Baazrag
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Baazrags are a creature native to the Dungeons & Dragons setting of Dark Sun, which emphasize the very disjointed way that the setting developed and perhaps showcase just how messed up TSR was getting behind the scenes during those days. Y'see, there are two creatures that have born the name "baazrag"; a beetle-lizard and an ape-man!
The Ape-Man[edit]
The term "baazrag" first appeared in the Dark Sun novel series, the Prism Pentad. Here, they were described as a humanoid race of bestial mien, exploited by the peoples of the city-states as a beast of burden. Strangely, this iteration of the baazrag never made it into any official TSR sourcebook! It wouldn't be until the days of Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition, when fans put together their Monster Manual netbook "Terrors of Athas", that the original novel baazrag would finally be given an in-game writeup.
So, what's the deal with the OG baazrag? These baazrag are described as knuckle-walking brutes readily characterized as "600 pounds of fur and muscle"; camel-humped ape-men that are sapient, but dull-witted, similarly to a b'rohg, and often used as beasts of burden - not helping is that it's physically impossible for them to speak the common tongue. Ironically, they are distant relatives of the notoriously deadly Athasian sloth. They're even fully playable!
These Baazrags are characterized as primitive and superstitious, both amongst the forest and mountain-dwelling freeborn tribes and amongst the cityborn slaves. Despite this, unlike most Athasian races, whilst baazrags fear magic, they don't hate it, and instead regard it with fascination and curiosity - especially the showy kind. They've even been known to gape at and cheer magic being used against them or their allies, and are quick to show respect and submission to awesome displays of supernatural power. They are genuinely loyal and faithful companions to those who bother to learn their language and make the effort to befriend them, which can be lucrative; baazrags will ignore verbal abuse, but tend to respond to physical efforts to direct them by ripping the head off whoever tried - there's a reason that "flogging a baazrag" is synonymous with "foolish" in Athas, and as such city-states that use baazrags as beasts of burden always need "handlers" who can make them work by just asking nicely.
One problem their dull-wittedness causes them is that baazrags have a hard time understanding the concepts of telepathy and mind control; being very hard to make do anything they don't want to, it can be difficult for them to understand the concept of somebody else not acting of their own free will.
- Ability Score Modifiers: +6 Strength, +2 Dexterity, +2 Constitution, -6 Intelligence, +4 Wisdom, -6 Charisma
- Size: Large
- Space/Reach: 10ft/10ft
- Base Land Speed: 40 feet
- Low-light Vision
- Racial Hit Dice: 4 levels of Monstrous Humanoid (4d8 HD, BAB +4, Fort +1, Ref +4, Will +4).
- Racial Skills: 7 X (2 + Int modifier) skill points, class skills are Climb, Spot, Survival.
- 2 feats due to Monstrous Humanoid levels.
- Weapon Proficiency: All Simple Weapons, Baazrag Natural Weapons
- +2 Natural Armor Bonus
- Natural Weapons: Bite (1d6), 2 Slams (1d4)
- +8 racial bonus on Climb checks, can always take 10 on Climb checks even if rushed or threatened.
- Special Attacks:
- Improved Grab (Ex): When a baazrag hits with its slam attack, it can start a grapple as a freeaction without provoking an attack of opportunity.
- Special Qualities: Low-Light Vision, Scent
- Speech Difficulty: A Baazrag cannot speak any language except Baazrag, though it can learn to understand other languages. Speaking Baazrag requires other raes to take a rank in Speak Laanguages.
- Favored Class: Barbarian (they are noted to become passable Psychic Warriors if they get training)
- Level Adjustment +3
The Beetle-Lizard[edit]
The iteration of the baazrag that went on to be the "canon" version of the creature in the eyes of first TSR and then Wizrds of the Coast debuted in the pages of Dragon Magazine #185, alongside other Dark Sun animals such as the heavy Crodlu, the Drik, the Jalath'gak, the Ruktoi and the Watroach.
This iteration of the baazrag is characterized as a small omnivorous beetle-reptile thing that hunts in loose packs. Largely inoffensive... y'know, by Athasian standards, they are sometimes kept as domesticated animals used to hunt vermin or pull loads, kind of like a psychotic reptilian Chihuahua. On rare occasions, female baazrag give birth to a single pup; this is a sterile mutant called a Boneclaw Baazrag, which will grow into a giant and be far more dangerous upon reaching adulthood.
The difference between the Prism Pentad and Drag-Mag versions of the baazrag did not go unnoticed, leading to Skip Williams commenting in the "Sage Advice" of Dragon #190 that either both races co-exist on Athas and have the same name with different pronunciations (BAAZ-rag for the lizards, baas-RAG for the ape-men) or the ape-men are actually a garbled misinterpretation of the boneclaws, an answer that nobody bought.
These baazrag were updated to Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition in Dungeon Magazine #110.
They were updated to Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition with only minor lore changes; in this alternate lore, boneclaws are absent. Also, rather than being males ad females, all baazrag are females; but only particularly dominant females will grow into the much larger fertile "Breeders" (Large sized vs. the Small size of regular baazrag), and when one does, the next-most dominant baazrags will turn into males who fertilize her.
External Links[edit]
You can find an essay talking about the strange and convoluted origins of the two baazrags here: