Races of the Jungle Races for Exploring High-Fantasy Jungles in the World's Greatest Roleplaying Game The air is thick and muggy. The insects stick to your skin, biting and sucking at your open wounds. You've been traveling for days, weeks, maybe months, you can't remember. All you know is you've put your faith and coin in the stout frog-man before you to take you where you most desire. One misstep and you are flung into the air, hanging by one leg by a snare. From the foliage a band of skinks let out a volley of blowgun needles, piercing your worn flesh and knocking you unconscious with their poisons. You awake to the sight of a burning flame before you. Hissing voices echo and chant around you. As your eyes begin to adjust and the haze fades, you see yourself surrounded and bound above a fire pit. Serpent creatures chant in tongues, eager for the sacrifice to their hungering deity. The feral creatures of the jungle are often seen as hostile enemies that only desire your head. This is not always true; many seek coin and adventure like any other hero and offer a valuable service to those seeking their fortune. This brief guide offers rules for playing as common jungle races such as Bullywugs and Grungs while addressing some existing races and tweaking them to offer a variance to existing ways to play characters in a jungle environment. Bullywugs and Grung The frog-folk are two groups of humanoids that live within different ecosystems. Despite sharing some similar biological traits, these two cousins differ greatly in philosophy and lifestyle. Some abandon their tribal lives and sell their expertise to adventurers. Those who find adventurers inspiring seek to emulate themselves and even reach the status of hero through dedication and progression. Most frog-folk still struglle to fit in with the majority of humanoid races. Optionally, you can adopt a racial quirk from the table below. d8 Racial Quirk 1 You have a hard time controlling your tongue. It occasionally snatches food that doesn't belong to you. 2 You forget that your moist skin sticks to objects and accidently pick up cushions and rags as you journey. 3 Who walks everywhere? You'd rather be hopping, swimming or climbing. 4 Personal hygiene is different to your people. And by different, you mean optional. 5 You will chew on basically anything that will fit in your mouth when you're nervous 6 Bugs sometimes land on your eyes and skin. To you, this is a free snack. 7 Damp, muddy cellars are your ideal place to rest. 8 You store spare items in your mouth out of habit. Sometimes that includes your allies boots. Frog-folk Traits While grung and bullywug societies differ, their core racial traits remain the same. Ability Score Increase. Your Constitution score increases by 2 and your Dexterity score increases by 1. Age. Frog-folk reach maturity around age 10 and rarely live longer than 40 years. Alignment. Most frog-folk are neutral or evil. Bullywugs obsess about their status in the world. They desperately seek the respect and often fear of outsiders. Grungs on the other hand are territorial and fierce fighters. They don't hold outsider's opinions in high regard. Amphibious. You can breathe air and water. Speak with Frogs and Toads. You can communicate simple concepts to frogs and toads when you speak in Bullywug or Grung. Standing Leap. Your long jump is up to 20 feet and your high jump is up to 10 feet, with or without a running start. Subrace. Two subraces for frog-folk exist: Bullywugs and Grung. Choose one of them for your character. Bullywug Bullywugs are the larger swamp dwelling frog-folk. They Speed. Your base walking speed is 25 feet, and you have a swimming speed of 40 feet. Size. Bullywugs are between 4 and 5 feet tall. Your size is Medium. Swamp Camouflage. You can attempt to hide even when you are only lightly obscured by foliage, heavy rain, falling snow, mist, and other natural phenomena. In addition, ou have advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks made to hide in swampy terrain. Bellowing Croak. As a bonus action, you let out a booming croak. Your voice becomes five times louder than normal until the start of your next turn. When using this feature, you speak up to three words in Bullywug before the effect fades. While using this feature, you can not speak any other language. Languages. You speak Common and Bullywug.

Grung Grung are the smaller jungle dwelling cousin of the Bullywug. Their vibrant skin color makes them fit in better to the lush tropical environment. Speed. Your base walking speed is 25 feet, and you have a climbing speed of 25 feet. Size. Grung are smaller than their larger swamp-dwelling cousins growing only to 2 and a half to 3 feet tall. Your size is Small. Poisonous Skin. As a bonus action on your turn, you secret a thin layer of poison that lasts for one minute. For the duration, any creature that grapples you or otherwise comes into direct contact with the your skin must succeed on a DC 10 Constitution saving throw or become poisoned for 1 minute. A poisoned creature no longer in direct contact with you can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success. Once you use this feature, you cannot again until you complete a short or long rest. Languages. You speak Common and Grung. Half-Dryads Half-dryads come into the world from a dryad taking interest in a beautiful humanoid. While the relationships are normally lustful and fleeting, they occasionally result in the birth of a half-dryad. These lost fey souls are stuck between the world of the fey and the mundane life of man. Half-dryads naturally grow leaves and twigs from their body, and those who take more from their dryad heritage can have altered skin colors that changes with the seasons. These colors range from vibrant green in the summer to grey and white in the winter. Your heritage can optionally result in a racial quirk from below. d6 Racial Quirk 1 You are so pretty. So. Very. Pretty. 2 Your flirting can cause trouble. That's how you like it. 3 Petals and leaves on you perk up when you are excited. 4 You get along better with trees than people sometimes. They just get you. 5 You have symbiotic relationships with insects and birds who occasionally make homes in your hair. 6 You can't resist breaking out into song with the birds and beasts around you. Half-Dryad Traits Ability Score Increase. Your Charisma score increases by 2 and your Wisdom score increases by 1. Age. Half-dryad's age is tied to their parent's tree's age. The longer the parent's tree's life, the longer the child's. Because of this, half-dryad ages vary greatly. All mature around age 18 but some live only into their 50s while others can live to be 500 and older. Alignment. Most half-dryads are chaotic or neutral spirits. Their freedom from the woodlands give them an innate curiosity while their time spent with nature has taught them the important balance of the natural world. Size. Half-dryads are slightly smaller than humans. They average around 5 feet in height. Your size is Medium. Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet. Fey Ancestry. You have advantage on saving throws against being charmed, and magic can not put you to sleep. Naturally Charming. You gain proficiency with the Persuasion skill. Tree Stride. As a bonus action, you can use up to 10 feet of your movement speed to enter into a living tree within 10 feet of you that has at least one living tree within 60 feet of it. You emerge from a second tree within 60 feet, appearing in an unoccupied space within 5 feet of the second tree. Both trees must be Large or larger to use this feature. Once you use this feature, you cannot use it again until you finish a short or long rest. Dryad's Legacy. You know the duidcraft cantrip. Once you reach 3rd level, you can cast entangle and speak with animals with this trait, and once you reach 5th level, you can cast barkskin with it. Once you cast a spell of first level or higher with this feature, you cannot cast it again until you finish a long rest. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for these spells. Languages. You speak Common and Sylvan. Male Half-Dryads The majority of half-dryads take on their mothers gender. A very small percent of half-dryads are male. In some fey societies and cultures, male half-dryads are ill omens and seen as bad luck incarnate. Some go so far to hunt them and blame plagues and droughts on their existence.

Saurial Saurial Traits All Saurials share these basic attributes. Ability Score Increase. Your Strength score increases by 2. Age. Saurial live roughly as long as humans. Alignment. Saurials lack any real home and often seek adventure, going where the wind takes them. This lends them towards the Chaotic alignment. Saurials can be found of all alignments. Size. Saurials vary in size depending on their subrace, but all stand above 4 feet tall. Your size is Medium. Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet. Thick Hide. While wearing no armor, your Armor Class equals 13 + your Dexterity modifier. Instincts. You gain proficeincy in the Survival skill. Languages. You speak Common and Draconic. Subrace. Saurials are divided racially into four groups: bladebacks, flyers, hornheads and finheads. Choose one of them for your character. Bladebacks Bladebacks are natural wizards and scientists. Their ability to defend themselves protects them well when seeking out and exploring areas most races fear. Ability Score Increase. Your Intelligence score increases by 1. Plated Tail. Your tail is a natural weapon and can be used to make unarmed strikes. If you hit with it, you deal 1d6 + your Strength modifier piercing damage instead of the bludgeoning damage normal for an unarmed strike. Tail Whip. As a reaction to taking damage from a creature within 5 feet of you that is behind you, you may make an unarmed strike with your plated tail as a reaction. Bladebacks and Facing If you are playing with the Facing variant rules in the DMG, your Plated Tail feature allows you to make this special unarmed strike against creatures in your rear arc in addition to those in your front and side arcs. In addition, your Tail Whip feature may only be used against a creature that damages you from within your rear arc. Flyers Flyers are the only saurial that posses the ability to fly. Their leathery wings spread further than their height, and while their humanoid body slows their speed compared to their beastial relatives, they can still outmaneuver their groundbound cousins. Ability Score Increase. Your Dexterity score increases by 1. Beak. Your beak is a natural weapon and can be used to make unarmed strikes. If you hit with it, you deal 1d4 + your Strength or Dexterity modifier, your choice, piercing damage instead of the bludgeoning damage normal for an unarmed strike. Flight. You have a fly speed of 25 feet. Hornheads Hornheads are the only saurial subrace to lean neutral or even lawful. Superstitious and set in their ways, hornheads will band together with other outsiders to form organizations to protect themsevles from hostile majorities. Ability Score Increase. Your Constitution score increases by 1 and your Wisdom score increases by 1. Devout. You gain proficiency with either the History or Religon skill. Horns. Your horns are natural weapons and can be used to make unarmed strikes. If you hit with it, you deal 1d4 + your Strength modifier piercing or bludgeoning damage, your choice, instead of the bludgeoning damage normal for an unarmed strike. Ram. You can take the Shove action against any creature hit by your Horns unarmed strike as a bonus action on your turn. Finheads Finheads fit in best with other cultures. Their adaptive thinking and pack mentality lends well to working with others regardless of situation. Ability Score Improvement. Two ability scores of your choice other than Strength increase by 1. Bite. Your bite is a natural weapon and can be used to make unarmed strikes. If you hit with it, you deal 1d4 + your Strength modifier piercing damage instead of the bludgeoning damage normal for an unarmed strike. Jungle Runner. When you take the Dash action, you ignore natural difficult terrain in jungle enviroments until the start of your next turn.