# VOLO'S GUIDE - Check Out This Froghemoth Preview



## gyor (Oct 26, 2016)

The_ Volo's Guide to Monsters_ previews keep on coming! This time it's the Froghemoth, that elephant-sized tentacular amphibian we all know and love. Weighing in at CR10, this critter is sure to ruin any adventuring party's day! Don't forget to check out all the previous previews of the upcoming 224-page monster book for D&D 5th Edition - giants and orcs, mindflayers and beholders, fire giant dreadnoughts, giant lore, and the book's preface.





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				gyor said:
			
		

> There is a Froghemoth preview, same place we got the preface and Firbolg perview.



*Save**Save*​


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## Charles Rampant (Oct 26, 2016)

To discuss: I like it! Fun monster. It works along the same lines as the Roper, and I think that I've read too many of Hemlock's complaints about the MM to entirely like a monster without some kind of a ranged spitting attack, but this guy seems like a good option. The stuff about Bullywugs pleases me, for Bullywugs are truly the unsung stars of low-level D&D. The image of a bunch of characters slaughtering a Bullywug tribe and feeling confident, before this bad boy rises from the murk and begins chomptime, is a glorious one.


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## MonkeezOnFire (Oct 26, 2016)

CR10 is an interesting place for monster because it means that early on it's a really tough opponent and can be used as a really big threat but as the game goes on it becomes an even threat and finally at high levels it becomes a low threat. 

I can see this guy being used in a bullywug encampment early as a final boss of an adventure. Then being used as a medium-threat random encounter as the PCs delve into deeper, more dangerous parts of the swamp. Finally, at high levels when the PCs go to face the black dragon these guys appear in droves as they were bred by the dragon as guards for the lair.


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## Parmandur (Oct 26, 2016)

Lum the Mad, another reference to a Greyhawk character (Goliath write-up name checks Tordek)?  Fascinating.


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## TerraDave (Oct 26, 2016)

I like this better then some of the other stuff we have seen.

(though I think part of that is my hate of the word "ordning")


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## Plaguescarred (Oct 26, 2016)

Fun beast


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## Parmandur (Oct 26, 2016)

TerraDave said:


> I like this better then some of the other stuff we have seen.
> 
> (though I think part of that is my hate of the word "ordning")





Hard to pick, I've been super-jazzed about everything they have shown so far in this book.


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## UngeheuerLich (Oct 26, 2016)

The shock ability is hefty though. If you are a DM that allows people to read the MM, it becomes a lot less dangerous. On the other hand, it can make a fun encounter when a wizard has to shock the thing repeatedly so the rest can take its allies down.


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## I'm A Banana (Oct 26, 2016)

The 20-ft tentacle reach mitigates some of the ranged issue, but you definitely want to fight this thing in a crowded swamp where the PC's can't move freely, have to navigate between pools and trees, and where plenty of cover can help the beast.

I don't recall much lore about the froghemoth, but this lore seems A-OK. The link with bullywugs is obvious, but fun! The otherworldly bit seems...out of place...but easily ignored.


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## Charles Rampant (Oct 26, 2016)

An cavern with lots of deep pools of stinking water would definitely be a bit of a nightmare of a place to fight this thing. With stealth +5 it's unlikely to surprise the party, but might make a decent attempt at it; though thinking about it, with Passive Perception 19 and a 'passive stealth' score of 15 it is actually quite likely to spot a Rogue and then get the jump on them, resulting in very unhappy times for the Rogue indeed.


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## iserith (Oct 26, 2016)

I used a froghemoth in a D&D 4e adventure. An entire tribe of grippli lived on her back. They worshiped her, calling her The Wart Mother. So on top of the Wart Mother's vicious attacks, dozens of poisoned blowgun darts came flying off her back.


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## Sacrosanct (Oct 26, 2016)

I like it.

---already planning encounters with this and shambling mounds....(evil laugh)


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## darjr (Oct 26, 2016)

Fun but there is foul language NSFW

[video=youtube;DPpQ43DWmX8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPpQ43DWmX8[/video]


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## JeffB (Oct 26, 2016)

I'm A Banana said:


> I don't recall much lore about the froghemoth, but this lore seems A-OK. The link with bullywugs is obvious, but fun! The otherworldly bit seems...out of place...but easily ignored.




It was originally one of the Alien creatures on the crashed starship  in S3


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## SkidAce (Oct 26, 2016)

I'm A Banana said:


> The 20-ft tentacle reach mitigates some of the ranged issue, but you definitely want to fight this thing in a crowded swamp where the PC's can't move freely, have to navigate between pools and trees, and where plenty of cover can help the beast.
> 
> I don't recall much lore about the froghemoth, but this lore seems A-OK. The link with bullywugs is obvious, but fun! The otherworldly bit seems...out of place...but easily ignored.




I would refer you to the "Expedition to the Barrier Peaks" adventure, and their origin.

Not "out of place" per se, but yes, easily ignored or refluffed.


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## SkidAce (Oct 26, 2016)

Beat by [MENTION=518]JeffB[/MENTION]


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## wicked cool (Oct 26, 2016)

I want this as a miniature.


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## I'm A Banana (Oct 26, 2016)

JeffB said:


> It was originally one of the Alien creatures on the crashed starship  in S3



Hahaha, great, okay....intersting tidbit then. Maybe not something I'd use, but definitely in keeping with the critter's history!


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## Jester David (Oct 26, 2016)

I have a fondness for froghemoths. Glad to see it and suddenly excited to get my Reaper Bones of the beastie.


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## iserith (Oct 26, 2016)

Does anyone remember the details of the encounter with the froghemoth in S3? If you do, would you mind sharing?


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## knasser (Oct 26, 2016)

This is the dumbest thing I have ever seen.

Also awesome and I am totally sticking it in my game. I may even prelude the fight with that great video *darjr* just posted for a real Pro-Wrestling feel to the battle.


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## Sacrosanct (Oct 26, 2016)

iserith said:


> Does anyone remember the details of the encounter with the froghemoth in S3? If you do, would you mind sharing?





FROGHEMOTH: AC 2 (tentacles)/4 (body)/6 (tongue), Move
2”//8” (4” in swamp), HD 16, hit points 21 (per tentacle)/105
(body)/14 (tongue), 1 or 4 attacks, damage per attack is 5-
50 or 5-8. Fire does not harm the froghemoth, but it has a 20%
chance of driving the thing back for 1 round (this includes
laser shots). Needlers and gas do it no harm. Cold slows it to
half speed and attack rate for 1 round. Lightning does 1 hit
point per die of damage. Blasters cause normal damage, as
do regular weapons such as swords, spears, etc. The creature
is non-intelligent and larger than man-sized. USE ILLUSTRATION
#33 if encountered on the bridge.
Whether this is a mutated thing or the adult form of some
specimen loosed from captivity, it is unquestionably the most
fearsome of all the terrible life forms on the level. The
froghemoth’s 18’ long, 10’ wide body is yellow-orange on the
belly, shading to a medium green on its back and thick,
bowed rear legs. from its shoulder area sprout fourtentacles,
two from each shoulder, which are green on top and
yellowish underneath. The creature’s nostrils are stalk-like,
and its three eyes are housed on a retractable protruding
appendage which is withdrawn when danger threatens the
optics. The froghemoth will often submerge its body several
feet beneath the water, trail its tentacles ashore, and watch
with its eye appendage at water level - this, along with the
nostril stalks, appears to be a plant growth of some sort.
The frog-thing is also able to capture prey with its long,
barbed tongue. This member can be flicked out to a distance
of 10’. Unless the creature caught by the tongue is able to
hold fast to something quickly - such as a tree, rope, etc. -
it will be drawn that very round to the froghemoth’s gaping
jaws and torn to shreds. It will swallow prey whole on a “to hit”
roll of 19 or 20. (If a character is grabbed, the chance to hold
onto some object, if any exists to grab, is the roll of a d6,
discounting 1 or 2 as surprised and unable to hold on to
anything, compared to the roll of a d8 for the monster, if the
monster’s roll is higher, the character is drawn into its mouth.
The tongue has an 18/50 strength, so any creature with lesser
strength will eventually be pulled into the maw of the
froghemoth, unless the tongue is severed. Any prey resisting
the tongue will cause the creature to either grasp it with a
tentacle or draw its head to the morsel and eat it that way
(50% chance for each). If prey is escaping, the creature will
pursue for 2-5 rounds out of the water - but only in the
swampy area to the southeast of the lake.
Any searcher will find 1 gem per turn spent searching the
bottom of the lake bed. An unassisted diver may remain
under water one round. Base value is 100 g.p. per gem. (An
insane technician spread these here after finding crates of
them taken from some rich world somewhere. Of course,
many are now totally lost under muck, and others are else
where, but not less than 51 nor more than 100 can be found in
the lake.) At the point marked with an “X” the monster has
built a nest of tree trunks and debris. Therein can be found bits
of skulls and bones, a twisted laser rifle, a poison gas
grenade, an atmosphere analyzer (30% chance of being
functional), a plastic model of the level, and a metal chest
filled with small gold bars (100 bars, each weighing 12 g.p.) If
the chest is carefully examined it will be noted that it has a
small compartment in which is a dial. The chest and its
contents can be made absolutely weightless for up to one
hour per charge of a power disc. Chest capacity is 3 cubic
feet.


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## Vampyr3 (Oct 26, 2016)

Entsuropi said:


> Link for the curious: http://media.wizards.com/2016/dnd/downloads/Volo_Froghemoth145.pdf




Thank you for giving a source link so we know where the credit should go!


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## Wrathamon (Oct 26, 2016)

It auto swallows on a hit? No need to use tongue first? A lot of swallowing going on I guess. The 20 damage to barf is interesting. I find being able to swing a 2hander inside even at disadvantage to hurt my head. I would think it would need to be a light weapon. 

I like the immunity stuff from the original. Some cool flavor. I might add that if I use this for fun.

cool monster overall.


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## Noaharkwv (Oct 26, 2016)

Fifth Edition Foes by Necromancer games did a version of this already.  Their version is more like a greater version.


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## Demetrios1453 (Oct 26, 2016)

A herd of those launched out of a swamp by some bullywugs on some unsuspecting settlement is a pretty scary prospect! Like just about every preview so far, it just makes me anticipate this book's release all the more!

I wonder if we'll see a bullywug variant or two in the book to go along with this new froghemoth lore. There doesn't look like there will be room for bullywug coverage in Chapter 1, but a bullywug leader variant or two would be nice for Chapter 3...


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## Ath-kethin (Oct 26, 2016)

"The frogehemoth cares nothing for its egg, and might eat it the hatchling."

Good we can see the typos and editing errors before we drop money on the book.


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## gyor (Oct 26, 2016)

Wrathamon said:


> It auto swallows on a hit? No need to use tongue first? A lot of swallowing going on I guess. The 20 damage to barf is interesting. I find being able to swing a 2hander inside even at disadvantage to hurt my head. I would think it would need to be a light weapon.
> 
> I like the immunity stuff from the original. Some cool flavor. I might add that if I use this for fun.
> 
> cool monster overall.




 Your inside the beast surrounded by its unprotected stomach, don't worry about swinging the 2 hander, just stab what ever target is easiest to get atll with your two hander with all your strength.


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## pukunui (Oct 26, 2016)

As a side note: One thing I don't get is why they didn't make "slowed" a condition, so they didn't have to write out all its effects in full every single time it comes up in a monster statblock or spell.


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## Parmandur (Oct 26, 2016)

Demetrios1453 said:


> A herd of those launched out of a swamp by some bullywugs on some unsuspecting settlement is a pretty scary prospect! Like just about every preview so far, it just makes me anticipate this book's release all the more!
> 
> 
> 
> I wonder if we'll see a bullywug variant or two in the book to go along with this new froghemoth lore. There doesn't look like there will be room for bullywug coverage in Chapter 1, but a bullywug leader variant or two would be nice for Chapter 3...





I doubt we will see Bullywugs in Chapter one or three; however, I bet they will be on the quick rules table, for NPC generation using the appendix stat blocks.


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## Marandahir (Oct 26, 2016)

Why would they preview a page from the book with a prominent typo?

"The froghemoth cares nothing for its egg, and might eat it the hatchling."


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## Prakriti (Oct 26, 2016)

Marandahir said:


> Why would they preview a page from the book with a prominent typo?
> 
> "The froghemoth cares nothing for its egg, and might eat it the hatchling."



There have been typos in all the published adventures. Copy-editing is a dead profession.


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## Dire Bare (Oct 26, 2016)

Marandahir said:


> Why would they preview a page from the book with a prominent typo?
> 
> "The froghemoth cares nothing for its egg, and might eat it the hatchling."




I know, right!?

That's why I prefer game supplements written by robots. Everytime I purchase one from those inferior species, the hoomans, they make TONS OF MISTAKES! If you can't achieve perfection, you aren't getting  my money!


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## UngeheuerLich (Oct 26, 2016)

pukunui said:


> As a side note: One thing I don't get is why they didn't make "slowed" a condition, so they didn't have to write out all its effects in full every single time it comes up in a monster statblock or spell.





Yes. Slowed would have been useful... but on the other hand, less cross referencing.


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## iserith (Oct 27, 2016)

Marandahir said:


> Why would they preview a page from the book with a prominent typo?
> 
> "The froghemoth cares nothing for its egg, and might eat it the hatchling."




Clearly, "it" is the name of the hatchling. That's canon now.


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## Wrathamon (Oct 27, 2016)

the Fifth Edition foes version 
To be swallowed you need to be grappled by a tentacle or tongue and you get a DC 18 Dex Save to avoid being swallowed.

It also has a tentacle Crush that is an autohit damage when you're already grappled by a tentacle.

Immune instead of resistance to lightning, but still has the slow and has a sight ability to prevent tactical advantage and bonus damage from nearby allies.. which sounds confusing to me. Is sneak attack bonus damage?

It appears to be missing its ability to breath underwater

Its tougher and stronger overall, but not as perceptive or stealthy and it does way less damage.


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## AaronOfBarbaria (Oct 27, 2016)

Marandahir said:


> Why would they preview a page from the book with a prominent typo?



Because books have typos, and the reason why is that even the "prominent" ones are hard to see because the human brain wants to ignore them and understand the message being read.

It's why we can read words even if the letters other than the first and last are in the wrong order, and why we don't realize there were two "the"s when one ends a line and the second starts the next.

So the real question is why anyone thinks a typo-free book is actually possible when all evidence says otherwise.


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## Connorsrpg (Oct 27, 2016)

Typos...again. So how much this going to cost? let's do the price whinge thing again too, hey?


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## Enevhar Aldarion (Oct 27, 2016)

Prakriti said:


> There have been typos in all the published adventures. Copy-editing is a dead profession.




There have been typos for as long as books have been mass-produced. 5th edition did not invent the typo.


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## Demetrios1453 (Oct 27, 2016)

Enevhar Aldarion said:


> There have been typos for as long as books have been mass-produced. 5th edition did not invent the typo.




There were typos even before books were mass-produced. Granted, they technically couldn't be called "typos" before the invention of printing. Interestingly enough, errors in hand-copied books could be passed on for centuries from book to book as scribes mechanically repeated the same error...


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## M.T. Black (Oct 27, 2016)

Great monster!


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## Chaosmancer (Oct 27, 2016)

You know, I was never interested in the Froghemoth. Everyone kept talking about it being this classic weird monster and I didn't care.

Now, reading through it, I realized that my mad scientist wizard villain NPC (wow, that's a lot of things) should totally end up with a few of these running around, because they fit with that insane experiments theme I've been hinting at. 

Only thing I'm not sure about is the lightning shock, that is a brutal debuff to suffer. I may end up lessening it, but then again, most of the characters I currently have, have almost no way to deal lightning damage so I may hold off for now.


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## iserith (Oct 27, 2016)

Chaosmancer said:


> You know, I was never interested in the Froghemoth. Everyone kept talking about it being this classic weird monster and I didn't care.
> 
> Now, reading through it, I realized that my mad scientist wizard villain NPC (wow, that's a lot of things) should totally end up with a few of these running around, because they fit with that insane experiments theme I've been hinting at.
> 
> Only thing I'm not sure about is the lightning shock, that is a brutal debuff to suffer. I may end up lessening it, but then again, most of the characters I currently have, have almost no way to deal lightning damage so I may hold off for now.




You could always include some terrain or environmental effect that makes using lightning spells or the like risky or challenging in some way (but not impossible or too punishing). For example, put a bunch of gestation pods in the encounter area that will open and spill forth a minor monster if lightning is used within X feet of it.


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## Savage Wombat (Oct 27, 2016)

iserith said:


> Clearly, "it" is the name of the hatchling. That's canon now.




The party sees, lurking in the dark swamp waters, a circus clown that resembles Tim Curry...


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## spongebob1138 (Oct 27, 2016)

Sorry for being slow, but what is being said for the multiattack?  Two tentacle attacks & tongue or bite per round?  Am I reading that right?


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## Pathkeeper24601 (Oct 27, 2016)

spongebob1138 said:


> Sorry for being slow, but what is being said for the multiattack?  Two tentacle attacks & tongue or bite per round?  Am I reading that right?



I would interpret that in the worst possible way for the characters.  If the Froghemouth has 2 tentacles available it makes both of those attacks.  Then it can also use it's Tongue attack or Bite attack (character within 5').  If it is successful on the Tongue attack, it gets to make a bonus action Bite attack as detailed.  So, potentially up to 4 attacks in a round.


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## Marandahir (Oct 28, 2016)

This is the only book sub-industry that seems to have a chronic issue with typos and lack of proper editing. Most books don't have typoes because they hire editors who actually catch crap like this. And here I thought it was because the D&D team would churn out books so quickly that they ran short on time for this. But even when they just turn out 2-3 books a year, we still get them. 

But that wasn't what I asked. I asked why they would preview the Froghemoth given the typo. They could have easily previewed a different monster that lacked the glaring typo and not made as much a fool of themselves over it. This could hurt some sales (not for long-term fans who have made our peace with the chronic typo problem, but…).


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## AaronOfBarbaria (Oct 28, 2016)

Marandahir said:


> This is the only book sub-industry that seems to have a chronic issue with typos and lack of proper editing. Most books don't have typoes because they hire editors who actually catch crap like this.



Care to point me in the direction of any book, literally any one will do, which doesn't have any typographical errors?


Marandahir said:


> I asked why they would preview the Froghemoth given the typo.



Because it's not so "glaring" as you make it out to be, nor does the average person that will be looking at the preview think that a single typo on a page of written material suggests any kind of incompetence or lack of care.


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## Chaosmancer (Oct 28, 2016)

Marandahir said:


> But that wasn't what I asked. I asked why they would preview the Froghemoth given the typo. They could have easily previewed a different monster that lacked the glaring typo and not made as much a fool of themselves over it. This could hurt some sales (not for long-term fans who have made our peace with the chronic typo problem, but…).




Because they've hinted Froghemoths are in the book and wanted to deliver on that promise.

Because Froghemoths are a classic monster that has a lot of nonstalgic value and will potentially up sales of the book

Because they missed the minor errors 

Because this is a pre-production version they slotted to be previewed 4 months ago, before they caught and fixed those errors and didn't think it would be a big deal.

Ect.


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## happyhermit (Oct 28, 2016)

Marandahir said:


> This is the only book sub-industry that seems to have a chronic issue with typos and lack of proper editing. Most books don't have typoes because they hire editors who actually catch crap like this. ...




Yeah... not sure what books you are reading but most books outside of the RPG industry DO have typos.



Marandahir said:


> ... This could hurt some sales (not for long-term fans who have made our peace with the chronic typo problem, but…).




The vast majority of readers have made their "peace" with typos in general, whether they are D&D fans or not. Reading on the internet would cause heads to explode otherwise. The idea that someone would buy this book but would change their mind because of a single grammatical error... those people probably do exist but thankfully they are a tiny, tiny, tiny minority. Most people just get over stuff like that and focus on the more important things in life, which includes... well everything really, but giant swamp creatures are high on the list.


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## Marandahir (Oct 28, 2016)

A worthwhile read on the topic.


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## AaronOfBarbaria (Oct 28, 2016)

Marandahir said:


> A worthwhile read on the topic.



I take that as a "No." to my request of pointing me in the direction of a book without typographical errors?


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## Werebat (Oct 28, 2016)

The Froghemoth is indeed an iconic monster.  This version is nice.  Like the bullywug connection (not to be confused with Kermit's "rainbow connection").

Not a fan of the artwork, though.  The froghemoth's majesty has been captured far better in the past:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPpQ43DWmX8


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## JeffB (Oct 29, 2016)

Werebat said:


> Not a fan of the artwork, though.  The froghemoth's majesty has been captured far better in the past




Agreed...the artist totally messed up the nostrils (as can be seen in previous artwork/in the 1E description posted previously here in the thread)


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## Uchawi (Oct 29, 2016)

Based on the previous art for the monster the current rendition pales in comparison.


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## RotGrub (Oct 31, 2016)

I could certainly see several democrats caught in its tentacles.


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