Ssurran

Ssurrans are reptilian nomads, active even under the harshest noon sun. Adults stand 4 to 6 feet and weigh 180 to 225 pounds, males and females nearly identical. Scales run pale green to brown to red; faces are humanlike apart from a forked tongue, and a stiff 2- to 3-foot tail hangs behind. They wear a loincloth, bone trinkets, and armor, carry weapons looted from past kills, and speak a tongue of grunts, growls, and hisses.

Savage but disorganized, ssurrans like to outnumber their prey; facing worse odds, they ambush and strike from behind. Each warrior fixes on one foe until it dies, then loots it and gouges a claw mark on the body to claim it as food for after the fight. Weapons or claws serve equally: their strength makes each claw deal 1d8+4 (5-12), and a desperate ssurran will also bite for 1d4+4 (5-8).

Any band of 10 or more includes a shaman-chief who has maximum hit points and casts as a 3rd-level priest. Groups of 20 or more are instead led by an 8 HD chief with 6th-level priest abilities and two 5 HD lieutenants with 3rd-level priest abilities; the chief has a 50% chance of 1-3 maximum-hit-point guards.

Tribes roam the desert for food and shelter, seldom staying anywhere more than a few weeks. Against a shared threat, several tribes may unite under a council of their shaman-leaders, with a 50% chance of a single overlord of 14 HD and 9th-level priest abilities guarded by 2-5 bodyguards. Roughly a quarter of a tribe is young.

Strict meat-eaters, ssurrans relish halflings but eat anything alive, and they raid human, demihuman, and humanoid villages whenever possible. A big haul of prisoners means a feast, with the leftovers sacrificed to their obscure gods. Their meat and eggs are inedible, but their hide makes heat-resistant scale armor (AC 6).

Slavers and mercenaries raid tribes for the young, who are prized as exotic, powerful gladiators. Ssurrans who win or buy their freedom become bodyguards for the rich, desert trackers, sellswords, even templars, and merchant houses especially want them as scouts for their sharp survival instincts.