Design and Development: Lizard Folk Part 5 - Final?

This is, unless a huge uproar of discontent occurs, the final write-up for the Lizard Folk as a playable species

Lizard Folk
Requirements: STR 9
Ability Modifiers: STR +1, CHA -1
Ability Min/Max: STR 9/19, DEX 3/18, CON 3/18, INT 8/18, WIS 8/18, CHA 3/15

Lizard Folk were one of the first species to organize after The Sorrow and begin to reorganize old settlements and expand into new ones. Their cold blooded nature makes them somewhat lethargic in colder temperatures as well as come across as blunt and cold during social interactions. Lizard Folk stand between 6 to 7 feet tall and weight around 200 pounds. They have thick, scaly, green skin and a large crest that runs from the top of their heads, down their spine, and along the length of a thick tail. The crest varies in color, from a variety of shades of greens, tans, and browns and often is seen as analogous to hair in other species. Because they are cold blooded and have little in the way of visible gender dimorphism, many other species have a hard time telling their genders apart. Lizard folk lay eggs, which are usually hatched and raised among other young in a hatchery.


Lizard Folk have ultraviolet vision up to 300'. Because of their scaly hides, all lizard folk have an AC of 7 when not wearing armor (this number is replaced with that of whatever armor is worn by a character). Lizard Folk tongues flick in and out like many lizards and snakes which allows them to "taste the air" gaining information about where things are even if they can't fully see them. Because of this if a Lizard Folk becomes blinded he only suffers a -2 penalty to hit, this includes the ability to hit invisible creatures, because of this advanced warning, Lizard Folk are only surprised on a roll 1 on a 1d6. Because they are cold blooded and have a slower metabolism lizard folk only need to eat once every three days. Their near match in temperature to the environment makes them hard to see with Infravision, thus, a group of only lizard folk will surprise a group using only Infravision to see on a 1-3 on 1d6.
 
Lizard Folk receive the following saving throw bonuses:

• +4 save versus poison

Lizard folk, like their reptilian kin have developed a strong defense against most poisons.


Lizard Folk may select the following classes, with the indicated level limits:

• Druids (7th Level limit)
• Fighter (12th Level limit)
• Illusionist (8th Level limit)
• Magic-User (8th Level limit)
• Ranger (8th Level limit)
• Thief (14th Level limit)

Lizard Folk thieves receive the following bonuses and penalties to thief abilities:

• Pick Locks (-5%)
• Pick Pockets (-10%)
• Move Silently (+7%)
• Climb Walls (+5%)
• Hide in Shadows (+5%)

Musing: Lizard Folk Eggs

Before I present what will hopefully be my final rendition of the Lizard Folk Species (look for it on Monday!) and hammer out the last of Bluestone Isle's Past (look for it... in the future!), I just have a small thought for today.

Lizard Folk, by nature of being cold blooded, lay eggs in which their young hatch. The way I see it, hatcheries are a communal place, where those females who are about to lay fertilized eggs go to be with other expectant mothers and mid-wives, it's a place made to be humid and warm and the children are raised up together after hatching. They are not abandoned strictly to midwives or some such after birth, the mothers stay with the young for a few years as they mature and most fathers come and visit, but Lizard Folk development at a young age is communal.

Just a random thought to help separate them more so from simple be "humans skinned slightly different," like many species end up in fantasy games and makes for good visuals, I still need an artist who enjoys working for free...

Design and Development: Lizard Folk Part 4

It's hard to draw a line on how many abilities and bonuses are too many when making a species using the AEC, after all, the game didn't go for straight one-to-one balances to make sure everything was even, instead it made the species fit the idea of what the species was and then worked out balance in other areas (mostly class and level restrictions).

For example, the Halfling has 5 special abilities on top of Saving Throw bonuses, now some of these abilities are very restrictive in how they work (+1 Initiative in an all Halfing party only) and others are very general (+1 To Hit on missile attacks).

Compare that to the Half-Orc, who only has two (a bonus to secret door detection and 60' Infravision), you could say 3 if you added the fact he can speak orc on top of Common and his alignment language I suppose.

Now all of these are also counter balanced by Ability Score Modifications, Max/Min, Thief Ability adjustments, Class/Level restriction. It's a lot of stuff!

That said, let's dissect what I have about the Lizard Folk so far and see if we can start narrowing in on final design.

Abilities
I gave the Lizard Folk a Requirement of having a STR of 9, the requirement of an ability or two at 9 seems to be the standard across the races in AEC (save the Gnome and his 8 in DEX), and it states quite clearly in the monster write up for Lizard Folk that they get +1 damage due to their high strength. This seems to indicate on average they are stronger then the other playable species, so I felt I'd carry that on.

The +1 STR to -2 CHA got atleast one mention of it not being a fair trade, and I agree, it's not, but there are lots of unfair Ability modification "trade offs" in the AEC. The Half-Orc is +1 STR and +1 CON to a -2 CHA which is even more ridiculous then the Lizard Folk modifier. Of course this is slightly balanced by not having as many abilities and class options. The -2 CHA is to portray the sorta cold demeanor the Lizard Folk have compared to other species (and a nod to being cold blooded), their emotions are a lot less expressive and a lot more black and white, that makes them slightly off putting to most other playable species.

No one seemed to have issues with the Ability Min/Max scores, they carry over the strength of course and add an 8 minimum to both INT and WIS, meaning this is a learned race (very rarely does a Lizard Folk not possess the ability to read and fully write, for instance)

Special Abilities
This is the heart of the discussion, as I came up with a lot of ideas for special abilities and I'm not sure which ones to go with or how many of them to use. Below are the ones I ended up with, along with a mechanic benefit if I could think of it (if I don't have the benefit and you like the special ability, suggest a mechanic behind it!)

• Scaly Hide: Gives them a natural AC of 7, this is overridden when armor is worn, but magical items that affect AC directly would subtract from this, not AC 9.
• Fire Resistance/Cold Vulnerability: They take half damage from fire based attack but double damage from cold based attack.
• Claws: This lets them do 1d4 + STR Mod damage with an unarmed attack as opposed to the standard 1d2 + STR Mod.
• Ultraviolet Vision: Something with rules for in the AEC and something I was told many reptile possess. It's a type of night vision that works better outside then in dungeons (see AEC for complete details)
• Taste the Air: Lizard Folk tongues flick in and out like many lizards and snakes (maybe the oddness of that adds to the CHA penalty too) which allows them to "taste the air" gaining information about where things are even if they can't fully see them. Because of this if a Lizard Folk becomes blinded he only suffers a -2 penalty to hit (-4 being the standard penalty to blindness, finally found that in the LL rulebook), this includes the ability to hit invisible creatures (which is also -4 in the same sentence as the blindness rules). If I wanted to extend this ability, you could also say that they only may be surprised on a 1 on 1d6.
• Cold Blooded: This actually give the Lizard Folk two advantages, first, Lizard Folk only need to eat once a week, instead of once a day (as mentioned in LL under Rations and Foraging) and two, their near match in temperature to the environment makes them hard to see with Infravision, thus, a group of only Lizard Folk (or I suppose a Lizard Folk traveling solo) will surprise a group using only Infravision to see on a 1-3 on 1d6, this bonus is negated if the Lizard Folk is carrying a light source (like all surprises are negated with the presence of a light source)
• Balance: Tails give the Lizard Folk good balance, though I'm not sure mechanical how to represent that.

So, there's the list I came up with, you may have others, feel free to suggest, but I'm curious to how many of those you think the Lizard Folk should have or which ones you disagree with.

The +4 Save vs. Poison is quite obvious, I think, most reptiles have higher toxic immunities then warm blooded mammals, mostly due to reduced metabolism and because many of them produce toxins.

Class/Level Limits
 I changed the Class/Level Limits around a little bit, the list now stands are follows:

•  Druid (7th Level)
• Fighter (12th Level)
• Illusionist (8th Level) 
• Magic User (8th Level)
• Ranger (8th Level)
• Thief (14th Level)

Now, this seems like a lot of classes, but I think in Deminar we're going to be slightly more lax about what classes are allowed, I've disliked several of the class restrictions on an "in universe" level and when I go about rewriting species that are already in the AEC you'll see that some of them will gain access to classes not allowed in the AEC, because it fits how the species operates in the Bluestone Isles better.

Thief Skill Adjustment
Finally, the Thief Skill Adjustments I mentioned in a previous post:
"The penalty to picking locks and pockets come from clawed hands that don't have the same amount of fine manipulation that other species do, the bonus to climb walls is also based on the claws, and the move silently, hide in shadows bonuses come from the quiet and stillness most cold blooded creatures seem to excel at."

In Conclusion
So that's everything ripped apart again, for one final round of debate and discussion, let's get lively here, yay or nay on choices and see if we end up with an approved Species for this book!

Design and Development: Lizard Folk Part 3

Okay, so the "rough sketch" of what I thought for the Lizard Folk as a playable species went up and opened up some ideas and thoughts and changes, including some from my end as well. While fluff, you can write whatever you feel inspired to write, crunch needs to ground itself somewhere with the other rules around it, so I want to get things "right" and not just say my first pass is the one we're using.

So, a whole new set of thoughts:
I think the Ability Section is just fine, the +1 to STR being opposed to a -2 CHA instead of a 1 for 1 trade-off comes from the almost universal understanding that CHA is a dump stat (not to me, but, come on, let's all face it), so if you're going to get a bonus to STR and not take a penalty to another physical ability, you should make it count. Also, I've already portrayed the Lizard Folk as intelligent and wise, so it doesn't work taking a hit to INT or WIS.

As for their special abilities, one reader said they didn't seem "lizardfolky" and that it gave of a vibe of a 3.5E race which "just "kinda sorta" gives you some stuff that fits the race, rather than LL/AEC style which has more extreme stuff to help you fit in" I'm not sure how I would approach that to fix it, I felt "built in armor" and "half fire resistant/double cold vulnerable" fit the species, but maybe because they're more "combat mechanic" abilities they stray away from the "dungeon exploring" vibe earlier editions have. That's a fair point.

Of course, another ability I thought of is "combat mechanic" related, so I'm right back at square one! I was thinking of giving the Lizard Folk the ability to do 1d4 damage + STR Mod unarmed to represent claws (as opposed to the 1-2 + STR Mod that LL states for normal unarmed attacks), meaning a Lizard Folk stripped of weapons is still as effective as someone wielding a dagger, but not so effective that if he picked a melee fighting class having a weapon would be pointless.

Another reader mentioned the need for Lizard Folk to have Ultraviolet Vision, a rule already supported in the AEC, which makes it a good candidate since it does not introduce a new mechanic and, as he stated, "most demi-humans have some sort of additional sight anyway." Which I agree.

Other ability ideas that were less "Combat" would be to somehow play up the balance a tail provides, an ability to "taste the air" like many lizards and snakes do to help compensate for being blind/in complete darkness. Being cold blooded, they don't need to eat as much, warm-blooded animals of the same size require 5-10 times the amount of food as a cold blooded creature, so an ability to survive without food longer could be helpful. Also, since cold blooded creatures do not generate their own heat, wouldn't they be harder to spot with infravision?

If anyone has an suggestions into how to turn them into mechanics or which ones strike you as an interesting ability that would make you want to try out the species as a character, please comment below.

I think the +4 save vs. Poison still fits the species pretty well.

Between the natural AC of 7 and the potential ability to do 1d4 damage unarmed, the Lizard Folk make tempted choices as Magic-Users, especially since Magic-Users would look to getting magic items that lower AC (rather then "override" it like armor does), a higher level Magic-user with some Rings/Cloaks of Protection could be formidable, as he wouldn't be taking the same amount of hits a MU of another species would be.

Because of that, I may wish to knock down the maximum level a Lizard Folk can achieve in MU and Illusionist classes, maybe to below "name" level and the ability to research and make their own spells.

Finally, I think the Thief skills fit well and are within the bonus/penalty levels of other species. The penalty to picking locks and pockets come from clawed hands that don't have the same amount of fine manipulation that other species do, the bonus to climb walls is also based on the claws, and the move silently, hide in shadows bonuses come from the quiet and stillness most cold blooded creatures seem to excel at.

So, again, thoughts on the proposed changes or how to work out new mechanics based on some of the "non combat" abilities I thought up?

Design and Development: Lizard Folk Part 2

So, as I begin to codify the Lizard Folk for their inclusion as a playable species, I'll once again share what I've come up with to open it up to discussion.

Lizard Folk
Requirements: STR 9
Ability Modifiers: STR +1, CHA -2
Ability Min/Max: STR 9/19, DEX 3/18, CON 3/18, INT 8/18, WIS 8/18, CHA 3/15

Lizard Folk were one of the first species to organize after The Sorrow and begin to reorganize old settlements and expand into new ones. Their cold blooded nature makes them somewhat lethargic in colder temperatures as well as come across as blunt and cold during social interactions. Lizard Folk stand between 6 to 7 feet tall and weight around 200 pounds. They have thick, scaly, green skin and a large crest that runs from the top of their heads, down their spine, and along the length of a thick tail. The crest varies in color, from a variety of shades of greens, tans, and browns and often is seen as analogous to hair in other species. Because they are cold blooded and have little in the way of visible gender dimorphism, many other species have a hard time telling their genders apart.

Because of their scaly hides, all lizard folk have an AC of 7 when not wearing armor (this number is replaced with that of whatever armor is worn by a character). Because they are cold blooded they take half damage from fire based attacks, however they take double the amount of damage from cold attacks. Lizard Folk can speak their alignment language, common, lizard folk, and goblin.

Lizard Folk receive the following saving throw bonuses:

• +4 save versus poison

Lizard folk, like their reptilian kin have developed a strong defense against most poisons.

Lizard Folk may select the following classes, with the indicated level limits:

• Druids (7th Level limit)
• Fighter (12th Level limit)
• Illusionist (10th Level limit)
• Magic-User (10th Level limit)
• Ranger (7th Level limit)
• Thief (14th Level limit)

Lizard Folk thieves receive the following bonuses and penalties to thief abilities:

• Pick Locks (-5%)
• Pick Pockets (-10%)
• Move Silently (+7%)
• Climb Walls (+5%)
• Hide in Shadows (+5%)

Initial thoughts?

Design and Development: Lizard Folk

Once again it's time to open the post up to discussion from my reading audience, both of you...

With the actual text behind our first release coming along nicely, and two out of the 8 sections pretty much written, it's about time I leave some of the fluff behind and work on actual crunch.

So I thought I'd look at one of the new species in the game, the Lizard Folk. Using the AEC as a template, a new species needs several things, Ability Requirements, Ability Modifiers, Ability Min/Max, a few paragraphs of flavor mixed with any special abilities, saving throw bonuses (if applicable), class restrictions, and finally thief ability adjustments.

A tall order, I'll be developing the Lizard Folk over the next few posts, but figured I'd start with a few ideas, along with asking what you guys think should be included.

Opening Thoughts:

• A per standard fantasy fare, Lizard Folk, being cold-blooded should have some form of fire resistance but more sustainable to cold damage. Possibly half damage via fire, double via cold?
• Lizard Folk tough hide gives them an effective AC of 7 (The monster description has an AC of 5, but I feel that's too good a bonus) when unarmored, wearing armor overrides this AC if lower (it does not subtract from a "base" of 7), wearing armor of a higher AC also overrides this AC and is just a silly thing to do.
• Not totally sure on Ability Requirements/Modifiers/Min/Max yet, according to the monster entry they get +1 to damage because of their great STR, so they should atleast have a bonus there.

As for classes, I look to it just like the AEC does, what classes fit the species lifestyles, and then introduce play balance through level limits. Fighter and Thief are a must (they are the only two classes every species can take in the AEC), I don't feel as though they have Clerics, but they would have Druids, based on their more shamanistic and spirit driven faith. As for the other classes, I'm not sure yet.

Ideas, agreements, disagreements thus far?

Musing: Lizardfolk were there first!

Okay, so that's a bit of a misnomer, a lot of the races were one the islands as they were violently turn from the ground during (We Really Need to Agree On A Name For This Event). But it seems the Lizardfolk recovered first.

There was a great length of time after Deminar ripped apart that everyone focused just on surviving. They weren't building towns, crafting airships, mapping the islands around them. They were trying not to be wiped out by rampaging monsters and horrible plagues, hoping there was enough food around, seeking each other out to increase their strength. It was only over time they started settling again, moving back into and rebuilding old towns and cities, clearing the land for farming, creating brand new towns from the ground up. It was as if someone hit the reset button and the intelligent species had to crawl through (albeit slightly accelerated) the prehistory of their kind, reliving the hunting/gathering, foraging, survival eras that came before the "civility" of establishing farms, towns, and trade set in.

I believe, on the Bluestone Isles atleast, the lizardfolk were the first to gather their wits about them, adjust to what happened, and begin to live in their new environment rather then lament about the loss of the old one. Lizardfolk are more shamanistic then religious, so while many species cried out about gods abandoning them and laying down to die, the lizardfolk simply contacted the spirits that remained after the cataclysm and continued on. Lizardfolk are naturally more hardy of a species too, they've been around a while and haven't evolved much (much like crocodiles and alligators haven't either). Therefore the lizardfolk were off naming and mapping out the islands while many other species were fearing for their lives.

Now, on the Bluestone Isles, the humans and lizardfolk live pretty integrated lives, there are no human-only nor lizardfolk-only settlements about. And while the humans, as humans do, claim to be masters of that domain, their survival, crawl from the ashes, and very much so their existence on that island cluster could very well be because the lizardfolk allowed them to survive. Something the humans take for granted.