Bullywug

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Greyhawk Creature
Bullywug
Bullywugs of the Hool Marshes, as depicted in Living Greyhawk Journal #1 (2000). Art by Luis Vasquez.
General information
Alignment:Usually chaotic evil
Type:Humanoid
Subtype:Aquatic
First appearance:Fiend Folio, TSR, 1981

Bullywugs are a violent race of frog-like humanoids. Their lives are nasty, brutish, and wet.

Ecology

Bullywugs tend to disrupt ecosystems, being too dim to care for their environments responsibly. They will fish and hunt an area until it is depleted and move on to the next hunting ground. They normally hate humans and will attack them on sight, though most live far from human communities. They hate their larger kin, the so-called advanced bullywugs, passionately and will make war on them whenever they can. They call themselves "the good folk" and call their enemies "the bad folk."

The adventure Needle by Frank Mentzer claims that bullywugs and grippli were once one people before they were torn asunder by civil war.

Environment

Bullywugs dwell in tropical, subtropical, and temperate swamps. In the World of Greyhawk campaign setting, bullywugs are known to exist in the Hool Marshes, the Mistmarsh, the Vast Swamp, and the Amedio Jungle. After being driven from other lands, some have settled in the forbidden city of Xuxulieto.

Bullywugs dwell in the open, and their territorial boundaries are loose. They fear dry heat and areas with little standing water. They are well-adapted for climbing trees.

Typical physical characteristics

Bullywugs are described as humanoids with the head of frogs. They are usually shorter than a human, with leathery olive-green, gray, or yellow skin and webbed digits. They have chameleon-like camouflage abilities. Their tongues are as long, proportionately, as those of frogs. They stand 4 to 7 feet in height, and weigh anywhere between 100 and 300 pounds. They are very good jumpers, and can jump roughly 30 feet forward and 15 feet vertically.

Bullywugs must keep their skin moist, wetting their hides three times a day or becoming weak from dehydration.

Alignment

Bullywugs are usually chaotic evil.

Society

fourth edition Monster Manual

Bullywugs live in primitive groups, hunting and fishing together. The hierarchy is based on strength, with the strongest being the leaders. The head of the tribe is known as the Father, who is typically served by a number of sub-chiefs and shamans. Women and children are considered to be the lowest, no matter what. Bullywugs are very territorial, and mostly will attack anyone who trespasses. Oddly enough, they tend not to fight within the tribe, but rival bullywug tribes will fight with each other. Only when their leaders become too weak to lead will they battle among their tribe for supremacy.

Religion

Bullywugs are known to revere a god named Ramenos, but this deity seems to be more concerned with sleeping than with the welfare of his race. A number of bullywug tribes have forsaken the worship of Ramenos for Wastri. The demon prince Dagon is occasionally the patron of bullywugs as well.

The bullywugs of Xuxulieto worship a pan lung dragon that they raised from an egg.

Language

Bullywugs have their own language and the Batrachian common tongue. The more intelligent ones are able to croak out a stunted form of human Common with their long tongues, though they are often difficult to understand in any language.

History

More than three thousand years ago, a race similar to, but larger than, modern bullywugs lived in the Amedio Jungle, sharing the area with a race of demon-worshipping troglodytes.

Advanced bullywugs

Advanced bullywugs are larger and more intelligent than others of their race. They represent a minority of bullywugs, making their homes in abandoned buildings, mud huts, and caves rather than dwelling in the open. While still chaotic evil, they are better equipped and organized than their less advanced kin, and send out organized parties to defend more clearly defined territories. They are also more aggressive than common bullywugs, fighting other races of monsters as well as rival bullywug tribes.

Bullywug savant

Reports of advanced bullywugs may actually refer to the bullywug savants, neutral evil mutants born from the same egg-clutches as the more common sort. Their bodies produce a poisonous secretion which prevents victims from thrashing about under torture, and may actually act as an antidote for several other types of animal and vegetable poisons. They are thought to somehow be the result of tampering by the ancient aboleth empire that predated the rise of humanity. See Living Greyhawk Journal #2, page 23.

Bullywugs in other media

Bullywugs were often featured as an antagonist to the main characters in the Dungeons & Dragons animated series.

Creative origins

The bullywug was created by Gary Gygax and Luke Gygax, and have appeared in every edition since 1981.

Bullywugs are one of limited number of iconic creatures that have appeared in every edition since their origination. They were even converted when the split came between Pathfinder RPG and D&D, , though due to IP concerns they are called "boggards" in PF RPG.

  • first Ed. Fiend Folio
    first Ed. Fiend Folio
  • Second Ed. Monstrous Manual
    Second Ed. Monstrous Manual
  • Living GH Journal #2
    Living GH Journal #2
  • fifth Ed. Monster Manual
    fifth Ed. Monster Manual

See also

References

Citations
Bibliography
———. The Scarlet Brotherhood. Renton, WA: TSR, 1999.
Zavoda Index Entry

The Encyclopedia Greyhawkania Index page has a list of sources, abbreviations, and a link to the full index. 

Groak (Bullywug)[NPC]
	I1—21

Disclaimer:Any lore presented through the following links does not necessarily adhere to established officially published content, and the views expressed do not necessarily represent the views of the editors of this wiki.

Encyclopedia Greyhawkania Index

The Encyclopedia Greyhawkania Index (EGI) is based on previous work of Jason Zavoda through '08, continued by numerous other fans. The EGI article has a list of sources, product names, abbreviations, and a link to the full, downloadable index.

Topic Type Description Product Page/Card/Image

Bullywug Monster Native of: Material Plane, Dragon magazine #359 97
Bullywug Monster Native of: Material Plane, Dungeon magazine #114 46, 52, 56, 58, 59, 60, 62, 64, 66
Bullywug Monster Native of: Material Plane, Dungeon magazine #147 60
Bullywug Monster Native of: Material Plane, EX1 Dungeonland 13
Bullywug Monster Native of: Material Plane, EX2 The Land Beyond the Magic Mirror 23
Bullywug Monster Native of: Material Plane, Fiend Folio, AD&D 1e 16, 17
Bullywug Monster Native of: Material Plane, From the Ashes: References Card #12
Bullywug Monster Native of: Material Plane, Ghosts of Saltmarsh, D&D 5e 16, 25, 26, 63, 65, 66, 212, 232
Bullywug Monster Native of: Material Plane, I1 Dwellers of the Forbidden City 3, 7, 11, 12, 15, 17, 20, 21, 22, 25
Bullywug Monster Native of: Material Plane, MC2 - Monstrous Compendium Volume 2 Insert (Bullywug)
Bullywug Monster Native of: Material Plane, MC5 Monstrous Compendium Greyhawk Adventures Appendix Encounter Tables
Bullywug Monster Native of: Material Plane, Monstrous Manual, AD&D 2e 34
Bullywug Monster Native of: Material Plane, Monstrous Manual, AD&D 2e (Premium Edition) 34
Bullywug Monster Native of: Material Plane, Monster Manual 1, D&D 5e 35
Bullywug Monster Native of: Material Plane, PHBR10 - The Complete Book of Humanoids 4, 9, 22-24, 44, 78, 87, 115, 116, 117, 118, 119, 120
Bullywug Monster Native of: Material Plane, World of Greyhawk boxed set (1983) 16
Bullywug, Savant Monster Living Greyhawk Journal #2 23-24
Ggorulluzg (Bullywug) Deity White Dwarf #039 11, 12
The Bullywug Gambit (Savage Tide) Adventure Located in: Amedio, Dragon magazine #359 97
The Bullywug Gambit (Savage Tide) Adventure Located in: Amedio, Dungeon magazine #140 12, 13, 14-48
The Bullywug Gambit (Savage Tide) Adventure Located in: Amedio, Dungeon magazine #147 50
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