Bugbear

From 1d4chan

Bugbear is a Middle English name for the same kind of

basic dark fey or evil spirit more commonly referred to as a
boogeyman; a malicious and scary monster that relishes in
spreading fear to others. They are most relevant to /tg/ for
their existence as one of the three major species of
goblinoid in the worlds of Dungeons & Dragons (and by
extension Pathfinder).

The D&D bugbear is the giant of the goblinoid races,

reaching an imposing 7 feet tall - in fact, they were literally
called "goblin-giants" when they debuted in the 1975
Greyhawk supplement for OD&D. If hobgoblins are the
orcs of the goblinoid family tree, then bugbears are perhaps
best described as its ogres. They resemble huge, bestial
goblins, with exaggeratedly large ears, overgrown fangs,
claw-like nails (though too small/brittle to be used as actual
weapons), hair-covered skin, and "bear-like" noses - this is
the source of their name.

Bugbears are often thought of as the dullest of the goblinoid

core trilogy, since their basic "schtick" of being the Big
Dumb Bruiser overlaps pretty thoroughly with that of the
orcs and, later, the quaggoths. Yes, it's true bugbears do put
a unique spin on it by being as quick and sneaky as they are
strong; but on the surface, they just seem a bit too much Looks nothing like a bear or a bug.
like the traditional orc.

Much like the hobgoblin, the idea of a bugbear monstergirl has never really been explored on /tg/.

Contents
1 Ecology
1.1 Society
1.2 Religion
2 Publication History
3 Bugbear PCs
3.1 BECMI Racial Traits
3.2 AD&D Racial Traits
3.2.1 3e Racial Traits
3.2.2 4e Racial Traits
3.3 5e Racial Traits
3.3.1 How to play as Lanky Kong in D&D 5e
 4 See Also
4.1 Gallery

Ecology
As the most primitive of all goblinoids, bugbears have an impact on their surroundings somewhere between that
of tribal humanoids and a pack of large predators. Strongly instinct-driven, bugbears are territorial creatures that
stake out holdings surrounding caves or underground complexes, which they use for shelter. Carnivores,
bugbears will eat the flesh of anything they can kill, including other sapient creatures - common goblins hate
and fear their bigger cousins precisely because the bugbears will just as soon spitroast or stew a goblin as it will
a frog, hare, pigeon or wild boar. Combined with their primitive love of shiny objects, bugbears are natural
marauders, seeking to prey on anything around them for food and loot.

In return, bugbears are themselves on the food chain for even bigger and nastier creatures, such as giants and
giant-kin, dragons, behirs, cave bears, etc. Combined with their relative lack of fertility, bugbears are thus
encouraged to fall in line with their relative races for a support network to compensate. In Oerth's Underdark
they're the drows' goons.

Society
On their own, bugbears tend to brutality to the point of bestiality. They band together in semi-nomadic gangs of
hunter-gatherers; who frequently pillage, raid and plunder their surroundings, both for precious stones and
metals and for captives. They are natural bullies and thugs, due to their aggression and territorial natures, being
kept in line by the strongest and most aggressive of their kind. That's... about all what D&D has to say on
bugbear society. So how are they different from any other 1970s-D&D humanoid?

The late-1970s Drow series mooted a halfhearted answer, posing the Depths' bugbears as slavers and slave-
traders, serving the drow. Races of Ansalon, the Dragonlance splatbook that gives the most information on
bugbears as a potential PC race, just goes back to thuggery. Here they rarely practice slavery, preferring to eat
what they catch instead.

Despite this, bugbears actually aren't idiots. They readily integrate into more structured societies (although how
well, and to which masters, depends somewhat on edition), and often take over goblin tribes to make them do
the work for them. Bugbears are known to be part of the civilized goblinoid societies in Eberron, and the Nentir
Vale even has an urban-dwelling bugbear tribe that has quite successfully remade itself into a crime syndicate.

AD&D lore claims that females are strictly inferior in bugbear society, which became a contrast with gnolls
when the latter went full hyena. In 2e many bugbear adventurers are women looking for a better life outside of
their repressive culture. This lore has been dropped in subsequent editions.

Religion
Bugbears worship their own loose pantheon, although details have never been forthcoming. The existence of
such a pantheon of goblinoid deities first appeared in the AD&D 1e splatbook Deities & Demigods, which
states that the bugbear pantheon consists of six deities, whose portfolios include earth, death, fertility, hunting
and fear. However, only a single deity was statted in this book; Hruggek, chief of the pantheon, and the
bugbear's god of Violence & Combat.

AD&D 2e's Monster Mythology would expand the bugbear pantheon with two other gods; Grankhul and
Skiggaret. These are the only deities to have been defined for this pantheon since, and even Skiggaret fell under
the wayside in 5th edition, though it clarified that the two, like all goblinoid gods, had been pressed into service
under Maglubiyet.

Publication History
Bugbears first appeared for OD&D in the Greyhawk supplement. They then made it into the Monster Manual
for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons and the Basic set for BECMI. They were updated to 2e in the Monstrous
Compendium Appendix, which was reprinted in the Monstrous Manual. From Dungeons & Dragons 3rd
Edition, 4th Edition and 5th Edition, they have appeared in the Monster Manual.

Bugbear PCs
Like the other goblinoid races, bugbears have been a PC option for a long time.

BECMI Racial Traits

In BECMI, like the other goblinoids and iconic "humanoids" (orcs, gnolls, ogres, trolls), bugbears appear as a
racial class in "The Orcs of Thar".

Bugbear Ability Modifiers: +1 Strength, +1 Constitution, -2 Wisdom

Note: Like all Humanoids from "The Orcs of Thar", a Bugbear has racial ability score caps of 18 in
all scores bar Intelligence and Wisdom, which are capped at 16.
Note: Like all Humanoids from "The Orcs of Thar", a Bugbear determines its Charisma score for
interacting with humans and demihumans by dividing its Charisma score by 3 (rounding down) and
subtacting the result from 9.
Bugbear Natural Armor Class: 8
 Bugbear's's level XP Required Bugbear's hit dice

Youngster -2,400 d8+1

Teenager -1,200 2d8+1

0 0 3d8+1

1 2,400 4d8+2

2 7,200 5d8+2

3 16,600 -

4 35,600 6d8+2

5 73,600 7d8+3

6 147,600 8d8+3

7 297,600 -

8 597,600 9d8+3

9 897,600 +2 Hit Points

Subsequent 300,000 +2 Hit Points

AD&D Racial Traits

Bugbears are amongst the many races given a PC writeup for AD&D 2e in "The Complete Book of
Humanoids".

Ability Score Minimum/Maximum: Strength 8/18, Dexterity 8/17, Constitution 8/18, Intelligence
3/16, Wisdom 3/18, Charisma 3/14
Ability Score Adjustments: +1 Strength, -1 Intelligence, -1 Charisma
Racial Class & Level Limits: Fighter 12, Cleric 8, Shaman 5, Witch Doctor 5, Thief 9
+3 Hit Points at 1st level.
Infravision 60 feet
Opponents suffer a -3 penalty to their surprise rolls against a bugbear.
Bugbears take damage as if they were Large Creatures.
Weapon Proficiencies: Throwing/Footman's Mace, Goblin Stick, Hand Axe, Morning Star, Great
Club, Spear, Warhammer
Nonweapon Proficiencies: Close-Quarter Fighting, Drinking, Eating, Hunting, Intimidation,
Looting, Natural Fighting, Wild Fighting

3e Racial Traits

In 3e, bugbears - like orcs and goblinoids - had NPC stats right there in the original Monster Manual, along with
some guidelines in the DMG for converting them into a semi-homebrew playable race. Their first writeup as a
proper, out-of-the-box playable race was in Forgotten Realms: Races of Faerun. They were also eventually
adapted into a monster class.

+4 Strength, +2 Dexterity, +2 Constitution, –2 Charisma.

Humanoid (goblinoid): Bugbears are humanoids with the goblinoid subtype.
A bugbear’s base land speed is 30 feet.
Darkvision out to 60 feet.
 Racial Hit Dice: A bugbear begins with three levels of humanoid, which provide 3d8 Hit Dice, a
base attack bonus of +2, and base saving throw bonuses of Fort +1, Ref +3, and Will +1.
Racial Skills: A bugbear’s humanoid levels give it skill points equal to 6 x (2 + Int modifier). Its
class skills are Climb, Hide, Listen, Move Silently, Search, and Spot.
Racial Feats: A bugbear’s humanoid levels give it two feats.
+4 racial bonus on Move Silently checks.
+3 natural armor bonus.
Scent (Ex): A bugbear has a keen sense of smell. He can detect opponents within 30 feet given
range (60 feet if the scent is upwind, 15 feet range if it is downwind) and may take a move-
equivalent action to determine the direction of a scent. If an odor source is within 5 feet, the
bugbear can pinpoint that source. Bugbears can use the scent ability to track an enemy by smell.
Automatic Languages: Common, Goblin.
Favored Class: Rogue.
Level Adjustment: +1.

If using the bugbear monster class, bugbears start out with the following traits:

+2 Strength, –2 Charisma.
Bugbear base land speed is 30 feet.
Darkvision out to 60 feet.
Automatic Languages: Common, Goblin.
Favored Class: Bugbear. A bugbear may not take levels in any other class except bugbear until he
has gained all four bugbear racial class levels. Bugbears usually take levels in rogue or fighter after
this point.

Class Skills: Climb, Hide, Listen, Move Silently, Search, Spot.

Bugbear Class Hit Base Attack Fort Ref Will

Skill Points CR Special
Level Dice Bonus Save Save Save

(2 + Int Feat, +1 natural armor, +2

1st 1d8 +0 +0 +2 +0 1
mod) x 4 Move Silently

+2 Con, scent 10 ft., +4

2nd 2d8 +1 +0 +3 +0 2+ Int mod 1
Move Silently

+2 Dex, +2 natural armor,

3rd 2d8 +1 +0 +3 +0 — 2
scent 20 ft.

Feat, +2 Str, +3 natural

4th 3d8 +2 +1 +3 +1 2 + Int mod 2
armor, scent 20 ft.

4e Racial Traits

4e featured bugbear PC stats in the back of the first Monster Manual, although unlike the Hobgoblin (which got
a "semi-official" upgrade in Dragon Magazine #419) and the Goblin (which got an "official" upgrade in the
Dungeon Survival Guide), they never made it beyond this stage.

Ability Scores: +2 Strength, +2 Dexterity

Size: Medium
Speed: 6 squares (30 feet)
Vision: Low-light
Languages: Common, Goblin
Skill Bonuses: +2 Intimidate, +2 Stealth
 Oversized: You may use weapons of your size or one size larger than you as if they were your size.
Racial Power - Predatory Eye: 1/encounter, as a minor action, you can grant yourself +1d6 bonus
damage per tier on a single attack against a target that you have combat advantage against.

5e Racial Traits
Ability Score Increase. Your Strength score increases by 2 and your Dexterity score increases by 1.

Age. Bugbears reach adulthood at age 16 and live up to 80 years.

Alignment. Bugbears endure a harsh existence that demands each of them to remain self-sufficient, even at the
expense of their fellows. They tend to be chaotic evil.

Size. Bugbears are between 6 and 8 feet tall and weigh between 250 and 350 pounds. Your size is Medium.

Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

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.

Long Limbed. When you make a melee attack on your turn, your reach for it is 5 feet greater than normal.

Powerful Build. You count as one size larger when determining your carrying capacity and the weight you can
push, drag, or lift.

Sneaky. You are proficient in the Stealth skill.

Surprise Attack. If you surprise a creature and hit it with an attack on your first turn in combat, the attack deals
an extra 2d6 damage to it. You can use this trait only once per combat.

Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and Goblin.

How to play as Lanky Kong in D&D 5e

Step 1: Pick the bugbear race.

Step 2: Pick the fighter class.

Step 3: Take a glaive or other polearm as your starter weapon.

Step 4: At lv 3, pick the battlemaster archetype.

Step 5: Take the Lunging Attack Maneuver.

Congratulations, you can now slap people from up to 20ft away.

Step 6 (optional): Become a town guard so you can make "Long Arm of the Law" puns.

See Also
 Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition races

Gallery

Greyhawk Supplement 1e AD&D Monster Card

2e 3e

4e A proud bugbear with Who says Bugbears

his quarry. can't be monstergirls?
[1] (https://www.reddit.
com/r/DnD/comments/8
rd7ok/artoc_bugbear_m
onk_follower_of_sune_
and/?st=ju62q9hd&sh=
a686499e)

Dungeons & Dragons 1st Edition Races[Expand]

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