The Iruxi (also known as lizardfolk) move through the societies of other humanoids with the steely reserve of born predators. They have a well-deserved reputation as outstanding rangers and unsentimental fighters. Though lizardfolk have adapted to many different environments, many of them still prefer to remain near bodies of water, using their ability to hold their breath to their advantage. As a result, lizardfolk usually prefer equipment that is not easily damaged by moisture, eschewing leather and metal for gear made of stone, ivory, glass, and bone.
Physical Description
Iruxi vary depending on their environment, but share toothy snouts and long and powerful tails. Those from temperate or desert regions tend toward gray, green, or brown scales that aid in camouflage, while those from tropical climes are brightly colored. Many sport dorsal spikes or garish neck frills that hint at their clan lineage.
Iruxi reach physical adulthood at age 15 and live up to 120 years. The average lizardfolk stands 6 to 7 feet tall, but grows throughout their lifetime, gaining strength and size with age.
Society
Iruxi are raised communally from the moment they break from their shells. They have an oral tradition stretching back thousands of years, brought to life through epic poems, evocative carvings, and ancestral rites performed among fields of fossilized bone. Lizardfolk are passionate astrologers with one eye on the future. If they seem slow to act, it is because their long history has taught them the value of patience.
The simple villages most outsiders associate with iruxi are the homes of migrants in outlying regions. True iruxi settlements are often overlooked, as they are partially or mostly submerged in water. These glass and stone complexes bear the mark of every generation of iruxi that lived within them, and iruxi bones often adorn the walls, as many iruxi believe these remains can be animated by ancestral spirits when the residents are in danger.
Religion
Iruxi religion plays a large role in their culture, but it is heavily practical, blending animism and ancestor worship with druidic rites. Of the gods, only The Elemental is commonly revered, but iruxi may call upon other powers devoted to ancient wyrms, astrology, nature, rivers, and might of arms, from kindly celestials and certain demon lords.
Adventurers
Some background options are particularly suitable for iruxi. Wilderness or martial backgrounds like the animal whisperer, hunter, scout, or warrior are ideal. Living at the margins of human civilization means an iruxi might have grown up as a hardy street urchin, traveled as a nomad or sailor, or found work as a laborer or gladiator.
An iruxi's ties to the wilderness make them excellent rangers or druids. Their outstanding strength serves them well if they select the barbarian, fighter, or monk classes, though they can also strike from stealth as a rogue. Iruxi also have a strong oral tradition kept alive by iruxi bards and sorcerers.
Names
Iruxi names come from their ancient language and tend to be traditional. Names are typically chosen by the clan’s astrologer in accordance to omens and which star signs are ascendant when an iruxi egg hatches, though occasionally an iruxi’s parents may name a hatchling for an ancestor or a beloved historical hero.
Sample Names
Iruxi Mechanics
Traits
Hit Points
8
Size
Medium
Speed
25 feet
Ability Boosts
Strength, Wisdom, Free
Ability Flaw(s)
Intelligence
Languages
Common
Additional languages equal to your Intelligence modifier (if it's positive). Choose from Elemental, Runic, Sylvan, and any other languages to which you have access (such as the languages prevalent in your region).
Aquatic Adaptation
Your reptilian biology allows you to hold your breath for a long time. You gain the Breath Control general feat as a bonus feat.
Claws
Versatile Heritages
You select a heritage at 1st level to reflect abilities passed down to you from your ancestors or common among those of your ancestry in the environment where you were born or grew up. You have only one heritage and can’t change it later. A heritage is not the same as a culture or ethnicity, though some cultures or ethnicities might have more or fewer members from a particular heritage.
Cliffscale Iruxi
Your toes are adapted for gripping and climbing. You are not flat-footed while Climbing, can Climb with a hand occupied, and as long as you aren’t wearing footwear, you can use the sticky pads on your feet to climb, leaving your hands free (otherwise you must still use another hand and both legs to climb). Additionally, if you roll a success on an Athletics check to climb, you get a critical success instead.
Frilled Iruxi
You can flare your neck frill and flex your dorsal spines, Demoralizing your foes. When you do, Demoralize loses the auditory trait and gains the visual trait, and you don’t take a penalty when you attempt to Demoralize a creature that doesn’t understand your language. You also gain the Threatening Approach action.
Threatening Approach [AA]
You Stride to be adjacent to a foe and Demoralize that foe. If you succeed, the foe is frightened 2 instead of frightened 1.
Sandstrider Iruxi
Your thick scales help you retain water and combat the sun’s glare. You gain fire resistance equal to half your level (minimum 1). Environmental heat effects are one step less extreme for you, and you can go 10 times as long as normal before you are affected by starvation or thirst. However, unless you wear protective gear or take shelter, environmental cold effects are one step more extreme for you.
Unseen Iruxi
You can change your skin color to blend in with your surroundings, making minor shifts with a single action and dramatic changes over the course of an hour. When you’re in an area where your coloration is roughly similar to the environment (for instance, forest green in a forest), you can use the minor, single action application of this ability to make localized changes that help you blend into your surroundings, gaining a +2 circumstance bonus to Stealth checks until your surroundings change in coloration or pattern.
Wetlander Iruxi
Your family is descended from the most common lizardfolk heritage, and you are accustomed to aquatic environments. You gain a 15-foot swim Speed.
Woodstalker Iruxi
You move easily through thick forest and jungle, using every branch or bush. You can always use the Take Cover action when in forest or jungle terrain to gain cover, even if you're not next to an obstacle you would normally be able to Take Cover behind. You gain the Terrain Stalker feat, even if you're not trained in Stealth, and you must choose underbrush as your chosen terrain.
Iruxi Feats
At 1st level, you gain one ancestry feat.
Bone Magic (Feat 1)
Iruxi |
Your connection to your iruxi ancestors manifests as a simple primal spell that you cast using a fragment of an ancestor's bones. Choose one cantrip from the primal spell list. You can cast this cantrip as a primal innate spell at will, and it's heightened to a spell level equal to half your level rounded up.
Iruxi Lore (Feat 1)
Iruxi |
You listened carefully to the tales passed down among your community. You gain the trained proficiency rank in Nature and Survival. If you would automatically become trained in one of those skills (from your background or class, for example), you instead become trained in a skill of your choice. You also become trained in Iruxi Lore.
Lightning Tongue [A] (Feat 1)
Iruxi |
Your tongue darts out faster than the eye can see to retrieve loose objects. You Interact to pick up a single unattended object of light Bulk or less within 10 feet of you. If you don't have enough hands free to hold the object, it falls to the ground in your space.
Marsh Runner (Feat 1)
Iruxi |
Prerequisites you have a swim Speed
You are adept at moving through marshy terrain. When you use the Step action, you can ignore difficult terrain caused by flooding, swamps, or quicksand. In addition, when you use the Acrobatics skill to Balance on narrow surfaces or uneven marshy ground, you aren’t flat-footed, and if you roll a success on the Acrobatics check, you get a critical success instead.
Parthenogenic Hatchling (Feat 1)
Iruxi |
You were hatched from an unfertilized egg during hard times for your people, and you are a biological copy of your mother. You gain a +1 circumstance bonus to saving throws against diseases. Each of your successful saving throws against a disease reduces its stage by 2, or by 1 for a virulent disease. Each critical success against an ongoing disease reduces its stage by 3, or by 2 for a virulent disease. You take damage only every 2 hours from thirst and every 2 days from starvation, rather than every hour and every day.
Special You can take this feat only at 1st level.
Razor Claws (Feat 1)
Iruxi |
Your have honed your claws to be deadly. Your claw attack deals 1d6 slashing damage instead of 1d4 and gains the versatile (piercing) trait.
Reptile Rider (Feat 1)
Iruxi |
To you, crocodilians, giant lizards, and dinosaurs are loyal steeds, not monsters. You gain the Ride feat, even if you don't meet the prerequisites. You gain a +1 circumstance bonus to Nature checks to Handle an Animal as long as the animal is a reptile, dinosaur, or even a non-sapient dragon.
Reptile Speaker (Feat 1)
Iruxi |
You hear the sounds of reptiles as language. You can ask questions of, receive answers from, and use the Diplomacy skill with animals that are reptiles (the GM determines which animals count as reptiles).
Sharp Fangs (Feat 1)
Iruxi |
Your teeth are formidable weapons. You gain a fangs unarmed attack that deals 1d8 piercing damage.
Tail Whip (Feat 1)
Iruxi |
By birth or through training, your tail is strong enough to make for a powerful melee weapon. You gain a tail unarmed attack that deals 1d6 bludgeoning damage and has the sweep trait.
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