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There are many entries in the Monster Manual for Lizardfolk, but I have yet to find a good piece of literature describing how to play them as a player race. If necessary I will create it from scratch, or use another race and port over the stats, but I was hoping someone else out there (whether official WoTC or not) has already done the legwork for me. Do Lizardfolk as an official playable race exist in 4e? If not, is there any existing homebrew creations of them as a playable race?

My Lizard-y expectations

CAVEAT: If there is an "official" source or otherwise an already pre-made mock up of Lizardfolk as a race in 4e, that is acceptable to me. I am just trying to give a feeling for those of you who are attempting to find something else that fits.

Lizardfolk to me were always the cool, sly, dexterous younger brother who was overshadowed by the meathead, muscle bound Dragonborn older brother. Lizardfolk should feel shifty and sly. A good Dex score, and probably a good Wisdom score as well.

They always seem to be at home in nature, so nature skill bonuses, and an affinity for the ranger/druid/shaman/warden type classes would probably work well. As said before, they have always felt shifty and "fight smarter" to me, so some type of racial power that allows them to move around the battlefield more efficiently? That seems about right.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Can you edit this and tell me what the mechanical essentials for a Lizardfolk race would be? Forgot about appearance, culture, and history, we are looking for what your expecations are in terms for racial stats, powers, etc. \$\endgroup\$
    – Joshua Aslan Smith
    Mar 12, 2015 at 14:19
  • \$\begingroup\$ @JoshuaAslanSmith Sure. If that edit isn't enough of what you were looking for, just tell me what you're thinking. =) \$\endgroup\$
    – sillyputty
    Mar 12, 2015 at 14:28
  • \$\begingroup\$ @sillyputty josh is going to suggest you reskin something. Based on what you're saying here, razorclaw shifter might be a good candidate. Not a full answer, but might be a start \$\endgroup\$
    – wax eagle
    Mar 12, 2015 at 14:33

3 Answers 3

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Reskin Razorclaw Shifter to be Lizardfolk

First and foremost reskins/refluffs of existing classes/races/etc. work really well in 4e because everything works off of mechanical keywords. Thus you are free to rename and redescribe a mechanical something as a very different story something without affecting the game in any real way.

Razorclaw Shifters stand out because they get racial bonuses to both Wisdom and Dex and their racial power helps adds to the kind of look you are going for. I've linked the compendium article for them, but you can also find them in PHB2 if you are using books.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Great idea. I've heard that re-skinning is easy in 4e. But what would you do with a scenario wherein one member of the party wanted to play a Razorclaw and another wanted to play a Lizardfolk? Would you still reskin and just have them mechanically be the same? \$\endgroup\$
    – sillyputty
    Mar 12, 2015 at 14:43
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    \$\begingroup\$ @sillyputty yes. exactly this \$\endgroup\$
    – wax eagle
    Mar 12, 2015 at 14:46
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    \$\begingroup\$ what wax eagle said, reskinning can be done on a PC by PC basis, you dont need to throwout the razorclaw shifter as-is for everyone else in a campaign. I regularly played (and still play) races for their mechanical benefits that I hand wave as being human of some kind. \$\endgroup\$
    – Joshua Aslan Smith
    Mar 12, 2015 at 14:49
  • \$\begingroup\$ I've had a lot of fun reskinning classes in 4E; it would be very easy to do the same to races. \$\endgroup\$
    – Thane Brimhall
    Mar 12, 2015 at 18:09
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If you look at the dragonborn races from Dragon Magazine 421, there are two subtypes of dragonborn to choose from: kapak and bozak draconian. Kapak are probably closest to what you're looking for as they trade constitution and strength for dexterity and charisma making them great for rogues and assassins and giving them a poisonous racial power over a dragonbreath option. You also get weak wings you can briefly fly with, unlike its burlier dragonborn cousin, plus essentially getting improved sneak for free expanding your ability to get CA against targets. All in all a very fun race to play around with if you're planning on using Dex based strikers.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Thank you for the edit. I'll try to include sources in my answers in the future. \$\endgroup\$
    – Tom
    Jun 6, 2015 at 19:43
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From what I can tell there are no Lizardfolk or Lizardmen playable races in 4th edition. There's a gap between the big and muscled Dragonborn and the stealthy swamp-dwelling Bullywug, who are frog people. If you want Lizardfolk you should either reskin an existing race, find a homebrew or come up with somehting yourself.

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