Help with a People for Marshlands

[beckyangelix]

So my players are going, in this session, to a country made up entirely of marshlands.

I am looking for a people that I could populate this country with. I want this people to be generally neutral in personality type. Definitely not evil, at least.

They also need to be from Monster Manuals 1 - 5.

Can anyone think of something? I am having a very hard time finding something that fits.

[Inferno]

Lizardfolk are a classic standby for that sort of thing. MM1 lists 'em as being "usually neutral" if that really matters to ya.

[Laserlight]

So my players are going, in this session, to a country made up entirely of marshlands.

I am looking for a people that I could populate this country with. I want this people to be generally neutral in personality type. Definitely not evil, at least.

They also need to be from Monster Manuals 1 - 5.

Can anyone think of something? I am having a very hard time finding something that fits.

Are you thinking of a culture (in which case you might base it on the Marsh Arabs of Iraq) or a species (in which case the thought of crocodiles makes me lean towards lizardmen)?

[beckyangelix]

Are you thinking of a culture (in which case you might base it on the Marsh Arabs of Iraq) or a species (in which case the thought of crocodiles makes me lean towards lizardmen)?

I'm looking for a species.

[Agent 451]

I'm going to second the lizardfolk, particularly the Poison Dusk Lizardfolk from MM3.

Edit: They are still typically neutral in alignment.

[beckyangelix]

I'm going to second the lizardfolk, particularly the Poison Dusk Lizardfolk from MM3.

Edit: They are still typically neutral in alignment.

Thanks! Any other marsh species that aren't lizards?

[Aemoh87]

UNDEAD. Lost pilgrims who couldn't make it out of the marsh. Make them immune to hazardous ter. in marshes. Then ad lots of mud that slows movement and harzards that act like traps.

Willow-the-wisp fits right in as well. Fey are also very cool in marshlands. Maybe add a ley line type system in there. Marshes are soooo underrated.

[Silverbit]

Wild Elves might work in marshlands. (MM1)
Halflings could work, maybe in houses on stilts? It would be different to the normal way halflings are presented.
I can't think of any non-core races at present, but I'l just root around for a bit.
Forestkith goblins, MMIII. Normally CE, but I'm sure you could re-fluff them. Their tree shape ability could make for a very suprising encounter.

[some guy]

Refluff Kenku as herons, ibisses or spoonbills. Humanoid Ciconiiformes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ciconiiformes) wading around the marshlands, weaving their homes out of reeds in trees.

[avr]

Eberrons' largest orcish culture lives in a rather marshy area. They have druids who maintain seals keeping ancient evils at bay, while tribes of orcs, of half orcs and of humans live semi nomadic lives fishing, gathering and prospecting (meteorites are both valuable and often found there).

Otherwise, frog-men have been done more than once in D&D. The names grippli and bullywug spring to mind.

Were-creatures? There's guidelines for making lycanthropes out of any base animal with at least 1 HD. Pick an animal or animals native to the area, and any race (doesn't have to be human; you could use lizardfolk or whatever as the base).

If the marshes are round a lake or major river, you could use something aquatic. Aquatic elves or water mephits or merrows or whatever.

[Inferno]

The eneko from eberron (syrkarn) are cool and I could definitely see them settling in marshland. They are ogre/half-giant halfbreeds who breed true. Medium size with powerful build is cool too.

[Jeff the Green]

Shifters could work. In Redwall it's voles and shrews, so I can imagine something like Pathfinder's Ratkin or Oriental Adventure's Nezumi.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

The froglike Bullywugs appear in Monsters of Faerun, updated to 3.5 here (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20040313a), but they're usually chaotic evil.

I'd say several varieties of Lizardfolk would be ideal for various tribes. The MM Lizardfolk could be your standard, moderately civilized communities, while Poison Dusk would be less civilized but much closer to nature. Blackscales (MM3) would live on the border and be more warlike, often coming into conflict with Merrow (MM, Ogres), Scrags (MM, Trolls), Harpies, Yuan-Ti, etc. and probably found elsewhere as mercenaries or slavers.

You could throw in the occasional Hags, Spirit Naga, Black Dragon, Hydra, etc. along with an occult following of lizardfolk. Check the encounter tables in the DMG p96-98 for a pretty complete list of core creatures that can be found in a given environment.