If we measured success by longevity, then dinosaurs must rank as the number one success story in the history of land life.
There are many races of reptilian humanoids in the world, but few are as ancient and secretive as the Saurians. The Saurian civilization was old when the other races were born, having survived the catastrophes that periodically cleanse the world. Ancient saurian scrolls tell of a time when the world was covered in jungle and giant reptiles stomped across the continents. Perhaps because of this pedigree, Saurians feel a bit out of place in the modern world.
Racial Ecologies is line of small supplements from Fat Goblin Games. Each one is richly detailed with information on racial histories, personality, physiology, and all the details on playing the race, including optional racial traits, character traits, feats, new equipment, and other material.
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I have a soft spot in my heart for reptiles, so I jumped at the chance to get the Saurian book, another in the line of Racial Ecologies series. I’ve read and reviewed a lot of the books in this series, so let’s see how this one compares.
This is an 11 page PDF, with 10 pages dedicated to the race, and the 11th the legal mumbo jumbo required. The first page is background fluff, and while it’s solid, it doesn’t inspire the way the Grippli one did. My take on these Racial Ecology books is that to truly get the best out of them, you need to flesh out the race. It also has the first piece of art, and it’s a lizard head on a man body, complete with flesh and nipples. I noted this copy/paste head in the Catfolk book as well. Going forward, a look at the Advances Race Guide would help. That book in some ways gives you more usable content in fewer pages. Page two covers personality, appearance, relationships with other races, religion, homeland and languages. It also has a side bar for names, and a good number for both genders.
Page three gives Race Traits, Racial Traits, and Alternate Racial Traits. Here is where the PDF starts to shine to me. Lizards are found all over the world, so how do you represent that variety in a single stat block? You give Terrain Stride in their home terrain. Good thinking here. You get a few solid options here, but there really isn’t enough variety for me (more on this later). One nitpick: Jungle Homelands should be varied like their Terrain stride, but this is a MINOR nitpick and easily hand waived.
Page 4 is Favored class options for every class, and Vital Stats. Everything here is solid, and I noticed no issues with balance. I like that the Druid entry has an option for AC and non AC using druids.
Page 5 is Feats, Knowledge of the Saurian, and the start of Equipment. All of the feats are fine to my eye, though Hardy Brawler gives you a boost to resist non lethal damage, and has a prerequisite. I can’t really see this one being taken. Carrion Feeder is my favorite in the section, and give really good, cool boosts.
The Equipment section gives weapons, armor, and some mundane gear. The new axe here will be taken quite a bit, but doesn’t seem to be overpowered when I compare it to other weapons in its class. The Magic Items section gives you Boots of the Raptor, which I love and have quite a few alternate uses, and The Fossilized Eye Crown, which is a great spy tool. Next is the Collar of Beast-Speech, which I’ve seen in a few products, and the price is always all over the map. This gets to what I think it should be, effect and price wise. Lastly is a Dancing weapon shield called the Dinosaur Shield.
Pages 8-9 are Saurian Heritage. These pages connect the Saurians to their dinosaur ancestors. It gives different racial spreads to represent the original races of Saurians, before they interbred and produced the standard Saurian. (One this that bugs me throughout is the Dinosaur->Reptile connection, when it’s Dinosaur->Bird. This, however, is Paizo’s fault, because in Pathfinder, Dinosaur->Reptile is the official ruling.) All of these original Saurian races are good, short descriptions of the ‘sub-race’-‘proto-race’ it represents. I plan on sitting down today and making a Theropod Barbarian as a natural attack build to see how it comes out. There are four options here, and while all have obvious class leanings, I like each of them.
Page 10 is my least favorite page in the PDF. Random Saurian Traits is a d100 chart to give you quirks of the appearance. I’d of way rather seen this page as more feats, traits, something to modify your character in a meaningful way. Nothing here is BAD, it’s just not useful, and in 10 pages, 1 page not being helpful hurts. Also, you get a croc head on what looks to be a teifling barbarians body.
Final verdict, I give this book 4.25 starts, rounding to 4. With a little more crunch or fluff, and a little less filler, it would definitely be a 5.
(based on 1 rating)
