Jozhal

The jozhal is a slender, two-legged reptile about 4 feet tall, with a thin tail, long bendable neck and long, narrow snout crammed with needle teeth. Each gangly arm finishes in a little hand with three fingers and an opposable thumb. Its scales are so tiny that at first glance its hide looks like human skin or the coarse hide of a baazrag. It can change its skin color at will, either blending into its surroundings or standing out boldly against them.

Given the choice, a jozhal runs, then uses its color change to hide; a searcher spots it only on a 1d20 roll equal to or under his Wisdom. If a pursuer blunders too close without spotting it, the jozhal strikes, and the victim checks for surprise at -2.

In a fight it relies first on psionics and spells, then on any magic items it carries (roll for random items, treating results of armor, shields or weapons as nothing). Only if those fail does it bite for 1d8 or use a weapon at -2 damage.

Psionics: in psychoportation it has the science banishment and the devotions teleport trigger, time/space anchor, dimensional door and time shift; in telepathy, the science contact and the devotions psionic blast, ego whip, mind bar, intellect fortress and thought shield. Spells: at 1st level detect magic, detect poison, cure light wounds, locate animals or plants and magical stone; at 2nd level hold person, flame blade and silence 15' radius; at 3rd level dispel magic and locate object.

Jozhals live in family groups of four or five. Brilliant and crafty, they consider humans and demihumans reckless, dangerous fools and rarely put up with them. Yet magic of every sort fascinates them. When a party of travelers passes, they follow it and try to cast detect magic on the group, and if anything glows they creep into camp to steal it.

They forage for tubers and roots and hunt insects, snakes and other small reptiles. Their spellcasting resembles that of elemental clerics and so does no harm to the land. Their intelligence shows most clearly in their care for the world that sustains them: they never squander anything, finding a use for every scrap of refuse. They take this to a grim extreme, eating their own dead and fashioning weapons and tools from the bones.