Bugbear

Bugbears are muscular, hairy humanoids with long arms and a frightening mien. Folklore depicts bugbears as cruel thugs who form gangs to menace peaceful settlements. Indeed, some such gangs exist, but other bugbears walk a different path, despite the prejudice they often face from others.

Ancestral Traits

Your bugbear character has a few traits in common with other bugbears, regardless of culture.

Age. Bugbears reach maturity more quickly than humans, becoming adults by 15, and living until age 50 or so.

Size. Bugbears have large, strong frames and usually stand six to seven feet tall and weigh between two hundred and three hundred pounds. Your size is Medium.

Speed. Your base speed is 30 feet.

Powerful Build. You count as one size larger when determining your carrying capacity and the weight you can push, drag, or lift.

First Strike. When you start fighting, you hit hard. The first time you hit with a melee weapon after rolling initiative, your melee weapon deals one extra die of its damage.

Cultural Traits

Bugbear communities vary. Some fit the old stories, with bugbears forming violent roving gangs that intimidate nearby villages and extort money and goods from them before moving on. Others settle down, however, and form a more peaceful society. Crude and raucous fraternity defines these communities, with bugbears and their neighbors swilling beer, wrestling, and generally being slobs together, but suffused with a sense of camaraderie and brotherhood. In general, most who grow up in a bugbear communities gain the following features.

Ability Score Increase. Your Strength increases by 2 and your Constitution by 1.

Alignment. Bugbear communities are disorganized, loud, and crass places. They tend strongly toward chaos.

Physical Pranksters. Bugbear community members often engage in play fighting, as well as rough, physical pranks that involve knocking each other over, often by springing out from hiding to startle their prey. You have proficiency in the Athletics and Stealth skills.

Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and Goblin.

Section 15: Copyright Notice

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