Homebrew Bullywug Species Details

"I am utterly fascinated and simultaneously repulsed by the bullywugs that can be found in the marshes of the bordering Deepwood. These creatures are at once closer to beasts than nearly any other speaking folk I have studied, yet more hateful toward nature than even some of the vilest of Humans I have met. They leave a disgusting trail of filth everywhere they inhabit, as though the stuff is secreted from their very bodies. They make no permanent home, nor till the land; rather, they are content to gather in great excess what they please until the land is barren, at which point they abandon their huts and remove to some other place upon which to visit their miserable lifestyle. They block up streams in order to saturate dry land and turn it into the marshes they love, then leave their dams to crumble. They practice no magic, worship no gods, and make no real crafts save for crude gold adornments and simple tools of wood and stone. Many of them in fact wear bits of fool's gold, clearly unable to distinguish the stuff from the real thing. Avoid if at all possible; consider carrying an offering of gold, jewels, or grubs (which they consider a delicacy).

 —Filbert Cotton, A Survey of the Deepwood

 

Typically greedy, unpleasant, and unsightly, Bullywugs are a froglike humanoid race that reside in marshes and lakes. They are cruel, distrustful, and rarely very bright.

Lords of the Marsh

Most bullywugs subscribe to a supremacist worldview, considering themselves the rightful rulers of the parts of nature they occupy. Bullywug clans are fiercely territorial, and lay claim to as much land as they can get their hands on. They consume resources with massive excess, producing a great deal of waste and allowing hoarded stores of food to rot when they are unable to finish it. They fell swathes of trees, harvest bushels of marsh plants, catch insects and fish by the ton, and dig up stream beds for gold, all of which they do without care for the impact their actions have on the ecosystem. This leads to their territory becoming quickly polluted and starved of flora and fauna, forcing them to move until the area can recover. They meander their territory aimlessly, bringing misery upon the heads of its occupants and any travellers unfortunate enough to cross paths with the bullywugs.

When bullywugs find other peoples residing in area they wish to conquer, they attempt to drive them out and take the land for themselves. They are usually able to overwhelm poorly defended logging and fishing villages, but even a fairly small force of properly equipped soldiers can defeat a typical bullywug band with relative ease outside of their marshes. On their home turf, however, it is another story altogether. Bullywugs know their lands well, and can ambush and defeat unfamiliar intruders, even when they lack an advantage in numbers. 

Bullywug Life

Bullywugs are abandoned as eggs early in life, guarded from a begrudging distance by a handful of adult tribe members as they develop in scummy breeding pools. Once they hatch, they quickly find that the pools are dug too small for the great number of tadpole-like infants. Thankfully, their freshly-developed teeth allow them to devour one another until few enough remain and the survivors are sufficiently fed. This ensures that bullywugs who survive to become juveniles are appropriately aggressive and cruel. Bullywugs are not raised by their parents, since there is little way to distinguish one mother's hatchlings from another. As juveniles, bullywugs are instructed in the ways of their elders, being taught to fight, hunt, forage, and guard their claims. The philosophy of bullywug supremacy is intilled deeply, and young bullywugs who are seen to have developed sympathy for animals or attachment to nature are harshly punished. 

Bullywugs build small huts out of marsh grass, wood, and mud. Their dwellings and infrastructure are designed to be as inexpensive to construct as possible, and are left behind to fall apart when a clan migrates to new territory. They rarely work with metal, constructing tools from wood, flint, and other available materials, and making clohtes from woven marsh grass and animal hide. They build dams and sluices to flood drier land and transform it into marshes and ponds, preferring still murky water to clear streams. They greatly admire gold, which they pan from streams and fashion into crude jewelry.

Bullywugs are not smart, though occasional sharper minds arise from their breeding pools. A bullywug who is gifted with a knack for convincing others to listen to them may be able to quickly rise through the ranks by manipulation, taking advantage of his peers' general dullness. 

Bullywugs are one of the least magical peoples in the world, rarely if ever producing offspring capable of even the smallest feats of sorcery. Bullywugs born with magical abilities are usually cast out upon discovery of their powers, and the practice of magic is virtually always forbidden. Bullywug religion is nearly nonexistent. They believe frogs to be their ancient ancestors, but now see them as a subordinate form of life to be subjugated.

 

 

 

 

Bullywug Names

Bullywug names are unisex, as their culture does not distinguish much between genders in terms of social role. 

Bullywug Names: Beeck, Beeckle, Breck, Buckle, Heck, Heckeck, Keckeck, Koack, Wack, Weck, Weckle, Weeck, Weeckle, Wuckle

Bullywug Traits

Your bullywug character has the following traits.

Bite

You have a powerful bite that you can use to make unarmed strikes. When you hit with it, the strike deals 1d4 + your Strength modifier slashing damage, instead of the bludgeoning damage normal for an unarmed strike.

Amphibious

You can breathe in air and water.

Bullywug Resilience

Your physiology has evolved to survive in polluted water. You are resistant to Poison damage and have advantage on Constitution saving throws.

Standing Leap

Your legs are powerful and springy, allowing you to clear great distances with a single jump. Your long jump is up to 25 feet and its high jump is up to 15 feet, with or without a running start. When you land in difficult terrain, you automatically succeed on a Dexterity (Acrobatics) check made to remain standing, and each foot you clear on a high jump costs only half a foot of movement. 

Marsh Resident

You gain proficiency in a skill of your choice fromAnimal Handling, Medicine, Nature, Perception, Stealth, or Survival.

Swamp Camouflage

You have trained to ambush invaders in your natural habitat. You have advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks made to hide in swampy terrain.

Speak with Frogs and Toads

You can communicate simple concepts to frogs and toads when you speak in Bullywug.

Languages

You can speak, read, and write Bullywug.

Ability Score Increase

Ability Score Increase. When determining your character’s ability scores, increase one score by 2 and increase a different score by 1, or increase three different scores by 1. You can't raise any of your scores above 20.