Masterwork Monsters: Bugbear Feats and Throwbacks

[Crothian]

Written By: Peter M. Ball
Page Count: 8 pages of content + OGL

Bugbears are strong, fast and deathly silent. They are the quiet thugs of the humanoid world, big enough to stand up to even medium-level adventurers while still possessing the stealth and finesse of a creature half their size. Their ursine features and roguish abilities make them a dangerous combination – a bestial hunter who possesses the most dangerous qualities of both an intelligent being and hunting beast alike.

Masterwork Monsters: Bugbear Feats and Throwbacks offers you the tools needed to let Bugbears really live up to their reputation. This product contains over twenty new feats designed with the bugbear in mind, many focused on enhancing the bugbears natural stealth or bestial savagery. Part two introduces a new NPC-class progression for the bugbear – the throwback. Rather than relying on civilized weapons and training, the throwback embraces his bear-like nature and fights with the savage fury and cunning of an intelligent beast.

Whether you are looking for new feats to round out your bugbear villain, or you're simply looking for a few new abilities to make a wandering patrol a little more interesting, we've got you you covered.

 

[Crothian]

Bugbears feats and Throw backs

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One type of book that I do not seem to see as often these days are books filled with bits that are easy to incorporate into one’s game. I think that was always been a strength of the d20 system. Sure people complained about books filled with feats, prestige classes, spells, equipment, etc.; but in the end it is these types of books that are easiest to use in a game. Many books seem to want one to start a new campaign using the books and while that can be good and fun there are simply to many books that seem to have this as their goal. I have selves filled with books that I really like, but because I would need to build a campaign around them instead of having them easily fit into the campaign I want to build they get little use. This is one thing I really enjoy about the small PDFs some companies put out. They are designed to be used in my game right now. I like that and I tend to find a way to use these books since they are so easy to use.

Masterworks Monsters: Bugbear Feats and Throwback is a new PDF by Clockwork Golem Worshop. This PDF Company has done a nice job with small PDFs that are about one topic. They have been very easy to use in my games. This nine page PDF has a basic layout with a few pieces of art. It is all black and white with some minor page borders making it easy to print out. There are no book marks in the book and while such a small product does not benefit as much with book marks as say a 256 page campaign setting; I still always like to see book marks. They are one of the big advantages over printed books PDFs have.

The book covers new options for bugbears. I think this is great as it takes a standard monster people know and expands upon them in easy ways within the rules of the game. Bugbears for the most part area race that has not been expanded on a lot. There is a Slayers Guide to Bugbears Mongoose put out in the early days of d20 and Kenzer recently put out a very nice book for Kalamar that covered Bugbears as well as elves. So, it is nice to also see them take something that has little support as while there is a great amount of d20 books there are nice big gabs in the areas covered.

The book offers twenty five new feats specifically designed for Bugbears and one small class. While these options are specific to the Bugbear race there are a few that really can benefit other characters. One great thing is the bugbear attitudes and basic personality is well reflected in the feats. They are not redefining the bug bear. They are building upon what has been presented. Some of the feats enhance the natural attacks of the Bugbear like Bear Claws and Savage Bite that both increase the damage they can do with natural attacks. There is a nice meta magic feat that allows the caster to craft a small representation of their victim to make their spell be harder to resist for that person. There are feats that allow the Bugbears to get more use out of scavenged weapons and armor, even if they are broken, incomplete, or if the bug bear is untrained in the items. There is Strong Arm that allows one handed weapons that are not normally able to be thrown to be thrown. Many of the feats would be very useful for primitive and barbaric cultures as well as scavengers and bandits.

The Bugbear Throwback is a very interesting four level class. The idea is that as Bugbears age they regress. It is a rare class so not all Bugbears would go through this. It is not a prestige class so there are no requirements to get into the class. The class makes Bugbears a little stronger, a bit more able to survive in the wilderness, but they are illiterate. It is a nice simple class with a great idea behind it. The rules of the class are all simple and easy to incorporate.

Clockwork Golem Games once again has a nice creative book on a single topic. The rules are all fine and nothing looks like it would be close to questionable in terms of game balance. The feats offer a nice ability as well as a way to personalize the bugbears and role play them differently. The Throwbacks is a nice simple option that can really change how some Bugbears are. This is a good and solid small PDF that should benefit anyone interested in using and expanded on Bugbears in their game.

 

[Tinner]

Masterwork Monsters: Bugbear Feats & Throwbacks
Author: Peter M. Ball
Publisher: Clockwork Golem Workshop
Format: Black & white PDF no cover
Size: 9 pages
Price: $1.20

As a DM, no matter what kind of fantasy campaign you’re running, chances are good that sooner or later your players are going to encounter a group of humanoids. It might be goblins, it might be orcs. If it happens to be bugbears, then Clockwork Golem Workshop’s new Masterworks Monsters: Bugbear Feats & Throwbacks can help you make that encounter a little more memorable. I’ll admit that bugbears have never been high on my list of favorite foes. I’ve always been more of an orc and goblin man myself. However, after reading through MM:BF&T I found myself wanting to take these bear-like Goblinoids for a spin, just to see what they can do with the new toys detailed in this short PDF.

And I mean short. With a one page introduction, and a page of OGL, only seven pages of actual game material are contained in this tightly focused PDF. There is a distinct lack of artwork in this file as well. Aside from the CGW logo, the d20 logo, and a single line drawing of a mace/club, the PDF is all text. On one hand, this is good, as it means the bulk of this product is dedicated to new gaming data. However, I really would have liked to see at least one illustration of a bugbear in a product specifically about bugbears. An illustration of the new Bugbear Throwback class would also have been a welcome addition. And while the fact that there were no bookmarks in a file this small doesn’t bother me at all, I’m sure there are gamers out there who will be disappointed by their absence. And seeing as the file is quite small, it shouldn’t have been too difficult to include them.

After a short one page introduction where Ball spells out his concept of what bugbears are all about, we dive right into the crunchy bits. Twenty-five new feats are presented to help tweak bugbears into more flavorful and effective adversaries. Several of these feats, like Bear Paws and Ursine Grip focus on bugbears similarity to real bears, and enhance that similarity to great effect, giving bugbears powerful claw and crush attacks respectively. Even better is the fact that many of the rest of the feats described could be easily applied to any humanoid, or even PC’s.

One small detail here is that the feat Craft Savage Magic Item seems a little bit too strong. With no other requirement than a spellcaster level of 5+ someone with this feat gains all the benefits of the Craft Wondrous item feat, as well as the Craft Magical Arms & Armor feat! Granted, they are limited to only making certain types of items, weapons and armor, namely those most suited to a tribe of savage humanoids, but strictly speaking, this feat could quickly become superior to either Craft Wondrous Item, or Craft Magical Arms & Armor – kind of a design “DON’T” when designing new feats. DM’s should think long and hard before allowing this feat into their games, as it may have the potential to unbalance things. Additionally, I would have liked to see these feats properly split into categories. What feats are general feats? Which ones might be appropriate choices as fighter bonus feats? Which feats are strictly bugbear only?

The last new bit of crunch outlined in this file is a four level prestige class called the Bugbear Throwback. The Throwback is a bugbear that becomes more and more bear-like as he ages. In many ways, this class is similar to the racial paragon classes seen in Unearthed Arcana. In addition to being a great compliment to a bugbear barbarian, the throwback class offers a DM a way to really individualize a bugbear tribe. No matter how many bugbears your PC’s have encountered, they are sure to remember the tribe whose elders have all degenerated into powerful bear-like throwbacks! While it certainly isn’t a necessity, I would have liked to see this class applied to a fully-statted NPC. It’s always interesting to see just how the designer intended the class to be used. While I may feel that the throwback would work best with a barbarian build, maybe the designer really intended is to work with the bugbear’s favored class of rogue?

Conclusion: If you already have large numbers of bugbears in your campaign, then Masterwork Monsters: Bugbear Feats & Throwbacks will be a $1.20 well spent. It might be a real help to a DM using any kind of savage humanoids, as many of the feats are general enough to be used with other races. If bugbears aren’t your cup of tea, then this product will see little to no use.