Been a while since I’ve done « A note on » post, but it’s been slow on the ttrpgaming front over here those last few weeks so I’ll put out this little filler.
Troglodytes in Heroes 3
I’ve been playing the venerable computer game Heroes 3 with my sons for the last few weeks and we’re having great fun. My youngest is fond of the Dungeon faction, mainly for their strongest unit, the dragons unsurprisingly. Their weakest unit, the troglodyte, is MY favorite though. I love their design!
Contrast it with the current D&D version:
Not bad but it looks like some kind of ugly lizardman, nothing special here.
The one thing that differientate troglodytes from other monsters in D&D is their horrible stench. It’s okay, I have nothing against it but I think I can offer alternative features that are more interesting.
Now, troglodytes, as befit the name should be a mostly subterranean species. Making do without eyes could actually make a lot of sense (pun intended).
New features for D&D
Anyway, yeah, I think eyeless troglodytes should have echolocation like dolphins or bats for that matter. The adventurers would hear the eery screams of the troglodytes coming for them, wouldn’t it be scary/cool? That could be a fluff thing or it could also means mechanically that Trologodytes are simply immune to anything that need eyesight to be affected (i.e illusions, or blindness obviously) AND would be vulnerable to silence effects (would be effectively « blinded »).
Now, a more audacious feature I would give troglodytes is darkvision camouflage. As in modern D&D something like three quarters of people have darkvision for some reason, what about the one species that would have evolved to mess with this sense? Be it low body temperature à la Predator, or some special skin pattern, the Troglodytes are basically invisible to darkvision users.
You hear the screams of those awful troglodytes adventurer? Hope you didn’t only banked on your darkvision and brought ye ole torch!
Streets & Spores 
The first time the dwarven adventurers hear the clicks, they are strange, high-pitched and barely audible. It’s odd, given that high frequencies attenuate faster over distance, but as they’ve all used Intelligence as their dump stat, none can quite articulate why. Only moments later, in a pitched and desperate battle against a seemingly invisible enemy, does it begin to dawn on them, « Maybe the GM is trying to teach us some kind of lesson? »
Seriously, I’m all on board with darkvision camouflage. Just one or two monsters capable of putting the fear into the rogue accustomed to seeing in the dark keeps everyone on their toes!
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HAHAHA! Great comment!
« Maybe the GM is trying to teach us some kind of lesson? »
Maybe!
« Seriously, I’m all on board with darkvision camouflage. »
It’s all yours!
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