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Troglodytes appear on the Rules Cyclopedia, so they’ve been around at least since BECMI and likely since the beginning. Here, they are in both the Monster Manual and the Vault.

The Lore

Troglodytes are sapient reptilian humanoids native to the Underdark, one of the notable minority that seems to have evolved there instead of being a Far Realm or surface import. They secrete a foul-smelling mucus over their scaly hides, and seem to be resistant enough to disease that they don’t really care about personal hygiene on top of that. Their settlements present the unprepared visitor with a nightmarish olfactory experience.

Troglodytes reproduce by laying eggs, with the female laying close to a hundred of them at once. Only a minority of those will both hatch and survive to adulthood, which they reach in two years.

Troglodyte culture is at a paleolithic level of technological development, and though it’s egalitarian when it comes to gender it’s extremely xenophobic. Anyone not of the same tribe is an enemy to be killed and eaten, or captured and sacrificed to Torog (god of suffering and imprisonment) in an long, torture-filled ceremony. Troglodyte tribes fight each other as bitterly as they fight anyone else - when two tribes move into the same area, the most likely outcomes are for one of them to be annihilated or for the two to be so weakened they ironically end up merging under a strong leader. When resources grow scarce in their current territory they will gladly raid the surface.

It makes a little bit of sense for troglodytes to be this horrible when you think about it. Any less powerful Underdark culture is likely to grow a xenophobic streak when their most frequent neighbors are drow, duergar, and mind flayers. And if these three big empires base all of their power on slavery and torture, it’s not inconceivable that a culture they prey on would try to do the same, and venerate the god that presides over these things.

None of this stops the Big Three from regularly enslaving troglodytes and using them as muscle. I imagine it could also be possible to find bands of troglodytes who aren’t xenophobic Torog worshippers and who are on friendlier terms with other species. Perhaps they might even live on the surface.

This is another instance where the Monster Vault breaks out the full Lovecraftian Racism Vocabulary, calling them “degenerate reptile folk”, “loathsome primitives”, and so on.

The Numbers

Troglodytes are Medium Natural Humanoids with the Reptile keyword. They have darkvision and a land speed of 5. Their signature trait is of course Troglodyte Stench, an aura (1) that inflicts a -2 penalty to the attacks of any living enemies inside.

They mostly fight with claws or stone weapons, though they also have spellcasters who use Torog-themed magic. We have a total of 6 unique stat blocks between the two books (4 each, with 2 appearing in both).

Troglodyte Mauler (Both)

The Monster Vault version is by far the best one, so we’ll start with that.

A Level 6 Soldier with 74 HP, the mauler fights in melee with a greatclub and with its claws, both of which are considered basic attacks. Both are equivalent damage-wise, but the club marks for a turn on a hit. The mauler also carries a pair of javelins for throwing at range 10.

If the mauler has combat advantage against an enemy, it can use a minor-action bite against them 1/round. This targets Fortitude, damages, and makes the target regain only half HP from healing for a turn. Bacteria, baby!

The Monster Manual version is a lot less interesting, since its damage suffers from the bug and it lacks the javelins and the bite.

Troglodyte Grunt (Monster Vault)

Grunts are Level 6 Minion Skirmishers, with all the standard troglodyte traits. They fight with clubs that do minion-level damage and allow they to shift 2 squares as an effect. When targeted by area attacks they can scatter as an interrupt, shifting up to 2 squares to a place outside the area of effect.

That last bit should give you some laughs the first time the party wizard smugly tries to hit them with an area spell.

Troglodyte Thrasher (Monster Vault)

Thrashers are Level 7 Brutes with 100 HP. They don’t bother with weapons, and fight with their claws. They also have a Tooth and Claw at-will attack that does roughly half the damage of a basic claw, but can attack one creature twice or two creatures once. If one of these attacks bloody the target, the troglodyte can make a basic claw attack against them.

So depending on how you spread Tooth and Claw around, you could end up doing three times the damage of the basic claw in a round (1.5 times base damage to each of two targets you just bloodied)!

Troglodyte Impaler (Both)

Impalers are Level 7 Artillery with 69 HP. They fight with spears in melee and throw javelins at range (they start with 6). The MM also gives them a useless claw attack.

Aside from making basic attacks, the impaler can use a javelin to make an Impaling Shot (ranged 10 vs. AC; recharge 3-6), which does the same damage and restrains the target (save ends) by going right through it and into the ground.

Troglodyte Curse Chanter (Monster Manual)

A spellcaster, likely a priest of Torog or a primal caster who communes with underground spirits. It’s a Level 8 Controller with the Leader keyword and 93 HP.

The curse chanter wields a quarterstaff and also fights with claws, but the real firepower comes from its magic. It can shoot poison rays (ranged 10 vs. Fortitude) that do poison damage and weaken (save ends). It can call down a cavern curse (ranged 5 vs. Fortitude; recharge 3-6) that inflicts ongoing necrotic damage and slows (save ends both). It can bless its allies with Tunnel Grace (close burst 10; minor action 1/round; recharge 4-6) to give them +5 speed for a turn. And it can sing a chant of renewal (close burst 5; encounter) to heal all bloodied allies in range for 15 HP.

Troglodyte Warrior (Monster Manual)

These are Level 12 Minions, which makes them suitable to represent enslaved cannon fodder in the service of drow or mind flayers. They have the common traits of darkvision and the stench, and a basic club attack, being otherwise unremarkable. You’re better off leveling up the Grunts from the MV and using those instead.

Sample Encounters and Final Impressions

Most of the MM’s sample encounters are assorted troglodytes, though sometimes they’ll have a rage drake or some gricks as pets. There’s also one that includes drow and a gaggle of troglodyte warriors.

Narratively, it feels like Troglodytes flesh the Underdark out a little bit, but the way the books refer to them does them no favors. In the end I feel like using them in a subterranean campaign mostly so I can defy their awful canonical description, which I guess is something.

Mechanically, most of their statistics are interchangeable with those of other humanoids. Replace their signature abilities with darkvision and the stench aura, and you have an instant novelty troglodyte. The reverse is also true.