Brute. A melee weapon deals one extra die of its damage when the bugbear hits with it (included in the attack).
Keen Smell. The bugbear has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on smell.
Lunge. When the bugbear thrall of Tormach makes an attack with a melee weapon in its hands, it can increase its reach by 5 feet (included in the attack).
Tormach’s Rage. The disease Tormach’s Rage causes a bugbear to be chaotic evil and grants the bugbear an extra 2 (1d4) damage on Strength-based attacks (included in the attacks). Also, at the start of its turn, the bugbear can gain advantage on all melee weapon attack rolls it makes until the start of its next turn, but attack rolls against it have advantage until the start of its next turn.
Any bugbear that comes into physical contact with the bugbear must succeed on a DC 14 Constitution saving throw or contract this disease. Only greater restoration, similarly powerful magic, or a special herbal concoction (see Salvage) can cure this disease.
Multiattack. The thrall of Tormach makes three attacks, only two of which can be glaive attacks.
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 9 (2d4 + 4) piercing damage and, if the target is a bugbear, Tormach’s Rage.
Glaive. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 15 ft., one target. Hit: 17 (2d10 + 1d4 + 4) slashing damage.
Haft. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 11 (3d4 + 4) bludgeoning damage.
Rampage. When the bugbear reduces a creature to 0 hit points with a melee attack on its turn, the bugbear can take a bonus action to move up to half its speed and make a bite attack.
Description
“Tormach subverted bugbears with a disease that makes them little more than killing machines.”
Tormach’s Rage. The bugbears of Etharis weren’t always ferocious and violent. When the Arch Daemons appeared in the world, Tormach believed he could make minions of the goblinoids. Bugbear warriors forcefully opposed his efforts to subvert goblin tribes to his will. Tormach commanded his servants to craft a disease that would render defiant bugbears into vicious drones, a grim task those minions completed with great success. Tormach’s Rage, as the disease has come to be known, spread quickly. Most bugbears of Etharis are now victims of this mind-altering plague.
The disease causes a bugbear to become more resilient while increasing muscle mass and capacity for aggression. Bugbears infected with Tormach’s Rage experience a powerful, instinctive urge to spread their illness. Infected bugbears have enhanced olfactory senses that allow them to smell whether a creature carries Tormach’s Rage. When they discover a bugbear without the disease, they fly into a frenzy. The sickness is virulent enough that even if a bugbear survives the fight or kills the infected aggressor, it’s unlikely to do so without contracting Tormach’s Rage.
Staged Changes. Rage-infected bugbears have only recently gotten the disease. A bugbear who contracts Tormach’s Rage can’t expect to live long as the illness compels the victim to acts of aggression that ultimately end in the bugbear’s destruction. The infection lasts until death, although magic and rare herbal knowledge can counteract it.
Very rarely, an infected bugbear lives long enough that Tormach’s Rage exhibits advanced symptoms. At this stage, the disease further accentuates the bugbear’s muscular system, granting increased strength and speed. Bugbears who live this long have little impulse control and ability to reason.
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