Caislen Campaign Notes

Lizardfolk exist in the 5.5e version of the Monster Manual. It portrays them as being neutral “Reptilian Defenders of the Land.” That's fine. What I'm not okay with is that there are geomancer and sovereign versions that are called elementals. So for the sake of our game, they are not elementals. Lizardfolk being somewhere along the evolutionary chain that also involves dragons, kobolds and whatever else are therefor closer to those, and for the sake of this campaign wherein I've got some Skinny Minis Lizardfolk figures to use and want them to be decent NPCs in not too primitive a state. The core background stats such as using Draconic as a primary language is fine. I also like the phrasing about being humanoids with varied skills found in the PHB. So that's what we're going to work with, essentially making Lizardfolk into something like what is found in the MM but allowing them to branch into any existing class or social role, provided they adhere at heart to:

1. Being a “defender of the land”. This is open to interpretation as an objective for plot & motive.
   1. Could be defending natural land features like a druid would.
   2. Could take issue with unnatural forces such as hostiles from other planes of existence or magical forces that distort the land.
2. Whatever racial traits the DM sees logical from the MM and from real world lizards.
   1. One might assume they don't do well in the cold.
   2. Lizardfolk reach maturity around age 14 and rarely live longer than 60 years.¹⁾ Someone will later argue that they're in the same distant genetic group as dragons and should therefor have a longer lifespan. Well they don't, and they're probably a little jealous of dragons for living far longer. They must deal with it.
3. Speak Draconic as a PRIMARY language. This does not promise they speak common as a secondary.
   1. Draconic seems to work for anything in the lizard category.
   2. It would be fair to assume that fantasy dragons did not evolve before fantasy lizards however, so the origin of the language might be contestable if anyone cared.
4. Some sort of neutral alignment as a monster/NPC.
   1. Neutral gives sort of an ambiguous status when encountered in game, perhaps letting them further have individual personalities.
   2. If someone wishes to actually take one on as a PC at some point that can be negotiable. If such a thing happens chances are this entry will be expanded to include definitive racial stats for creating one.

• Saint Olof's Church, LLC is run by a Lizardfolk of the same name.
• A large group of Lizardfolk entered the campaign via being cast as the builders of Fort Scale. They had a very quick 2 game session time existing there before being run out of it. No PCs managed to do any useful communicating with them but they could tell these lizardfolk were organized, adhered to having multiple character classes, and spawned a few plot tie ins as noted below.
  • These Lizardfolk abducted Dorthy Fuzzybutt which led to her husband Tod Fuzzybutt questing the party to go save her. Additionally Phil was concerned about them being at the fort as well since no one knew their motives.
  • Tod Fuzzybutt didn't offer any reason as to why his wife was taken by the Lizardfolk. There could be something more to that. Or it could have been random. Tod being a noble affiliated with Castle Caislen means there could be greater drama beyond the sandboxed borders of the current campaign zone.
  • The ultimate solve to get the Lizardfolk to abandon the Fort Scale came in the form of The Hermit having a simple private chat with them. Since he's a contract demon, some deal was likely struck that may dictate whatever is next for the lizards. That's a bit of a mystery that will likely only be solved if the party comes across them again elsewhere.