Dungeons & Delvers: Bugbear

A bugbear in Dungeons & Dragons is a sort of cousin of goblin-kind, which of course means that it is simply a humanoid with somewhat bestial features, and stands at the higher end of the Medium scale (while consigned to the lower end of the level/Hit Die scale). Aesthetically and conceptually they've remained pretty consistent throughout editions, having a mechanical edge of one sort or another that makes it easier for them to sneak about.

Given other human-sized-and-shaped threats, this isn't particularly interesting: you can just give humans another Hit Die or two, a Stealth bonus/surprise penalty, and they would pose precisely the same style and severity of threat. Hell, you could easily justify a decent Stealth modifier for gnolls, given that you would expect them to require such skills in order to successfully hunt and ambush prey.

What makes this worse is the bugbear's vague-and-varied mythological roots. While I don't think D&D needs to cleave to folklore and mythology (especially when impractical to adapt to a game), if the end result is merely a hairy, tall humanoid I think it needs to go back to the drawing board, at least figuratively, especially given that you don't need to dig too deep to discover interesting ideas and abilities.

Bugbears are at least conceptually related to goblins and boogeymen, and as with both no definitive appearance or specific abilities are attributed to them. However given that goblins have the goblin angle covered (and "tall goblin" isn't interesting), for Dungeons & Delvers we're going with the creepy/demonic bear description:

Flavor-wise bugbears would tend to be found alone, each initially generated by the fear instilled in children by their ironically well-meaning parents, but quickly sustained by blood and horror wrought by their actions. Weaker bugbears wouldn't dare confront a typical party, preferring to ambush individuals, but a more powerful one would possess both the size and strength necessary to tackle an entire group of adventurers.

They would start out as Medium-sized and grow in size and power the longer they live, the more people they devour (with a preference for disobedient children), and the more fear they inspire. This of course creates the possibility of a Huge or even Gargantuan bugbear, though I'd imagine such a creature would need to devour hundreds, even thousands of victims.

Additionally, in Dungeons & Delvers sunlight is generated by a god and so isn't a mere nuisance to many monstrous creatures, but something that weakens, harms, and even kills them: a bugbear needs to remain hidden during the day, and the bigger it is, the harder it is to find a suitable lair. 

Bugbears would be quite strong: a newly generated bugbear would possess something like a base Strength of +3, while a Large one would be around +8. They would have a good Stealth check, and can also blend in with foliage (represented by an ability to hide in plain sight and/or Assistance on the check). More powerful bugbears would simply be able to turn invisible for a period of time.

This coupled with its newfound diet and sunlight vulnerabilities would technically differentiate it more from a bear than a "classic" bugbear is from a human, but I think we can do better.

For starters, a fear effect makes sense given its boogeyman archetype (possibly also inflict psychic damage, Dazed, Stunned, etc), though at first this might only work on children. Actually, a level/Hit Die cap would also work: start out at 1, and then scale up as the bugbear becomes more powerful. Save DC to resist would also increase.

Something else would be the ability to mimic the voice of anyone it has devoured, which would have obvious applications of luring more people to their doom. Maybe the voice is initially quite clear, but as the victim is digested it becomes more distorted, so the bugbear can't do this forever. Oh, and advanced bugbears would be able to generate this voice at a different point, similar to a ventriloquist or ghost sound spell. This way people aware of what the bugbear can do won't just expect to follow the voice right to it.

Lastly, it would be able to extend an arm from its mouth. The initial length would be something like 30 feet, which it would use to snatch a victim from a distance. It is quite flexible and the bugbear would have full control over it, so it could also be used to trip or strangle someone. The more powerful a bugbear becomes, the longer this limb gets, and at some point could even extend multiple limbs at once.

I think all of this is more than enough to make bugbears distinct from pretty much any other monster I can think of. They'd have access to a number of these abilities, but I think this is fine given that it's intended to be a solitary threat.