Lizard-kin [Mystara]

The chameleon men are the eldest of these races, and some scholars trace caymen, gator men, sandscales and ordinary lizard men alike back to an ancestor close to them. Lizard men themselves treat all four with indifference at best and open hostility at worst.

Foot-tall, rough-skinned in green or brown, with black pupil-less eyes and 90-foot infravision, caymen are bright and sociable. Their own speech sounds like hissing chirps, but they know Common and sometimes nearby underground tongues. They fight only to defend themselves, homes or food, with bone javelins and daggers (1d6 each), favoring a sudden strike and a quick retreat. They sneak and hide in shadows at 40%, imposing -2 on surprise.

Villages of 10d6 adults and half as many young are warrens of 1- to 2-foot tunnels behind earth-and-reed palisades with many hidden doors. Young grow up in a year and most live 40 years. A shaman (5th- to 7th-level priest) leads each village; living to 60 toughens the hide to AC 6, and a shaman's presence raises morale by 1. Elite warriors wear ever grander bone-and-feather headdresses, but never into battle. Caymen like gnomes, tolerate lizard men and are often enslaved by evil underground races. They feast on giant reptiles and amphibians, fall prey to big predators, and make trustworthy swamp guides.

Shy and faintly dragon-blooded, they live far from other races. Seven feet tall and spindly, they lope awkwardly, and their scaly skin is banded in many colors, any of black, white, brown, blue, green, red, orange and yellow, though rarely all, and the bands seem to swirl as light slides over them. They carry light weapons and shun armor, which spoils their talents, preferring to fade away rather than fight.

Their great gift is a dimension door limited to 120 feet, usable once per round to dodge battle or flank enemies. They never arrive in midair, inside solids or in an occupied spot, but cannot attack in a round they blink. Leaders, the Masters of Hue, have 4 HD and 1d20+10 bodyguards of 3 HD; they blend into any natural background, staying 90% undetectable while still. Leaders and guards have morale 9.

Each settlement holds a magical spirit-site, perhaps a crystal-lit grotto or an ancient enchanted tree, which radiates magic and grants +2 to attack and damage there. Defending it or their homes, their morale is 20. The race has no females: once a year each sheds its skin and lays it in the spirit-site, where there is a 60% chance it becomes a youngster that matures in eight weeks. They farm and fish, tend old woods and caves, are hunted by fearful lizard men, and are sought by shady wizards who use their skins for robes of blending.

Born when evil mages tried to fuse lizard men with alligators and a few subjects escaped into the swamps to breed, these 7- to 8-foot brutes have dark green scales, toothy alligator heads and slit-pupiled red eyes. They speak Common and the lizard man tongue but never bargain with strangers, preferring to ambush unwary humans and demihumans, and they raid outlying villages for human meat to supplement the swamp game, lizards and alligators they normally eat. They hate lizard men and attack them on sight to drive them out.

With Strength 18 they bite for 2d4, and many swing crude greatswords at +1 to hit and +2 damage. A chief is enormous, biting for 3d4 and wielding its sword with Strength 19 for +3 to hit and +7 damage. Some tribes follow shamans casting as 7th-level clerics.

These fearless, proud nomad warriors roam the burning deserts. Their thick, light tan hide blends with the sand, their nostrils close against dust, and clear eye membranes let them see through sandstorms. Normal fire cannot hurt them and magical fire deals only 1 point per die.

Females rule and do all the fighting, using scimitars and sometimes shields (AC 4), with +2 melee damage from their strength. Males seem dull and serve only to mate and labor, fighting with claws and bite if they must. Busy females lay 2d4 eggs only every other year. A tribe holds 3d6 x 10 adults and 4d6 children under a queen of 8 HD (+3 damage) who is always guarded by 2d4 warriors of 4+1 HD, plus 1d4 shamans of levels 1-8. Some tribes raise xytar lizards as mounts, two riders per beast, and they sometimes ally with blue dragons.

Crossing a tribe's land means groveling before the queen and showering the tribe with wine, food and metal goods. They resent anyone using their mud-brick shelters near oases without leave. They hunt ant lions, camels, jackals and wyverns, enjoy figs, dates and cactus, and crave copper dragon meat, which has made the two races bitter foes.