Troglodyte: Blood and Filth

Smells like an orc’s loincloth in here!
Last words of Arlax Hammermantle, dwarf spelunker

Lore: Only the Strongest and Smelliest

Constantly at war with the other denizens of the Underdark, troglodytes mark the shallow depths of their domains with the bones and blood (and sometimes dung) of their dead enemies. The most loathsome humanoid creatures of all, they’ll eat anything and everything to survive and dwell within the most vile filth.

Though they’re as simple as animals, troglodytes do have some semblance of culture. Sadistic and utterly merciless, they love to hear the screams of those they drag back to their lairs to be devoured. The largest and strongest troglodyte of the tribe becomes the leader, but if even a single hint of weakness is shown, it will soon find itself devoured by its lessers. They understand the value of weapons and armor, though they don’t know how to make them, instead preferring to scavenge from their victims.

Some troglodytes worship Laogzed, a demonic toad slumbering in the Abyss. He offers them nothing. Yet they all aspire to be like him, fat, well-fed, and utterly content.

While not incredibly expansive, there’s still a fair bit of potential for storytelling here. It could be a simple encounter, wherein the players sneak into a stinky cave and get ambushed. Maybe an NPC they need gets taken by a troglodyte and they need to rescue him, showing off their sadistic nature. Or you could even use Laogzed for something. While not as deep as other denizens of the Underdark, you’ve still got options here!

Design: No Baths, Only Death

Someone was handed the prompt ‘hairy cave dweller’, and someone threw that shit in the trash.

Pretty sure that’s a Devil May Cry enemy.

This is a really cool design. It looks genuinely menacing, with its posture and the claws. Plus, the colors compliment each other really well. It’s dope!

I especially appreciate the restraint the designer put on the filth aspect. It isn’t caked in sludge and shit or anything like that. But you can still tell that it’s a nasty bastard. Just look at its chin. I don’t know what is dripping down there, and I’m not sure I wanna know.

Overall, this is a strong look. It isn’t as bizarre and interesting as some others, but it nails everything that it sets out to do. This is a damn good one.

Stats: Plug Your Nose

Despite how it may look, troglodytes aren’t actually all that strong. In fact, with their AC and HP both being so low, you could kill one fairly easily. That being said, for a low-level monster, it is still fairly dangerous.

Stinky as it is, a troglodyte is surprisingly sneaky. With Chameleon Skin, it gains advantage on stealth checks made for hiding. Speaking of stinky: its Stench ability poisons anyone standing within five feet of the creature, should they fail a saving throw. Don’t worry; if you succeed the through, you’re made immune to the effect for the rest of the fight.

They do have one weakness: Sunlight Sensitivity. Get it in sunlight and you’ll put it on the backfoot. But good luck using that in the Underdark.

The rest is fairly simple. With multiattack, it can make three strikes at once. One with its Bite, two with its Claw. Neither one does all that much damage, but getting hit by all three at once is gonna be a bad time for any low-level player.

As an early-game battle, this makes for a pretty decent fight. How do the players deal with a monster so stinky they can hardly even risk getting close to it? Especially one who can ambush them?

Beyond the early levels, however, this monster becomes a complete pushover. But it can still make for a strong early game memory, if you play your cards right.

Placement

Man, we’ve been on a hot streak recently! This is, what, the fourth killer monster in a row?

This was a consistently solid entry. The lore, the design, the stats, they all work. Alas, even still, it can’t compare to some of the monsters higher on this list. That’s not to say this one is bad, it’s just that the bar for the top has gotten really high at this point.

With all that in mind, the Troglodyte is going to #42 on the Best of the Bestiary!

Beholder
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Troglodyte <—————-
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