Stealth and slothfulness, Bugbears also happen to be one of the most powerful races in D&D 5e. Read on for tips on how to play as one.
What are Bugbears?
Bugbears are neither related to bugs or bears and share little in common with either of these creatures. They are instead goblinoids, related to goblins and hobgoblins, but larger, tougher and hairier than Goblins and lazier and less disciplined than Hobgoblins.
Bugbears are generally known for their long-limbs and their savagery in combat making them excellent melee combatants. Along with this savagery though, is an adeptness when it comes to sneaking and skulking around, often dealing large amounts of damage when surprising an enemy in attack.
Bugbears were created by the goblinoid god Maglubiyet with the intention of conquering in his name While some conquests did happen, Bugbears generally lack the motivation for sustained warfare, preferring to operate more subtly (or sleepily), despite their large and intimidating frame.
Bugbears were first introduced to D&D 5e as a playable race in Volo’s Guide to Monsters and have since been updated in Monsters of the Multiverse. Our guide will tell you everything you need to know to play as these skulking goblinoids.
Is a Bugbear the right character for me?
Dungeons and Dragons lets you take a flexible approach to building a character, but if you’re going to stick to typical culture and the best-optimised build for a Bugbear you might consider the following:
Choose a Bugbear if you like…
- Being sneaky
- But also packing a serious punch
- To praise Maglubiyet (but preferably from the comfort of your bed)
A Bugbear might not be for you if…
- You want to engage in ranged combat a lot
- Prefer a more direct route than stealth
- Hate goblinoids
If you think a Bugbear isn’t for you, not to worry, there are dozens of playable races for you to pick from, just check out our races guide to find out about all of them. For an alternative stealthy race race, you could consider a Wood Elf or a Deep Gnome.
Racial traits
| Ability Scores | +2 to one ability score and +1 to another or +1 to 3 different ability scores |
| Creature Type | Humanoid |
| Size | Medium |
| Lifespan | About 80 years |
| Speed | 30ft |
| Languages | Common and 1 other |
| Traits | Darkvision, Fey Ancestry, Long-Limbed, Powerful Build, Sneaky, Surprise Attack |
| Resistances | Charmed |
| Proficiencies | Stealth |
| Darkvision | Yes |
| Innate Spellcasting | None |
| Book found in | Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse, Volo’s Guide to Monsters, Eberron: Rising from the Last War |
Tactics
Silent but deadly: Bugbears are at their most dangerous when they get the jump on an enemy. Use stealth to attempt to surprise your enemy so you can land your powerful surprise attack. Even if you don’t surprise your enemy, simply being able to react before them still grants you your surprise attack. Boosting your dexterity is a great way to give you the edge on initiative (and will help you skulk around too).
Huge reach: With a polearm, Bugbears can have a massive reach of 15ft (when attacking, note long-limbed doesn’t work for opportunity attacks). Still, this is great for classes like rogues and monks that want to get into melee action while staying a little out of danger. Combining this with a polearm means it’s also hard to avoid your swing.
Lots of attacks: The more attacks you get, the more you can do damage with surprise attack. 2d6 to one attack is significant at low levels, but does fade at higher levels. Fortunately, extra attacks will help the damage scale with levels making the likes of fighters and monks with their multiple attacks per turn, extremely effective. Consider going for two weapon fighting to get an extra attack into your character too for even more damage. And don’t forget the devastating power of a critical hit with those extra d6 you’re rolling. Anything that can up the odds of a critical hit will also benefit a Bugbear hugely.
Which classes work well for Bugbears?
As the most recent version of Bugbears can be found in Monsters of the Multiverse which allows you to distribute ability score increases wherever you like, the main thing to consider when picking a class for your Bugbear is which traits work well with each class. The main traits for a Bugbear are Long-Limbed and Surprise Attack which both serve to help in combat.
Below I’ve put together a score for how well each class works with a Bugbear based on how well the ability score increases and racial traits work with each class:
Artificer⭐⭐⭐⭐
Barbarian ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Bard ⭐⭐⭐
Cleric ⭐⭐
Druid ⭐⭐⭐
Fighter ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Monk ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Paladin ⭐⭐⭐
Ranger ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rogue ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Sorcerer ⭐⭐⭐
Warlock ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Wizard ⭐⭐
*Star ratings scored out of 5
Best classes for Bugbears
Long-Limbed is very handy in melee combat (not so much for ranged classes) as it adds an extra 5ft to your reach when attacking in melee combat (if you have a reach weapon, that gives you a reach of 15ft)! This is obviously very handy; if you’re a tank character, then you’ll be able to reach enemies that might usually be out of range, if you’re a less tough melee class (like a monk or a rogue), then you can attack and remain out of range of opportunity attacks when moving away from an opponent. This means rogues can use their bonus action for other things than just disengaging all the time. It’s worth noting though that this extra range on melee attacks is only available when attacking on your turn so opportunity attacks don’t benefit from the extra range.
Surprise Attack is also very potent. You add 2d6 when hitting an enemy that hasn’t had a turn in combat yet. This means you can deal some really hefty damage in the first turn. This is great for any class at low levels but only really scales at higher levels if you gain extra attacks (as each attack that hits will receive an extra 2d6 damage). You can get around this to an extent by dual-wielding which will give you an extra attack to throw into the mix. It’s worth bearing in mind though that this only works against enemies that haven’t already had a turn so you’ll want to boost your dexterity to gain advantage of this ability.
Bugbears also get a few other useful abilities like Darkvision, Sneaky and Fey Ancestry which give you little benefits like advantage against being charmed, proficiency in stealth, the ability to move through small spaces and the ability to see in the dark.
With this in mind, the following are the best classes to use for a Bugbear:
- Barbarian
- Fighter
- Monk
Monks and fighters get more attacks than any other class so can deal huge amounts of damage in the first turn with Surprise Attack. Fighters can work as dexterity builds too though monks are a more natural fit for optimising dexterity to improve your initiative. Barbarians get an extra attack which isn’t as well optimised as Fighters and Monks, but Reckless Attack gives you advantage on attack rolls making those hits more likely to land. Barbarians also need good dexterity anyway so are more likely to attack early.
There’s a case to be made for rogues, rangers and paladins here as rogues can stay out of harms way with their long limbs and still attack. Paladins and rangers do get an extra attack too and paladins in particular will benefit from those long limbs when trying to reach their targets. Other melee based subclasses do fairly well like battle smiths, college of sword and college of valor bards and hexblade warlocks for instance.
Worst classes for Bugbears
Clerics are probably the worst option for Bugbears. They’re not bad but typically have low dexterity so it’s hard to take advantage of Surprise Attack and only get one attack anyway so the impact is limited (but still useful). Long-Limbed is only good in melee combat so may be good for some clerics while some of their other abilities are stealth focused which isn’t great for the heavily armoured cleric.
Most bards will get little from being a Bugbear too, despite their high dexterity allowing them to add more to their initiative. Unfortunately, most bards only get 1 attack and stay away from melee range making Long-Limbed a little redundant. The exception here is college of swords and college of valor which do get an extra attack (dual wielding will give them 3 attacks) so some bards do fair better than others.
Sorcerers and Wizards will get little out of Long-Limbed and may get less from Surprise Attack than other classes however, a sorcerer does have Quickened Spell so can cast an extra cantrip to get more out of your Surprise Attack.
About Bugbears
Appearance
Bugbears share goblinoid features like pointed ears fangs and an angular face, but they’re considerably taller, dwarfing even the size of an average Human as they stand at about 6-8ft tall. Bugbears are quite hairy too, especially by goblin standards as goblins have no body hair whatsoever. Despite a large and muscular frame, Bugbears are surprisingly flexible and limber and are capable of squeezing through spaces only much smaller creatures could ordinarily get through.
This imposing stature paired with cat-like stealth has earned Bugbears the honour of being the bogeymen of D&D as they could sneak up on you while you sleep without you ever noticing!
Personality
Bugbears make strong warriors and do enjoy fighting. Unlike Tritons or Leonin though, they lack honour in battle and prefer to skulk about in the dark, granting themselves the greatest advantage they can against their enemies. However, they are not the conquering type, mainly because they’re too lazy to bother. Instead, Bugbears enjoy a good long snooze over most other activities.
Bugbears are also notorious bullies and will rarely pick a fight with an enemy that appears tougher than they are. Instead, they choose to pick on smaller, weaker creatures and force them to do their bidding with a wicked sense of humour.
Names
Bugbears tend to have simple, 1-3 syllable names and rarely adopt surnames, and when they do, it will be as an association with a group or gang.
Most Bugbear names are made up of guttural noises like the following: Blogus, Bulkar, Grol, Diggonn, Rirgonn, Ghar, Vath Vun, Ghurk, Stun, Thergimkk, Chragork
How to roleplay as a Bugbear
While Bugbears can be hugely varied in personality, most typical Bugbears will lean into some of the traits below which you can use to help you roleplay as a Bugbear:
Exceptional laziness: Bugbears will do anything to get out of work, despite being hugely capable. Channel your inner teenager, or perhaps a domestic housecat. Sure, when something absolutely needs to be done, they’ll pitch in, otherwise, avoid responsibility like the plague.
Cunning: Despite their laziness, Bugbears are actually very cunning. They can be really creative when it comes to hatching a sneaky plan, especially when it means less effort from themselves or being able to avoid direct confrontation.
Bullies: Most Bugbears are quite happy bullying around those weaker than them, often intimidating them into their service. They feel little remorse for this and are quite happy to use the tools at their disposal, often an unfortunate Goblin. Like most bullies though, they’re quite happy to talk big, until it comes to confronting someone tougher than them, then they’ll avoid confrontation entirely.
Try making jokes at the expense of others and causing other kinds of embarrassment to weaker beings. And feel free to order smaller folk to do your unwanted chores for you.
