Copyright 2012 Capcom.

This is the fourth post of a series converting Dragon’s Dogma enemies to GURPS. Previous posts can be found below:

Saurians are the least populous of the three sapient species inhabiting the Gransys peninsula. They are less technically sophisticated than humans but require little in the way of tools due to their great strength and hardiness. And while they’re not nearly as malicious as goblins, they’re fiercely territorial and have no qualms about eating any trespassers.

A Saurian’s body is densely muscled and covered in scales similar to a crocodile’s in texture. Their heads resemble those of bearded dragons, and their mouths are filled with sharp teeth. A Saurian is able to walk upright not just because of its roughly humanoid limbs, but because of its thick tail that acts as a counterweight and shifts its center of mass backwards. The final result makes even a burly human warrior look rather puny.

Saurians live in small bands humans call “basks” for their tendency to be found basking in the sun. They reproduce by laying large eggs with soft, slimy shells that require constaint moisture, which means basks often claim territory near large bodies of water.

Saurians fight using crude spears and polearms sized for their large frames. These and the occasional rawhide satchel are the most sophisticated tools any human has seen them use. Those experienced in fighting them know to sever the tail: it can be targeted from the side or behind at a -2 penalty. Like the tail of certain mundane lizards, it comes off easily: injury over HP/2 is enough to sever it, which means the Saurian is unable to stand upright. This doesn’t reduce its movement, but it does mean it can only use its natural weapons to fight.

Saurians in this state will usually try to flee the battle. The tail grows back in time even if severed!

Below are descriptions of all species of saurian found in the original game and its expansion. They are meant to be worthy challenges to 250-point delvers, which makes them quite scary for less powerful characters.

Common Saurian

The most commonly found variety of Saurian is a dark brownish green in color, and conforms exactly to the general description above. They are cold-blooded, and thus tend to keep to Gransys’ warmer southern reaches.

In the original game, there was a sizable group of them living in a flooded seaside cave underneath Cassardis, complete with a large amount of eggs.

ST 15; DX 12; IQ 8; HT 12

SM +1; Dodge 9; Parry 11U (dueling glaive); DR 4 (Tough Skin);

HP 15; Will 10; Per 10; FP 12

Basic Speed 6; Move 7.

  • Oversized Crude Dueling Glaive (16): 1d+4 imp or 2d+4 cut, Reach 1,2*.
  • Claw or Bite (14): 1d cut. The bite benefits from Born Biter (DF 3, p. 15).
  • Tail Swipe (12): 1d+1 cr. No penalty to hit targets behind the saurian.

Traits: Born Biter; Claws (Sharp); DR 4 (Tough Skin); Peripheral Vision; Striker (Tail, Clumsy: -2 to hit); Teeth (Sharp); Terrain Adaptation (Swamp); Bestial; Cold-Blooded 2; Social Stigma (Monster).

Skills: Polearm-16, Brawling-14, Wrestling-14, Stealth-12

Class: Mundane.

Equipment: Crude, oversized dueling glaive.

Sulfur Saurian

This species of Saurian is so named for the color of their scales, which are black with bright yellow streaks. They are a little more tolerant of the cold than Common Saurians, and thus live further north. They share the same general traits described above, and possess two other remarkable abilities: they can shift the color of their scales to match their surroundings, and they can spit paralytic venom!

Basks of Sulfur Saurians are common on the margins of the river crossing the Cursewood in central Gransys and on the warm waters of Lake Hardship, being one of the reasons for the lake’s name.

ST 17; DX 12; IQ 8; HT 12

SM +1; Dodge 9; Parry 11U (dueling glaive); DR 4 (Tough Skin);

HP 17; Will 10; Per 10; FP 12

Basic Speed 6; Move 7.

  • Oversized Crude Dueling Glaive (16): 1d+5 imp or 2d+5 cut, Reach 1,2*. Often laced with the poison described below.
  • Claw or Bite (14): 1d+1 cut. The bite benefits from Born Biter (DF 3, p. 15) and from the poison described below.
  • Poison Spit (12): HT to resist; failure entails a non-cumulative -3 to DX and IQ for 1 hour. Acc 3, Range 10.
  • Tail Swipe (12): 1d+2 cr. No penalty to hit targets behind the saurian.

Traits: Born Biter; Claws (Sharp); Chameleon 4; DR 4 (Tough Skin); Peripheral Vision; Striker (Tail, Clumsy: -2 to hit); Teeth (Sharp); Terrain Adaptation (Swamp); Bestial; Cold-Blooded 1; Social Stigma (Monster).

Skills: Polearm-16, Brawling-14, Wrestling-14, Stealth-12

Class: Mundane.

Equipment: Crude, oversized dueling glaive.

Geo Saurian

This species has even stronger than a normal saurian, and has more clearly supernatural traits. Their scales are black with small red streaks, and have a metallic cast to them. Like sulfur saurians, they can change their coloration to match the environment and have dangerous spit. Unlike sulfur saurians, their sticky spit is flaming, not poisonous.

Geo Saurians can only be found on volcanic mountains or near active geothermal vents. The most well-known concentration of these features is the Tainted Mountain, which lies in the monster-infested range west of Gransys’s borders. That’s not to say they couldn’t be found within some deep dungeon that also had these features, along with other fire-themed beasts!

ST 20; DX 12; IQ 8; HT 12

SM +1; Dodge 10; Parry 12U (dueling glaive); DR 7 (Tough Skin);

HP 20; Will 12; Per 12; FP 12

Basic Speed 6; Move 7.

  • Oversized Crude Dueling Glaive (16): 2d+3 imp or 3d+5 cut, Reach 1,2*.
  • Claw or Bite (14): 2d-2 cut with linked 1d burning. The bite benefits from Born Biter (DF 3, p. 15).
  • Flaming Spit (12): 1d burning. Acc 3, Range 10.
  • Tail Swipe (12): 2d cr. No penalty to hit targets behind the saurian.

Traits: Born Biter; Claws (Sharp); Combat Reflexes; Chameleon 4; DR 7 (Tough Skin); Peripheral Vision; Striker (Tail, Clumsy: -2 to hit); Teeth (Sharp); Terrain Adaptation (Swamp); Bestial; Cold-Blooded 2; Social Stigma (Monster).

Skills: Polearm-16, Brawling-14, Wrestling-14, Stealth-12

Class: Mundane.

Equipment: Crude, oversized dueling glaive.

Saurian Variants

In all cases, the stat blocks above are for average saurians of each type. The GM is free to increase their skills and attributes to produce exceptional individuals without any additional justification! A few possible variants found in the game merit special mention.

Giant Saurians

Some saurians reach absurd sizes! Maybe they just never stop growing, or maybe these have been contaminated by ambient magical energies. Take a normal saurian and increase its SM to +2; multiply ST by 1.5. Their even bigger weapons add +1 to damage on top of the ST increase. Truly colossal specimens at SM+3, ST x2 and +2 weapon damage might exist if the GM is feeling particularly sadistic.

Pyre Saurians

Despite their shape, they are not actual saurians, but lizard-shaped elemental beings of pure fire and magma. Start with the stats for a geo saurian and change its class to Elemental. Add Injury Tolerance (Homogenous), +2d to the burning damage from the bite and spit, and a 1d burning emanation in a 2 meter radius. Fortunately, they use no weapons and always rely on their natural claws, bite and tail.

Saurian Sages

Despite their bestial nature, Saurians do have a mystical tradition centered around mastering their vulnerability to cold. Those rare individuals who complete a pilgrimage to the roots of the world are able to master cold itself! To make a Saurian Sage, start with a normal saurian and remove Cold-Blooded. Raise IQ to at least 12, and add three or more levels of Water College Magery or Elemental Empowerment related to water. Give them any appropriate ice-themed spells or elementalist powers you wish. If starting from a geo saurian, their burning spit becomes freezing instead: it still does burning damage, but it’s no longer incendiary.

Variant Stacking

“Pyre Saurian” and “Saurian Sage” are incompatible with each other. You won’t even find individuals of both types working together! However, both variants are compatible with the “Giant” upgrade, and combining them can give you something not entirely unlike a dragon.