Mobogo

The mobogo is another example of what I think we’ll call from now on “contingent monsters”—that is, their presence in an adventure is typically contingent on that of another monster or monsters.  In the mobogo’s case, as the Bestiary 3 notes, “Nearly all mobogos are attended by tribes of boggards.”

Which is fine—after all, boggards have probably been plaguing your players since Level 2.  First you throw some isolated boggard skirmishes at them, then some tougher encounters with traps at Level 3 some Advanced boggards or boggards with class levels at Level 5, and finally a whole tribe with a mobogo as the big finish around Level 8 or 9 before it’s time to move on to dragons and demons.

Still, I wonder about mobogos: What kinds of “pleasing swamp art” (again per the Bestiary 3) do they collect?  To what uses does an Int 6 monster put speak with animals or pass without trace, let alone its other abilities?  What about the very rare mobogos (if any) found apart from boggards?  Are they somehow related to dragons (wings, abilities!) or froghemoths (three eyes!)?  These are the things this blog makes me think about!

A green dragon tears apart the swamp looking for her lost child (a very young specimen).  A boggard tribe has captured it (at great cost to froggy life and limb) at the behest of their mobogo king, who is convinced he is part dragon.  The mobogo seems to think that mating with or devouring the dragon (or both) will unlock its own draconic potential.  Caught in the middle of this are the blameless subsistence fishers and trappers who beg for aid from passing adventurers.

The mobogo Burripolp found he enjoyed boggards more as a delicacies than as worshippers.  After devouring his tribe entirely, he sought other humanoids to consume.  Through crude cunning (and almost constant use of charm animal) he has turned the entire swamp into a network of animal spies who inform him of any two-legs entering his domain.

A corpulent prince of gluttonous appetites, Reginald went too far when he burned the wagons of the Ishi traveling folk, forcing them to toil in his fields as serfs.  A witch of the Ishi folk cursed Reginald that his hunger would consume him.  Now Reginald has grown so bloated he has become trapped in his own throne, and at his next public audience he will turn permanently into a mobogo and feast on his court—unless some brave adventurers happen to be on hand to stop him or the curse.

—Pathfinder #12 88–89 & Pathfinder Bestiary 3 194

Still recovering from the time change (I woke at 5:45 AM today), but doing my best.

Hey did, I mention justjingles sent me a print of this?  It’s pretty!…  *dreamy face*  (And, for you print nerds out there, it’s served up all glossy and varnishy or something cool.  In other words, thanks Al!)