Grung

Aggressive and fiercely territorial, the amphibious Grung inhabit Shinraja’s tropical jungles within a rigid, color-coded caste system where status defines every individual’s role from birth

Culture & Society

Grungs are aggressive froglike humanoids found in the tropical jungles of Shinraja.  They are fiercely territorial and extremely distrustful of outsiders.

Grung society is a caste system.  Each caste lays eggs in a separate hatching pool, and juvenile grungs join their caste upon emergence from the hatchery.  All grungs are a dull greenish gray when born, but each individual takes on the color of its caste as it grows to adulthood.  From lowest to highest caste, grungs can be green, blue, purple, red, orange, or gold.

All grungs secrete a substance that is harmless to themselves but poisonous to other creatures.  Being amphibious, grungs require water to live; any grung that fails to immerse itself in water for at least 1 hour during a day gains a level of exhaustion.

Green grungs are the tribe’s warriors, hunters, and laborers, and blue grungs work as artisans or other domestic roles.  Supervising and guiding both groups are the purple grungs, which serve as administrators and commanders.  Red grungs are the tribe’s scholars and magic users. They are superior to purple, blue, and green grungs and given proper respect even by grungs of higher status.  Higher castes include orange grungs, which are elite warriors that have authority over all lesser grungs, and gold grungs, which hold the highest leadership positions.  A tribe’s sovereign is always a gold grung.

A grung normally remains in its caste for life. On rare occasions, an individual that distinguishes itself with great deeds can earn an invitation to join a higher caste. Through a combination of herbal tonics and ritual magic, an elevated grung changes color and is inducted into its new caste in the same way that a juvenile of the caste would be.  From then on, the grung and its progeny are members of this new caste.

Racial Traits

• Amphibious – You can breathe air and water
• Poisonous Skin – Any creature that grapples you or otherwise comes into direct contact with your skin must succeed on a DC 12 Constitution saving throw or become poisoned for 1 minute. A poisoned creature no longer in direct contact with you can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success. You can also apply this poison to any piercing or slashing weapon as part of an attack with that weapon, though when you hit the poison reacts differently. The target must succeed on a DC 12 Constitution saving throw or take 2d4 poison damage.
• Standing Leap – Your long jump is up to 25 feet and your high jump is up to 15 feet, with or without a running start.
• Water Dependency – If you fail to immerse yourself in water for at least 1 hour during a day, you suffer one level of exhaustion at the end of that day. You can only recover from this exhaustion through magic or by immersing yourself in water for at least 1 hour.