I am currently prepping Maze of the Blue Medusa as the first part of my Clash of the Titans campaign. Many of the monsters I just intend on swapping them with 5e equivalents and not worrying about CR – with a few exceptions. The chameleon woman are one of those exceptions. Since they can appear a lot on the random encounter tables and escalate in power the more they appear I want to make sure they are more than just “lizard women with more HD”. Here is the first cut, I am sure I will be adding more iterations/hit squads as I play the actual adventure.
Some of these encounters will be set-piece type battles to break up the style of play the chameleon women present and to reflect their alien nature. I’ll be revisiting these as I use them and elaborating as needed.
Chameleon Women are part of the Neonate Empire a degraded successor state of the original Saurid Empire that built the maze as a library. They are here to reclaim some of their former glory by taking back the “library” (maze) and expelling all warm-blooded squatters, looters and invaders they find. The lizardfolk mummies found throughout the complex are their ancestors and look upon their descendants with a mix of sympathy and pity, mixed with distaste at how their civilisation has fallen (considering all of the Neonate Empire as uncultured barbarians and feel it would have been better for the Saurid Empire to not have survived at all then become a militant, art under-appreciating Neonate Empire.
Chameleon women appear feminine despite their reptilian appearance just as negamancers (all male) appear masculine. Why this is? Who can say without performing an autopsy.
CHAMELEON WOMAN
TRAITS
Camouflage. The chameleon woman has advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks made to hide in any terrain.
Infravison. In addition to their standard senses, all chameleon women can see heat sources. This not only lets them see in places where darkvison may not work, but it also grants them advantage on Wisdom (Survival) skill checks when tracking warm-blooded creatures.
- Multiattack. The chameleon woman makes two attacks roll again twice rerolling results of 1.
- Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 5 (1d6 + 2) piercing damage.
- Heavy Club. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 5 (1d6 + 2) bludgeoning damage.
- Javelin. Melee or Ranged Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft. or range 30/120 ft., one target. Hit: 5 (1d6 + 2) piercing damage.
- Spiked Shield. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 5 (1d6 + 2) piercing damage.
- Cruel Machetes. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 5 (1d6 + 2) necrotic damage.
- S-Shaped Throwing Knives. Melee or Ranged Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft. or range 30/60 ft., one target. Hit: 5 (1d6 + 2) necrotic damage.
- Barbed Net. Ranged Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, range 5/15 ft., one Large or smaller creature. Hit: The target is restrained. A creature can use its action to make a DC 10 Strength check to free itself or another creature in a net, ending the effect on a success. Dealing 5 slashing damage to the net (AC 10) frees the target without harming it and destroys the net. Any attempt to free a target inflicts 2 (1d4) necrotic damage.
CHAMELEON WOMAN SORCERESS
A chameleon woman sorceress has the following additional trait and will use a spell in preference to any other action.
Saurid Spellcasting. Chameleon women can cast any wizard or cleric spell of spell levels 1 through 5 at a hit point cost equal to 2 × the level of the spell. So magic missile (a 1st Lvl spell) would cost the sorceress 2 hit points. Spellcasting ability is CHA and save DCs should be calculated as noamrl.
- First Encounter. d6 lizardfolk. Add a sorceress if you roll a 2+.
- Second Encounter. d6 lizardfolk supported by a giant lizard. Add a sorceress if you roll a 5+.
- Third Encounter. d6 lizardfolk supported by a giant lizard. Add a sorceress if you roll a 4+. Add a shaman if you roll 3+
- Forth Encounter. d6+1 lizardfolk supported by a 1d4 giant lizards. Add a sorceress if you roll a 3+. Add a shaman if you roll 4+
- Fifth Encounter. d6+1 lizardfolk supported by a 1d4 giant lizards and a lizard queen. Add a sorceress if you roll a 2+. Add a shaman if you roll 3+
- Sixth Encounter. d6+1 lizardfolk supported by a 1d4 giant lizards, 1d4 giant snakes and a lizard queen. Add a sorceress if you roll a 2+. Add a shaman if you roll 2+
You can also sub in any of the following – rescind as chameleon women – troglodytes, kuo-toa, sahuagin, and sea hags. They could also potentially back up by crocodiles, and kroxigars – ogre lizardmen… and of course, eventually, yuan-ti.
SIMPLIFIED STATBLOCKS
A note on statblocks, these are not full 5e D&D statblocks, these are for me to run at the table. In that case, I really don’t need to know ability scores, for example. I also tend to roll randomly for the creature’s actions unless its a “boss” or super-intelligent foes like a mind flayer or beholder, in which case I won’t be as random.