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DragonkingUs20
2014-06-14, 10:37 AM
Inspired by the skinks from Blood Bowl.. The player for this campaign is more than excited apparently :)

Skinks

Physical Description: Skinks, similar to their stockier brethren, resemble bipedal reptilian humanoids. Their nimble frame stands between 3 and 3 1/2 feet tall, with bodies covered in gray, green, or brown scales. Their heads are adorned with brightly colored dorsal frills or spiky spines and have short crocodilian snouts. Their 1-foot long tails extend directly behind them while on land, and allows them remarkable stability and great maneuverability in the water.

Society: Skinks dwell with their lizardfolk brethren in highly communal, primitive settlements deep within swamp and marshland. Their society is patriarchal, with the strongest male lizardfolk leading tribes and shamans serving as his advisors. Skinks are treated as an underling, servant, race to the dominant lizardfolk. Despite their boorish treatment of outsiders, among their own kind and lizardfolk, skinks are highly sociable.

Relations: Many tribes watch the encroachment of warm-blooded humanoids in their lands with weariness and dread. Ingrained superstitions, isolationist tendencies, and aversion to change often puts lizardfolk and skinks at odds with other races and as a result their numbers suffer mightily. Although they regard any mammal with a measure of disdain, among the more common races they get along best with gnomes, who are flighty and not considered a threat, and dwarves, whose toughness and craftsmanship they respect.

Alignment and Religion: Despite widely held conceptions, most lizardfolk and skinks are not evil. For skinks, the struggle for survival is more important than how that survival is sustained, and they tend towards neutral alignment. Skinks work well with others, knowing that to accomplish large tasks, working together is the only way to achieve mutual goals. Skinks tend to be quite contented, having been accustomed to serving their stronger brethren their entire lives, and rarely hold long grudges as this is perceived as a wasteful use of energy. Skinks have a similarly pragmatic approach to faith, offering prayers as well as nature and ancestor spirits.
Adventurers: Increasingly more common, younger skinks, either curious of civilization or eager to escape a life of servitude, leave their ancestral swamps to experience the wider world. For those facing exile, adventuring is the most viable option for survival.

Male Names: Arashk, Braza, Drazzat, Grauk, Guhet, Kaszuk, Kiuz, Rashaz, Traz, Varak, Yizzik.
Female Names: Crae, Drazda, Hara, Hesk, Jazaka, Kroga, Riza, Saraza, Saress, Zara, Yikuz.

Racial Traits
•Ability Score Racial Traits: Skinks are quick and alert, but spindly. They gain +2 Dexterity, +2 Wisdom, and -2 Strength.
•Type: Humanoid (reptilian)
•Size: Skinks are small creatures and thus gain a +1 size bonus to their AC, a +1 size bonus on attack rolls, a -1 penalty to their CMB and CMD, and a +4 size bonus to Stealth checks.
•Base Speed: 30ft
•Swimming: Skinks have a swim speed of 15ft. A skink has a +8 racial bonus on any Swim check to perform some special action or avoid a hazard. A skink can always choose to take 10 on a Swim check, even if distracted or endangered. A skink can use the run action while swimming, provided he swims in a straight line.
•Hold Breath: A skink can hold its breath for a number of rounds equal to 4 times its Constitution score before it risks drowning.
•Low Light Vision: Skinks have eyes that are so sensitive to light that they can see twice as far as a human in starlight, moonlight, torchlight, and similar conditions of shadowy illumination. They retain the ability to distinguish color and detail under these conditions.
•Autotomy: Skinks, as a defence mechanism, posess the ability to shed their tail in order to flee from captivity. The detached tail will continue to wriggle, creating a deceptive sense of continued struggle and distracting the predator's attention from the escaping skink. The skink can regenerate its tail, typically over a period of weeks. The new appendage will contain cartilage rather than regenerating vertebrae of bone, and the skin of the regenerated tail generally differs distinctly in color and texture from its original appearance.
•Languages: Skinks begin play speaking Common and Draconic. Skinks with high Intelligence can choose bonus languages from the following: Aquan, Common, Goblin, Gnoll, or Orc.

Debihuman
2014-06-14, 09:11 PM
Autonomy is just fluff since you have no game mechanics. How does losing their tail help them escape from captivity? Does it give a bonus to escape artist? Does having a mismatched tail have any consequence in skink culture? Do skinks that lose their tails take a penalty to Diplomacy when dealing with skinks that haven't lost their tails?

• Autotomy (Ex): Skinks, as a defence mechanism, possess the ability to shed their tail in order to flee from captivity. The detached tail will continue to wriggle, creating a deceptive sense of continued struggle and distracting the predator's attention from the escaping skink. If this happens, the skink gains a +2 circumstance bonus to escape artist checks. The skink can regenerate its tail, typically over a period of weeks. The new appendage will contain cartilage rather than regenerating vertebrae of bone, and the skin of the regenerated tail generally differs distinctly in color and texture from its original appearance. Skinks that lose their tails take a -2 penalty to diplomacy checks when dealing with skinks with intact tails.

Debby

ace rooster
2014-06-15, 06:29 AM
Poisondusk lizardfolk from MM3 are pretty similar to what you want. Not wanting to take away from what you have done (they are very similar to what you have come up with) but thought I should point them out.

DragonkingUs20
2014-06-15, 10:10 PM
Autonomy is just fluff since you have no game mechanics.

I hadn't realized that until you pointed it out. Thanks for the suggestion!

Also, thanks for pointing out the poisondusk lizardfolk. I hadn't realized that creature existed. It's going to be for a Pathfinder game, so i'd still have to convert it for my uses. It'll at least help for inspiration! :D