Copyright 2008 Wizards of the Coast

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Like the other goblinoids, bugbears have been in the game since the beginning, when they were the most powerful of the “proper” humanoids at 3+1 HD. The next step up from them were ogres, who occupied that nebulous area between “humanoid” and “giant”.

The Lore

As we’ve already seen, bugbears are the biggest and strongest members of their “family”, and tend to organize into small roving bands when by themselves. They can also be found living alongside goblin communities, which they rule through fear and frequent beatings.

Bugbears are quite violent and prefer actions to words, which means they never talk with people they can beat up instead. To get a bugbear to negotiate you have to show them there’s a clear and obvious advantage to doing so. That could be because you’re too tough to bully, or because working with you will bring them more rewards in the long run. They tend to fit into hobgoblin-led forces as elite shock troops or commandos. Yes, bugbears can be surprisingly sneaky despite their bulk and predilection for direct violence.

One interesting bit of lore in the MM is that bugbears like to decapitate their enemies in honor of Hruggek, a culture hero and exarch of Bane who was known for doing that. That’s quite the feat given that their preferred weapon is the morningstar.

The Numbers

We only get a total of four bugbear statblocks, two in each book. They’re Medium Natural Humanoids with low-light vision and Speed 6. All of them also have training in Stealth. Their signature abilities vary per book.

In the MM they have Predatory Eye, a minor-action encounter power that gives them a small damage bonus in the next attack they make with combat advantage. In other words, it’s a crappier Sneak Attack that only works once per encounter.

In the MV this was replaced with the much better Bushwhack, which gives them a +4 attack bonus against creatures that have no adjacent allies. If you use MM bugbears, I suggest you replace their Predatory Eye with Bushwhack in addition to any other changes.

Bugbear Thug (MV)

This Level 4 Brute has 65 HP and all common traits for MV bugbears. It fights with a morningstar whose basic attack has built-in “sneak attack” bonus damage, and carries 2 handaxes it can throw while it closes the gap with the PCs.

Simple and effective! If attacking an isolated PC from ambush, the thug can start the fight with a bang, though unlike a full lurker it will not seek to hide again once that happens.

Bugbear Warrior (MM)

This Level 5 Brute has 76 HP and all common traits for MM bugbears. It’s likely an earlier version of the Thug. It also fights with a morningstar.

To go with its weak Predatory Eye ability, the warrior has an encounter power named Skullthumper. This requires combat advantage and is a morningstar attack that also knocks the target prone and dazes them (save ends).

I’m guessing it’s also meant to combine these two abilities for that first strike from ambush. To update it, level a bugbear thug up to 5 and give it Skullthumper.

Bugbear Backstabber (MV)

This Level 5 Skirmisher has 63 HP and all MV bugbear traits. It fights with a greatsword, widely known as a good backstabbin’ weapon. It also carries 4 handaxes for throwing.

In addition to Bushwhack, this bugbear is also an Expert Ambusher, which gives it a damage bonus when it attacks from hiding. And as an at-will move action it can employ Stealthy Positioning to shift its speed and make a Stealth check to hide if it ends behind cover.

These monsters want to ambush the party in a place with lots of cover. They’ll charge from hiding, hit with the sword while benefitting from Expert Ambusher, and will immediately use Stealthy Positioning to move back into hiding and do it again next turn. They’re skirmishers because they can do this every turn, instead of alternating like a lurker.

Bugbear Strangler (MM)

These Level 6 Lurkers have 82 HP and were the cause of some early battles in the edition war.

They fight with a morningstar but keep a rope garrote in reserve. When they have CA against a target, they can Strangle it (Melee 1 vs. Reflex). A hit does some damage and grabs the target until they escape. The strangler can use its subsequent standard actions to automatically deal the same damage to the target.

If someone attacks their AC or Reflex then while they have a victim grabbed in this way, they can use Body Shield (recharge 4-6) as an interrupt to have the attack target the victim instead.

This was what caused those battles, since the Strangler was published as a preview ahead of the game and it was one of the first instances of a “custom” 4e monster ability people had laid their eyes on. We already saw several monsters who can do something like this, but since bugbears are relatively “mundane” it led to some 3.x diehards complaining that there should be feat chains and such that allowed a PC to do the same.

Final Impressions

While only one of the stat blocks depicts an actual lurker, they’re all well-provided with abilities that allow them to attack from ambush to good effect. Forget goblins, bugbears are the real sneaky gits here.