D&D Monsters: Bugbears

While in modern English, the term "bugbear" is really only used to mean a source of irritation or a recurring problem, it did originally refer to a kind of supernatural being. The first half of the word likely has the same origin as the word "bogeyman", and implies a sort of evil spirit. Whether or not the second half was originally meant to indicate that the spirit in question looked bear-like is less apparent, but it was certainly used as such in the Late Middle Ages. By that time, bugbears, like the bogeyman, seem to have been used more as something to frighten children into obedience (such as, say, not wandering off into the forest) than as anything seriously believed in by adults.

The D&D conception of the bugbear is initially an exceptionally large and hairy goblin. Its function in the original editions is as a means of extending the list of five "evil tribal humanoid" races one further step, and thus providing a continuing challenge once characters had reached 3rd level or so. As with those other races, they have become more detailed and varied in use since.

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1E

In 1st edition, the five tribal races of evil humanoid form a distinct game mechanical hierarchy, running from kobolds to gnolls. Bugbears are essentially the same idea continued one step beyond the gnolls. In fact, almost the only difference between the two races in terms of game statistics is that the bugbear has one extra hit die, and thus a 5% higher chance of landing a blow in combat and (on average) 5 extra hit points.

D&D Monsters: Sahuagin

While mermen have obvious mythological antecedents, the idea of bipedal fish-men such as the sahuagin is a more modern one. This is not to say that occasional pictures resembling such things don't appear in the odd medieval manuscript, or whatever (the Polish bishop-fish is one such example), but there's rarely much detail associated with them beyond the image. Instead, the concept of the sahuagin is more likely to have been influenced by H.P. Lovecraft's Deep Ones and/or the eponymous monster in the 1954 film Creature from the Black Lagoon.

While there are other generally similar-looking fish-men in the D&D canon, the sahuagin have the distinction of being the only one to appear in both the 1st and 5th edition versions of the Monster Manual, so I'll use them as a proxy for the others here. Of note is the fact that, unlike merfolk, they are regarded as "evil" and therefore make suitable monsters, creeping ashore to menace seaside fishing villages or attacking boats.

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1E

As seen in 1E, sahuagin are basically humanoid, but covered in a scaly dark green hide as tough as chain armour. The image shows a somewhat ape-like face with heavy brow-ridges and a spined and webbed crest running from the top of the head down to at least the shoulders and likely further than that. Similarly shaped fins are seen running down the arms and the back of the legs, and there are visible gill-slits on the neck. Physically, they are tougher than typical humans and more intelligent with it.