Troglodytes?

[LOTRfan]

Hey, I've been trying to add Troglodytes into a campaign setting I've been working on, but I seem to not be able to think of anything. So, I've turned to looking through source books for inspiration. According to the troglodyte's wikipedia entry the only non-core inclusion into any 3.X book was Serpent Kingdoms. So, does anyone know any other books (of any other edition/third party) that included information on these smelly lizards? I'm willing to look through/look for any book, even setting-specific ones.

Thanks in advance.

[Akal Saris]

Wow...I hadn't realized that troglodytes were so un-loved!

Things I found from my 2E collection:
-Drow frequently take bugbears and troglodytes as servants
-Forest gnomes loathe troglodytes (Thank you, 'The Complete Book of Gnomes and Halflings', you were a worthy purchase)
-Jermlaine like to live near them!
-They can be summoned with SM II in 2E, that correlates to SM III in 3E
-Duergar and derro often learn their language
-Males are distinguished by a large crest that runs from their heads down their necks
-Possession of steel is seen as a mark of power in trog society
-"Most chieftains lead only as long as the clan is fed (and not one meal longer)!
-They raid most often on moonless nights, thanks to their night vision
-They prize human flesh above all others
-They are cannibals!

Deity: Laogzed. He's a disgusting toad/lizard crossbreed whose oozing flesh is covered in patches of decaying skin, and who exists only to eat things. He does not send omens to troglodyte shamans and his only interest in them is how edible they are. His shamans are chief advisors to troglodyte chiefs, but do not become personal friends with them (so they can serve the new chief when Laogzed eats the previous one). The shamans also officiate at the annual shedding of skins each year.

[LOTRfan]

Yeah, its really pathetic, how little love they got.

Thank you, I was unaware of the Drow connection, and it would actually connect them to another race in the campaign, which is a bonus. I now know how to introduce them.

(Seriously, though, the writers seemed very anti-Troglodyte. In the one 3.X non-core sourcebook they are featured in, it is explicitly said that they die meaninglessly and they have no friends. :smallfrown:)

[ShriekingDrake]

They appear in Red Hand of Doom.

[RebelRogue]

There's one forum member here (Kol Korran I think) that has writeups on 'unusual' monsters somewhere in the Homebrew section. He did some nice stuff on troglodytes IIRC.

Edit: Here it is: http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=4484344&postcount=20

[Greenish]

Troglodytes' problem is that they're basically lizardfolk that stink.
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Fdq6ijcwP3w/R1MqT1tFBWI/AAAAAAAAAsQ/aqxGqAJgfV0/s1600-R/KoboldLizardTrogUrd.jpgThat isn't really exiting.

[dsmiles]

Troglodytes' problem is that they're basically lizardfolk that stink.
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Fdq6ijcwP3w/R1MqT1tFBWI/AAAAAAAAAsQ/aqxGqAJgfV0/s1600-R/KoboldLizardTrogUrd.jpgThat isn't really exiting.

Where'd you get that one? I'd like to collect all of the pics like that if I can (and there are more than one).

[Greenish]

Where'd you get that one? I'd like to collect all of the pics like that if I can (and there are more than one).I forget where I saw it the first time, now I just googled "troglodyte kobold" to find it again.

[Set]

Third party stuff tends to go in various whacky directions with troglodytes, probably in an attempt to jazz up a race that is, basically, a stinky lizardfolk.

I'm pretty sure I've seen one writeup where they are hermaphroditic, and the 'Slayer's Guide' by Mongoose has the female troglodytes as nonhumanoid.

I'd be inclined to similarly tweak them to make them a bit more interesting.

Options;

1) If I'm not using the 'kobolds as little dragon-people' idea from 3.X, and using more dog-people kobolds, troglodytes could fill that dragon-people role, and their stench ability explicitly not affect their dragon 'masters.' Tribes of troglodytes with a dragon patron would wear armor, use metal weapons, etc. while tribes of trogs with no patron would be listless degenerate things, sinking into a state of deep savagry, feeling abandoned by their 'gods.'

A degenerate tribe that has sought out a local dragon, and been rebuffed (either by it's own troglodyte servants, or by the dragon itself, who may not want troglodyte servants, perhaps because of it's metallic nature, perhaps because of more discriminating tastes) might seek to 'prove itself' by attacking local adventurers or 'dragon-hunters,' or, if feeling sufficiently desperate or scorned, get all deicidal, and attempt to kill the dragon that rejected them. A small, mid-level group of troglodyte dragon-hunters would be the ultimate expression of this, having a dozen or so lower level followers as support crew, and having given up on ever serving a dragon, and seeking only to make them pay for rejecting them... That would make a freakish 'trog' encounter, a well-armed adventuring party of dragon-killers, proudly clad in dragonhide armor made from their first few successes.

2) If I'm not using Meenlocks, troglodytes could take on that role, kidnapping humans and subjecting them to rituals and alchemical mixtures or whatever, and transforming them into troglodytes, replenishing their own numbers by snatching members of other species. With this assumption in play, perhaps troglodytes come in small and medium (and large?) sized versions, as kidnapped halflings and gnomes (and kobolds and goblins) turn into Small troglodytes, while kidnapped dwarves, elves, humans (orcs, hobgoblins, etc.) turn into Medium sized troglodytes, and if an ogre is ever successfully captured and transformed, even being led by the rare Large troglodyte.

The transformation could be alchemical, or involve the ingestion of strange naturally occuring toxins (perhaps even some secreted from the trogs themselves), or something freakier, like bringing the captives to a deep pit and tossing them in, where some frog-lizard-thing swallows them whole and transforms them in it's gullet over a months' time into new troglodytes!

Alternately, they don't kidnap people to transform them, but they serve as the fantasy world equivalent of xenomorphs from Aliens, capturing people to lay their eggs inside of them... This version, unlike 1 & 3, makes the trogs themselves interesting, rather than pairing them up with more interesting critters to 'make them cool by proximity.'

3) Pick some other creature, and tie them together. If troglodytes stench has a soporific effect on purple worms, perhaps they've managed to more-or-less domesticate the brutes, using them to dig out their warrens, and going on raids not merely to find food for their own use, but to maintain their tribe's purple worm. Since the worms aren't terribly social, no tribe has more than one, and the tribes tend to stay small and mobile, moving through the underdark with their worm ally.

Flip around a few pages, and they could be linked to Phase Spiders, with the more intelligent phase spiders having ruthlessly domesticated *them,* and maintaining stables of troglodytes as fodder, assisting their pet tribes with their own abilities, in exchange for being able to devour them at their leisure, with the dim-witted trogs believing that only the blessed are 'chosen' to go away with their arachnid overlords (unaware of the fate that awaits those dragged off to the ethereal plane). Making sacrifices to their overlords might result in such a tribe bearing phase spider-silk nets and lariats, and forming snare traps, to catch live prey. Perhaps the phase spiders only drain the liquid nourishment from such prey, and leave the leathery dessicated bodies for their 'followers,' who soak them in water to rehydrate them and make them less 'chewy.'

A ruthless tribe of Azer, led in turn by an Efreeti merchant, who sells their wares in the city of brass, uses a tribe of Troglodytes as miners and suppliers for the ores they use in their craftworks and smithy. The Azer have developed an alchemical salve they smear on their upper lip that protects them from the worst of the stench (and wear goggles over their eyes to protect against the fumes of their own work, which also helps). They provide the troglodytes they've dominated with steel javelins and fire-hardened / boiled leather and hide armor, to make them better able to defend themselves against any other subterranean threats that would interfere with their supply of raw ore. Any true threat to their troglodyte 'suppliers' would lead to a group of Azer showing up to safeguard their operation, and it's possible that an angry Efreeti Sultana could show up, later, wondering why her shipment of refined Azer-crafted metalwork and trade ingots is late...

There's almost as many options to tie Troglodytes into a relationship with other beasties / forces as there are other forces / beasties.

[Drakyn]

You could also take the "troglodyte" portion of troglodytes and make it the focus. Either make 'em THE cave-dwellers (everybody seems to like establishing little homes in caves - cities, delvings, mines, blah blah blah...well, everything else outside their little burrows is TROGLODYTE country!), or make them extreme cave dwellers. As in, they live so far down that a dwarf would feel uncomfortable and drow start getting skittish and a trip to the surface would be like walking across the country. As in, the last thing you find before you hit the mantle is troglodytes. REAL deep down.

[Akal Saris]

Oooh, I like the phase spider idea.

From Wikipedia on D&D 3.5 content related to troglodytes:

The troglodyte was presented as a player character race for the Forgotten Realms campaign setting in Serpent Kingdoms (2004).

Dungeon #122 (May 2005) introduced a number of troglodyte variants, including the antennae troglodyte, the clawed troglodyte, the climbing troglodyte, the flailing troglodyte, the horned troglodyte, the jumping troglodyte, the tentacled troglodyte, and the vicious troglodyte.

[hamishspence]

(Seriously, though, the writers seemed very anti-Troglodyte. In the one 3.X non-core sourcebook they are featured in, it is explicitly said that they die meaninglessly and they have no friends. :smallfrown:)

Serpent Kingdoms said a bit more than that:


Troglodytes remain with their mates as long as both are alive, but they take new ones when widowed- a state that occurs frequently. Troglodytes and trens can interbreed freely and with no stigma attached. Close friendships between individuals are rare, but each troglodyte treats all members of its tribe as family.

So they can (though rarely) have close friendships.


Troglodytes and trens make interesting characters. Not onlu do their odors offend the senses of even the most accepting of other races, but their penchant for eating their slain victims can be revolting to civilized races as well. Nevertheless, some characters are willing to accept them in adventuring parties. They may feel that the benefits of the odor outweigh the negative aspects of travelling with such a foul-smelling creature, or they may simply have no sense of smell.

There's also the fact that their deity, Laogzed, is one of the few evil deities that does not require sacrifices. For them, the act of eating is a religious ritual, that sends the consumed food to Laogzed, who enjoys it again.

[Shademan]

I hear they communicate trough smell

[hamishspence]

I hear they communicate trough smell

Saurials definitely do, but I haven't seen much in that vein for trogs.

For saurials, it's their emotions that are communicated- but they speak in clicks and whistles.

[Psyren]

I hear they communicate trough smell

How do they get around the... er... "background noise?" :smalltongue:

[Skaven]

I recall a very interesting Dragon magazine article about Troglodytes.. might have been an incredibly old one, possibly 2e. I recall it was about a wizard who minds/soul switched with a Troglodyte with a spell that he developed that he did not realize had a duration(at which point it became permanent) until he'd gone over the duration and was trapped as one. he used it to swap bodies with a Troglodyte so he could infiltrate and study their society.

I do recall they communicate in a language that is half sound and half smell, and because of this no non-troglodytes can really understand their full language properly. They're evolved to be able to smell and understand one another through any background smells. Their scents are not offensive to one another, but all the 'leftover smell' is what other species find disgusting.

[Urpriest]

Not that this helps from a general point of view, but to add to the interesting ways to use trogolodytes:

In my setting troglodytes are descended from lizardfolk. Specifically, the first lizardfolk to ever sacrifice a sapient creature (an elf in this case, from back in the days when they lived together in harmony) was cursed with the stench and visage of a troglodyte. He then became the ancestor of the world's troglodytes. Now in a setting ruled by lizardfolk who worship lawful evil gods, troglodytes are the degenerate priests.

Incidentally, I've always seen troglodytes as the most devout of the reptilian humanoids, which is part of why I took them in the direction I did in my setting. Other points of view could take that in other directions, but I definitely feel like there's a troglodytes=divine casters theme in what WotC has said about them.

[hamishspence]

In Greyhawk (in the Dungeon #120 adventure Lost Temple of Demogorgon) there's a strong association between them and Demogorgon "Ahmon-Ibor, the Sibilant Beast".

It also says that "aeons ago, the world was ruled by an evil and quarrelsome race of demon-worshipping reptilian humanoids similar to modern troglodytes"- before most descended into barbarism.

[Trog]

*Trog pokes his finned head (house-ruled in from 3.5) drunkenly into thread*

:smallconfused: Is this where the party's at? Trog got the invite here but the directions on it were kind of... *turns the invite upside down* ...uh crude.

*takes a big swig from the half empty bottle in his hand and puffs on his ever-present Coffin Nail™ brand cigarette before weaving in place a bit then beginning*

*ahem*

Concerning Troglodytes:

In a hole in the ground there lived a Trog. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell... er... well maybe the oozy smell... nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to drink: it was a trog-hole, and that means booze and Coffin Nail™ Brand Cigarettes.

*puffs, lights another cigarette off of the dying first one and continues*

It had a perfectly round door like a porthole, painted green, with a shiny yellow brass knob in the exact middle. He kept it in the spare tunnel and kept telling himself that one day he'd find a use for it. The doorless opening opened on to a tube-shaped hall like a tunnel: a very clutttered tunnel with smoke, and ashtrays and many empty booze bottle which had been fashioned into chairs and pegs for hats and coats--the trog was fond of visitors. The tunnel wound on and on, going fairly but not quite straight into the side of the hill. No going upstairs for the Trog: bedrooms, cellars, humidors (lots of these), beer caves (he had whole rooms devoted to booze), dens, taverns, entrances to the Underdark, all were on the same floor, and indeed on the same passage. The best rooms were all on the lefthand side (going in), for these were the only ones to not be adjacent to the bathroom area, which, as anyone will tell you, is not a place in troglodyte's home you want to be if you can help it. Especially after Taco Tuesdays.

*puffpuff*

This troglodyte was a very well-to-do trog, and his name was Trog for his mum had no imagination whatsoever. The Trogs had lived in the neighbourhood of The Underdark for time out of mind, and people considered them very respectable, not only because most of them were rich, but also because they never had any adventures or did anything unexpected due to being stinking drunk all the time: you could tell what a Trog would say on any question without the bother of asking him. This is the story of how a Trog had an adventure, and found himself doing and saying things altogether unexpected. He may have lost the neighbours' respect, but he gained--well, you will see whether he gained anything in the end.

*the troglodyte weaves drunkenly a little bit*

In particular Trog would like to gain directions to the loo and the latest issue of Playtrog for reading material. Also Trog's drink needs refreshing, there's a good lad. Back in an hour or two. *heads off to the right*


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[Ravens_cry]

Trog, that, that was beautiful.

[grarrrg]

*Trog pokes...

*applauds*

[Greenish]

Trog, that, that was so very… Hobbit. :smallamused: