My Take on Lizard-Folk

[Tybalt]

My version of Lizardfolk will not so much be reptile-men but dinosaur-men. I was thinking about what they would be like, and I liked the idea that perhaps they are more like roughly human sized velociraptors that have more handlike front appendages (though still with claws) whose feet are somewhat splayed and less for running really fast than for swimming well, whose tails are able to help them balance and swim as well. They would of course look 'lizard like' to humans and other more human like races, but in fact would not be. They would be warm blooded creatures that need to eat regularly (as opposed to reptiles which eat rarely) they would be social creatures and would rear their young to adulthood. It would also be easier for saurian type creatures to speak a humanoid tongue, since they are somewhat related to birds. These are some of my thoughts on the physical side of things.

Basic Society
Socially, Lizard-Folk are clans based around a chieftain and advisors. While the females tend to be a bit more stay at home the chief female is responsible for the eggs and young which is considered very important. It is also she who is responsible for deciding where they live, what is good to eat, and the daily rituals of home life. Unmated females are as likely to explore and hunt as the males. At home Lizard-Folk have hierarchy based on leadership alone; they tend actually to rather affectionate with members of their own clan, and are very protective of the hatchlings.

Other clans are regarded warily but can be worked alongside if there is common cause, otherwise they avoid one another.

 

Religion
The worship of Semuanya, their ancestral deity, is partly racial memory and partly precepts and laws handed down generation to generation. Whether it is actually contacting the spirit of Semuanya or not is irrelevant; the shamans are able by focusing on their ancestor to learn things about the land and manipulate it to their use, to tame dangerous creatures and have them as guards and scouts, to heal, to find food and many other things. (In effect a form of druidism as far as the kind of spells they get)

Basic Culture

Lizard-Folk do not wear clothing; their genitalia are concealed except during times of mating and they are oviparous. However they do wear pigments, decorations and will also wear hide or leather straps to hold weapons and pouches and the like. During special ritual times, or during mating ceremonies or hatching ceremonies they paint their bodies striking colors.

They have a number of different percussion type instruments, playing streched hide drums of different types, xylophone like instruments made of hollow rods or other such things, and so on. Their own throats can produce very interesting sounds as well and they can 'sing' in their own way producing some sounds that are hard for humnans to hear.

They do not cook; food is rendered into a semi-gelatinous state if they have time to do so; otherwise it is consumed raw. The processing of food requires certain herbs and spices to be rubbed into it, then it is sealed in a container. To non-Lizard-folk this is a repulsive way to eat. They will eat just about anything, including food that others might consider carrion. Because they are mostly marsh creatures they eat: birds, fish, crustaceans, mollusks, frogs, lizards, snakes, turtles, and if need be a variety of insects and invertebrates. They will also eat slain humanoids, demi-humans and humans if they have them on hand, but they don't seek them out. Survival is the main thing: that which is killed is eaten unless it is poisonous to them.

[Numinous]

I love it.  This is so stolen!

Really, you've made lizardfolk a viable society, which does not directly oppose or support civilization.  They're also very practical, which is a good thing IMO.  One question though.  How does being related to birds grant them an advantage in speaking the languages of humanoids?

[CYMRO]

How does being related to birds grant them an advantage in speaking the languages of humanoids?

Think parrots! :-p  :D

[Yair]

Brilliant!!!

Aside from their repulsive  ;) eating habits, how do they interact with the other races?

[Tybalt]

Thanks for the compliments ;)

Lizard-Folk are clannish and avoid casual involvement with other races, but in time of need or for trade do interact. They particularly don't have much time for the mammalian sentient races, since they tend to occupy different areas anyway and have also had a certain degree of negative contact--they are either regarded as primitives or as monsters for one thing. In the case of marsh dwelling or aquatic creatures they more have if living nearby them an etiquette and means of negotiating or trading, if the creatures in question are at least moderately amenable to that. More hostile creatures such as Eblis or Sahuagin are loathed and feared, and attacked if suitable.

In my campaign currently since I'm doing the Saltmarsh/U series updated the Lizard-Folk in my game are trying to align with the merfolk, koalinth and locathah against a local group of Sahuagin that drove them from their ancestral home.

[Xathan]

I really like it: it kind of reminds me of my old Ratayas, especially the raptor appearance. It almost makes me want to play a lizardfolk, if it wasn't for the crappy stats...maybe we could fix that.

[Tybalt]

I have to admit I hadn't entirely thought of them as a player race, I was more developing them so that I could describe them and how they seem to my players. It's an intriguing thought though. I'll have to look up the Ratayas...

 Living Space and Technology

Lizard-Folk live in moundlike dwellings that are almost in a way like huge beaver lodges. They weave branches and sometimes the bones of larger animals together, packed with mud (ideally laced with clay) to form roof and walls. At least half of this lodge is partially underwater and there are likely to be at least one or two entraces that are submerged. In the warmest and safest chambers are the egg clutches and nesting chambers. These lodges are in marshy areas, either outright swamps or salt marshes and the like. They are made to be difficult to see by casual viewers, and they will often plant small trees on such mounds. If they have lived in an area for some time a shaman (druid) will direct the growth of the trees so that their roots support the structure rather than destroying it.

Within as well there are chambers for food storage and preparation, ritual rooms for the shamans, and a number of communal rooms where they live. Lizard-Folk view privacy as a function of meditation, leadership or nesting and not as a necessity for personal reasons; they take comfort rather in the company of one another and regard being alone as a matter of necessity or sorrow. Even the Chieftain, Chief Female and Shaman are always with others, the first two at the very least with one another and the latter with acolytes. (this is not to say that they are never found alone; scouts for instance may be found alone, and some meditative and ritual practices require aloneness as a test of character)

Lizard-Folk use a limited amount of furniture; they mostly use it to hold things on, since they themselves are able to crouch quite comfortably using their tails to balance. Most of this is made of wicker or of solid objects like carved stumps.

Regarding weapons: the lizard-folk use javelins, short spears (which are used for fishing/hunting and for war) axes, clubs, spiked clubs (morning star type) and daggers. The points for weapons are often made of things like shells, stone, or bone, but the clans that are closer to human civilization often pick up more sophisticated weaponry either through trade or through picking them up from dead humans who bothered them.

[snakefing]

Is there anything like lizard-folk politics? I mean, nations, alliances, treaties, wars, and the like? Or do different lodges ignore and avoid each other?

[SDragon]

Is there anything like lizard-folk politics? I mean, nations, alliances, treaties, wars, and the like? Or do different lodges ignore and avoid each other?

personal opinion, but id go with the latter. ignore-and-avoid tends to lead to less complications....

[snakefing]

Ignore and avoid seems like an option here. The level of social organization seems low enough. Although you'd expect at least informal alliances or rivalries between nearby lodges, at least to the level of their dealings with merfolk, koalinth, locathah.

[Tybalt]

Actually I was coming to that. The Lizard-Folk have every few years a grand gathering of the clan lodges. This requires the clans to have auguries and predictions done for the best time, and messengers sent and an auspicious gathering place (always impermanent) picked for this. In my campaign nearly all Lizard-Folk (concerned in the present campaign) that remain live in the Great Swamp anyway, so perhaps there might be fifteen clans altogether there. (there may be more in other remote areas of the world) At this time, the different clans engage in a sharing of knowledge through tales and songs and dances, there are matings (to keep the breeding from stagnating) and hunts and other such things. There is rarely a proper great leader or chief, since each clan is autonomous, but now and then in their history a sort of high war chief has been chosen from among existing leaders in time of war or great emergency. However it must be an emergency that affects all the different clans. Now and then conflicts will emerge between clans. Between one another warfare tends to be rather ceremonial and more based upon intimidation and face gaining rites, but it can burst into totally brutal violence if it is over a place to live or a hunting area, resulting especially during hard times in possibly a lodge being destroyed, eggs smashed, dominant males and females killed.

In the case of the clan my campaign is focused on, they are very much an isolated group, living as they do so close to humanity.

[Matt Larkin (author)]

Very nice.  You have a vast amount of detail here, I'm impressed.  I like how you detail some many aspects of society like technology and so forth.

As you know, I also thought lizardfolk could be deviated from the traditional - in my case into several different races, including crocodile-like ones similar to core, and geckofolk (one of my favorites).

[Tybalt]

I think that's an interesting idea, though in my creatures' case they are not reptiles at all but more closely related to dinosaurs. They are only called lizard folk because they are sort of scaley and have claws and yellow and black eyes and so on.

[Matt Larkin (author)]

In FR there is a race called Saurials that are dino-people.  I cannot tell you too much else 'cause I don't really buy FR stuff...(as I generally make my own settings).

[Tybalt]

Classes and Normal Traits

Lizard folk may be druids, barbarians, beast-riders, fighters, scouts and bards if they have the statistics for it. While the bardic idea may seem strange in fact their strong sense of oral tradition and the curiousity that would prompt any lizard-folk to adventure at all makes it in my opinion a plausible option. In fact those rare individuals among them capable of being bards are often emissaries since song is a universal language as is storytelling.

Beast riding Lizard-Folk are likely to be riding giant lizards, giant turtles and other such creatures if tamable. Because of their anatomy it is difficult to adapt to riding such animals as horses, camels or griffons.