Reptile Men -- Your thoughts?

[TippetsTX]

Originally Posted by phiwum

Can someone summarize what Reptile Men used to be like? Thanks.

38-point characters... ST 14, DX 8, and IQ 8, plus 8.

[phiwum]

Thanks, Henry, I should've known to check your site!

Where do you see these Lizardmen NPCs that seem flaky? Which products?

[hcobb]

Double checked and there's only one 42 attribute Reptile Man in the same room as some humans with even higher attribute totals, so I'm retracting that note.
If you're gonna play a Reptile Woman just talk the GM into letting you double the damage of her dirty fighting bonus also.
Lastly, what's the name of the generic Reptile Person language? Saurischian?


Lastly a few Reptile People to keep your PCs company: https://www.hcobb.com/tft/rand_squad...&group=B&wiz=0

[Shostak]

Originally Posted by phiwum

Can someone summarize what Reptile Men used to be like? Thanks.

Reptile Men starting characters were formerly ST 14, DX 8, IQ 8, + 8 points.

[Bill_in_IN]

So, it's the GM's choice as to whether to follow the original rules on starting Reptile Men characters?

[Shostak]

It’s the GM’s choice on just about everything. But keeping beginning characters at 32 points allows the GM to more easily design hazards that are calibrated to the PCs’ power level.

[hcobb]

I'd like to see an article on unusual riding mounts that discusses which critters can take the weight of Reptile Men and don't suffer the -1 reaction penalty on Animal Handler / Horsemanship attempts.

A 300 pound Reptile Man who is lightly equipped with only 46 pounds of gear (save 5.2 pounds by claiming that your people always go naked, as a reptile man ain't gonna get good reactions from the villagers anyway), isn't going to be riding any riding lizards, without my NOTE ON ENCUMBRANCE from Adventures 2 page 5/7.

Calculation here is 300 pound large one hex figure (ITL 66) + 46 pounds of gear + 15 pounds for Saddle and bridle (ITL 67) is a total load of 361 pounds which exceeds the 360 pounds max load (ITL 66) of a ST 30 riding lizard (ITL 90).

[Bill_in_IN]

Originally Posted by Shostak

It’s the GM’s choice on just about everything. But keeping beginning characters at 32 points allows the GM to more easily design hazards that are calibrated to the PCs’ power level.

I concur. I'm basically starting from scratch unless the old character sheets are found.

We had a very small group of super characters that were ridiculous to bring into most of our games. Below those, we had a wide assortment or seasoned characters down to newish recruits.

In the original rules, begining Reptile Men did have advantages via starting attribute totals. Our group didn't start exploring their use until their other human characters became more seasoned. Most were happy with their initial survivability. As a GM, I was able to adjust but it took a while.

[phiwum]

Originally Posted by hcobb

I'd like to see an article on unusual riding mounts that discusses which critters can take the weight of Reptile Men and don't suffer the -1 reaction penalty on Animal Handler / Horsemanship attempts.

The bolded is an interesting suggestion. Use of Animal Handler starts with a 3/IQ roll, but then has an explicit reaction roll (ITL 37). Horsemanship involves IQ tests for preventing panic, but no explicit reaction roll (ITL 133).

RAW doesn't suggest that reaction modifiers affect the IQ rolls for either of these skills, though it would apply to the reaction roll in Animal Handler. You could houserule that it affects these IQ based interactions with animals, but it would be silly, I think, that other reptiles are creeped out by Reptile Men. A close literal reading would support that even other lizards are affected, since the text says, "Because of their fearsome appearance, they are generally disliked. Any reptile man has a -1 on any reaction roll (except one made by other reptile men) to his presence or request," but I wouldn't be so literal (and I'm pretty damned literal).

I don't think it's stupid to think a horse would be balky if ridden by a reptile man. I don't know what I'd think about that, but I need to figger it out, because I have a PC reptile man thinking of taking up horsemanship.

[hcobb]

Originally Posted by phiwum

I don't think it's stupid to think a horse would be balky if ridden by a reptile man.

How exactly is the horse still standing, given the 300 pound weight of the reptile man?