Dracon vs. Lizard Tanks

[PoeticPantherGirl]

I am almost to AP in this, my second time through, and I find myself, not sated but hungry for more! And this leaves me thinking of my future party...I've read the various party threads...all very interesting.
I love my Dracon Tank, "Tink", but I find alot of "pros" for Lizardmen Fighters too...
And so...I open the floor to a Dracon versus Lizardman fighter debate...
Has anyone played both...what are the advantages, disadvantages etc...personal preferences always welcome [img]smile.gif[/img]

Thanks in advance!
PPG

[tuckyboy]

PPG,

I'm currently running a Dracon, but IMO the Liz is better. The Liz is not as intelligent and not a pious, but those stats have little value in a fighter. The Liz is stronger and has higher vitality and those stats do matter for a fighter. The Dracon's breath can be a nice crutch early in the game and the Dracon is -5 mental vs. -10 for the Liz, but of the fighters I've run, the Liz fighters are much more powerful.

[ChaosTheorist]

My "Spell-Pointless Discussion Group" has one of each. By this time (level 23), they're essentially interchangeable--both have Power Strike in the high 70s, Reflextion in the mid 60s, and Iron Skin in the low 20s. But the Iron Skin and Reflextion aren't really that critical--these girls have over 300HP each! The next-closest is one of the Bards at 185HP.

A better setup than the one I used would start them out and build them as follows (Lizard/Dracon - level for Expert skill):
STR 76 / 73 - 9 / 10
SPD 67 / 58 - 12 / 15
DEX 67 / 70 - 20 / 20
VIT 70 / 64 - 22 / 27

This way, they'd both have Reflection in the teens/20s, but would have had Snake Speed--and, more importantly, much better Initiative--through most of the game. The Lizard gets to Power Strike and Snake Speed a level or three earlier than the Dracon (the Dracon's extra 15 points in INT and PIE are close to useless), and the Dracon probably won't make it to Iron Skin (though the Lizard won't have time to develop it much). However, the Dracon can help out by breathing acid on the lower-level rats, bugs, bats, plants, etc. early on.

[The Procrastinator]

In my new party, I'm using a lizard fighter and a dracon rogue as the frontmen while I'm experimenting with 2 dual classed (1 samurai-mage and 1 ranger-alchimist), a bard and a bishop complete the group.

I thought that a dracon would still make a great fighting char while being a bit better at locks and traps because of his slightly higher int and dex. I'm not overly impressed, but he's ok. With a good sword, he'll be better.

I almost went for a lizardman monk... Anybody tried that? That would mean a 30 point deficit, refundable in 5 level-ups, but it's the only way to start with 60 in strength with a monk...

[ChaosTheorist]

I almost went for a lizardman monk... Anybody tried that? That would mean a 30 point deficit, refundable in 5 level-ups, but it's the only way to start with 60 in strength with a monk...

Whereas a Human Monk will start with STR=54, and hit STR=60 at level 3 (i.e., in the Monastery). When the Lizard Monk reaches level 6 (Arnika, Umpani Base camp, or maybe *still* in the Monastery) and is able to raise STR from 60 to 63, the Human Monk will be raising STR from 66 to 69. Likewise, when the Lizard Monk finishes paying off his Apprentice penalty, the Human Monk will have SPD up to 77.

Lizard Monk? "Not so much".