I learned that komodo dragons have only cones in their eyes (no rods), which means their night vision is terrible. Suddenly, the fact that lizardfolk are one of the only three races in 3.x lacking low-light or darkvision makes way more sense (the other two were halflings and humans), and I no longer feel bad at all for removing Thrassian class darkvision. Komodos also have only a single earbone per ear, which results in a much-reduced range of hearing compared to humans. The implications for lizardman language are interesting.
On the flip side, they can smell carrion from 2.5-6 miles away, which means that hauling the bodies of your fallen comrades back with you permits monitor-lizard-men to pursue you on wilderness-map scales...
("Thanks wikipedia!" - my players, being pursued by lizardmen)
I see Lizardmen more as Water Monitors than Komodo Dragons - especially with all their swimming bonuses. For a more terrestrial Lizardman, you might want to look at the Tegu lizard - one of the smartest and most opportunistic lizards alive today and an omnivore to boot!
ReplyDeleteFair enough; I took the komodo as representative of the varanids in terms of sensory capabilities, as most of the others' senses are not as well documented. Will look into the tegu.
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