Cayma

Cay-men as they appeared in the Creature Catalog (AC9/DMR2)

Caymas, originally known as Cay-Men, are a subspecies of Lizardfolk native to the Mystara world of Dungeons & Dragons. They were first introduced to the D&D world as part of an article in Dragon Magazine #185, being the subject of one of the last parts in the story of The Voyage of the Princess Ark. This article presented them with mechanics to be playable for "Basic" Dungeons & Dragons, whilst they would later receive an Advanced Dungeons & Dragons update in two splatbooks published as part of AD&D's Odyssey line: Characters of the Savage Coast, and Orc's Head: Sourcebook.

After the gurrash turned out to be a dismal failure, the Herathians tried again. This time, they tried fusing shazaks with common caimans, aiming for a small but quick and agile species of slave laborers. And, in fairness, it was almost a success. Caymas really did do the job they were made for... the problem was that they just weren't as smart as they were supposed to be, which was a problem seeing as how they were mainly used to construct buildings. Worse still, they were incredibly pretentious, which led to them constantly arguing with their superiors over perceived "failings" on the part of the architects or when called out on their errors. In fact, they were so bad about it that even when they did realize they'd made a mistake, they did whatever they could to cover it up rather than admit it!

Basically, picture an entire race of That Guy who thinks he's an expert on anything, but always turns out to actually never have the faintest clue what he's doing. What our frenemies on TVTropes would call a "Know-Nothing Know-It-All".

Eventually, the Herathians got so sick of the delays or dangerously faulty constructions that resulted that they washed their hands of the caymas, driving them into the swamps and leaving them there, trusting the brutal, cannibalistic gurrash would finish off their latest failures.

Surprisingly, the caymas have actually survived and even thrived. They may do a lot worse at aping civilization than they care to admit, but they're still out there.

As anthropomorphic caimans, caymas actually look a little like the post-3e rendition of kobolds. They stand around 12 to 18 inches tall and weigh 6 to 10 pounds. Needless to say, strength isn't their strong suite. Covered in dull brown to rich green scales, they have black eyes, which are surprisingly creepy.

Caymas are noted for being peaceful members of the lizardfolk family tree. Proud and easily hurt by the mockery of others, they prefer to avoid fighting, but are fierce to defend themselves against aggression. Rarely taken seriously, they burn with indignation at this fact, and even though they struggle with a lack of any real understanding of topics such as architecture and engineering - their greatest fields of interest - they retain an endless enthusiasm and a dauntless certainty that they can succeed.

As a species, Caymas venerate two of the Immortals of Mystara; Cay, goddess of earth, life, fertility and good luck, is really the Immortal Terra, and Kutul the Shining One, god of war, fire and conquest, is really the immortal known as Kurtulmak.

Of the two, "Cay" is the older; it was she who interfered in the creation of the caymas, angered by the plans of the Herathians to deliberately limit and debilitate their creations to make them slaves. She instilled them with the overabundance of pride and natural lack of talent in building that made them useless to their masters. Kutul is a more recent intervention in their species, hoping to expand his powers by adding them to his worshippers alongside the kobolds.

Racial Stats

Monstrous Compendium: Savage Coast

Basic D&D

Like all nonhuman races in Basic Dungeons & Dragons, caymas are treated as a class more than anything, which makes them hard to follow. But, /tg/ believes in sharing that kind of obscure stuff, so here they are.

Experience & Hit Dice Table

Level -1: -1,000 XP, 1d8 HD

Level 0: 0 XP, 2d8 HD

Level 1: 1,000 XP, 3d8 HD

Level 2: 3,000 XP, 4d8 HD

Level 3: 7,000 XP, 0 HD

Level 4: 14,000 XP, 5d8 HD

Level 5: 31,000 XP, 6d8 HD

Level 6: 63,000 XP, 7d8 HD

Level 7: 129,000 XP, 0 HD

Level 8: 259,000 XP, 8d8 HD

Level 9: 519,000 XP, +2 Hit Points

Further Advancement: +300,000 XP per extra level, +2 hit points per level

Ability Score Modifiers:

Maximum Wisdom is 16 and Maximum Intelligence is 14; Strength, Dexterity, Constitution and Charisma are Maximum 18.

-1 Str, -1 Wis, +2 Dex

Starting Int is rolled as 1d4+2

As a monstrous humanoid, modifier Charisma by -2 when dealing with humanoids of other races and by -5 when dealing with humans and demihumans

Miscellaneous:

Automatically knows how to swim.

Can stay underwater for 3 minutes without discomfort.

When 10 feet or more away from a viewer and within swamp vegetation, has a 30% chance to Hide.

Infravision

Natural Armor Class is 7.

Armor with an AC of 7 or worse will only improve the character's AC by 1 point.

Shields work as normal.

Armor with an AC of 6 or better use their own AC with a 1 point bonus.

Advanced D&D

It goes without saying that caymas were far easier to grasp as a PC race in Advanced D&D than they were in Basic.

Racial Ability Minimums and Maximums: Strength 3/13, Dexterity 8/18, Constitution 3/8, Intelligence 3/16, Wisdom 3/16, Charisma 3/18

Racial Ability Modifiers: +2 Dex, -1 Str, -1 Wis

Class & Level Limits: Fighter 8, Wizard 12, Priest 8, Thief 14, Psionicist 8

Multiclass Options: Fighter/Thief, Fighter/Psionicist

Thieving Skill Adjustments: -10% Pick Pockets, +10% Open Locks, +5% Find/Remove Traps, +10% Move Silently, +10% Hide in Shadows

Infravision 90 feet

Swimming as a bonus proficiency

Builder's Curse: Caymas can take Proficiency in Architecture or Engineering as a bonus proficiency at character creation, but halve their proficiency (rounding down) in both skills.