VOLO'S GUIDE - Check Out This Froghemoth Preview

Link for the curious: http://media.wizards.com/2016/dnd/downloads/Volo_Froghemoth145.pdf

 

[gyor]

The Volo's Guide to Monsters previews keep on coming! This time it's the Froghemoth, that elephant-sized tentacular amphibian we all know and love. Weighing in at CR10, this critter is sure to ruin any adventuring party's day! Don't forget to check out all the previous previews of the upcoming 224-page monster book for D&D 5th Edition - giants and orcs, mindflayers and beholders, fire giant dreadnoughts, giant lore, and the book's preface.

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There is a Froghemoth preview, same place we got the preface and Firbolg perview.

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[Charles Rampant]

To discuss: I like it! Fun monster. It works along the same lines as the Roper, and I think that I've read too many of Hemlock's complaints about the MM to entirely like a monster without some kind of a ranged spitting attack, but this guy seems like a good option. The stuff about Bullywugs pleases me, for Bullywugs are truly the unsung stars of low-level D&D. The image of a bunch of characters slaughtering a Bullywug tribe and feeling confident, before this bad boy rises from the murk and begins chomptime, is a glorious one.

 

[MonkeezOnFire]

CR10 is an interesting place for monster because it means that early on it's a really tough opponent and can be used as a really big threat but as the game goes on it becomes an even threat and finally at high levels it becomes a low threat.

I can see this guy being used in a bullywug encampment early as a final boss of an adventure. Then being used as a medium-threat random encounter as the PCs delve into deeper, more dangerous parts of the swamp. Finally, at high levels when the PCs go to face the black dragon these guys appear in droves as they were bred by the dragon as guards for the lair.

 

[Parmandur]

Lum the Mad, another reference to a Greyhawk character (Goliath write-up name checks Tordek)? Fascinating.

 

[TerraDave]

I like this better then some of the other stuff we have seen.

(though I think part of that is my hate of the word "ordning")

 

[Plaguescarred]

Fun beast

 

[Parmandur]

I like this better then some of the other stuff we have seen.

(though I think part of that is my hate of the word "ordning")

Hard to pick, I've been super-jazzed about everything they have shown so far in this book.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

The shock ability is hefty though. If you are a DM that allows people to read the MM, it becomes a lot less dangerous. On the other hand, it can make a fun encounter when a wizard has to shock the thing repeatedly so the rest can take its allies down.

 

[I'm A Banana]

The 20-ft tentacle reach mitigates some of the ranged issue, but you definitely want to fight this thing in a crowded swamp where the PC's can't move freely, have to navigate between pools and trees, and where plenty of cover can help the beast.

I don't recall much lore about the froghemoth, but this lore seems A-OK. The link with bullywugs is obvious, but fun! The otherworldly bit seems...out of place...but easily ignored.

 

[Charles Rampant]

An cavern with lots of deep pools of stinking water would definitely be a bit of a nightmare of a place to fight this thing. With stealth +5 it's unlikely to surprise the party, but might make a decent attempt at it; though thinking about it, with Passive Perception 19 and a 'passive stealth' score of 15 it is actually quite likely to spot a Rogue and then get the jump on them, resulting in very unhappy times for the Rogue indeed.

 

[iserith]

I used a froghemoth in a D&D 4e adventure. An entire tribe of grippli lived on her back. They worshiped her, calling her The Wart Mother. So on top of the Wart Mother's vicious attacks, dozens of poisoned blowgun darts came flying off her back.

 

[Sacrosanct]

I like it.

---already planning encounters with this and shambling mounds....(evil laugh)

 

[darjr]

Fun but there is foul language NSFW

[video=youtube;DPpQ43DWmX8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPpQ43DWmX8[/video]

 

[JeffB]

I don't recall much lore about the froghemoth, but this lore seems A-OK. The link with bullywugs is obvious, but fun! The otherworldly bit seems...out of place...but easily ignored.

It was originally one of the Alien creatures on the crashed starship in S3

 

[SkidAce]

The 20-ft tentacle reach mitigates some of the ranged issue, but you definitely want to fight this thing in a crowded swamp where the PC's can't move freely, have to navigate between pools and trees, and where plenty of cover can help the beast.

I don't recall much lore about the froghemoth, but this lore seems A-OK. The link with bullywugs is obvious, but fun! The otherworldly bit seems...out of place...but easily ignored.

I would refer you to the "Expedition to the Barrier Peaks" adventure, and their origin.

Not "out of place" per se, but yes, easily ignored or refluffed.

 

[SkidAce]

Beat by [MENTION=518]JeffB[/MENTION]

 

[wicked cool]

I want this as a miniature.

 

[I'm A Banana]

It was originally one of the Alien creatures on the crashed starship in S3

Hahaha, great, okay....intersting tidbit then. Maybe not something I'd use, but definitely in keeping with the critter's history!

 

[Jester David]

I have a fondness for froghemoths. Glad to see it and suddenly excited to get my Reaper Bones of the beastie.