Lizardfolk of the Dragon Fang

By Thilo Graf

This pdf from Raging Swan Press is 23 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page inside of front cover, 1 page editorial, 1 page back cover and 1 page containing SRD and ads, leaving 18 pages of content.

As with all recent TRIBEs-installments, we once again get some lines from a poem/song/prophecy about the tribe on the ToC-page – nice. We also, of course, get the obligatory page introduction to reading the statblocks for novice DM.

After the one-page chapter title, we get 2 pages on the history, religion, nomenclature and tactics of the tribe. Some potential for strife within the tribe is also given here.

Then, we get a page containing 3 new battle feats for use by members of the tribe:

• Pierce: You may use a ranged attack to attack an enemy within range increments of your weapon as a standard action. If you hit, make another attack at -2 against a target no more than 10 ft. away from the first one. The second target also has to be within the first range increment of your weapon.
• Great Pierce: You may use a ranged attack to attack an enemy within range increments of your weapon as a standard action. If you hit, make another attack at -2 against a target no more than 10 ft. away from the first one. The new target also has to be within the first range increment of your weapon. You can continue to make these attacks until there are no more valid targets or you miss.
• Improved Combat Casting: Stacks with Combat Casting, gain a + 2 to Concentration when grappled, reroll one concentration check per day prior to the result of the first one being known. You have to take the second one.

Ok, I’ll have to comment this. I think “Pierce” and “Greater Pierce” should also work for piercing weapons, but ONLY against additional targets behind the first one. Otherwise you get a rather comical and ridiculous image of a javelin ricocheting through a party of PCs. That’s just my 2 cents, though.

We also get new spells:

• Snake Staff (Clr 5, Drd 5): This spell is reprinted from the APG, courtesy of Paizo, and is marked as such.
• Acid Bolt (Sor/Wiz 3): Either send clinging acid via touch attack to your enemies or coat a weapon in it.
• Bite of the Viper (Adp 2, Drd 2): Grants you a poisonous bite weapon. Why is this not on the Witch’s spell list? I think the spell practically screams “Witch”. Oh well.
• Swamp Kin (Adp 1, Drd 1, Sor/Wiz 1): Negates some penalties of moving through bogs. Another spell that should also be available to Witches.
• Swamp Kin, Mass (Adp 3, Drd 3, Sor/Wiz 3): As above, only mass. Dito on the Witches.

The page also includes a modified spell-list for Adepts of the Dragon Fang tribe.

The tribe also has 3 unique magic items, complete with lore sections and their own pieces of artwork:

• Blood Spiller: A human bane spear that returns to the thrower and is made from darkwood.
• Dragon Fang: Made from the fang of a black dragon, this dagger may add acid damage on critical hits.
• Staff of the Serpent: The staff can cast poison and snake-related spells, including Snake Staff.

After that, we’ll get the statblocks of the Lizardfolk, complete with three encounters (Raid EL 7, Kobold Emissaries EL 4 and Swamp Ambush EL 8 – all with information to modify them). Even better, though, we get a cool sample ceremony of the tribe – exactly that is what makes a tribe come to life in my opinion. Awesome! Thankfully, in contrast to e.g. the Kobolds and Troglodytes, the Lizardfolk get an extensive side-box on environmental modifiers to help you run encounters in the tribe’s given environment, the swamp. The stats are:

• Dragon Fang Warrior (CR 1)
• Elite Dragon Fang Warrior [warrior 4](CR 3)
• Dragon Fang Scout [expert 4](CR 3)
• Dragon Fang Shaman [adept 2] (CR 3)
• Lizard Familiar (of the normal Dragon Fang Shaman)
• Dragon Fang Greater Shaman [adept 6] (CR 5)
• Lizard Familiar (of the Dragon Fang Greater Shaman)

Two variant Lizardfolks are also provided:

• Cliffborn Lizardfolk (CR 1): Better climbers
• Unseen Lizardfolk (CR 1): Chameleon Lizardfolk

We also get the war trident weapon as well as all the information to make Lizard Kings.

The tribe also features several important personalities of the tribe and it is here I thought “YES!” to myself: The personalities come with personality, distinguishing marks, mannerisms and hooks. Apart from the King, that is.

• Sesskarr, the Lizard King [Lizardking sorceror (black dragon bloodline) 9] (CR 11): Sesskarr comes with almost half a page of his own tale on how he became what he is now. I loved it and I think it’s a nice substitute for the roleplaying information of the other personalities!
• Groth [Troglodyte Druid 10] (CR 10): A twisted, dark Druid, he urges the tribe and its king toward evil.
• Alssarrass [Lizardfolk Adept 12] (CR 8): Peaceful wife of Sesskarr and foe of Groth.
• Brethikk [Kobold Fighter 9] (CR 8): Wielder of Blood Spiller, this former Kobold King now serves as Sesskarr’s bodyguard.

Conclusion:

Editing, layout and the b/w-artwork are top-notch, as I’ve come to expect of Raging Swan products. While I personally don’t like the Pierce-feats, that’s just a personal opinion. I’d also like to see information/support for the APG-classes and still think that some of the spells should be on the spell-list of e.g. Witches. Apart from that, though, this installment of the TRIBES-series once again goes up and beyond what one would come to expect and finally, we get mannerisms, hooks, etc. for all the important personalities. The items rock, too. I would have liked to see more on the tactics of the tribe, but due to this being my only true criticism of the file, I’ll settle once again for a five-star rating – an excellent addition to the series.

Lizardfolk of the Dragon Fang is available from