Illustration Copyright 2009 Wizards of the Coast.

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Bullywugs first appeared in the AD&D 1st Edition Fiend Folio, and featured heavily in the D&D cartoon of the 80’s.

The Lore

Bullywugs are frog-people who claim they were created by the original primordials, not by the gods, and that by living lives of cruelty and violence they can reincarnate as slaads. They also believe the world itself hates them, which they sense as a constant paranoid feeling that everyone is out to get them. And indeed, nature itself seems to breathe in relief when a bullywug is slain in combat.

Bullywug culture places no value in conservation: they move into an area (preferrably a swampy one) and exhaust its resources as quickly as possible. Anything they can’t use they might very well end up destroying. When there’s nothing left, they might resort to cannibalism. Because of this behavior, and possibly because of the divine curse alluded to above, bullywug territory eventually becomes a barren and dismal echo of what it once was. By the book, they’re typically Chaotic Evil with an Int score of 6 and speak Primordial.

As I mentioned several times in the past, I’m not really a fan of Universally Evil Humanoids, so I’d say it’s possible for there to be bullywugs who aren’t Captain Planet villains and who can coexist more peacefully with their neighbors. Who knows, maybe they could be the diplomatic bridge between the humans over in the fields and the lizardfolk deeper in the swamp.

The Numbers

Bullywugs are Medium Natural Humanoids with the Aquatic keyword, which allows them to breathe underwater and gives them combat bonuses while submerged. They have ground speeds of 6 with Swamp Walk, ignoring swamp-flavored difficult terrain. They also have Swim speeds of 4.

The bullywug signature abilities all come from that divine curse. Rancid Air is an aura (2) which causes enemies to become weakened until the end of their next turn if they spend a healing surge while inside. Nature’s Release triggers when the bullywug is killed by a critical hit, and restores a handful of HP to their slayer. Our theoretical non-evil froggy people would lack either of these traits.

Bullywug Mucker

This Level 1 Brute with 34 HP likely makes up the rank-and-file of a bullywug force. It wields a spear in combat, and has a Bully trait that makes it cause extra damage to prone targets.

It can make targets prone with Bullywug Rush (melee 1 vs. Fortitude; recharge 5-6), a charge attack that deals more damage and knocks the target prone. A miss here deals 3 damage to the Mucker and knocks it prone. I’m starting to feel sorry for it.

Bullywug Twitcher

This is a Level 2 Skirmisher with 34 HP, who fights with a Javelin either in melee or at range. Once per encounter the twitching intensifies and it can perform a Spasmodic Hop, ending any marks on it, shifting 4 squares, and making an enhanced javelin attack at the end that also inflicts a -4 attack penalty on the target for a turn.

This power is Reliable, which means it’s not spent if the attack misses. On the other hand, the Twitcher has no other special movement powers. So ironically, it becomes less mobile once it lands its special attack.

Bullywug Croaker

A weak and flabby specimen that uses its remarkably bad breath to make up for its lack of strength. It’s a Level 3 Minion Brute that attacks with claws and with a Foul Croak (Close Blast 2 vs. Fortitude) that does poison damage.

Bullywug Mud Lord

A spellcaster that makes me think that whole business about emulating slaads being a path to power might have some truth to it. Much smarter than the average bullywug, mud lords often end up in leadership positions, and they have absolutely no qualms about sacrificing their pathetic underlings to ensure their own survival.

They’re Level 3 Artillery with 39 HP. Their ranged spells all cover an area, and appear to be more vomited than cast. Fiery Croak (area burst 1 within 20 vs. Reflex) does fire and thunder damage, and Electric Reflux (close blast 3 vs. Reflex; recharge 6) does cold and lightning damage, half on a miss.

Neither of these attacks are selective. In fact, if they include at least one ally in their area, Necessary Sacrifices grants the mud lord a +2 attack bonus. Okay, this dude isn’t pathetic, he’s despicable.

Sample Encounters

We have two here:

  • Level 1: 1 bloodthorn vine, 2 croakers, 2 muckers, and a twitcher.

  • Level 6: A mud lord, 3 twitchers, 3 ettercap fang guards and 1 ettercap webspinner.

It’s unclear whether the vine or the ettercaps are working with the bullywugs or not. Their lore doesn’t make me think they’d work well with anyone. In fact, they’d probably be in conflict with any other sapients who live in the same swamp as them. If you want to set up a good old-fashioned swamp crawl where the PC can meddle with several factions, a bullywug-goblin-kobold-lizardfolk four-way conflict is an excellent starting point.