How do I justify a Lizardfolk Cleric in lore and RP?

[Imaculata]

I'd probably throw in something about the lizard being some what similar to a crocodile, in that he needs the heat to gain energy for the day. Would be fun to role play too. Every time there's a sunny day, he sun bathes... and perhaps worships the sun? Thanks the sun for its gifts?

 

[SkidAce]

I have multiple races of lizardfolk of the primitive variety. And they are mainly shamanistic in nature...if at all (rare in their culture).
So the faithful among them normally attribute motives and actions to storms, floods, cold weather, the sun.

The advanced lizardmen that I have a culture of, have a more direct history (although most knowledge is lost) to the race that created them, and vaguely remember them being strong in fire, and wind. So they kinda go with ancestor worship, with the local ruler of the lost city area being considered a god king, called the Fist of the Sun. So their faith is sorta sun worship/ancestor respect, with a hint of WH40K god emperor thrown in.

 

[TiwazTyrsfist]

I have a CG Lizardfolk Tempest Cleric (of Deep Sashelas) with the Criminal background that I use in Adventurer's League.

Here's my back story for the character.

He was stolen as an egg by a group of slavers/exotic animal dealers.
He was sold on the black market (still as an egg) to a Gnomish crime boss who "Collected" unusual and exotic humanoids as gang members.
He was raised by the boss as somewhere between Pet and Favored Child. Alternating between lavish gifts and being mostly ignored at times.
When he was grown, he became an enforcer and collector for the syndicate (Hence the Criminal Background).

He would go around and shake down local businesses for protection money.
After an underworld war shook up the dividing lines in the area, the Bosses new territory included a number of temples.
One was a small temple of Deep Sashelas.
When he went in to menace the priests, he was granted a divine vision.
Directly touched by the power of a Goddess, he converted, left the organization, and went to follow his new calling.

 

[77IM]

Before the lizardfolk worshipped Semuanya, reptilian god of survival, they followed Essylliss: http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Essylliss

I figure, if lizardfolk tribes can be "corrupted" towards evil and chaos by demons like Sess'innek, that strongly implies that the unemotional, survival-oriented mindset is at least partially learned behavior. Indeed, you don't need to develop a religion reinforcing an ethos if that way of thinking comes naturally to you -- all the dogma and ritual of Semuanya is only necessary because lizardfolk are capable of straying from that path. Thus, lizardfolk can also be "corrupted" towards law and good.

I played a lizardfolk cleric of Essyliss for several months, and it was great fun. Since there's not much information on Essylliss's dogma, I got to make it up, and decided she was the goddess of growth, adaptation, and learning (holy symbol was a lizard head, symbolizing the mind). Her followers viewed Semuanya as a deity of stagnation, stasis, and slow but inevitable extinction. So my cleric was really very interested in human civilization and learning the ways of the soft-skins, and hoped to bring that knowledge back to his people in the jungles of Chult. Forge domain would have been totally appropriate for this character.

 

[77IM]

Also, how would I RP them? Do they speak in first or third person? How do they interact with others?

I just talked in kind of a gruff, gravelly voice. It's hard for me to really emote in that voice, which probably helped the impression somewhat.

The thing that got me the most mileage was having a cornerstone of lizardfolk culture be, "you are what you eat." My character constantly wanted to eat fallen foes, especially strong ones, to gain their strength. He thought humans and demi-humans were soft and pudgy because they ate so much bread. He explained that, should he fall in combat, he would be honored if his adventuring companions devoured his corpse. He couldn't understand the tradition of burying perfectly good meat, especially if it came from a skilled warrior, and he was totally horrified when we encountered the tribe that eats zombies.

Of course I never explained to the other players about the "you are what you eat" thing, so they just thought I was playing some kind of insane cannibal.

 

[Parmandur]

With God's, divine intervention is a very real option. Nobody says that your Lizardfolk has to be the typical result of their society: they can be The Prophet bearing The Message of The Forge.

 

[Ganymede81]

Your lizardfolk cleric could have been schooled by a particularly charismatic missionary of another faith, someone intent on civilizing the "savage" lizardfolk.

 

[Zethnos]

Your lizardfolk cleric could have been schooled by a particularly charismatic missionary of another faith, someone intent on civilizing the "savage" lizardfolk.

That is actually really interesting.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

In a vision, a young lizardfolk was charged by a mysterious deity to discover the secrets of metalworking and return them to his people.

 

[MostlyHarmless42]

A friend of mine was played a cleric of a warrior God as a lizard folk. He was more a war cleric, but forge would've worked equally well. His personality was that at any point he asked himself this:
1) Can I eat this, fight this, or *&@% this?
2) Will anyone get upset with me if I do, and if so, for which one and what reason?

Despite this mindset, he was still fiercely loyal to the party, and was always seeking to bring glory to himself, his God, and his tribe/party. It works quite well for us, and he got along with my necromancer and the party ranger (a hunter) quite well.