Bugbears
Large, hairy Goblinoids.
Bugbears endure a harsh existence that demands each of them to remain self-sufficient, even at the expense of their fellows. They tend to be chaotic evil.
Bugbears are born for battle and mayhem. Surviving by raiding and hunting, they bully the weak and despise being bossed around, but their love of carnage means they will fight for powerful masters if bloodshed and treasure are assured.
Basic Information
Growth Rate & Stages
Bugbears reach adulthood at age 16.
Additional Information
Social Structure
Since bugbears aren't a particularly fecund race, their overall population is small and spread over a wide area. Bugbears live in family groups that operate much like gangs. The individuals in a group typically number fewer than a dozen, consisting of siblings and their mates as well as a handful of offspring and an elder or two. A gang lives in and around a small enclosure, often a natural cave or an old bear den, and it might have supplementary dens elsewhere in its territory that it uses temporarily when it goes on long forays for food.
In good times, a bugbear gang is tight-knit, and its members cooperate well when hunting or bullying other creatures. But when the fortunes of a gang turn sour, the individuals become selfish, and might sabotage one another to remove opposition or exile weaker or unpopular members to keep the rest of the gang strong. Fortunately for the race as a whole, even young and elderly bugbears have the ability to survive alone in the wild, and the cast-off members of a gang might eventually catch on with a different group.
Left to their own devices, bugbears have little more impact on the world than wolf packs. They subsist by crafting simple tools and hunting and gathering food, and gangs sometimes come together peacefully to exchange members and goods between them.
Despite their intimidating builds, bugbears move with surprising stealth. They are fond of setting ambushes and flee when outmatched. They are dependable mercenaries as long as they are supplied food, drink, and treasure, but a bugbear forgets any bond when its life is on the line. A wounded member of a bugbear band might be left behind to help the rest of the band escape. Afterward, that bugbear might help pursuers track down its former companions if doing so saves its life.
Civilization and Culture
Common Customs, Traditions and Rituals
When they're not in battle, bugbears spend much of their time resting or dozing. They don't engage in crafting or agriculture to any great extent, or otherwise produce anything of value. They bully weaker creatures into doing their bidding, so they can take it easy. When a superior force tries to intimidate bugbears into service, they will try to escape rather than perform the work or confront the foe. Even when subsumed into a goblinoid host and drawn into war, bugbears must often be roused from naps and bribed to get them to do their duties.
This indolence offers no clue to how vicious the creatures are. Bugbears are capable of bouts of incredible ferocity, using their muscular bodies to exact swift and ruthless violence. At their core, bugbears are ambush predators accustomed to long periods of inactivity broken by short bursts of murderous energy. Ferocious though they may be, bugbears aren't built for extended periods of exertion.
Interspecies Relations and Assumptions
Bugbears feature in the nightmare tales of many races- great, hairy beasts that creep through the shadows as quiet as cats. If you walk alone in the woods, a bugbear will reach out of the bushes and strangle you. If you stray too far from the house at night, bugbears will scoop you up to devour you in their den. If a bugbear cuts off your head, your soul stays trapped inside, and the bugbears use your head to magically command all whom you once knew.
Lurid tales such as these have flowered from the seeds of truth. Bugbears do rely on stealth and strength to attack, preferring to operate at night. They do take the heads of enemy leaders, but they are no more likely to eat people indiscriminately than humans are. Bugbears aren't likely to attack lone travelers or wandering children unless they clearly have something to gain by doing so. From the viewpoint of the rest of the world, their aggression and savagery are thankfully offset by their rarity and lethargy.
Bugbears are often found in the company of their cousins, hobgoblins and goblins. Bugbears usually enslave goblins they encounter, and they bully hobgoblins into giving them gold and food in return for serving as scouts and shock troops. Even when paid, bugbears are at best unreliable allies, yet goblins and hobgoblins understand that no matter how much bugbears might drain a tribe of resources, these creatures are a potent force.
Genetic Descendants
Lifespan
80 years
Average Height
6 and 8 feet tall
Average Weight
250 and 350 pounds
Related Ethnicities
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