Boggle

Description

(from Volo's Guide to Monsters - 2016):

Boggles are the little bogeys of fairy tales. They lurk in the fringes of the Feywild and are also found on the Material Plane, where they hide under beds and in closets, waiting to frighten and bedevil folk with their mischief.

A boggle is born out of feelings of loneliness, materializing in a place where the Feywild touches the world in proximity to an intelligent being that feels isolated or abandoned. For example, a forsaken child might unintentionally conjure a boggle and see it as a sort of imaginary friend. A boggle might also appear in the attic of a lonely widower’s house or in the caves of a hermit.

Irksome Pests. Boggles engage in petty pranks to amuse themselves, passing the time at their hosts’ expense. A boggle isn’t above breaking dishes, hiding tools, making frightening sounds to startle cows and sour their milk, or hiding a baby in an attic. Although a boggle’s antics might cause distress and unintentional harm, mischief — not mayhem — is usually its intent. If threatened, a boggle flees rather than stand and fight.

Oily Excretions. A boggle excretes an oil from its pores and can make its oil slippery or sticky. The oil dries up and disappears an hour later.

Twisting Space. A boggle can create magical openings to travel short distances or to pilfer items that would otherwise be beyond its reach. To create such a rift in space, a boggle must be adjacent to a space defined by a frame, such as an open window or a doorway, a gap between the bars of a cage, or the opening between the feet of a bed and the floor. The rift is invisible and disappears after a few seconds — enough time for the boggle to step, reach, or attack through it.

Unreliable Allies. A boggle makes a decent servant for a strong-willed master, and wicked creatures such as fomorians and hags sometimes shelter boggles in their lairs. Warlocks who form pacts with archfey have also been known to command boggles, and charismatic individuals who make the right offers have enjoyed temporary alliances with these little tricksters. A bored boggle always finds some way to entertain itself.

(from 3rd Edition Monster Manual II - 2002):

Boggles are clever, gibbering scavengers that behave much like some species of monkeys. They do not value treasure, but they do like to collect bright, shiny objects such as coins, precious gems, and jewelry, as well as bits of polished junk. In addition, they can often be tempted with food and sweets. 

A boggle is a 3-foot-tall, hairless humanoid with a rubbery hide. It has a large, bulbous, bald head, huge ears, and disproportionate body parts, though the exact details vary from one individual to another. For example, a boggle’s nose might be large and crooked, broad and flat, or nonexistent except for nostril slits. Arms, legs, hands, feet, torso, and abdomen vary from spindly to oversized but are almost always misshapen. Skin color may be any shade from dark gray to blackish-blue. A boggle can stretch and compress its body and limbs to a remarkable degree, which accounts for its impressive reach. 

Boggles have their own rudimentary language of grunts and whistles. 

Combat: Boggles are a cowardly lot. They taunt, bluster, and scold in their gibbering language, but always from a distance. If they know intruders are approaching, they often use their grease ability to make a section of floor slippery ahead of time, so that they can easily steal baubles from anyone who falls. When forced to fight, a boggle prefers to climb a wall and leap down on prey from above, so that it can bring its hind claws to bear for rending. 

Improved Grab (Ex): If a boggle hits an opponent of up to one size category larger than itself with a claw attack, it deals normal damage and attempts to start a grapple as a free action without provoking an attack of opportunity (grapple bonus +5). If it hits with both claws, it can also rend in the same round. The boggle has the option to conduct the grapple normally, or simply use its claw to hold the opponent (–20 penalty on grapple check, but the boggle is not considered grappled). In either case, each successful grapple check it makes during successive rounds automatically deals claw damage. 

Dimension Door (Sp): A boggle can use dimension door up to six times per day. Caster level 7th. 

Grease (Su): At will, a boggle can secrete an oily, viscous, nonflammable substance from its skin. This ability functions like the spell grease except that the range is touch, the duration is 1 round per Hit Die of the boggle (4 rounds for the typical creature), and the Reflex save DC is 12. Typically, a boggle uses this ability to grease a section of floor or wall, though it can use the ability in any of the ways that the spell can be used. This oily fluid also makes the boggle tougher to hold onto (see Skills, below). Boggles are immune to the effects of this substance. 

Rend (Ex):If a boggle hits a single target with both claws, it latches onto the opponent’s body and tears the flesh. This attack deals 2d4 points of damage. 

Scent (Ex): A boggle can detect approaching enemies, sniff out hidden foes, and track by sense of smell. 

Skills: Because of its perpetually oily skin, a boggle gains a +10 racial bonus on Escape Artist checks.

(from 2nd Edition Monstrous Compendium Annal Volume Two - 1995):

Boggles are clever gibbering thieves and scavengers, behaving much like spme species of monkey. They are 3-foot-tall hairless humanoids with rubbery hides that range in color from dark gray to blackish-blue. They have large bulbous bald heads with large ears; the rest of their body parts are disproportionate and vary from individual to individual, For example, their noses may be be large and misshapen, broad and flat, mere slits, and so forth, Arms, legs, hands, feet, torso, and abodomen vary from spindly to oversized and misshapen. They can stretch and compress their bodies to an amazing degree.

Boggles have a rudimentary language of grunts and whis¬ tles, and can be trained to understand others.

Combat: Boggles have an exceptional sense of smell and can detect invisible creatures by scent. Boggles can spider climb at will. A favorite tactic is to climb a wall and leap on prey from above to bring their hind claws to bear. Unless acting as guardians they tend to be thieves and raiders rather than a serious physical threat. They can attack with claws and bite. If both daws hit the boggle can rake with its hind daws as well (two attacks for ld4 damage each).

Boggles can stretch their limbs and bodies to twice their nor¬ mal length or contract to half size. Their resilient hides reduce damage from weapon attacks by -1 per die of damage. They naturally resist fire, saving against fire-based attacks at +3 and suffering only half or quarter damage.

Boggles can secrete a viscous, nonflammable oily substance from pores in their skin. Not only does this make them hard to catch, but anyone treading on the oil (except those adapted to slippery surfaces, like boggles) must make a Dexterity check or fall down, taking one round to stand up. Boggles will try to steal items from creatures who have fallen. They must make a successful attack against Armor Class 5 to succeed in stealing small hems, with penalties of-1 to -5 for larger items.

The most unusual power of a boggle is its ability use any complete frame—such as a hole, a door frame, grill work, a pocket, or a bag—as a dimensional portal They can jump, reach, step, or poke their heads into one frame, to appear from another frame within 30 yards, allowing them to grab or strike from an unexpected direction if a frame is available. Only bog¬

gles can use the portal, but it might be possible for enough of them to pull a man-sized creature through,

Habitat/Society: Boggles are a cowardly lot and tend to be whiners if threatened with violence. They have low intelli¬ gence, but the cleverness of monkeys. They taunt, bluster, and scold with their gibbering—from a distance. Boggles do not value treasure, but they do like bright, shiny objects such as precious coins, gems and jewelry as wrell as hits of polished junk, and can be tempted wiLh food and sweets,

The social organization of boggles is loosely familial, A gen of 2-43 adults and young live in a pocket warren, which might require the boggle dimensional portal ability to enter, Boggle kits tend to be more roly-poly than their adult counterparts and roll and bounce about rather than running. Old boggles are extremely rare, as they tend to lose their sight, sense of smell, and elasticity as they age.

A boggle nest is usually a pit-marked cavern, an earthen bur¬ row or den, or a hide way hollowed in a wall Here, boggles build daylike frames and cubbies, using their oil and the debris of their digging to form a mortar, like a mud wasps nest. Their treasures might be found here in some walled-off cubby.

Ecology: Boggles scavenge their food, existing on organic refuse, insects, plants and lichens, and kills stolen from other predators. They seem particularly fund of ants, grubs, and sweets, and can be enticed w ith a bit of a bribe. Boggles some¬ time herd beetles, slugs, and lizards in their nests.

The boggles’ innate survival instinct combined with their slipperiness and special abilities makes them difficult to cap¬ ture. Other races, such as goblins, hobgoblins, and ores have been known to use boggles as watchdogs and trackers because of their sharp senses. When guard boggles sense intruders, they set up a high-pitched keening wail. Goblin boggle han¬ dlers use high frequency whistles and collars with inward turned barbs to control their boggles.