-->

Thursday, July 7, 2016

Dragonewts: Mystery of the Tail

Looking through the Classic Reprint, as I'm working on a generator for RQ2, I'm struck by the unaddressed changes of the Dragonewt Hit Locations.

Dragonewts (and Newtlings) don't have individual Hit Location entries and being upright bipeds would seem to fall under the standard Humanoid Hit Location template.

Right Leg      01-04
Left Leg        05-08
Abdom          09-11
Chest                12
Right Arm     13-15
Left Arm       16-18
Head              19-20

Yet, Newtlings are stated to have a (delicious) tail and "are very like a crested dragonewt in stature and can be mistaken for one at a distance."  From which I infer that crested dragonewts also have tails.


This is the dragonewt illustration from the book.  It's holding a spear and a Klanth, (which is too heavy for most Crested Dragonewts to wield) so I believe that this is meant to be a Beaked Dragonewt.  Again it has a substantial tail.

The next stage is the Tailed Priest, by definition it would appear to have a tail.

There's no physical description of the Full Priest, but in the final stage the dragonewt is "revealed as the Inhuman King, gaining wings and, again, a tail."  Indicating that the Full Priest is the only tailless stage of Dragonewt development.

Given these deductions I will be adding two Hit Location templates to my RQ2 work.  Crested, Beaked and Tailed Priests, along with Newtlings, will use the first template, Full Priests will continue to use the Humanoid template and the Inhuman King fittingly gets its own template.

Dragonewt & Newtling                     Inhuman King
Right Leg      01-04                             Right Leg      01-04
Left Leg        05-08                             Left Leg        05-08
Tail                   09                               Tail                   09
Abdom          10-11                             Abdom          10-11
Chest                12                               Chest                12
Right Arm     13-15                            Right Arm     13-14
Left Arm       16-18                            Right Wing       15
Head              19-20                            Left Arm       16-17
                                                            Left Wing         18
                                                            Head              19-20