Saurial

Left to Right: Bladeback, Flyer, Hornhead and Finhead

The Saurials are a race of humanoid dinosaurs from Dungeons & Dragons. Although published with statistics in the Forgotten Realms setting, their game-lore actually depicts them as hailing from another world entirely, as they had been brought to Toril by the malevolent deity Moander to serve as its slaves. This ploy was foiled, and the surviving Saurials have attempted to make a new home for themselves in the Lost Vale, where they were initially held prisoner.

Saurials were first introduced as part of the "Finder's Stone Trilogy" novels, and subsequently received racial writeups in both the Complete Book of Humanoids (Advanced Dungeons & Dragons) and in Dragon Magazine #292 (3.0), as well as appearing in monstrous write-up for AD&D in the Monstrous Compendium Forgotten Realms Appendix II and the Monstrous Compendium Annual III.

Saurials apparently come in many varieties, but because only four varieties made it to Faerun, we only know of these; Finheads (hadrosaurid), Bladeback (stegasaurid), Flyer (pteranodon), and Hornhead (ceratopsian). Their defining trait is that they can't speak Common; their voices are apparently "too high-pitched" for humans to make out, which is one of the stupidest racial quirks to come out of AD&D. Come 3rd edition, and it was retconned that they could learn to speak "deep-speech", but it was difficult and awkward for them, so many didn't bother.

They are notable as one of the very few demihuman races, alongside the Lupin and Rakasta who could actually be Paladins in AD&D - in fact, one of the warrior kits in the Complete Book of Humanoids was the Saurial Paladin, to account for this. Of course, as with a lot of AD&D stuff, it was basically shoehorning the plot of the novels into game-crunch; intended to make the character "Dragonbait/Finder" game-viable, it was restricted to the Finheads alone.

Language of Smell

In the lore of Saurials, different scents given off indicate specific emotions, with the following list serving as a summary of the most common "translations":

• Baked bread: Anger
• Brimstone: Confusion
• Ham: Nervousness or Worry
• Honeysuckle: Tenderness
• Lemons: Pleasure or Joy
• Roses: Sadness
• Tar: Victory
• Violets: Danger or Fear
• Wood Smoke: Devotion or Piety

3.5 Saurial Stats

3.5 stats for the Saurials appeared in a web enhancement for Serpent Kingdoms, a Yuan-ti, Naga and Lizardfolk-related sourcebook for Forgotten Realms hosted on WoTC's old website. Now, you could go and track that down, relying upon their somewhat glitchy archives, but luckily for you, /tg/ is awesome and believes in sharing that kind of obscure and hard-to-find data.

The following traits are universal; all breeds of Saurial have these traits in common.

Cold Torpor (Ex): -5 penalty on Fort saves to avoid nonlethal damage from cold environments, double nonlethal damage caused by cold evironments.

Protection from Sonic Attacks (Ex): +4 circumstance bonus to saving throws vs. sonic attacks and effects.

Scent (Ex)

Vulnerability to Gas Attacks (Ex): -4 circumstance penalty on saving throws vs. gas-based attacks and effects.

Bladeback:

+2 Strength, +2 Charisma

Medium

Speed: 30 feet

Base Hit Dice: 2d8, Base Attack Bonus +1, Fort +0, Ref +3, Will +0

Racial Skills: 10 skill points, class skills are Craft (Any), Diplomacy and Jump

Bonus Feats: One (1) feat

Natural Armor Bonus: +4

Natural Attacks: 2 Claw Attacks (1d4+ Str mod), 1 Tail Attack (1d3 - Str penalty or + 1/2 Str bonus)

Special Qualities: Cold Torpor, Protection From Sonic Attacks, Scent, Vulnerability to Gas Attacks

Favored Class: Cleric

Level Adjustment: +2

Finhead:

+2 Dexterity, +2 Wisdom

Medium

Speed: 30 feet

Base Hit Dice: 2d8, Base Attack Bonus +1, Fort +0, Ref +3, Will +0

Racial Skills: 10 skill points, class skills are Balance, Craft (Any) and Jump

Bonus Feats: One (1) feat

Natural Armor Bonus: +4

Natural Attacks: 2 Claw Attacks (1d4+ Str mod), 1 Tail Attack (1d3 - Str penalty or + 1/2 Str bonus)

Special Qualities: Cold Torpor, Protection From Sonic Attacks, Scent, Vulnerability to Gas Attacks

Favored Class: Paladin

Level Adjustment: +2

Flyer:

+4 Dexterity, -2 Constitution, -2 Charisma

Small

Speed: 20 feet, Fly 50 feet (Average)

Base Hit Dice: 2d8, Base Attack Bonus +1, Fort +0, Ref +3, Will +0

Racial Skills: 10 skill points, class skills are Balance, Craft (Any) and Jump

Bonus Feats: One (1) feat

Natural Armor Bonus: +4

Natural Attacks: 2 Claw Attacks (1d3+ Str mod), 1 Tail Attack (1d2 - Str penalty or + 1/2 Str bonus)

Special Qualities: Cold Torpor, Protection From Sonic Attacks, Scent, Vulnerability to Gas Attacks

Favored Class: Rogue

Level Adjustment: +3

Hornhead:

+2 Strength, +2 Intelligence

Large

Speed: 30 feet

Base Hit Dice: 2d8, Base Attack Bonus +1, Fort +0, Ref +3, Will +0

Racial Skills: 15 skill points, class skills are Craft (Blacksmithing, Craft (Weaponsmithing), Jump, Knowledge (Architecture), and Knowledge (Engineering)

Bonus Feats: One (1) feat

Natural Armor Bonus: +5

Natural Attacks: 2 Claw Attacks (1d4+ Str mod), 1 Tail Attack (1d3 - Str penalty or + 1/2 Str bonus) which has 10 feet of reach

Special Qualities: Cold Torpor, Protection From Sonic Attacks, Scent, Vulnerability to Gas Attacks

Favored Class: Wizard

Level Adjustment: +2

Meta

• The Complete Book of Humanoids pgs. 55-58
• Monstrous Compendium - Annual Volume 3 pgs. 90-92
• Dragon Magazine #292 pgs. 36-43
• Lords of the Lost Vale
• Serpent Kingdoms Saurials: More Lizardkin
• Jungles of Chult pg. 34
• RPGA Living Jungle Campaign Book, Courage of a Coward, and Inhabitants of the Jungle. (RPGA calls them lacerials due to copyright and stuff.)

Gallery

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