A Review of the Role Playing Game Supplement Troglodytes of the Tentacled One

Troglodytes of the Tentacled One by Creighton Broadhurst is a role playing game supplement published by Raging Swan Press for use with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. As such, the supplement is covered by the Open Game License and therefore some of it is considered to be Open Game Content. This is one in a series of supplements each detailing a tribe of nonhumans; in this case, a tribe of troglodytes living beneath the Orestone in The Lonely Coast campaign mini-setting.

This is a twenty-three page bookmarked PDF that is available from RPGNow at the regular price of $2.99 but which was purchased as part of a special bundle for the greatly reduced price of $0.13. Troglodytes of the Tentacled One are one of the tribes that is incorporated in the compilation supplement, TRIBES Anthology I.

Two pages are Raging Swan’s standard plain front and rear covers. One page is blank and, three pages have the front matter and Contents, the Contents page also listing stat blocks by CR, new spells, new magic items and new feats (and, interestingly, a short poem on the troglodytes). One page is a standard Reading Stat Blocks page, explaining how the stats have been calculated and around two thirds of a page is the Open Game License. The supplement comes in two formats, one optimised for screen and the other for print.

Troglodytes of the Tentacled One opens with a full page title. It starts off detailing their ecology & society, religion, lair, combat and tactics, with sidebars on tribal body art and what the images signify, Amon-Pyr, the demonic deity of the troglodytes, using the tribe in the GM’s own campaign and a brief bit on the Lonely Coast.

One page is taken up by six new feats to help distinguish the troglodytes from others and two new alternative class features.

Another page has two new singular magic items, not ones created by the tribe in its current state but found from looting remnants of their empire.

Stat Blocks, Allies and Encounters opens with a full page title. Roughly a page provides a number of different encounters with the troglodytes at different ELs ranging from 4 to 10. Throughout this section there are stat blocks for nine different troglodytes. Also in this section is Irfel-Thoth, the Tentacled One and ruler of the tribe, an Elder Aboleth that the troglodytes believe to be an avatar of their deity.

New Cleric Spells takes up another page and details four new spells granted to troglodyte followers of Amon-Pyr. Interestingly in this section is the reference to a book called the Amoninomicon, a book owned by the troglodyte empire that was turned into scattered pages, which the aboleth is seeking. Nothing more is said on this book – which is definitely reminiscent of the Necronomicon – in this supplement unfortunately.

Finally, there is a new template, Degenerate Creature, and an example degenerate troglodyte followed by details on how to design other tribe members.

The PDF is unusually well bookmarked and the Contents are hyperlinked, making navigation above average. The text maintains a two column format, and one notable error was spotted – in the New Magic Items section the appearance of what is definitely a sword describes it as a whip. There are a number of black and white illustrations, which look like they may be made for the supplement.

The tribe itself is quite interesting – a remnant of a once-great empire who have forgotten what they once were, and have now declined a lot. There are some references to the troglodyte empire; more on this empire can be found in Ancient Empire of the Troglodytes, a supplement produced at a much later date than this one (an extract from which can be found in GM’s Monthly Miscellany: June 2015). Not as much is detailed here on this empire as would be liked.

The new spells and feats allow the troglodytes to stand out and the stats and encounters provide a decent number of ways to encounter them. There are some plots of the aboleth, who admittedly would be a dangerous opponent, to add detail.

This tribe may be located under a specific coastal rock in the Lonely Coast, but it’s underground and there are no location-specific details – including any on where they live (the remnant of a once-mighty underground city) unfortunately – and dropping the tribe into another campaign is quite easy. One problem is actually encountering them; they are rarely seen above ground and without some hooks or more details on the Amoninomicon, there is little reason to go looking for them. This could do with a companion adventure of some type that involves said book and the players, so that they do have a reason to seek out the tribe. Troglodytes of the Tentacled One is an interesting, and well detailed, tribe of troglodytes all the same, and it can be found by clicking here.