higher emotions or feelings, driven by violent territoriality and frequently engaging in cannibal-like behaviour. Adventuring bullywugs are less likely to fit the common mold, however, since they're more likely to be those who did not fit into what passes for bullywug society, but will still struggle with their inborn impulses. For example, while a bullywug may not actively hunt other sentients, it may still question the idea of wasting good meat. They are often very loyal to what they consider their "tribe" or community, while utterly disinterested or actively hostile towards those outside it.

Lands

Apart from the marshes of Chelimber, all bullywugs favor dank, dark places to live, since they must keep their skin moist. Most bullywugs live in the open and main tain only loose territorial boundaries. Ordinary bullywugs do not deal with incursions into their territory very efficiently, but they kill and eat interlopers if they can. They hate their large relatives and wage war upon them at every opportunity. Bullywugs prize treasure, though it benefits them little. They value coins and jewels, and occasionally a magical item can be found amongst their hoard.

Bullywugs tend to disrupt ecosystems, rather than fill a niche in them. They do not have the intelligence to harvest their food supplies sensibly and will fish and hunt in an area until its natural resources arc depleted, and then move on to a new territory.

Religion

Bullywugs hunt things, eat things, bully things, and worship their noxious deities. There are many bullywug priests; as many as one in ten bullywugs in some ponds have one or more levels as a cleric or shaman, or sometimes (albeit rarely) druids. The principle god of the bullywugs is Ramenos, the chaotic evil, bloated and froglike deity of somnolence, intoxication, and decay. He is said to be sleeping deep within the Abyss, where demons feed sacrifices into his gaping, vast maw. According to myth, Ramenos was active and strong in ages long past, but is now slumbered most of the time, barely able to sustain attention to his own fate.

Bullywugs revere Ramenos not for the claims of his once great power, but for what he represents to them; the ideal life of overindulgence, idleness and apathy, something bullywugs struggling to survive might dream of being able to emulate in the afterlife. Ramenos home plane was upon Smaragd, the 74th layer of the Abyss, and his clerics can normally choose from the domains of Chaos, Decay, Dream, Evil, Slime, Sloth, and Water. Bullywug clerics generally tend to limit themselves to three types of spells; summoning spells of any type, spells of inflict wounds, and whatever domain spells they have access to.

Apart from Ramenos and a number of minor deities that most often depend on the region in which the bullywugs live (and thus what other worshippers they have come into contact with or eaten), bullywugs are animists favouring elemental spirits of any type.

Language

Bullywugs have their own language, bullywi, and the more intelligent ones can speak a limited form of the common tongue. Some of the most exceptionally driven or intelligent sometimes come to learn one or more of the primordial languages of the elementals, especially aquan or terran.

Names

A bullywug oftan has a given name, a familial pod name that shared by everyone from the same clutch, and a communal name shared by everyone within a particular community, taken from the given name of the dominant leader of the community. Male bullywug names often comprise guttural croaking sounds and tend to include numerous letters and syllables, so as to be more impressive-sounding to other bullywugs, whereas female names tend to be short or even monosyllabic.

Male: Grugenosh, Hochrglash, Kermshugga, Buhmbkchra, Quaffodunoch, Tchuouddun, Pubborch, Haarichrech.

Female: Begro, Gorda, Mersh, Swumif, Qchor.

Pods: Bechra, Gorcha, Merscha, Swumfcha, Qchorcha.

Communal: Grugenosh'ra, Horchglash'iicha, Kermshugga'boch, Buhmkchra'chra, Quaffodunoch'quach, Tchuouddun'pogcha, Pubborch'begro, Haarichrech'ddun.

Standard Bullywug Racial Traits

• +6 Constitution, -4 Intelligence, -2 Wisdom, -4 Charisma: Bullywugs are hardy and physically adaptive, but short-sighted, self-centred, and often both exceptionally unpleasant and unimposing.
• Small: As a Small creature, a bullywug gains a +1 size bonus to Armor Class, a +1 size bonus on attack rolls, and a +4 size bonus on Hide checks, but it uses smaller weapons than humans use, and it's lifting and carrying limits are three-quarters of those of a Medium character.
• Bullywug base land speed is 20 feet, with a Swim speed of 30 feet.
• +4 racial bonus on Hide checks when in marshes & swampland: Most bullywugs are avid hunts and have mastered the art of ambushes in their home environment.
• +8 racial bonus on any Swim check to perform some action or avoid a hazard. Bullywugs can always choose to take 10 on a Swim check, even if distracted or endangered. It can use the run action while swimming, provided it swims in a straight line: This is a function of the bullywugs innate Swim speed.
• +3 natural armor bonus: Bullywugs have a tough, mucus-covered hide.
• Hop (Ex): As a full-round action or as part of a charge, bullywugs can perform a jump up to 30 feet forward and 15 feet upward. When attacking as part of a hop, bullywugs add a +2 racial bonus to their attack roll and double the base damage of an impaling weapon such as a spear, shortspear or longspear. Additionally, bullywugs can always choose to take 10 on a Jump check, even if distracted or endangered, and always counts as having a running start when using the Jump skill.
• Marsh Move (Ex): Bullywugs suffer no movement penalties for moving in marshes, swampland, or through mud.
• Amphibious (Ex): Bullywugs can breathe in both air and water. However, in salt-water, a bullywug will be fatigued after 4 hours of breathing, and exhausted after another 4; this will not go away until at least a full days rest in air or fresh water.
• Summoning (Sp): Bullywug priests are notorious for their powerful but unpredictable summoning abilities. When a bullywug uses a summoning spell, there is a 50% chance that one more monster than the spell would ordinarily summon will appear. In such cases, there is then a 25% chance that the summoned monsters will not be in the bullywug’s control, rampaging and attacking at random. It is not uncommon for bullywugs that have summoned monsters and failed to control them to spend all their efforts fighting their own summoned creatures instead of attacking their original foe.
• Automatic Languages: Common and Bullywi. Bonus Languages: Aquan, Auran, Ignan, and Terran. Bullywugs are generally only familiar with their own language, and most bullywugs do not even speak common; only the most accomplished leaders, priests and shamans sometimes learn a primordial elemental language.
• Favored Class: Barbarian. A multiclass bullywugs barbarian class does not count when determining whether he takes an experience point penalty for multiclassing. Bullywugs are often savage and simple-minded, strong, and cannot read.
• Level Adjustment: +1

Greater Bullywug Racial Traits

• +6 Constitution, -2 Intelligence, -2 Wisdom, -4 Charisma: Bullywugs are hardy and physically adaptive, but short-sighted, self-centred, and often both exceptionally unpleasant and unimposing.
• Medium: As a Medium creature, a bullywug has no special bonuses or penalties due to it's size.
• Bullywug base land speed is 20 feet, with a Swim speed of 30 feet.
• +4 racial bonus on Hide checks when in marshes & swampland: Most bullywugs are avid hunts and have mastered the art of ambushes in their home environment.
• +8 racial bonus on any Swim check to perform some action or avoid a hazard. Bullywugs can always choose to take 10 on a Swim check, even if distracted or endangered. It can use the run action while swimming, provided it swims in a straight line: This is a function of the bullywugs innate Swim speed.
• +3 natural armor bonus: Bullywugs have a tough, mucus-covered hide.
• Hop (Ex): As a full-round action or as part of a charge, bullywugs can perform a jump up to 30 feet forward and 15 feet upward. When attacking as part of a hop, bullywugs add a +2 racial bonus to their attack roll and double the base damage of an impaling weapon such as a spear, shortspear or longspear. Additionally, bullywugs can always choose to take 10 on a Jump check, even if distracted or endangered, and always counts as having a running start when using the Jump skill.
• Marsh Move (Ex): Bullywugs suffer no movement penalties for moving in marshes, swampland, or through mud.
• Amphibious (Ex): Bullywugs can breathe in both air and water. However, in salt-water, a bullywug will be fatigued after 4 hours of breathing, and exhausted after another 4; this will not go away until at least a full days rest in air or fresh water.
• Summoning (Sp): Bullywug priests are notorious for their powerful but unpredictable summoning abilities. When a bullywug uses a summoning spell, there is a 50% chance that one more monster than the spell would ordinarily summon will appear. In such cases, there is then a 25% chance that the summoned monsters will not be in the bullywug’s control, rampaging and attacking at random. It is not uncommon for bullywugs that have summoned monsters and failed to control them to spend all their efforts fighting their own summoned creatures instead of attacking their original foe.
• Automatic Languages: Common and Bullywi. Bonus Languages: Aquan, Auran, Ignan, and Terran. Bullywugs are generally only familiar with their own language, and most bullywugs do not even speak common; only the most accomplished leaders, priests and shamans sometimes learn a primordial elemental language.
• Favored Class: Barbarian. A multiclass bullywugs barbarian class does not count when determining whether he takes an experience point penalty for multiclassing. Bullywugs are often savage and simple-minded, strong, and cannot read.
• Level Adjustment: +1

Vital Statistics

Table: Random Starting Ages

Adulthood	Simple	Moderate	Complex
10	+1d4	+1d6	+2d8

Table: Aging Effects

Middle Age1	Old2	Venerable3	Maximum Age
30 years	45 years	60 years	+4d20 years
At middle age, −1 to Str, Dex, and Con; +1 to Int, Wis, and Cha. At old age, −2 to Str, Dex, and Con; +1 to Int, Wis, and Cha. At venerable age, −3 to Str, Dex, and Con; +1 to Int, Wis, and Cha.

Table: Standard Bullywug Random Height and Weight

Gender	Base Height	Height Modifier	Base Weight	Weight Modifier
Male	3' 10"	+2d8	90 lb.	× (2d8) lb.
Female	3' 0"	+2d6	80 lb.	× (2d6) lb.

Table: Greater Bullywug Random Height and Weight

Gender	Base Height	Height Modifier	Base Weight	Weight Modifier
Male	4' 6"	+3d10	120 lb.	× (2d10) lb.
Female	4' 2"	+3d8	90 lb.	× (2d10) lb.

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