Crocodilian

The Crocodilians are an ancient, long-lived species of reptilian humanoids. While outsiders often mistake them for sluggish or indifferent creatures due to their stoic nature, they are masters of energy conservation and explosive force.

Biology and Temperament

Ectothermic Efficiency

Crocodilians do not waste energy generating body heat. They draw it from their environment. Because of this, their metabolism is incredibly efficient. They only need to eat a fraction of what a mammal of the same size requires.

The Basking Square

In a human city, the tavern or the marketplace is the center of social life. For Crocodilians, it is the basking banks. Sloping stone terraces or mud flats engineered to catch the morning sun serve as communal gathering places. Here, they absorb heat to start their day. This is where politics are discussed, stories are told, and disputes are mediated. A chilled Crocodilian is sluggish and quiet; a warm one is alert, active, and sociable.

Rule of the Heaviest

Because they grow continuously throughout their lives, age and physical size are directly correlated. Their society is a gerontocracy ruled by the old, which is simultaneously a megalocracy ruled by the large. The Elders are literal giants. A dispute between two adults is rarely solved with lethal violence; instead, they use physical displays, such as inflating their chests, raising their snouts, or slamming their tails against the water, to prove who is larger.
If someone wants to challenge the current leader of a village or town, this calls for a formal fight, which is usually to the death.

Unexpectedly Tender Parents

Unlike many reptiles that abandon their eggs, Crocodilians are attentive parents. Their society is deeply communal when it comes to the young. Hatchlings are raised in shared pools, heavily guarded by the adults. Despite their massive, tooth-filled maws, adult Crocodilians are incredibly gentle with their young. It is a common sight in their villages to see a massive, scarred warrior gently carrying half a dozen squirming toddlers in the back of their mouth to transport them safely across a river.

Ability Score Increase#

Increase one ability score by 2, and increase a different one by 1, or increase three different scores by 1.

Age#

Crocodilians mature rapidly to survive, reaching young adulthood and Medium size by age 15. They do not die of old age in a traditional sense and can live for 400 to 500 years, usually only dying from disease, starvation, or violent challenges for leadership.

Size#

Crocodilians never truly stop growing, packing on dense muscle and bone as the centuries pass. You gain benefits based on your character's age category.

Age	Size
Infantile (0 to 3 months)	Your size is Tiny
Young (3 months to 15 years)	Your size is Small
Adult (15 to 100 years)	Your size is Medium
Mature (100 to 250 years)	Your size is Medium, but your sheer mass grants you the Powerful Build trait. You count as one size larger when determining your carrying capacity and the weight you can push, drag, or lift.
Elder (250+ years)	Your size is Large

Speed#

Your walking speed is 30 feet, and you have a swimming speed of 30 feet.

Cold Blooded#

Your cold-blooded metabolism is incredibly efficient, meaning you require only one quarter of the food and water a human of your size requires to survive. However, this only applies in temperate or warm climates. In cold environments, your metabolism struggles to function; you must consume double the normal amount of food and water to maintain your body temperature, and you have disadvantage on Constitution saving throws to resist the effects of exhaustion caused by cold.

Crocodilian Jaws#

Your massive maw is a natural weapon, which you can use to make unarmed strikes. If you hit with it, you deal piercing damage equal to + your Strength modifier, instead of the bludgeoning damage normal for an unarmed strike.

Natural Armor#

You have tough, scaly skin. When you are not wearing armor, your AC is 13 + your Dexterity modifier. You can use your natural armor to determine your AC if the armor you wear would leave you with a lower AC. A shield's benefits apply as normal while you use your natural armor.

Hold Breath#

You can hold your breath for up to 1 hour.

Languages#

You can speak, read, and write Common and one other language of your choice.

Subspecies#

Choose one of the following subspecies:

Broad-Snout

Broad-snouts are the heavily armored, cold-tolerant tanks of the swamps. They are built for crushing power rather than sustained pursuit.

Crushing Jaws (Modifies Crocodilian Jaws): Your snout is wide and packed with bone-crushing muscle. Your bite deals bludgeoning damage instead of piercing damage, and the damage die increases from a d6 to a .
Swamp Brumation (Adds to Hold Breath): Your metabolism is specifically adapted to endure harsh temperature drops. You have resistance to cold damage, and you have advantage on Constitution saving throws against extreme cold environments.

Salt-Scale

Salt-scales are aggressive, highly territorial ocean voyagers. They are the ultimate ambush predators, using murky water to mask their approach before dragging prey below.

Death Roll (Adds to Crocodilian Jaws): Once per turn, when you have a creature of your size or smaller grappled, you can use your action to perform a death roll. The target takes + your Strength modifier damage.
Pelagic Swimmer (Modifies Speed): You are adapted to navigating harsh ocean currents. Your swimming speed increases to 40 feet.
Camouflaged Predator: You gain proficiency in the Stealth skill. While you are fully submerged in water, you have advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks made to hide.

Needle-Tooth

This sub-lineage has a long, narrow snout lined with interlocking, razor-sharp teeth. They are faster and more agile in the water, but much less bulky on land.

Whip-Snout (Replaces Crocodilian Jaws): Your narrow jaws are built for lightning-fast, sweeping strikes, not for crushing armor. Your bite deals piercing damage instead of . However, your bite has the Finesse property, allowing you to use Dexterity for its attack and damage rolls.
Sleek Frame (Modifies Speed and Natural Armor): You trade heavy armor plating for aquatic agility. Your Natural Armor is reduced to 12 + your Dexterity modifier. In exchange, your swimming speed increases to 50 feet, and moving through non-magical difficult terrain in an aquatic environment costs you no extra movement.

Ember-Blood

These Crocodilians bask on the shores of magma flows and hydrothermal vents. Their scales resemble cooling obsidian, and their bodies radiate intense heat.

Geothermal Metabolism: Your body absorbs extreme heat rather than being destroyed by it. You have resistance to Fire damage.
Searing Maw (Modifies Crocodilian Jaws): Your jaws vent the volcanic heat stored in your body. You can choose to deal Fire damage instead of Piercing damage with your bite. If you hit a target with this fire bite, they cannot regain hit points until the start of your next turn.
Heavy Density (Modifies Speed): Your stone-like scales weigh you down. Your swimming speed is reduced to 20 feet, but you sink perfectly to the bottom of liquids, allowing you to walk on the floor of lakes or lava pools at your normal walking speed.

Grave-Drifter

Born in swamps saturated with necrotic magic, these Crocodilians look like rotting logs or skeletal remains. They are intimately tied to the cycle of death and decay.

Deathly Stillness (Replaces Hold Breath): The magic of the grave sustains you. You do not need to breathe at all, and you have resistance to Necrotic damage.
Spirit-Snap (Modifies Crocodilian Jaws): Your bite can rend the soul as easily as flesh. Your unarmed strikes with your jaws deal Necrotic damage instead of Piercing.
Corpse Camouflage: You have advantage on Charisma (Deception) and Dexterity (Stealth) checks made to appear dead or as an inanimate rotting log.

Pale-Scale

Deep beneath the earth in sunless underground rivers, these Crocodilians have adapted to absolute darkness. They are completely devoid of pigment and have lost their eyes entirely.

Eyeless Hunter (Replaces Sight): You have no eyes, instead you have Blindsight out to a radius of 30 feet. Beyond this radius, you are blind.
Tremor-Sensory Pits: The sensory pits along your jaw are hyper-tuned to vibrations. While you are in water, you gain Tremorsense out to a radius of 120 feet.
Caustic Saliva (Modifies Crocodilian Jaws): Your saliva has become highly acidic to break down tough Underdark carapaces. Your bite deals Acid damage instead of Piercing.

Fey-Crest

Hailing from the vibrant wetlands of the Feywild, these Crocodilians are covered in beautiful, living flora such as moss, glowing fungi, and sharp briars instead of traditional scales.

Thorn-Skin (Modifies Natural Armor): Your hide is woven with razor-sharp briars. Your Natural Armor is reduced to 12 + your Dexterity modifier. However, whenever a creature hits you with a melee attack while within 5 feet of you, they take piercing damage equal to your Proficiency Bonus.
Fey-Step Swim (Modifies Speed): While you are in water, you can use a bonus action to magically teleport up to 30 feet to an unoccupied space you can see that is also in water. You can use this trait a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, regaining all expended uses on a long rest.

Storm-Crest

Found in churning ocean deltas during tropical cyclones or swimming through high-altitude cloud rivers. Their scales are electric blue and crackle with static energy when they are angry.

Lightning Strike (Modifies Crocodilian Jaws): Your jaws snap with the speed and fury of a thunderbolt. Your bite deals Lightning damage instead of Piercing damage.
Ride the Churn (Modifies Speed): Rough water and high winds cannot phase you. Your swimming speed increases to 40 feet, and you are immune to being knocked prone or moved against your will by water currents or strong winds.
Static Charge: When you take the Dash action, your body builds up electricity. The next time you hit a creature with your Jaws before the end of your next turn, the target takes an extra lightning damage.

Void-Snout

These strange, alien Crocodilians drift through the silver void of the Astral Sea or dark corners of the Far Realm. Their scales look like a starless night sky.

Psychic Crush (Modifies Crocodilian Jaws): Your jaws do not just snap bone; they snap the mind. Your bite deals Psychic damage instead of Piercing damage.
Astral Hover (Modifies Speed): You do not walk in the traditional sense, instead hovering just above the ground. You ignore difficult terrain caused by liquid or uneven surfaces. Additionally, you gain a flying speed of 10 feet and can hover, allowing you to remain stationary in mid-air.

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Tags:firelightningpsychicpiercingunarmed strikeblindedwalkingflyinghoverswimmingblindsighttremorsensestealthAC