Hurdu

Hurdu are cold-blooded reptiles that reach 7 to 8 feet when they rear upright, though they usually lope hunched on all fours. Their gatorish hide shades from greenish yellow to orange, blending well with the sickly vegetation of their poisoned mountain home. They love heat and are active by day, when they hunt and handle most of their affairs.

Hurdu are powerful brutes who favor two-handed weapons, using their height and reach for crushing blows. At home most carry nothing but a spear or warclub, while wanderers abroad pick up a taste for glaives and great axes. Disarmed, a hurdu can bite with its fangs for 1d6, and in any round it does not use a weapon it may instead whip its five-foot tail for 1d8 bludgeoning damage.

They wear armor if they find it but are comfortable with only their scaly hide. In a unit, lower ranks follow orders without question, and on their own they are solid tacticians. A raiding chief guided by a quicksilver drakeborn adviser can pull off brilliant ambushes and treacherous stratagems.

For notable characters, adjust ability scores by +1 Strength, +1 Constitution, -1 Intelligence and -1 Charisma. Most are fighters, though some are shamans of a god of disease and decay. Every male starts with the Hunting proficiency.

Hurdu are kin to the marsh lizardfolk of a southern blackwater swamp, whose forebears once ranged over every waterway of the continent. In the steaming, poisoned mountains of a volcanic frontier they have absorbed the cruelty of the other twisted things that live there, dwelling in villages of two or three dozen along the cleaner streams. Like their swamp cousins, they live under strict dominance: the strongest rules and all obey. Unlike those placid relatives, hurdu fly into violent rages, torture captives and show the sick and weak no pity.

The mountains' poisons make them hardier but shorter-lived, so they are less numerous than their cousins. They hunt, trade with quicksilver drakeborn and fight hobgoblins over territory. They loathe wanderkin, who sometimes clash with hurdu hunters, and steer clear of the mountain dwarves, who usually beat them. Food is scarce, so hunts are frequent, and those forays cause most of their clashes with neighbors. A warrior is expected to hunt well, and any male unable to win standing at home tends to leave to gain experience abroad, returning later to fight for rank.