Illustration Copyright 2008 Wizards of the Coast.

This is part of a series! Go here to see the other entries.

We continue our tour of the Abyss with the Barlgura, which looks basically like a demonic orangutan with wicked claws and fangs. I guess these have been part of D&D for a while, but my first contact with them in published material was the excellent adventure Heathen, from Dungeon 155, which (spoilers!) featured a solo version of the barlgura as the ultimate villain.

The lore for them is a bit sparse, but we do get a bit saying they’re favored by Demogorgon and their presence can be a sign that a cult of that demon lord is active in the area.

These are only on the Monster Manual: the Demon entry on the vault concerns itself strictly with Paragon-or-higher-tier opposition.

The barlgura is a Large Elemental Beast (demon), though I believe it was mistyped and should be a Magical Beast since it’s sapient. It’s still not very smart, at Int 6. Anyway, it’s a Level 8 Brute with 108 HP.

Balrguras have low-light vision and variable resistance 10 (1/encounter). They have ground and climb speeds of 8. They attack with a slam that’s kinda weak by itself, but since they can make two of those despite not being elite their damage lines up with the expected for their level. When bloodied, it lets out a Savage Howl as a free action, giving itself and any allies within 5 squares +2 to all attacks for a turn.

This is not a complicated monster: it will charge ahead and try to pummel the closest victim with its simian fists.

We get two suggested encounters for them:

  • Level 9, 1 barlgura and a mixed party of 7 gnolls.

  • Level 11, 4 barlguras, 2 minotaur warriors, and 1 minotaur cabalist.

So despite being favored by Demogorgon, they can also be found along cultists of Yeenoghu and Baphomet. What are you gonna do, tell the 10-foot orangutan from the Abyss it can’t do that?

Final Impressions

I would probably not have given these apes a second thought if it hadn’t been for Heathen. If you’re looking for a positive example of early 4e adventure writing, you can’t go wrong with that one. It can easily be turned into a mini-campaign, and is certainly leagues above Keep on the Shadowfell.