Bonesnapper

These descendants of prehistoric meat-eating lizards stand about five feet tall and can weigh up to 500 pounds. Their unscaled hide is thick and leathery, shrugging off most physical punishment, and its dark green or olive color blends into the forest.

There is no strategy in a bonesnapper. It charges the closest enemy, usually roaring, and if something hits it from another side it spins around and goes after that one instead. Its jagged teeth are not especially sharp, but its jaws are so powerful that each bite deals 1d8, and it can sweep its tail into the same target for 1d4. It always fights to the death, lacking the sense to flee, and its stupidity makes it easy to lure, distract or trap at little risk.

Young adults of both sexes wander alone, hunting when they can. With age they settle down, find a mate and move into a large cave or similar lair, becoming fiercely territorial and killing or driving off any big predators nearby.

Each spring the female scoops out a pit about a foot wide and six inches deep, lines it with straw or grass and lays a single egg, which hatches within a month. The hatchling stays in the lair with its mother for a month while the father hunts, then joins family hunts from its second month. At about a year old it leaves, and it reaches full size by age three.

A mated pair's lair is always underground and always littered with bones, since they drag kills home to eat and crack the bones for marrow, which gives them their name. They sometimes haul armor, packs and similar items out and leave them strewn by the entrance, but never clear away the bones.

Despite their dimness they are usually the top predators of their range, and creatures that know them steer clear. Being so close to their dinosaur ancestors, a bonesnapper's eye can often substitute in spells that require a dinosaur's eye, and since they are easier to find and kill, this is common practice. Most races find the hide too tough to enjoy, but lizard men love the meat and hunt them often. In many lizard man tribes a youth becomes an adult only by killing one alone; the beast is far stronger, but its stupidity evens the odds.