Tuesday, January 8, 2019

Giant Frog

This post includes significant contributions from Tim Alberdingk Thijm. Thank you Tim.

These terrifying, immense frogs are known to inhabit jungle and deciduous forests from central and southern India to southern China and Japan, as well as being known throughout Indochina and the East Indies. They possess claws upon their feet, making it possible for them to burrow into soft earth, which they will do with great alacrity. They have been known to create extensive underground tunnels, up to ten feet in diameter, in Burma, Kampuchea and in northern Borneo. They do not possess the long tongues that their smaller cousins have.

Giant frogs have leathery bodies and large muscular arms. When they attack, they will swing only one claw against enemies ~ but either claw might be used in a given round. As nocturnal meat-eaters, they possess and extremely good night-vision and are a terror in forested regions at night. They will often partly bury themselves in soft loam, laying in wait and attacking prey as it passes. They rarely hunt prey.

Advantages

In combat, the first time it is struck (whether or not it is stunned), the giant frog will produce an ear-splitting croak. This will stun-lock all creatures within four combat hexes of the brobdingnagian monster for one round; those who then do not make saving throw against paralyzation will be deafened for 2-8 rounds thereafter, during which time they will be -2 in all their attacks (both to hit and damage). Each giant frog is able to produce this croak but once per day.

The giant frog is able to move well and swing its mouth and claw, but it is most dangerous for its ability to hop a distance of 25 feet, or five combat hexes. It requires 1 action point to do this, and the frog can expend an AP at any time to hop. The giant frog will not hop away from a fight or retreat at all, but will always fight to the death. It can attack enemies in mid-hop if it uses its first AP.

See Bestiary

1 comment:

  1. These monster descriptions are exactly what I want from a monster manual. If you look at the 5e MM, there is no way to know what a monster looks like, its weight or size or any physical decsiptors without looking at the artwork. And behavior can only be guessed at based on the special combat maneuvers of the monster. In comparison the descriptions of monsters in the early editions weren't very detailed mainly because of their brevity. The design of 5e just really irks me, so thank you for these great descriptions.

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