This is a series of articles about specific monsters from D&D’s history. Each entry takes a look at the origin of one D&D creature, and tracks its appearances and evolution across different editions. This entry covers one of the creatures associated with the Trickster Gods of Omu in Tomb of Annihilation: the froghemoth. It originally appeared along with a number of other creatures in a combined Tomb of Annihilation article.
Origins
The name froghemoth is simply a portmanteau of “frog” and “behemoth”, meaning “monstrous frog”. There are several giant frogs in human mythology. The Aboriginal people of South Gippsland tell a story of Tiddalik, a greedy frog who drank all the world’s water. The Penobscot, Maliseet and Passamaquoddy tribes of North America have a similar legend of Aglebemu, a giant frog-like lake monster who caused a drought by damming a river. There is a Japanese legend of Jiraiya, a ninja who can shapeshift into a gigantic toad and who is in love with the young maiden Tsunade, who has mastered slug magic. (Slug magic?!) Welsh folklore has the carnivorous llamhigyn y dwr that preys on fishermen. Also known as a water leaper, this is a giant toad with a reptilian tail and bat wings, and it has its own monster entry in HR3: Celts Campaign Sourcebook.
None of these has the characteristic tentacles and three eyes of the froghemoth, so it seems likely that the D&D creature is simply the product of Gary Gygax’s imagination — a giant frog given an alien twist to fit in with the science fiction-themed setting of Expedition to the Barrier Peaks.
The name froghemoth is simply a portmanteau of “frog” and “behemoth”, meaning “monstrous frog”. There are several giant frogs in human mythology. The Aboriginal people of South Gippsland tell a story of Tiddalik, a greedy frog who drank all the world’s water. The Penobscot, Maliseet and Passamaquoddy tribes of North America have a similar legend of Aglebemu, a giant frog-like lake monster who caused a drought by damming a river. There is a Japanese legend of Jiraiya, a ninja who can shapeshift into a gigantic toad and who is in love with the young maiden Tsunade, who has mastered slug magic. (Slug magic?!) Welsh folklore has the carnivorous llamhigyn y dwr that preys on fishermen. Also known as a water leaper, this is a giant toad with a reptilian tail and bat wings, and it has its own monster entry in HR3: Celts Campaign Sourcebook.
None of these has the characteristic tentacles and three eyes of the froghemoth, so it seems likely that the D&D creature is simply the product of Gary Gygax’s imagination — a giant frog given an alien twist to fit in with the science fiction-themed setting of Expedition to the Barrier Peaks.
1st Edition
The froghemoth made its debut in S3: Expedition to the Barrier Peaks, where it is described as having a 18’ long, 10’ wide body with a yellow-orange belly and a green back. It stands on two thick, bowed rear legs and four yellow and green tentacles sprout from the monster’s shoulders. It has two olfactory stalks and a retractable optical appendage with three eyeballs. Both of these organs are yellow-green. The eyeballs are amber tinged with green and the pupils bright green edged with orange.
From its large maw, the froghemoth can flick out a barbed tongue to a distance of ten feet. The target is drawn into its mouth, shredded and swallowed. The adventure includes some complicated mechanics for determining whether someone grabbed by the tongue manages to grasp onto something before being swallowed. A swamp-dweller, the froghemoth likes to lurk in pools of water with just its nostrils and eye stalks showing, where it is sometimes mistaken for a plant.
Mechanically, the froghemoth has a different armor class depending on whether its body (AC4), tentacles (AC2) or tongue (AC6) is being attacked. It has a whopping 16 HD, but these hit points are divided up between the different body parts, with 21 per tentacle, 14 for its tongue and 105 for the froghemoth’s body . It can either attack with its mouth (5-50 damage) or four tentacles (5-8 damage each). It is immune to fire (but still dislikes it and will sometimes back away from flames), unharmed by gasses, and resistant to lightning. Cold slows it to half speed and limits its number of tentacle attacks. It has a movement speed of 2”, or 4” in a swamp and 8” while swimming. The froghemoth is described as non-intelligent.
The froghemoth made its debut in S3: Expedition to the Barrier Peaks, where it is described as having a 18’ long, 10’ wide body with a yellow-orange belly and a green back. It stands on two thick, bowed rear legs and four yellow and green tentacles sprout from the monster’s shoulders. It has two olfactory stalks and a retractable optical appendage with three eyeballs. Both of these organs are yellow-green. The eyeballs are amber tinged with green and the pupils bright green edged with orange.
From its large maw, the froghemoth can flick out a barbed tongue to a distance of ten feet. The target is drawn into its mouth, shredded and swallowed. The adventure includes some complicated mechanics for determining whether someone grabbed by the tongue manages to grasp onto something before being swallowed. A swamp-dweller, the froghemoth likes to lurk in pools of water with just its nostrils and eye stalks showing, where it is sometimes mistaken for a plant.
Mechanically, the froghemoth has a different armor class depending on whether its body (AC4), tentacles (AC2) or tongue (AC6) is being attacked. It has a whopping 16 HD, but these hit points are divided up between the different body parts, with 21 per tentacle, 14 for its tongue and 105 for the froghemoth’s body . It can either attack with its mouth (5-50 damage) or four tentacles (5-8 damage each). It is immune to fire (but still dislikes it and will sometimes back away from flames), unharmed by gasses, and resistant to lightning. Cold slows it to half speed and limits its number of tentacle attacks. It has a movement speed of 2”, or 4” in a swamp and 8” while swimming. The froghemoth is described as non-intelligent.
S3: Expedition to the Barrier Peaks (1980)
The froghemoth is described entirely within one of the adventure’s encounters and doesn’t get a separate monster entry. It does, however, get a full-page Erol Otus color picture in the accompanying illustration booklet, showing it blocking the way over a bridge.
As the author of both S3: Expedition to the Barrier Peaks and the Monster Manual II where it was subsequently reprinted, the credit for the creation of the froghemoth belongs to E. Gary Gygax. Most of the creatures reprinted in the Monster Manual II were copied directly from their earlier adventure appearances with little change. Not so for the froghemoth, which gets a whole page to itself. Most likely Gygax had written more about the froghemoth than there was space for in Expedition, and the Monster Manual II — published later the same year — was a good place to put it. The description starts with “huge and weird” which is the essence of the froghemoth in three words, but it goes on to provide plenty of additional detail.
Monster Manual II (1980)
The froghemoth’s tentacles are very strong, covered in a leathery hide, and can reach more than 15 feet. It is a strong swimmer, propelling itself with webbed feet and strong legs. In marshy or swampy terrain it uses both tentacles and legs to propel itself while it lies on its belly. When moving on dry land, the froghemoth uses its tentacles and legs to move in short hops.
The Monster Manual II breaks down the froghemoth’s hit points slightly differently to Expedition to the Barrier Peaks. The body of a froghemoth is resilient and can withstand the beast’s full hit dice in damage before the creature dies (a range of 16-128 hit points). Each tentacles requires 19-22 hit points to sever. The most vulnerable part of the froghemoth is its long tongue, which has a relatively low armor class and can be cut off by taking 12-16 hit points of damage. A froghemoth whose tongue is severed attacks with its tentacles in a frenzy for 2-5 rounds doing double damage. If it has still not beaten its foes, it will then retreat to heal. The froghemoth can regenerate a missing tentacle or tongue in a few weeks.
The only treasures found near a froghemoth are items dropped by its victims, as it has only animal intelligence (upgraded from Expedition’s non-intelligent) and it does not use tools. Despite this, the creature is a master of ambush tactics, floating with its body submerged and only its sensory organs above water. It extends its tentacles ahead of it as it moves, ready to seize unsuspecting prey. Swamp travelers may not realize they have disturbed a froghemoth until one of their companions has already been snatched by its tongue and is starting to digest. Occasionally it will attempt an ambush on land, hiding in vegetation and grabbing a target with its tongue.
The barbed tongue is fast enough to allow the froghemoth to try to swallow a victim whole, but the Monster Manual II expands on the complexity of the tongue attack using both surprise and strength to determine if the target is able to grab onto something before being swallowed. The victim of a tongue attack cannot attack the tongue, but if they are able to prevent being immediately swallowed, allies can do so. The unusually strong digestive juices make short work of swallowed creatures (4-16 damage per round), who are only able to attack the inside of the froghemoth with short stabbing weapons. A swallowed creature becomes unconscious after two rounds and a completely dissolved victim cannot be resurrected.
Monster Manual II (1980)
The froghemoth lairs in a submerged collection of trees and debris, and is only found in large swamps or shallow bodies of fresh water with enough life to sustain the froghemoth’s appetite. It is (fortunately) a very rare creature and is encountered in its lair only 40% of the time. The froghemoth is of neutral alignment. As noted in Expedition to the Barrier Peaks, it is immune to fire, but dislikes very large or very hot flames. Burning hands is not sufficient to drive back a froghemoth unless it inflicts 10 or more points of damage, but more potent spells like fireball and flame strike are. Electrical attacks do only one point of damage per die, but slow the froghemoth enough to halve its speed and number of attacks for one round. In a change from Expedition, cold no longer appears to slow the froghemoth down.
Froghemoths are solitary, except in spring, when they mate. Females lay up to 100 eggs, each a foot in diameter, in shallow water. Some 10% of these eggs hatch into the immature stage known as a tadhemoth, while the rest are eaten by hatching tadhemoths or other predators. A tadhemoth moves to deeper waters where it grows to 6-7 feet in six months. At this point it resembles a fish with 6 fins (4 pectoral and 2 rear) and a vicious bite (2-8 hit points). From six months onwards the pectoral fins begin to grow into tentacles while the creature’s body grows more slowly. The tadhemoth’s mouth also enlarges during this later stage of development, as does the damage done by its bite. The tadhemoth is entirely aquatic, with gills and a rapid swimming speed (16”). The rear fins only grow into legs during the last few months of its development. By the time it reaches three years old, the tadhemoth has become an adult froghemoth, and can leave the water. Only 1-4% of tadhemoth hatchlings survive to adulthood.
The froghemoth gets its own hit location table in Dragon #114 which gives a 60% chance of striking the tentacles, a 30% chance of hitting the body, and only a 10% chance to strike the tongue.
In I12: Egg of the Phoenix, set in Frank Mentzer’s world of Empyrea, there is mention of a froghemoth known as Skridlombir the Swamp Lurker. From this encounter, we learn that three people is usually enough to satisfy a froghemoth’s appetite.
2nd Edition
The froghemoth first made its way into 2nd Edition via the adventure The Land of Men with Tails in Dungeon #56. It gets its own Monstrous Compendium page, but most of the text is recycled from the Monster Manual II, as is the artwork. New information in the statistics block is the froghemoth’s climate/terrain, which is listed as “tropical swamp” and its activity cycle, which is “day”. The creature’s carnivorous diet is confirmed, and it gets a fanatical morale score of 18.
In the text, the froghemoth is now specifically categorized as an amphibian. The length of the eye and nostrils stalks is given as three feet. The frogemoth’s eyes are now described as being “intense shining orange”. It is said to rarely leave bodies or mud or water because of the relative difficulty it has hopping across dry land. The barbs on the froghemoth’s tongue now do 1-8 points of damage when it grabs a target.
The froghemoth in Dungeon #56 is a better planner than the one in I12: Egg of the Phoenix, since it is happy to kill as many of the adventurers as it can, and save some to eat later. It is a ferocious fighter and only makes a morale check if it is down to a single tentacle or its body is reduced to 30 hit points. It is capable of inflicting 2-16 points of trampling damage as it flees from an encounter.
The Monstrous Compendium Annual Volume Two was released within a month of Dungeon #56, and also contains a 2nd Edition froghemoth, as well as a fresh color picture. This version was clearly adapted from the 1st Edition froghemoth separately to the one in Dungeon, but the statistics are quite similar.
The froghemoth first made its way into 2nd Edition via the adventure The Land of Men with Tails in Dungeon #56. It gets its own Monstrous Compendium page, but most of the text is recycled from the Monster Manual II, as is the artwork. New information in the statistics block is the froghemoth’s climate/terrain, which is listed as “tropical swamp” and its activity cycle, which is “day”. The creature’s carnivorous diet is confirmed, and it gets a fanatical morale score of 18.
In the text, the froghemoth is now specifically categorized as an amphibian. The length of the eye and nostrils stalks is given as three feet. The frogemoth’s eyes are now described as being “intense shining orange”. It is said to rarely leave bodies or mud or water because of the relative difficulty it has hopping across dry land. The barbs on the froghemoth’s tongue now do 1-8 points of damage when it grabs a target.
The froghemoth in Dungeon #56 is a better planner than the one in I12: Egg of the Phoenix, since it is happy to kill as many of the adventurers as it can, and save some to eat later. It is a ferocious fighter and only makes a morale check if it is down to a single tentacle or its body is reduced to 30 hit points. It is capable of inflicting 2-16 points of trampling damage as it flees from an encounter.
The Monstrous Compendium Annual Volume Two was released within a month of Dungeon #56, and also contains a 2nd Edition froghemoth, as well as a fresh color picture. This version was clearly adapted from the 1st Edition froghemoth separately to the one in Dungeon, but the statistics are quite similar.
Monstrous Compendium Annual Volume Two (1995)
Differing from the Dungeon #56 version, it has a climate/terrain entry of just “swamp”, an activity cycle of “any” and a higher morale—fearless (19). This froghemoth doesn’t do damage with its tongue, but it does have upgraded tentacles. Once an opponent is grabbed by a tentacle, the tentacle continues to do 5-8 points of constriction damage each round until it is severed or the target breaks free. This version is slightly less averse to dry land than the Dungeon #56 version, being willing to pursue prey for only two or three rounds before returning to its damp home.
The Monstrous Compendium Annual Volume Two notes that froghemoths live up to 100 years, and that they only mate once every nine years, returning to their spawning ground to do so.
3rd Edition
In the editorial for the last print issue of Dungeon, James Jacobs mentions that one of his goals for his time at the helm of the magazine was to make sure 3rd Edition stats were published for the froghemoth. This was achieved in Dungeon #128, where a froghemoth named Madtooth the Hungry features in The Champion’s Belt adventure.
The 3rd Edition version is beefed up a little from previous incarnations. A huge aberration, it now has 20 hit dice (210 hit points) and an armor class of 21. Its four tentacle attacks are each +25 melee attacks which do 2d6+12 damage, while its tongue attacks at +23 for 1d8+6 damage and its bite at +23 for 2d6+18 damage, with a critical hit on an 18, 19 or 20.
Other mechanics are vastly simplified, and different body parts no longer have different armor classes or hit points. The froghemoth uses a combination of improved grab (with tentacles doing 2d6+12 points of constriction damage), powerful bite (1½ of its strength bonus to bite damage) and swallow whole (2d6+12 bludgeoning and 1d8+4 points of acid damage per round) to model its tentacle, tongue and swallowing attacks. Its resistances are simplified to fire resistance of 30 and a special partial electrical immunity ability which prevents damage but slows the froghemoth for one round. It gets a racial bonus to jump checks, and a variety of feats boosting its combat capabilities. It has a land speed of 20 ft. and a swim speed of 50 ft.
In the editorial for the last print issue of Dungeon, James Jacobs mentions that one of his goals for his time at the helm of the magazine was to make sure 3rd Edition stats were published for the froghemoth. This was achieved in Dungeon #128, where a froghemoth named Madtooth the Hungry features in The Champion’s Belt adventure.
The 3rd Edition version is beefed up a little from previous incarnations. A huge aberration, it now has 20 hit dice (210 hit points) and an armor class of 21. Its four tentacle attacks are each +25 melee attacks which do 2d6+12 damage, while its tongue attacks at +23 for 1d8+6 damage and its bite at +23 for 2d6+18 damage, with a critical hit on an 18, 19 or 20.
Other mechanics are vastly simplified, and different body parts no longer have different armor classes or hit points. The froghemoth uses a combination of improved grab (with tentacles doing 2d6+12 points of constriction damage), powerful bite (1½ of its strength bonus to bite damage) and swallow whole (2d6+12 bludgeoning and 1d8+4 points of acid damage per round) to model its tentacle, tongue and swallowing attacks. Its resistances are simplified to fire resistance of 30 and a special partial electrical immunity ability which prevents damage but slows the froghemoth for one round. It gets a racial bonus to jump checks, and a variety of feats boosting its combat capabilities. It has a land speed of 20 ft. and a swim speed of 50 ft.
Dungeon #128 (2005)
This version of the froghemoth has a croaking roar which can be heard for miles across swamplands. It is listed as having darkvision out to 60 feet, and weighs 5 tons. It takes a different approach to battle than its predecessors, prefering to charge while emitting thunderous bellows, rather than undertaking ambushes. It greedily attacks as many targets as it can with its tongue and tentacles to try to maximize its food. Forced to choose, it will focus on the largest opponent it faces. It is too stupid to flee, and rarely retreats even when being beaten.
Although this update dispenses with details of the froghemoth life-cycle, there is a nod to the froghemoth’s Barrier Peaks origins. News of the discovery of the first specimen attracted the attention of monster hunters from around the world, some of whom grew rich by tapping into a supply of froghemoth eggs. Then they were all slain by a group of obscure cultists who made it their mission to distribute the eggs to swamps throughout the world where the froghemoths have subsequently thrived. They are found alone or in pairs in temperate swamps and remain neutral in alignment. Froghemoths can advance in size right up to colossal, where they have a scary 60 hit dice.
4th Edition
You could be forgiven if you missed the 4th Edition froghemoth, as it managed to leapfrog into an entirely different genre. In 2010, WotC relaunched Gamma World as a “D&D” setting using an adapted version of the 4th Edition rules. The froghemoth appears in the Famine in Far-go expansion, although technically it also graced the pages of Dragon #392 if only as part of the preview for Famine in Far-go in that issue’s D&D Alumni article. Given that the creature’s origins were in an adventure with a heavy science fiction theme, Gamma World is actually quite a good fit.
You could be forgiven if you missed the 4th Edition froghemoth, as it managed to leapfrog into an entirely different genre. In 2010, WotC relaunched Gamma World as a “D&D” setting using an adapted version of the 4th Edition rules. The froghemoth appears in the Famine in Far-go expansion, although technically it also graced the pages of Dragon #392 if only as part of the preview for Famine in Far-go in that issue’s D&D Alumni article. Given that the creature’s origins were in an adventure with a heavy science fiction theme, Gamma World is actually quite a good fit.
Famine in Far-go (2010)
Mechanically, this froghemoth doesn’t seem to be quite as powerful as its 3rd Edition cousin, being only a level 8 creature. It has 178 hit points, an armor class of 24 and only 5 fire resistance. Like the 3rd Edition version, it is slowed by electrical attacks, but it also takes damage from them. It has all-around vision, preventing opponents from gaining a flanking advantage, and swamp walk to ignore the difficulties of moving through marshlands. It is aquatic and can breathe under water.
The froghemoth gets a range of combat abilities that model its traditional attacks and abilities: tentacle flurry allows it to use its tentacle attack (+13 attack, 1d8+3 damage) four times, grasping tongue lets it pull a target 5 squares, and swallow allows it to swallow a target whole, stunning it and causing 10 ongoing acid damage. A standard bite attack does 4d8+5 damage and immobilizes the target. Successfully attacking the froghemoth triggers a tentacle strike as a reaction.
The Gamma World froghemoth doesn’t get much backstory, with the text suggesting that either contaminants caused smaller frogs to bloat and mutate, or alternatively, that a mad bioengineer named Bob was responsible for their creation (really!). The adult froghemoth is illustrated in a group picture, along with the Gamma World incarnations of the cifal and garbug, and there is even a helpful size comparison chart provided.
Famine in Far-go (2010)
Famine in Far-go also includes stats for a younger version of the froghemoth, but this is now called a “pollywoghemoth” instead of a tadhemoth. It is found only in water, and has two different bite attacks, a nimble nibble (2d6+8 damage, and the pollywoghemoth can shift two squares), or a more potent chomp (4d6+8 damage). It also has a minor tail slap with which it can slide an opponent. Although nowhere near as fearsome as an adult froghemoth, the pollywoghemoth has 81 hit points, and is far from a push over.
The adult froghemoth was reprinted in the Gamma World adventure Legion of Gold, where it is described as preferring to move close enough in combat to use its grasping tongue and then bite. It resorts to using its tentacles only if there is nothing close enough to snare with its tongue.
5th Edition
In the lead up to 5th Edition, WotC published a number of D&D Next playtest packets. The April 2013 packet included monster updates for all four of the S-series of adventures, and the froghemoth appears in the Expedition to the Barrier Peaks Bestiary. This is an unfortunately bland version, with little flavor and relatively straightforward bite (3d10+4 damage), tentacle (1d8+4 damage) and tongue (pull the target next to the froghemoth and gain a free bite attack) attacks. A successful bite swallows the target and begins inflicting 3d6 acid damage per round. The froghemoth is back to a 16 hit dice (184 hit point) monster here, but seems to have misplaced its traditional resistances.
In the lead up to 5th Edition, WotC published a number of D&D Next playtest packets. The April 2013 packet included monster updates for all four of the S-series of adventures, and the froghemoth appears in the Expedition to the Barrier Peaks Bestiary. This is an unfortunately bland version, with little flavor and relatively straightforward bite (3d10+4 damage), tentacle (1d8+4 damage) and tongue (pull the target next to the froghemoth and gain a free bite attack) attacks. A successful bite swallows the target and begins inflicting 3d6 acid damage per round. The froghemoth is back to a 16 hit dice (184 hit point) monster here, but seems to have misplaced its traditional resistances.
Volo’s Guide to Monsters (2016)
For its official reappearance in Volo’s Guide to Monsters, the froghemoth sticks quite closely to the mechanics of the playtest version. Its tongue can now reach out to 20 feet, but doesn’t instantly result in a swallowed opponent, it just brings him or her close enough for a bonus bite attack. The tentacles also reach 20 feet. They use the grappling rules, and do a lot of damage (3d8+6 points), as does its bite (3d10+6 points) but the 5th Edition froghemoth has weaker stomach acids, digesting only 3d6 points of swallowed adventurer per round. Causing a froghemoth sufficient internal damage (20 points or more) will cause it to regurgitate whoever it has swallowed. The multiattack ability allows the froghemoth to make two tentacle attacks and either a tongue or a bite attack on its turn.
Some of its earlier resistances—fire and lightning—are restored, but electrical attacks still slow the froghemoth and reduce its attacks, like they did in 3rd Edition. It is amphibious, able to breath in air or water, and is equally at home in both with walk and speed speeds of 30 ft. It is classified as an unaligned, huge monstrosity, with 184 hit points and an armor class of 14. It retains its 60 ft. darkvision.
Volo’s Guide to Monsters dispenses with previous lore on the froghemoth’s life cycle, but includes a tip-of-the-hat to their otherworldly origins, noting that Lum the Mad’s journal describes froghemoths emerging from metal chambers buried in the ground in some now unknown location. Froghemoths no longer mate. Instead, each one lays a fertilized egg every few years. A young froghemoth is more likely to survive if its parent abandons the egg, as hatchlings make tasty snacks. The growing hatchlings prey indiscriminately on other swamp dwellers during the months they take to reach adulthood. Adults lurk submerged in murky pools using their eyestalks to watch for potential targets, which they then charge with flailing tentacles and tongue.
Lost Laboratory of Kwalish (2018)
The next two 5th Edition references take us back to the froghemoth’s origins. Lost Laboratory of Kwalish, an adventure released in 2018 to support Extra Life, includes a potential encounter with a froghemoth. It has escaped from a planar craft that crashed into the Barrier Peaks long ago. Original Adventures Reincarnated #3: Expedition to the Barrier Peaks, published by Goodman Games, is a hardcover celebration of the original Expedition. It reprints the adventure, provides a complete 5th Edition conversation, has lots of commentary on the original and features a brand new Erol Otus froghemoth painting on the front endpaper.
OAR3: Expedition to the Barrier Peaks (2019)
Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse reprints the version of the froghemoth from Volo’s with a few minor edits. It has fewer hit points (down to 161 from 184). The effect of lightning on the froghemoth is reduced—it still is still slowed and has disadvantage on dexterity saves, but no longer gets an armor class penalty or reduced actions. Multiattack previously allowed the froghemoth to make two tentacle attacks and then either a tongue or bite attack; now it can use all four, but it no longer gets to make a bonus bite attack after pulling a target with its tongue.
Froghemoths and other monsters
Dungeon #4 mentions a wounded thessalhydra. This creature came off second best when it wandered into the territory of a froghemoth, losing four heads and sustaining significant damage to its body.
It is possible to hatch and raise a froghemoth such that it will not attack its “owners”. The offshoot race of dwarves known as the utuchekulu from Dungeon #56 have done so, and their froghemoth will not attack them. This is contradicted by the Monstrous Compendium Annual Volume Two, which claims that froghemoths cannot be trained, but can, at best, be captured and moved somewhere to serve as an unreliable guard animal.
Dungeon #56 also has some detail about the froghemoth’s place in the food chain. They are primal carnivores eating whatever they can catch, and they are able to survive off a single large meal for weeks. Froghemoths are hard to kill and potential predators such as dragons or large carnivorous dinosaurs tend to leave them alone. Hatchlings are more vulnerable and are eaten by crocodiles and other aquatic predators.
Reverse Dungeon has a guardian beast, which is a dungeon-dwelling being capable of taking the forms of many creatures in quick succession, each time changing into a new monster after the previous one is slain. Its penultimate form (just before it becomes a miniature tarrasque) is that of a froghemoth.
In 5th Edition, froghemoths are worshiped as gods by bullywugs. Bullywugs will do everything possible to coax a froghemoth into their den if they encounter one. They will provide the creature with food, a comfortable lair, and protect it from any harm as well as care for its young. Bullywugs can communicate on a basic level with froghemoths, so are usually successful in taming one after it has eaten only a few of them. In Ghosts of Saltmarsh there are bullywug croakers with the ability to grant temporary hit points to their bullywug allies by singing an ode to an elder froghemoth.
Dungeon #4 mentions a wounded thessalhydra. This creature came off second best when it wandered into the territory of a froghemoth, losing four heads and sustaining significant damage to its body.
It is possible to hatch and raise a froghemoth such that it will not attack its “owners”. The offshoot race of dwarves known as the utuchekulu from Dungeon #56 have done so, and their froghemoth will not attack them. This is contradicted by the Monstrous Compendium Annual Volume Two, which claims that froghemoths cannot be trained, but can, at best, be captured and moved somewhere to serve as an unreliable guard animal.
Dungeon #56 also has some detail about the froghemoth’s place in the food chain. They are primal carnivores eating whatever they can catch, and they are able to survive off a single large meal for weeks. Froghemoths are hard to kill and potential predators such as dragons or large carnivorous dinosaurs tend to leave them alone. Hatchlings are more vulnerable and are eaten by crocodiles and other aquatic predators.
Reverse Dungeon has a guardian beast, which is a dungeon-dwelling being capable of taking the forms of many creatures in quick succession, each time changing into a new monster after the previous one is slain. Its penultimate form (just before it becomes a miniature tarrasque) is that of a froghemoth.
In 5th Edition, froghemoths are worshiped as gods by bullywugs. Bullywugs will do everything possible to coax a froghemoth into their den if they encounter one. They will provide the creature with food, a comfortable lair, and protect it from any harm as well as care for its young. Bullywugs can communicate on a basic level with froghemoths, so are usually successful in taming one after it has eaten only a few of them. In Ghosts of Saltmarsh there are bullywug croakers with the ability to grant temporary hit points to their bullywug allies by singing an ode to an elder froghemoth.
Froghemoth parts
Treasures of the Wilds in Dragon #137 pegs the price of a froghemoth egg at a respectable 8,000 gp, and that of a tadhemoth or young froghemoth at 16,000 gp.
Froghemoth eggs also feature in the Eberron/Ravenloft crossover adventure Dread Metrol: Into the Mists by Eberron creator Keith Baker. In order to get over a twenty foot high razor wire fence, the adventurers must scoop out marble-sized, gelatinous eggs from a bowl of oozy brown swamp water and swallow them. The eggs contain a toxic liquid that makes those of low constitution vomie. Anyone who can keep an egg down gains the ability to make huge leaps of up to 40 feet for the next minute. The operative who provides the eggs is apparently unaware of how valuable they might be on the open market, as they are provided to the heroes at no cost.
Treasures of the Wilds in Dragon #137 pegs the price of a froghemoth egg at a respectable 8,000 gp, and that of a tadhemoth or young froghemoth at 16,000 gp.
Froghemoth eggs also feature in the Eberron/Ravenloft crossover adventure Dread Metrol: Into the Mists by Eberron creator Keith Baker. In order to get over a twenty foot high razor wire fence, the adventurers must scoop out marble-sized, gelatinous eggs from a bowl of oozy brown swamp water and swallow them. The eggs contain a toxic liquid that makes those of low constitution vomie. Anyone who can keep an egg down gains the ability to make huge leaps of up to 40 feet for the next minute. The operative who provides the eggs is apparently unaware of how valuable they might be on the open market, as they are provided to the heroes at no cost.
Dragonlance
At least one froghemoth has made it to Krynn, and now lives in the water reservoirs beneath the city of Neraka, according to DL14: Dragons of Triumph.
At least one froghemoth has made it to Krynn, and now lives in the water reservoirs beneath the city of Neraka, according to DL14: Dragons of Triumph.
Forgotten Realms
Froghemoths presumably resided in the Forgotten Realms before 5th Edition, since one is mentioned in Ed Greenwood’s yarn Jantharl’s Surprising Journey in Dragon #413. But if they did, they certainly kept a low profile. Even after featuring in Volo’s Guide to Monsters, froghemoths remain scarce, at least as monsters that can be encountered in Forgotten Realms adventures.
Froghemoths presumably resided in the Forgotten Realms before 5th Edition, since one is mentioned in Ed Greenwood’s yarn Jantharl’s Surprising Journey in Dragon #413. But if they did, they certainly kept a low profile. Even after featuring in Volo’s Guide to Monsters, froghemoths remain scarce, at least as monsters that can be encountered in Forgotten Realms adventures.
Kubazan’s symbol, Tomb of Annihilation (2017)
There aren’t any froghemoths in Tome of Annihilation, but Kubazan, who takes the form of a froghemoth, is one of the nine trickster gods of Omu. He is wild and spirited and enemies with Papazotl, the eblis.
In the Adventurers League module CCC-ST2-1: Red War: Embassy of Evil there is a combination lock puzzle which requires the adventurers to be able to identify a froghemoth from a carving.
CCC-ST2-1: Red War: Embassy of Evil (2018)
The most recent depiction of a froghemoth in the Forgotten Realms comes from the Adventures in the Forgotten Realms set of cards for Magic: the Gathering, where a froghemoth features on cards #184 and #384.
Magic: the Gathering: Adventures in the Forgotten Realms, card #184 (2021)
Greyhawk
Oerth is home to several froghemoths. In WG10: Child’s Play, there is a froghemoth living under a rotting bridge in the monarchy of Rhesdain. This nation isn’t mentioned in any other Greyhawk product, nor has it ever been shown on any map, so exactly where it is located is a mystery. Should the adventurers fail to trust the clearly rotting bridge, and instead try to make their way across the water below, the froghemoth attacks and fights to the death. At the end of the battle, it is then promptly eaten by an even bigger, more ferocious monster called a flatilus which, like the country it resides in, is never again mentioned in any other D&D product. At least the bridge is well signposted, giving the adventurers an opportunity to avoid this pointless and silly encounter.
Oerth is home to several froghemoths. In WG10: Child’s Play, there is a froghemoth living under a rotting bridge in the monarchy of Rhesdain. This nation isn’t mentioned in any other Greyhawk product, nor has it ever been shown on any map, so exactly where it is located is a mystery. Should the adventurers fail to trust the clearly rotting bridge, and instead try to make their way across the water below, the froghemoth attacks and fights to the death. At the end of the battle, it is then promptly eaten by an even bigger, more ferocious monster called a flatilus which, like the country it resides in, is never again mentioned in any other D&D product. At least the bridge is well signposted, giving the adventurers an opportunity to avoid this pointless and silly encounter.
Child’s Play (1989)
The adventure The Setting Sun in Dungeon #73 is set in Newtemple on the Wild Coast. It also has a froghemoth living under a bridge, specifically the New East Bridge. The froghemoth moved here from the Old East Bridge after the new bridge was built specifically so that the locals could avoid the monster haunting the old bridge. Perhaps the people of Newtemple also need a sign.
The Living Greyhawk Gazetteer mentions that froghemoths can be found in the Rushmoors on the northern border of Keoland.
Historical Reference
The article The Dark Continent in Dragon #189 suggests the froghemoth as an appropriate monster to use in an African-themed campaign.
The article The Dark Continent in Dragon #189 suggests the froghemoth as an appropriate monster to use in an African-themed campaign.
Kingdoms of Kalamar
It may have been one of Dungeon editor James Jacobs’s goals to make sure that 3rd Edition froghemoth stats were published, but Dungeon #128 wasn’t the first 3rd Edition D&D product to include a froghemoth. The Kingdoms of Kalamar book Secrets of the Alubelok Coast had already done so two years earlier.
It may have been one of Dungeon editor James Jacobs’s goals to make sure that 3rd Edition froghemoth stats were published, but Dungeon #128 wasn’t the first 3rd Edition D&D product to include a froghemoth. The Kingdoms of Kalamar book Secrets of the Alubelok Coast had already done so two years earlier.
Secrets of the Alubelok Coast (2003)
Native to the Alubelok Swamp, the Kalamaran froghemoth is a huge aberration like the one in Dungeon, but it has only 10 hit dice, fewer than the froghemoths of 1st and 2nd Edition, as well as generally weaker attacks. Its tongue is a +9 attack doing 1d8+4 damage, its bite is a +7 attack doing 2d6+2 damage, and each tentacle strikes at +7 for 1d8+2 damage. It uses the standard 3rd Edition improved grab and swallow whole abilities, but a swallowed creature takes only 2d6+4 crushing damage and 4 points of acid damage. The froghemoth gains marsh move, which allows it to cross through its native terrain unhindered. Unlike its ancestors, it no longer has any immunity to fire, but it does still have resistance to electricity.
Miniatures
Gale Force Nine released a resin froghemoth miniature in 2017, as part of their D&D Collector’s Series. It looks like it could easily have wandered straight out of the picture in S3: Expedition to the Barrier Peaks, especially given the choice of color for the eye stalk appendage. Although this is colored pink in the original illustration, it has been consistently described as yellow-green since then.
Gale Force Nine released a resin froghemoth miniature in 2017, as part of their D&D Collector’s Series. It looks like it could easily have wandered straight out of the picture in S3: Expedition to the Barrier Peaks, especially given the choice of color for the eye stalk appendage. Although this is colored pink in the original illustration, it has been consistently described as yellow-green since then.
A prepainted plastic miniature with coloration closer to that in the 5th Edition Volo’s Guide to Monsters is figure #25 in the Icons of the Realms: Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage set from WizKids.
Computer games
Idle Champions of the Forgotten Realms features the froghemoth as a melee opponent.
Idle Champions of the Forgotten Realms features the froghemoth as a melee opponent.
Froghemoth names
Madtooth the Hungry, Skridlombir the Swamp Lurker.
Madtooth the Hungry, Skridlombir the Swamp Lurker.
Comparative statistics
References
S3: Expedition to the Barrier Peaks, p15 (February 1980)Monster Manual II, p67 (August 1980)
DL14: Dragons of Triumph, p25 (October 1986)
Dungeon #4, p8, Kingdom in the Swamp (March 1987)
Dragon #114, p51, It’s a hit — but where? (October 1986)
I12: Egg of the Phoenix, p31 (March 1987)
Dragon #137, p20, Treasures of the Wilds (September 1988)
WG10: Child’s Play, p20 (August 1989)
HR3: Celts Campaign Sourcebook, p53 (October 1992)
Dragon #189, p14, The Dark Continent (January 1993)
Dungeon #56, p62, 66, The Land of Men with Tails (November 1995)
Monstrous Compendium Annual Volume Two, p59 (December 1995)
Dungeon #73, p63-64, The Setting Sun (March 1999)
Reverse Dungeon, p52-54 (May 2000)
Living Greyhawk Gazetteer, p153 (November 2000)
Secrets of the Alubelok Coast, p72-73 (November 2003)
Dungeon #128, p47, 61-62, The Champion’s Belt (November 2005)
Dungeon #150, p8, Signing Off (August 2007)
Dragon #392, p69, D&D Alumni (October 2010)
Famine in Far-go, p58, 60-61 (December 2010)
Legion of Gold, p135-136 (February 2011)
Dragon #413, Jantharl’s Surprising Journey (July 2012)
D&D Next Playtest Packet, Expedition to the Barrier Peaks Bestiary, p9 (April 2013)
Volo’s Guide to Monsters, p145 (November 2016)
Tomb of Annihilation, p94, 97, 107, 221, 256 (September 2017)
Idle Champions of the Forgotten Realms (2017)
D&D Collector’s Series #71014: Froghemoth (2017)
CCC-ST2-1: Red War: Embassy of Evil, p15 (October 2018)
Lost Laboratory of Kwalish, p33, 40 (November 2018)
Icons of the Realms: Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage, figure #25/44 (March 2019)
Ghosts of Saltmarsh, p232 (May 2019)
Original Adventures Reincarnated #3: Expedition to the Barrier Peaks, p257 (November 2019)
Dread Metrol: Into the Mists, p80 (July 2021)
Magic: the Gathering: Adventures in the Forgotten Realms, cards #184 and #384 (July 2021)
Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse, p130 (May 2022)
Other ENCyclopedia entries
Visit the Monster ENCyclopedia index for links to other entries in this series.
Visit the Monster ENCyclopedia index for links to other entries in this series.
