This ugly creature resembles a twisted shadow puppet’s silhouette, a wild thing of flared black and brown fur whose pelt juts out from its body at freakish angles. The crouching shadow’s ears are large and floppy, draping shoulder-length, adding to the creature’s unnatural shape. Its eyes are too big for its head. Tremendous milk-white ovals loom on either side of the thing’s wheezy pig-like nose. Its panting mouth is filled with bristly needle-teeth spiderwebbed in disgusting strands of yellowish saliva, all vibrating to the tune of its wheezing breath.
XP 600 DEFENSE
AC 17, touch 11, flat-footed 16 (+2 armor, +1 Dex, +3 natural, +1 shield) OFFENSE
Speed 30 ft. TACTICSBefore Combat Bugbears slink in shadow and behind closed doors. They revel in the look of terror on a foe’s face when they suddenly loom from the darkness, often with some horrible trophy in hand. During Combat Bugbears do not enjoy protracted fighting and seek to down a foe and slip away as quickly and quietly as possible. They favor hit-and-run tactics when the situation allows, striking at the most vulnerable point or member of a group. Morale A bugbear is not foolish enough to fight to the death, as that would preclude it from menacing others at a later date. It usually flees if reduced to 5 hit points. STATISTICS
Str 16, Dex 13, Con 13, Int 10, Wis 10, Cha 9 SPECIAL ABILITIESStalker (Ex)Perception and Stealth are always class skills for bugbears. | Examples
Legends & Lore
Characters with ranks in Knowledge (local) can learn more about bugbears. When a character makes a Knowledge (local) check, the following lore is revealed, including the information from lower DCs. Characters can also use Knowledge (nature) to determine this information, but the DCs are 5 higher. Knowledge (Local)
Source WOTC Community Forums - Monsters and Races - Monster Lore Compendium. Copyright 2007-2008, Author: Evandar_TAybara |
ECOLOGY
Source Classic Monsters Revisited.
Bugbears of all kinds infest the world.
Kardan (CR 4)
Kardans have dark gray fur and prove far stealthier than their lesser brethren. These bugbears sometimes possess the vexing ability to appear as something other than their terrifying selves for short periods of time—such as chairs, rocks, tree stumps, or even the likenesses of loved ones.
Kardans gain a +8 racial bonus on Stealth and have the following spell-like abilities:
3/day—disguise self, minor image.
Wikkawak (CR 4)
In wintry climes, albino bugbears called wikkawaks prowl the glaciers by night, hunting settlers and prowling the frosted roofs of log cabins.
Wikkawaks have cold resistance 5 and the following spell-like abilities:
At will—pass without trace;
3/day—quench.
Murd (CR 3)
In swampy environs or near great rivers, another form of bugbears, called murds, is said to exist. Its fur caked in muddy earth, the thing can turn into sludge-like tar at will. It’s said a murd fears all serpents and cannot enter a house where a snake is kept as a pet.
Murds have the supernatural ability to use a version of gaseous form, at will, to become viscous mud. When in mud form, a murd can squeeze through any gap water can and can “flow” uphill, against gravity (although it must succeed on Climb checks as normal).
Slate-Stalker (CR 4)
Some bugbears adapt to human environs better than other goblinoids, and a relatively new species of these terrors has been rumored of late. Called slate-stalkers, these bugbears possess fur containing the gray-black-brown of most urban environments.
Slate-stalkers have fire resistance 10 and a +4 racial bonus on Stealth checks made in urban settings, and possess the supernatural ability to become invisible to all but one creature three times per day. Except for its chosen creature, the slate-stalker enjoys all the benefits of the invisibility spell.
Koblak (CR 6)
Some bugbears are stillborn, but suddenly wheeze in a sharp intake of breath and return to life a full hour after their dead birth. Forever half-dead, these things, called koblaks, have eyes even larger than their kin and see through walls and over hills. Koblaks are half in our world, half in the next, and they do not die easily. Time refuses to reap them, and some live for centuries.
They are particularly difficult to slay, and any weapon employed against them is nearly useless unless it is sprinkled with grave dirt first (DR 10 against any weapon not sprinkled with grave dirt) .
Koblaks have 8 HD, are immune to fear and mind-affecting effects, and possess the following spell-like abilities:
At will—clairaudience/clairvoyance, speak with dead;
1/day—phantasmal killer.
Children slain by koblaks rise as attic whisperers.
Environment temperate mountains
Organization solitary, pair, gang (3–6), or warband (7–12 plus 2 warriors of 1st level and 1 chieftain of 3rd–5th level)
Treasure NPC Gear (leather armor, light wooden shield, morningstar, 3 javelins, other treasure)
The bugbear is the largest of the goblinoid races, a lumbering brute that stands at least a head taller than most humans. They are loners, preferring to live and kill on their own rather than form tribes of their own kind, yet it isn't uncommon to find small bands of bugbears working together, or dwelling in goblin or hobgoblin tribes where they function as elite guards or executioners. Bugbears do not form large warrens like goblins or nations like hobgoblins; they prefer smaller-scale mayhem that lets them keep their favorite acts (murder and torture) on a more personal level. Humans are a bugbear's favored prey, and most count the flesh of humanity as a dietary staple. Grisly trophies of ears or fingers are common bugbear decorations.
Bugbears, when they turn to religion, favor gods of murder and violence, with various demon lords being favorites.
A typical bugbear stands 7 feet in height and weighs 400 pounds.
