PLEASE help!! Bullywug Conversion to Character

[Shamsy]

Hi all,

Just joined up to the site, though I have been flicking here over who knows how many years to read some of the great threads. I've never joined because I usually can figure things out, I can find the answer here or I can get help from friends. But I am STUCK!

I would like to play a Bullywug in 3.5. I have found the Monsters Guide to Faerun and am comparing it to the errata under Players Guide to Faerun. I have also been reading through Urpriest's Monstrous Monster Handbook

But... we all love the game for different reasons. I love loot and RP. The mechanics of character creation give me a headache. That is why I always play simple muggles. So when I've been trying to figure out what the goodness I need to do I got stuck.

What I have so far;
Bullywug -
1d8 racial HD
Attributes: +6 Con, -4 Int, -4 Wis, -4 Cha
Skills: +4 Racial Hide? And I have no idea how many skill points to spend on whatever the Bullywug counts as class skills? The Web Enhancement has 9 ranks in Swim... so (?-2 int x4 must equal 9??)
Speed: 20ft (land) 30ft (swim)
Feat: Endurance??
+3 natural armour
Special: Marsh Move, Summoning (clerics and I assume any other class that summons creatures/monsters??)

Please... HELP!!

[NontheistCleric]

Firstly, you have ability modifiers calculated correctly. Good.

As a 1 HD creature, that HD is replaced by the first class level your bullywug takes. Therefore, skill points are determined by that class. Bullywugs get a +4 racial bonus to Hide, but in accordance with monsters of Faerun this only applies in marshes.

Speeds are correct.

You are free to choose any feat you want, it doesn't have to be Endurance.

Natural Armor values are correct.

Marsh Move and Summoning are correct, except that Summoning works only on Summon Monster spells cast by a cleric. The bullywug must be a cleric.

Remember that bullywugs have +1 LA.

[Shamsy]

Thank you so much for taking the time to verifying my attempt TLA, and for clarifying the skills and HD, along with the finer points.

As a humanoid with an aquatic subtype, that mean that the bullywug can breath water correct? I had a look on SRD under aquatic subtype, but they were not listed. That may be because the list is not exhaustive, which is what I suspect to be the case...

[The Viscount]

The Bullywug is presented as a monster, so what is seen under skills is not actually ranks, but modifiers.
As given in the update the sample bullywug has a hide modifier of 4 with an asterisk. This bullywug has a low int and so has only 1 rank per level. At first level you receive 4X the points, so he spends all 4 points on hide. In marshes, he would gain a +6 racial bonus and roll at +10.
The modifier of +9 for swim actually has no ranks, it's simply provided in case it comes up. The 13 Str means +1 for ability, and a creature with a swim speed has a +8 racial bonus on swim checks, and can always take 10.

As mentioned, because bullywug is humanoid with only 1HD, you "trade it in" and start with your first level of a character class just as if you were an elf or dwarf. Your skills, hp, etc will com from that, but you'll retain all the good stuff.

Aquatic creatures can indeed breathe water. They had not mentioned amphibious ability to breathe air, but that's a clear oversight.

[Shamsy]

Ahhhhh... that makes sense. So based on this additional information (thank you so much guys :))

Bullywug -
HD based on class
Attributes: +6 Con, -4 Int, -4 Wis, -4 Cha
Skills: based on class and +6 Racial Hide in swamps only, +8 Racial Swim
Speed: 20ft (land) 30ft (swim and can always take 10)
Feat: player choice
+3 natural armour
Special: Marsh Move, Summoning (for cleric class)
Aquatic: Can breath both water and air

[Thurbane]

They are a race I need to ass to my LA +1 and LA +2 race list (link in sig). Thread is locked, so I'll need to create a new one some time...

[Pugwampy]

Remember that bullywugs have +1 LA.

In that case i would say that Endurance is a freebie .

[Shamsy]

In that case i would say that Endurance is a freebie .

Okay, Endurance is a feat based on race you think? From an RP perspective that makes sense. Do I still get a 1st level feat too?

[Thurbane]

RAW Endurance is not a bonus feat, it is simply the creatures selected 1st level feat. I believe that Pugwampy was suggesting balance-wise, for LA +1 you should get it as a free feat.

Taking the 3.5 update of MoF into account, here's the stats for a bullywug, which are pretty underwhelming as an LA +1 race (the favored class is not official, just a best guess based on the monster entry):


+6 Constitution, -4 Intelligence, -4 Wisdom, -4 Charisma
A bullywug’s base land speed is 20 feet, and a swim speed of 30 feet.
An aquatic creature can breathe underwater. It cannot also breathe air unless it also has the amphibious special quality. An aquatic creature can hold its breath outside the water for 2 rounds per point of Constitution. After that, it begins to suffocate.
+6 racial bonus on Hide checks when in marshes.
+8 racial bonus on any Swim check to perform some action or avoid a hazard. It can always choose to take 10 on a Swim check, even if distracted or endangered. It can use the run action while swimming, provided it swims in a straight line.
+4 natural armor bonus.
Special Qualities: Marsh move, summoning (clerics only).
Automatic Languages: Common.
Favored Class: Barbarian (?).
Level adjustment +1.

[ExLibrisMortis]

With those terrible mental stats, I'd drop it to LA +0 and add the Amphibious quality. Maybe Endurance as a bonus feat, too, why not. BUT that's all houserules of course.

[NontheistCleric]

Okay, Endurance is a feat based on race you think? From an RP perspective that makes sense. Do I still get a 1st level feat too?

It is not a feat based on race. Pugwampy is just mistaken. Or maybe he means that with +1 LA you should be getting Endurance as a bonus feat, in which case you would indeed get a 1st-level feat as well. But that would only be a houserule.

[Shamsy]

Thank you guys, I believe that is all sorted now :smallsmile: Beginning character creation tonight. I agree it is not a good race to play by any stretch, but I really play my PC based on a concept and try to make the mechanics work around it and not cause total suckage. Appreciate the help, especially as I am not mechanically minded and usually so drained from work that I really struggle to construct a coherent sentence, let alone deconstruct a monsters statistics to create a playable race.

Much appreciated!