Mugumba Mud-Dwellers
by Jamie BatyCoM 57
Medium Monstrous Humanoid
Hit Dice: 2d8+2 (11 hp)
Initiative: -1 (-1 Dex)
Speed: 30 ft. (6 squares), swim 20 ft. (4 squares)
Armour Class: 13 (-1 Dex, +4 natural), touch 9, flat-footed 13
Base Attack/Grapple: +2/+3
Attack: Claw +3 melee (1d4 +1)
Full Attack: 2 Claw +3 melee (1d4 +1) or by weapon +3 melee (by weapon +1)
Space/Reach: 5 ft. /5 ft.
Special Attacks: -
Special Qualities: Darkvision 60ft., hold breath
Saves: Fort +1, Ref +2, Will +3
Abilities: Str 13, Dex 9, Con 12, Int 12, Wis 10, Cha 8
Skills: Heal +7, Hide +1, Knowledge (engineering) +8, Listen +2, Move Silently +1, Spot +2, Survival +3, Swim +7
Feats: Self-Sufficient
Environment: Temperate aquatic, marshes
Organisation: Solitary, Family (2-5), or Colony (5-20)
Challenge Rating: 1
Treasure: Standard
Alignment: Usually neutral good
Advancement: by character class
Level Adjustment: +1
The mugumbas are humanoids adapted to living in wetlands. They have webbed hands and feet, sleek fur covering their bodies, and whiskered muzzles.
Mugumbas are omnivorous; their diet includes fish, snakes, eels, and many plants (roots, fruits, berries, and nuts) they can find in the swamp or in surrounding woodlands.
Scholars who encounter or hear about the mugumbas argue over whether they evolved naturally from indigenous beaver-like creatures, or whether they are the product of magical experimentation.
Combat
Mugumbas are relatively peaceful creatures, but will fight to protect family and home. Their blunt claws are ideal for scooping mud but also capable of slashing unprotected flesh. When angered or frightened, they may pick up a stick to use as a club. Mugumbas bearing metal weapons such as swords and knives have been encountered, though it's thought that they found the weapons rather than fashioned them on their own. They sometimes drape themselves in weeds and algae as a form of camouflage.
Hold Breath (Ex): A mugumba can hold its breath for a number of rounds equal to 10x its Constitution score before it risks drowning. For a typical mugumba, this equals 120 rounds, or 20 minutes.
Skills: Mugumba mud-dwellers have a +4 racial bonus to all Hide, Knowledge (engineering), and Swim checks.
Society
Mugumba society is primitive. They live in extended families of sisters, their mates, and their children. Mugumbas practice simple engineering skills to alter streams and ponds to their liking. This usually involves damming the stream with intricately woven branches and reeds. They break and rebuild their dams as needed to regulate water level and prevent stagnation. Ambitious mugumba families dredge muck out of swampy areas to increase the depth and freshness of the water flowing through their homes. Mugumbas build houses similar to beaver lodges. These large domed structures are woven from sticks and reeds, just like their dams. The underwater entrance leads up a tunnel to an inner chamber, which is above the water level and remains dry. Most mugumba lodges have a single central communal room. At night and during bad weather the entire mugumba family huddles together in the lodge to sleep.
Mugumba Mud-Dwellers as Characters
Most mugumba are experts. A mugumba cleric has access to two of the following domains: Family, Knowledge, Nature, and Water.