Vegepygmys are created by a dangerous fungus known as russet mold—creatures slain by russet mold serve as incubators for the mold's spores, and a day later, the dead body bursts to release 1d6 fully grown vegepygmys. A vegepygmy has no real relation to the body from which it emerges, but the creature may yet retain a strange sort of reverence for its “birth corpse” and carry with it a grisly memento from the body, typically a few bones or teeth. Often, a vegepygmy uses such bones to craft a crude spear or some other weapon.

Vegepygmy tribes live in tightly knit communities and fiercely guard their patches of russet mold. Vegepygmies cannot speak—they communicate via a crude language of rhythmic taps, beats, and clicks. Hunting parties echo these exchanges through the caves they travel. Vegepygmies stand 2 to 4 feet tall and weigh between 15 to 45 pounds.

Approximately 1 in 20 vegepymies are chieftains. A vegepygmy chieftain is an advanced vegepygmy (often one with class levels) that carries an infestation of russet mold spores in its flesh. A vegepygmy chieftain infects any creature it hits with its natural weapons with russet mold spores (see russet mold).