Bugbear

Medium humanoid (goblinoid), chaotic evil

Armor Class
16
hide armor, shield
Hit Points
27
5d8 + 5
Speed
30 ft.
  • STR +2
  • DEX +2
  • CON +1
  • INT -1
  • WIS 0
  • CHA -1
Skills
Stealth +6, Survival +2
Senses
darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 10
Languages
Common, Goblin
Challenge 1 200 XP · Proficiency +2

Traits

Brute

A melee weapon deals one extra die of its damage when the bugbear hits with it (included in the attack).

Surprise Attack

If the bugbear surprises a creature and hits it with an attack during the first round of combat, the target takes an extra 7 (2d6) damage from the attack.

Actions

Morningstar

Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 11 (2d8 + 2) piercing damage.

Javelin

Melee or Ranged Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft. or range 30/120 ft., one target. Hit: 9 (2d6 + 2) piercing damage in melee or 5 (1d6 + 2) piercing damage at range.

How to run it

A bugbear that gets the drop on someone deals 11 from the morningstar plus 7 from Surprise Attack, which is 18 on average and enough to drop most level 2 characters outright. Everything about running one well is about arranging that first round. Stealth +6 on a Medium creature is the trait people forget.

Once surprise is gone they are ordinary, if hard-hitting. A bugbear that has already spent Surprise Attack is a slightly better orc, so use them where an ambush is plausible rather than as line troops.

Building the encounter

Two bugbears is a real fight for a party of four at level 2, and a nasty one if they open from hiding. Four is dangerous at level 3.

They want cover to hide behind and a reason for the party to walk past it. Overgrown ruins, a caravan road with high grass, a cellar with crates. If your map has nowhere for a Medium creature to hide, you have removed most of their stat block.

What to pair it with

Goblins and hobgoblins, in the usual goblinoid arrangement, with the bugbears held back as the ambush element rather than fielded in the front line.

A bugbear alone as a hired killer works well too. It is one of the few low-CR creatures that reads convincingly as a professional rather than as a mook.

Reskins

A big, stealthy, hard-hitting ambusher. Reflavour as an ogre-blooded bandit, a stalking thing in a forest, a hired assassin of unusual size, or something wearing the shape of a person badly.

Brute is what makes the damage feel heavy. Keep the oversized weapon in whatever fiction you choose.

Commonly played wrong

Surprise Attack triggers on a hit during the first round of combat against a creature the bugbear surprised, and it is not once per creature or once per fight in the way people assume. Read it carefully: it needs actual surprise, which means the target failed to notice them before initiative.

Brute is already included in the listed damage. Do not add an extra die on top of the 2d8 morningstar; that is the extra die.

Compared to others at this CR

At CR 1 the bugbear is the burst option. The ghoul controls, the giant spider restrains, and the bugbear simply removes a character from the fight in one action if it opened well.

Against a level 2 party the bugbear is the most likely of the three to actually kill someone, and the least dangerous once the first round has passed.

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