Cleon
Legend
I'm wondering what swimming ability to give it. I was thinking we could either give it a +4 racial bonus to Swim like a Lizardfolk, or a 20 ft. or 30 ft. Swim speed like an SRD Lizard or Monitor Lizard.
To decide that, we should decide what ancient reptile we're using as a model. "Proterosuchia" is a catch-all term for primitive archosaurs that isn't used in modern paleontology. "Pseudosuchia" is an even vaguer taxonomic term.
Anyhow, we've got a number of families of ancient archosaur to choose from that are (or were) considered to be Proterosuchia...
The family Proterosuchidae have slender heads and long tails and likely would have swum as well as monitor lizards do, and at least some of these probably ambushed prey from the water. There's also a very crocodile-like family, the Proterochampsidae.
There's also the Erythosuchidae, a family which tend towards big heads and short tails, like Shansisuchus or Erythrosuchus. These don't look like they're built for swimming. They had a semi-erect gait and were evolving towards walking on their toes, meaning they were terrestrial creatures.
I'm thinking we should use the Erythrosuchids as a model, since the Dragon #112 article says the primitive archosaurs in this entry are are "of terrestrial form", and the two previous families seem to favor water.
So, I'd fancy giving it a +4 to Swim but no swim speed. We could mention the other families or "Protosuchian", and say they have the same stats as the SRD Monitor Lizards and Crocodiles.
Speaking of the SRD Monitor Lizard, I'm wondering whether we should imitate the SRD Monitor Lizard and give them a +4 racial bonus to Hide checks (*improved to +8 in forested or overgrown areas) together with a +4 racial bonus on Move Silently checks.
To decide that, we should decide what ancient reptile we're using as a model. "Proterosuchia" is a catch-all term for primitive archosaurs that isn't used in modern paleontology. "Pseudosuchia" is an even vaguer taxonomic term.
Anyhow, we've got a number of families of ancient archosaur to choose from that are (or were) considered to be Proterosuchia...
The family Proterosuchidae have slender heads and long tails and likely would have swum as well as monitor lizards do, and at least some of these probably ambushed prey from the water. There's also a very crocodile-like family, the Proterochampsidae.
There's also the Erythosuchidae, a family which tend towards big heads and short tails, like Shansisuchus or Erythrosuchus. These don't look like they're built for swimming. They had a semi-erect gait and were evolving towards walking on their toes, meaning they were terrestrial creatures.
I'm thinking we should use the Erythrosuchids as a model, since the Dragon #112 article says the primitive archosaurs in this entry are are "of terrestrial form", and the two previous families seem to favor water.
So, I'd fancy giving it a +4 to Swim but no swim speed. We could mention the other families or "Protosuchian", and say they have the same stats as the SRD Monitor Lizards and Crocodiles.
Speaking of the SRD Monitor Lizard, I'm wondering whether we should imitate the SRD Monitor Lizard and give them a +4 racial bonus to Hide checks (*improved to +8 in forested or overgrown areas) together with a +4 racial bonus on Move Silently checks.
