Lizardfolk
Only a fool looks at the lizardfolk and sees nothing more than scaly humanoids. Their physical shape notwithstanding, lizardfolk have more in common with iguanas or dragons than they do with humans, dwarves, or elves. Lizardfolk possess an alien and inscrutable mindset, their desires and thoughts driven by a different set of basic principles than those of warm-blooded creatures. Their dismal swamp homes might lie hundreds of miles from the nearest human settlement, but the gap between their way of thinking and that of the smooth-skins is far greater.
“If you’re considering taking a scaled one along on an adventure, remember this important fact. The strange, inhuman glint in its eyes as it looks you over is the same look you might give a freshly grilled steak.”
– Tordek, dwarf fighter and adventurer
Despite their alien outlook, some lizardfolk make an effort to understand and, in their own manner, befriend people of other races. Such lizardfolk make faithful and skilled allies.
Alien Minds
The lizardfolk’s reptilian nature comes through not only in their appearance, but also in how they think and act. Lizardfolk experience a more limited emotional life than other humanoids. Like most reptiles, their feelings largely revolve around fear, aggression, and pleasure.
Lizardfolk experience most feelings as detached descriptions of creatures and situations. For example, humans confronted by an angry troll experience fear on a basic level. Their limbs shake, their thinking becomes panicked and jumbled, and they react by instinct. The emotion of fear takes hold and controls their actions. In contrast, lizardfolk see emotions as traits assigned to other creatures, objects, and situations. A lizardfolk doesn’t think, “I’m scared.” Instead, aggressive, stronger creatures register to the lizardfolk as fearsome beings to be avoided if possible. If such creatures attack, lizardfolk flee, fighting only if cornered. Lizardfolk aren’t scared of a troll; instead, they understand that a troll is a fearsome, dangerous creature and react accordingly.
Lizardfolk never become angry in the way others do, but they act with aggression toward creatures that they could defeat in a fight and that can’t be dealt with in some other manner. They are aggressive toward prey they want to eat, creatures that want to harm them, and so on.
Pleasurable people and things make life easier for lizardfolk. Pleasurable things should be preserved and protected, sometimes at the cost of the lizardfolk’s own safety. The most pleasurable creatures and things are ones that allow lizardfolk to assess more situations as benign rather than fearsome.
Cold and Calculating
Most humanoids describe cold-blooded people as lacking in emotion and empathy. The same label serves as an apt depiction of lizardfolk.
Lacking any internal emotional reactions, lizardfolk behave in a distant manner. They don’t mourn fallen comrades or rage against their enemies. They simply observe and react as a situation warrants.
Lizardfolk lack meaningful emotional ties to the past. They assess situations based on their current and future utility and importance. Nowhere does this come through as strongly as when lizardfolk deal with the dead. To a lizardfolk, a comrade who dies becomes a potential source of food. That companion might have once been a warrior or hunter, but now the body is just freshly killed meat.
A lizard folk who lives among other humanoids can, over time, learn to respect other creatures’ emotions. The lizardfolk doesn’t share those feelings, but instead assesses them in the same clinical manner. Yes, the fallen dwarf might be most useful as a meal, but hacking the body into steaks provokes aggression in the other humanoids and makes them less helpful in battle.
The lizardfolk mindset might seem unnecessarily cruel, but it helps them survive in a hostile environment. The swamps they inhabit are filled with a staggering variety of threats. Lizardfolk focus on survival above all, without sentiment. Lizardfolk assess everyone and everything in terms of utility. Art and beauty have little meaning for them. A sharp sword serves a useful and good purpose, while a dull sword is a dead weight without a whetstone.
Lizardfolk see little need to plan more than a season or so into the future. This approach allows them to maintain their current level of influence in the world, but it limits their growth. Lizardfolk have no interest in developing writing, making long-term plans, or cultivating other methods to progress beyond their simpie existence as hunters and gatherers.
Hapless Soft Ones
At their core, lizardfolk view other humanoids with an indifference verging on pity. Born into the world lacking stout scales and sharp teeth, it’s a wonder they have managed to survive for so long. The typical human would barely make it through a day in the swamps. Still, if other creatures prove useful to lizardfolk, those creatures can trigger a protective response made all the stronger by their apparent weakness. The lizardfolk assess such beings as hatchlings, young ones incapable of protecting themselves but who might prove useful in the future if they receive care.
Lizardfolk Names
Lizardfolk take their names from the Draconic language. They use simple descriptives granted by the tribe based on an individual’s notable deeds or actions. For example, Garurt translates as “axe,” a name given to a lizardfolk warrior who defeated an ore and claimed his foe’s weapon. A lizardfolk who likes to hide in a stand of reeds before ambushing an animal might be called Achuak, which means “green” to describe how she blends into the foliage.
Lizardfolk make no distinction between male and female in their naming conventions. Each example name includes its translation in parenthesis.
Lizardfolk Names: Achuak (green), Aryte (war), Baeshra (animal), Darastrix (dragon), Garurt (axe), Irhtos (secret), Jhank (hammer), Kepesk (storm), Kethend (gem), Korth (danger), Kosj (small), Kothar (demon), Litrix (armor), Mirik (song), Othokent (smart), Sauriv (eye), Throden (many), Thurkear (night), Usk (iron), Valignat (burn), Vargach (battle), Verthica (mountain), Vutha (black), Vyth (steel)
Lizardfolk traits
Your lizardfolk character has the following racial traits.
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Age. Lizardfolk reach maturity around age 14 and rarely live longer than 60 years.
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Alignment. Most lizardfolk are neutral. They see the world as a place of predators and prey, where life and death are natural processes. They wish only to survive, and prefer to leave other creatures to their own devices.
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Languages. You know Common and Draconic.
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Lizardfolk Speech
Lizardfolk can master Common, but their mindset results in a speech pattern distinct from other humanoids. Lizardfolk rarely use metaphors. Their speech is almost always literal. They might pick up idioms, but only with some difficulty.
Names confuse them, unless they are descriptive. They tend to apply their own naming conventions to other creatures using Common words.
Lizardfolk use active verbs to describe the world. A lizardfolk in cold weather might say, “This wind brings cold” rather than “I feel cold.” Lizardfolk tend to define things in terms of actions, rather than effects.
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Size. Lizardfolk are a little bulkier and taller than humans, and their colorful frills make them appear even larger. Your size is Medium.
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Speed. Your base speed is 30 ft.
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Bite. Your fanged maw is a natural weapon, which you can use to make unarmed strikes. If you hit with it, you deal piercing damage equal to 1d6 + your Strength modifier.
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Cunning Artisan. As a ritual, you can harvest bone and hide from a slain beast, construct, dragon, monstrosity, or plant creature of size Small or larger to create one of the following items: a shield, a club, a javelin, or 1d4 darts or blowgun needles. To use this trait, you need a blade, such as a dagger, or appropriate artisan’s tools, such as leatherworker’s tools.
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Hunter’s Lore. Add the following skills to your class skills and gain 2 skill points to spend on them: Animal Handling, Nature, Perception, Stealth and Survival.
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Natural Armor. You have tough, scaly skin. When you aren’t wearing armor, your AC is 13 + your Dexterity modifier. You can use your natural armor to determine your AC if the armor you wear would leave you with a lower AC. A shield’s benefits apply as normal while you use your natural armor.
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Environmental Adaption. The appearance of lizardfolk differs a lot depending of the environment where they live. Select an adaption in the section below. Each adaption will give you additional traits.
Enviromental Adaption
Lizardfolk can be found in almost all types of envirinments and climates. Their outlook and way of life is usually the same, but they have adapted differently to their environment, resulting in very varies appearances and abilities.
Blackscale Lizardfolk
The blackscale lizardfolk are the most primitive and bestial of the lizardfolk species, with long, knobbly snouts and eyes and nostrils on situated on top of its head. They have murky black scales to better blend in with the swamps where they are most at home, and have mastered the art of hunting in the swamps, using their environment to put down their foes with extreme efficiency.
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Speed You have a 30 ft swim speed.
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Death Roll. When grappling, you count as one size larger. Additionally, you have advantage on checks to prevent a grappled creature from escaping.
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Hold Breath. You can hold your breath for up to 30 minutes at a time.
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Hungry Jaws. As a bonus action, or as one attack during an Attack action, you can make a bite attack against an adjacent target. If the attack hits, it deals piercing damage equal to 1d6 + your strength modifier. If the target is a living, blooded creature, you also gain temporary hit points equal to the damage dealt.
The damage increases to 2d6 at 6th level, 3d6 at 11th level, and 4d6 at 16th level. Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest.
Frillneck Lizardfolk
Frillneck lizardfolk are found along coastlines and close to rivers and lakes. There they stick to fishing with spears, then eating the fish then and there, bones and all. They appear drab at first, but when they feel threatened they can show a brightly colored frill previously folded at their neck.
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Size. Slender and short, frillnecks are smaller than other lizardfolk.
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Hidden Frill. You have a hidden, brightly colored frill folded over your neck. As a reaction, when a creature makes an attack against you, you can unfurl your frill and hiss. The target must beat a contest with their Wisdom (Insight) check against the result of your Intimidation check or waste the attack.
Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a short rest.
- Venomous Glands and Flaring Sails. You have glands in your mouth that you can use to spray poison against enemies. The poison counts as the poison spray cantrip. Constitution is your spellcasting ability for this spell.
Glider Lizardfolk
Glider lizardfolk are found in mountain regions and among the highest treetops. They have the ability to flatten their ribs and glide from tree to tree, or from cliff to cliff.
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Speed. You have a 20 ft climb speed.
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Glide. You can flatten your body, stretching skin between your elongated ribs to slow your fall and allow for gliding. You fall at a rate of 70 ft a round, you take no damage from falls less than 100 ft, and half damage for any fall greater than 100 ft. You can also glide forward, moving 2 ft forward for every foot you fall.
Greenscale Lizardfolk
Found tropical rain forests, greenscales are perfect ambush predators. Their skin coloration is normally a yellow-green hue, but can change with their emotions and the background, allowing them to lie and wait for the perfect moment to strike.
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Chameleon Eyes. Greenscales have large bulbous eyes which allow them to look in two different directions at once. The Perception - Sense-sight skill cost 0 to you.
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Color Change. Slowly moving allows you to focus on changing the color of your scales to match your background. If you move less than 5 ft this round, you gain advantage on Stealth checks. However, because your skin also reflects your emotional state, you always have disadvantage on Deception checks.
Sandscale lizardfolk
Sandscale lizardfolk live in deserts that would inhospitable to most other races. Despite, or maybe because of these harsh conditions, Sandscale lizards have adapted to become ruthlessly efficient desert predators. Whether basking during the day or hunting in twilight hours, sandscales are adept at remaining unseen among the shifting sands as they are colored to match their surroundings.
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Desert Born. The desert has bred you to be able to survive on minimal food and water. You can eat half-rations for 4 days or eat and drink nothing for 2 days before suffering levels of exhaustion. You suffer none of the ill effects of extreme heat. You can also expertly traverse the desert, giving you advantage on checks made to travel across, find food, and avoid obstacles desert areas.
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Desert Mirage You have advantage on Stealth checks to hide in sandy or rocky terrain.
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Venomous Bite. Your produce a slowing toxin in your saliva. When you hit with your bite attack, you can choose to excrete venom. The targets takes an extra 1d4 poison damage and is reduced to half movement for the next 1d4 rounds. Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a short rest.
Treewalker Lizardfolk
These lizardfolk make their home in forests where they live high up in trees. They can stick to most surfaces allowing them to climb almost unclimbable surfaces, including upside down on ceilings.
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Size. Treewalker lizardfolk are shorter and much less bulky that regular lizardfolk.
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Adhesive and Agile. Your slight frame and sticky hands allows you to scale walls and even across ceilings. You have a climbing speed equal to your walking speed.
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Detachable Tail. Your tail can come off, making for an excellent distraction. As a reaction to becoming grappled, you can detach your tail to comletely avoid it. If this is the result of an attack, the attack is a miss and deals no damage. In addition the attacker rolls attacks with disadvantage until the end of your next turn. You can’t use this feature again until a week has passed.
Class options
Lizardfolk approach some classes a bit different compared to other races. When you select a class, it is modified as follows:
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Alchemist
Most lizardfolk never even come into contact with the alchemical, so alchemists are more or less impossible to find.
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Barbarian
Raging lizardfolk often give in completely to their primal rage. While raging, you can bite, rip and tear with your natural weapons, dealing 1d6 piercing or slashing damage. If attacking only with natural weapons while raging, you may make an additional attack using a bonus action as if wielding an off-hand weapon.
In addition, lizardfolk barbarians have access to the Path of the Tailfighter and Path of the Trophy Hunter archetypes.
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Bard
Lizardfolk see no point in music or any type of entertainment, as it does not help with survival.
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Cavalier
Lizardfolk do not become cavaliers. Mounts are often not comfortable with these creatures on their backs. Also, a lizardfolk would see it as a weakness to be dependent on another creature this way.
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Cleric
The lizardfolk do not worship any gods but Semuanya, the lizardfolk deity of survival.
If you are a Cleric following Semuanya and have one of his domains, then whenever the Cleric class description mentions your Wisdom modifier, you may instead use your proficiency bonus.
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Cursed
Lizardfolk cannot become lycanthropes.
You may choose Wisdom or Charisma as your spellcasting ability instead of Intelligence.
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Druid
Lizardfolk are very much in tune with nature.
Whenever the druid class description mentions your Wisdom modifier, you may instead use your proficiency bonus.
In addition, lizardfolk druids have access to the circle of the ancients archetype.
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Feyblood
A lizardfolk feyblood will usually be cast out of the community.
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Fighter
The natural traits of lizardfolk, such as thick scales or primal ferocity, makes them fearsome fighters.
Whenever the Fighter class description mentions your Strength modifier you may instead use your proficiency bonus. This also applies to attack and damage rolls using this ability.
In addition, you may use your proficiency bonus instead of abiliy modifier when calculating AC and initiative.
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Inquisitor
Lizardfolk ignore the religious practices of other creatures, so the inquisitor role does not exist.
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Paladin
Paladins do not exist among lizardfolk.
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Ranger
The ranger is the epitome of self-sufficiency and suits lizardfolk well.
Whenever the Ranger class description mentions your Wisdom modifier you may instead your proficiency bonus. In addition, you may use the same modifier instead of Strength or Dexterity when attacking (attack and damage). Make this choice at level 1 and it cannot be changed later.
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Professional
Like any other more primitive races they tend to prefer and value the more practical fields, like the candlemaker, cook, smith or forester.
If belonging to a more practical field, whenever the Professional class description mentions your Wisdom modifier, you may instead your proficiency bonus.
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Rogue
Lizardfolk are in essence ambush predators. This has been their way of surviving as one of the oldest existing folk.
When attacking from an ambush (i.e. the target is not in combat and not aware of you), the damage die of your bite attack is increased by one step (this includes sneak attack). In addition you may choose to automatically grapple the target.
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Sorcerer
Sorcerers are just as rare and varied as within other folk.
Whenever the Sorcerer class description mentions your Charisma modifier, you may instead use your proficiency bonus.
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Swashbuckler
Even though lizardfolk might seem unlikely to become swashbucklers, physically they are a good fit. They have thick hide so they do not need armor, and some of the lizardfolk adaptions grant them a lot of mobility. Lizardfolk that choose to take the path of swashbuckling tend to more clever than calculating, and do not fit the
Whenever the Swashbuckler class description mentions your Intelligence modifier, you may instead use your proficiency bonus.
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Warlock
Most lizardfolk would see it as a weakness to be a dependent on a patron for their power.
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Wizard
The lizardfolk tongue does not have a written form. Most lizard folk never come into contact with any writing, so wizards are extremely rare.