Serpent Men

[tkdco2]

Here's my version of the Serpent Men. I originally wrote them up for a homebrew campaign that never took off. This version is for AD&D, but it can easily be translated into OD&D.


Serpent Men


Common Serpent Men

Frequency: Rare
No. Appearing: 2-8
Armor Class: 4
Move: 9"
Hit Dice: 4+3
% in Lair: 50%
Treasure Type: C
No. of Attacks: 1 bite or 1 weapon
Damage/attack: 1-6 or by weapon type
Special Attacks: Charm, surprise
Special Defenses: Disguise
Magic Resistance: 20%
Intelligence: High
Alignment: Chaotic Evil
Size: L (8' long)
Psionic Ability: Nil
Attack/defense Modes: Nil/nil
Level/XP Value: V/210 + 5/hp



Greater Serpent Men

Frequency: Very Rare
No. Appearing: 1-3
Armor Class: 3
Move: 9"
Hit Dice: 6+2
% in Lair: 75%
Treasure Type: Cx2
No. of Attacks: 1 bite or 1 weapon
Damage/attack: 1-6 + poison or by weapon type
Special Attacks: Charm, poison, surprise
Special Defenses: Disguise
Magic Resistance: 20%
Intelligence: Exceptional
Alignment: Chaotic Evil
Size: L (12' long)
Psionic Ability: Nil
Attack/defense Modes: Nil/nil
Level/XP Value: VI/775 + 8/hp



These vile creatures once ruled the world and wish to do so again. Driven underground by humanity centuries ago, the serpent men plan their revenge and wait for the right moment to strike. They use their special abilities to infiltrate human societies, destroying what they cannot subjugate.

All serpent men can shape shift to human form, but they cannot change their human appearance. They also have the ability to charm humans with their hypnotic gaze.

Greater serpent men are the ruler and high priests of the clans. The clan leaders always style take on the title of king or queen, and they always have maximum hit points. They are accompanied by 3-5 common serpent men with maximum hit points acting as their bodyguards. High priests are often aided by 1-3 sub-priests. Only greater serpent men can be high priests, but common serpent men may be sub-priests.

[Vile Traveller]

Nice. I also use serpent people, although they are not frequently encountered or even known about by most surface dwellers.

In my universe troglodytes are the degenerate descendants of the snake people, who created much of the middle layer of the underworld (between the more commonly-entered upper levels of the modern humanoids, and the almost mythical depths which were created aeons past by great, old races. Great races and old ones, one might say.

[tkdco2]

Good idea using troglodytes. I toyed around with using yuan-ti, noble lamiae, and doppelgangers for the serpent man race until I made up my own monster. Lizard men were another option, but I decided to make them separate, so the serpent men could use them as a slave race.

I wrote up an adventure involving serpent men, but it proved to be too challenging for lower levels like I intended, especially in a low-magic setting. I'd either have to playtest it with higher-level characters or reduce the number of serpent men and add more traps instead.

I was thinking if any survive in Carcosa, they'd probably kill the sacrifices in their rituals with a poisoned bite. Mind you, I mainly use the Expurgated version.

[otiv]

Did you happen to watch the movie The Lair of the White Worm?

[tkdco2]

A long time ago. I don't remember much.