Need help designing a trio of magic frog statuettes!

[Magicspook]

Hey guys,

You are probably all familliar with the jade frog statuette from lost mines of phandelver. I'm running a heavily modified version of that campaign (different map with only superficial similarities, different factions and enemies, basically only the place names and the cragmaw hideout cave are the same). Like so many other DMs before me, I've noticed that players seem to obsess over this jade frog statuette looted from Clarg the bugbear. Since there is a swamp ful of bullywugs nearby, I decided to give it some lesser magic powers and hint that it will be important later on.

Since a new player is joining and has decided to play a way of the frog bullywug monk, I am going to play up the importance of the frog statuette. There will be three: the jade statuette, a ruby one and a sapphire one. The player will start out with the red one, and since the party already has the green one, they will start with 2/3 statuettes (Though I will look to steal one or two of them later on...). The statues, when combined, are the key to break an ancient seal holding the physical manifestation Frog God (a powerful archfey) prisoner and limiting their influence on the world. So now I need to work out the properties of the three statuettes, and I need your help!

What I've thought out is that I want every statuette to have an immediately apparent minor property and some more major property like an activatable ability that becomes apparent after some time in attunement. The only ability that is set in stone so far is that the green statuette allows the wearer to understand and speak with frogs and toads.

Any suggestions are much appreciated.

[PhantomSoul]

The only ability that is set in stone

I know they're not actually stone, but I still grinned.

---

Some thoughts:
- Do you have an idea of what this Frog God represents or can do? If so, I'd steal from that first.
- Otherwise, barring thinking of something cool, I'd look for inspiration from different types of frogs in real life: dealing poison or acid damage or giving a cool -- and maybe random -- poison effect (probably when someone touches them, moderate DC), resistance or immunity to poison (granted, usefulness varies by monk level... :)), jumping ability, amphibiousness (e.g. breathing water through their skin, swimming ability), vivid or camouflaging colours (I'd probably have colour/pattern match active abilities), perhaps a silly thunder ability from a loud croak for sillier campaigns, cold-blooded features (e.g. when hit by Cold, you gain resistance to Cold and vulnerability to Fire; reverse if hit by Fire), advantage to escape a grapple (skin secretions), sensitive hearing that wakes them up more easily if there's a noise, torpor (e.g. if brought to 0 HP from cold, they freeze instead of making death saves), and, of course, a tongue.
- There are three suborders of frog and toad ("Archaeobatrachia, which includes four families of primitive frogs; Mesobatrachia, which includes five families of more evolutionary intermediate frogs; and Neobatrachia, by far the largest group, which contains the remaining families of modern frogs"), which could give you a thematic focus for the inspiration for each statue. Alternatively, blue = water aspects, green = land aspects (or maybe climbing frogs?), red = warning aspects (poison, bright colours).
- I'd probably add in references to the frogs in N64 Zelda games, just because the players would like that and I could probably do it without tonal problems
- In lots of cultures they have hidden talent or magic (e.g. luck, but also general anthropomorphism traits)

General thought: I'd probably add in that you can attune to all three frogs with a single attunement slot (but maybe not 2/3 with one slot) unless they won't have other magic items that require attunement. That's especially the case if there's someone who's thematically likely to want (and be given) all three.

[BigRedJedi]

They can be tipped over to pour beer... If placed in proximity to each other, they start rhythmically chanting: "Bud...weis...er..."

[Darth Credence]

Frogs were a symbol of fertility in ancient Egypt, because they came out when the Nile flooded. So something about fertility or causing plants to grow could fall in line with that.

There's the idea of the frog not getting out of water if it slowly boils. I'm not sure what to do with that, but it's there.

Of course, if you want to mess with your players, go the Michigan J. Frog (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michigan_J._Frog) route. Have it do something truly amazing, but only when no one besides the owner can see it. This could be a really useful thing that the statue comes alive to perform, but will not work if there is anyone else around. I think I could have a lot of fun with that one, and my players are the type that would enjoy it, but this is going to greatly depend on the players.

[Magicspook]

Thank you for the suggestions! There's certainly some workable stuff here.

A bit of background: the frog god is on of the 'powers that be' in the area, along with other archfey like auntie agatha (the Banshee reskinned as a hag grandmother, who answers all questions when given an enticing offering) and the shadow prince (background bbeg, reskinned from the spider). I don't really think the frog god actually does all that much except eat and croak commands to his servitors, but his servants are under his protection and he will not stand other powers meddling with them.

Back to the statuettes, I've got these abilities lined up so far:

Minor:
-speak to frogs
-spider climb, but only on your turn, like the monk
-???

Major:
-bonus action leaping ability (similar to misty step)
-deafening croak (thunderclap style with a better dc, damage and knockback)
-frog summon? Or maybe have the statuette animate?

And I'd say only one works per player, to stimulate sharing among the party. However, no attunement is needed.

More suggestions are always welcome! Keep them coming!

[MoiMagnus]

I think a very important point is "who created those statues and why?"
There are three big answers:
(1) They were created by the peoples that rebelled against the Frog god, to reach a power high enough to bind him.
(2) They were created by the Frog god to delegate part of his power, but he was betrayed (or they were stolen) and those artefact were used to bind him.
(3) Those artefact have nothing to do with the seal directly, they just happen to be the last relics from the Frog god, and that there is a weakness in the seal that can be exploited if you use enough high power relics from the being which is bound.

In the first case, those statues would have power useful to counter the minions of the Frog god.
In the second & third cases, those statues would have powers alike to "favours" from the Frog god. Alternatively, you can go Sauron-like with the objects trying to tempt the owner to free the Frog god.

You can also break the symmetry between the three, and give to each of them one of the origin story:
+ The jade statue is the Loyal one, it was created by and for the Frog god. [Minor] Speak to frogs, maybe with advantage? [Major] deafening croak
+ The rubis statue is the Traitor one, it was stolen by the traitor who rebelled against the Frog god. [Minor] spider climb on your turn [Major] BA to leap.
+ The saphir statue is the Fake one, it was created not by the Frog god, but by the rebels to counter it [Minor] Advantage against charm, no magical sleep (like Elves) [Major] Hold monster limited to frogs-like creatures? (including the Frog god)

[Magicspook]

I think a very important point is "who created those statues and why?"
There are three big answers:
(1) They were created by the peoples that rebelled against the Frog god, to reach a power high enough to bind him.
(2) They were created by the Frog god to delegate part of his power, but he was betrayed (or they were stolen) and those artefact were used to bind him.
(3) Those artefact have nothing to do with the seal directly, they just happen to be the last relics from the Frog god, and that there is a weakness in the seal that can be exploited if you use enough high power relics from the being which is bound.

In the first case, those statues would have power useful to counter the minions of the Frog god.
In the second & third cases, those statues would have powers alike to "favours" from the Frog god. Alternatively, you can go Sauron-like with the objects trying to tempt the owner to free the Frog god.

You can also break the symmetry between the three, and give to each of them one of the origin story:
+ The jade statue is the Loyal one, it was created by and for the Frog god. [Minor] Speak to frogs, maybe with advantage? [Major] deafening croak
+ The rubis statue is the Traitor one, it was stolen by the traitor who rebelled against the Frog god. [Minor] spider climb on your turn [Major] BA to leap.
+ The saphir statue is the Fake one, it was created not by the Frog god, but by the rebels to counter it [Minor] Advantage against charm, no magical sleep (like Elves) [Major] Hold monster limited to frogs-like creatures? (including the Frog god)

Dude I was planning on having the statuettes be a minor mcguffin to have an excuse for the Bullywug player to join the party, but this post singlehandedly convinced me to make their lore mich deeper and more important.

The most logical answer for the origin of the statuettes would be that they were created to open the door to the frog god's lair, and each was given to either the leaders of three bullywug tribes, or to three powerful warlocks who serve the frog god. Since the latter is cooler, I'll go with that one. The three warlocks would convene to open the seal, and allow entry to their patron's domain. Some disaster caused the warlocks to be slain and the statues, scattered. A plot by the other powers that be?


EDIT: I'm also going to expand the functionality of each statuette. Alone, each one only confers the ability to speak to frogs (and bullywugs!). When two statuettes are close to each other, the minor ability is unlocked (jump, croak, ???). When all three statuettes belong to the party, a third ability is revealed (spider climb, ???, ???). That allows for a nice progression to let the items stay relevant on higher levels.

keep the suggestions coming!

[Magicspook]

Okay so here's my lineup for the abilities. Keep in mind that on their own, each statuette only has the mini passive. The second ability becomes available when the aprty has two statuettes and the third when all 3 are present.

green: statuette of the tree frog
Mini passive: speak to frogs, toads, bullywugs
Minor ability: bonus action jump 30ft. 1/short rest
Major ability: spider climb

red: statuette of the calling frog
Mini passive: speak to frogs, toads, bullywugs
Minor ability: action croak 1/short rest (DC15 con save, 3d8dmg+5ft knockback, save for half+no knockback)
Major ability: advantage on perception (hearing) checks, passive perception+5

blue: slippery statuette of the pollywog
Mini passive: speak to frogs, toads, bullywugs
Minor ability: summon giant frogs 1/short rest
Major ability: breathe underwater + swim speed equal to walk speed


what do you think?

[Unoriginal]

I would have that a statuette gives the capacity to speak to and understand frog and frog-like creatures if in the hands of a non-frog-like being... and if in the hands of a frog-like creature it gives an effect like the Monk's Tongue of the Sun and Moon.