Quicksilver Drakeborn [Drakeborn]

Quicksilver drakeborn are a little shorter than most of their kind and stand hunched, as if sparing a stiff limb, their twisted frames oddly out of proportion. A lizard-like jaw and brow, a vestigial tail and scales with a silver sheen betray their silver dragon origins.

Their bodies, not their nerve, make them weak fighters, so they avoid open battle and prefer cunning, deceit and traps, at which they are expert. When a fight cannot be dodged they shoot from hiding. Crossbows suit their clumsy hands best, and in close quarters they use short swords, which need little strength. They fight competently but without bloodlust. Pressed hard, they drop their weapons in panic and claw; this is usually worse than using a blade, though the desperation gives them +1 to hit. Notable individuals have -1 Strength, -1 Dexterity and +2 Intelligence, and all have the Set Snares proficiency.

When killed, the body shrivels inward, drying to fine silver dust in one round.

Made from silver dragon eggs, they were one of the evil lords' early abandoned projects. They were smarter and craftier than ordinary drakeborn, but their bodies came out warped, as if the silver blood resisted the corruption. They could not fight as hoped and asked too many questions to obey orders quickly. Their makers exiled them to conquered borderlands, and they drifted east until the peoples of a volcanic frontier stopped them.

There they won the favor of the local lizard folk, settling in ruins those creatures avoid and helping them fight the hobgoblins who compete with them for the foothills. Their villages are loosely tribal, near or among lizard folk clans. A tribe holds 20-80 members (2d4 x 10) under a 4 HD chieftain with THAC0 16 and claws for 1d6/1d6.

They trap nearly all their food, and trade food with their lizard folk neighbors, but are self-reliant in the wilds. Any fresh kill will do, from field mice to humans. A full meal lasts a few days. Because snares need at least a day to work, they settle in an area for a day or more to gather food, then march without stopping on their stored reserves.