Post/Author/DateTime

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Nor'Morgwae 05-23-07, 03:15 AM

Situation: I'm working on putting a new campaign together and it is going to be set in an arctic climate. I intend to give my villains a feudal Japanese tone with an ancient Ogre Wizard (or maybe Warlock, that's still up in the air) as the first major villain, acting as a feudal lord over the day to day opponents the heroes will face. He'll, of course, have ties to something bigger and eviler (yeah, I know it's not a word) for when he is defeated. Specifics: When trying to decide what kind of henchmen this ogre would have I settled on lizardfolk both because I haven't used them in a LONG time and I thought they would be interesting in an arctic environment simply because they are not an obvious choice. I have decided that they are cold blooded, to make the environment that much harder for them. The campaign will start at level 4 with only 2 PCs (I'm running it with my brother and mom. He's moderately experienced and she's very new.) I expect one to be a caster and the other to be a melee class, though my players almost never play what I expect. The Rub: Obviously the climate is going to play a big part in how the Lizardfolk society functions. Large fires burning constantly, heavy housing and spells like Endure Elements prized by casters. However, I know there are aspects to this I am going to be missing. I want the Lizardfolk to be interesting antagonists, not just mindless sword fodder, so I am looking for ideas. Are they honorless brutes fighting to survive or noble creatures who endure the elements out of loyalty to their masters? Does heavy clothing do a cold blooded creature any good (since they don't give off any heat of their own to hold in)? Combat Tactics Spells and PrCs Descriptive ideas Anything you can think of. I am thinking of having the lizard men fighting unarmed, probably with monk levels. Since they can hold their breath longer than most humanoids I thought that grappling someone and dragging them into the water would be a good tactic, but I need an out for the players since that is very lethal tactic and with a new player I don't want her dying all the time (since dying isn't fun). I want them to feel like this could kill them without actually killing them, you know? So any insight on that would be good as well. I have a few ideas but there's usually someone around with even better ones and it's been a while since I saw a good "Pimp My Campaign" style thread on here so I though it might be fun, too. Oh, and before anyone asks: No, I don't have Frostburn. Though I may pick it up if people think it's worth it.