Warriors of the Wild - Snake

SNAKE

Game Design, Writing, and Editing Mattieu Bgin and Richard Farrese

Graphic Design and Logos Stphane Richard

Snake Illustration Karim Idrissi

Layout Richard Farrese

Proofreading Jenifer Brault

Playtesting and Comments Mathieu Brossard, Jean-Franois Desrosiers,

tienne Godin, Lee Hammock, Carl Joly, Frdric Tremblay

Thanks to

Our friend Louis Porter, Jr. at Devils Workshop for distributing this product

Stphane Richard for his friendship, dedication, and hard work, as well as for the beautiful Paragon and Warriors of the Wild logos

Our good friends and playtesters, whose comments and suggestions were invaluable

Our wonderful wives, for their love and support

Mattieu Bgin is a doctor in biology turned professional video game designer. He has been DMing tirelessly for the past 20 year and never seems to get enough D&D. Several of his original, long-lasting campaigns have become legendary among his friends. He and his wife Angela live in the heart of Montreals cultural center.

Richard Farrese is a full-time freelance writer, translator, and game designer. His RPG credits include Legend of the Five Rings and World of Warcraft books, The Worlds Largest Dungeon, as well as numerous articles published in magazines such as Dragon. He lives with his wife Jenifer in a small town near Montreal.

'd20 System' and the 'd20 System' logo are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast, Inc. and are used according to the terms of the d20 System License version 6.0. A copy of this License can be found at www.wizards.com/d20. Dungeons & Dragons, Player's Handbook, and Wizards of the Coast are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast, Inc. in the United States and other countries and are used with permission. This edition of Warriors of the Wild: Snake is produced under version 1.0a of the Open Game License, version 6.0 of the d20 System Trademark License, version 5 of the d20 System Trademark Guide, and the System Reference Document by permission from Wizards of the Coast, Inc. Subsequent editions will incorporate final versions of the license, guide and document.

Warriors of the Wild: Snake by Mattieu Bgin and Richard Farrese, Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.

Designation of Product Identity: The following items are hereby designated as Product Identity in accordance with Section 1(e) of the Open Gaming License, version 1.0a: Any and all Paragon and Warriors of the Wild logos and identifying marks and trade dress; all artwork, symbols, graphic design and illustrations. The above Product Identity is not Open Game Content.

Designation of Open Game Content: Subject to the Product Identity designation above, all class names, texts, rules, character names and statistic blocks are designated as Open Game Content, as well as all material appearing in the System Reference Document.

Some portions of this product which are Open Game Content originate from the System Reference Document and are 2000 Wizards of the Coast, Inc. The remainder of the Open Game Content portions of this product are hereby added to Open Game Content and if so used, should bear the COPYRIGHT NOTICE Warriors of the Wild: Snake by Mattieu Bgin and Richard Farrese, 2008 (contact info [email protected]). This material is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America.

To contact us: [email protected]

SNAKE

In the strange and exotic regions of the arid Southlands, old turbaned men playing the flute make cobras obey their every command while tattooed women heedlessly dance with poisonous vipers crawling upon their bodies. While these people use snakes to enthrall audiences, others strive to capture the essence and emulate the movements of this lissome animal for their own benefit. By studying these slithering reptiles and the men and women who charm them, one particular group of elite warriors has earned the name of snake. These individuals are said to be exceptionally deceptive, deadly, and graceful.

2008, Karim Idrissi

If all snakes are apt at manipulation, not all of them are ill-inclined. In fact, most of them understand that the best way to obtain what they want is to play by the rules of societyat least some of the time. These warriors are usually sociable and prefer to live in urban areas. Some are spies, some are enforcers, and some are assassins. Others prefer to be in charge and give orders. Regardless of their particular trade or expertise, snakes are respected for their efficiency and talents, and often rise to positions of influence.

The ambitious and violent nature of snakes sometimes leads them into adventuring parties. The snakes combat style focuses on the eerie art of hypnotism. By imitating the precise and graceful movements of the cobra, snakes can lull their opponents into a mental haze and then hit them with unmatched precision. They make perfect strikers. Their worse enemy is their tendency for greed, which can cause tension within an adventuring band. While all snakes are deceitful to some degree, many refrain from being so toward their allies.

Those who take on this prestige class come from a wide variety of backgrounds and, accordingly, most martial and roguish classessuch as fighters, barbarians, rogues, and rangerscould benefit from gaining some snake levels. Nevertheless, it is common to find snakes who first took 4 levels in the fighter class, or who combined levels of both fighter and rogue.

Hit Dice: d10.

Requirements To become a snake a character must fulfill all the following requirements:

Alignment: Any non-lawful. Base Attack Bonus: +4. Feats: Weapon Focus (any weapon).

Class Skills The snakes class skills (and the key ability for each) are Balance (Dex), Bluff (Cha), Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Escape Artist (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Handle Animal (Cha), Hide (Dex), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Swim (Str), and Use Rope (Dex).

Skill Points at Each Level: 4 + Int modifier.

Warriors of the Wild: Snake 1

Class Features All the following are class features of the snake prestige class:

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A snake is proficient with all simple and martial weapons, light armor, medium armor, and shields (except tower shields).

Hypnotic Dance (Su): A snake can enter a strange stance reminiscent of the graceful, hypnotic movement of the cobra. When in this stance, the snake moves and stares in such a way that she can take a foes attention away from her weapons. Performing a hypnotic dance requires a move action or can be performed for free during a move action in which the snake moves up to her speed. The target of the hypnotic dance must be within 30 feet of the square from which the snake initiated her move action, and must be able to see her dance. If the victim fails on a Will saving throw (DC 15 + the snakes class level + her Charisma modifier), it takes a 2 penalty to Armor Class and is denied its Dexterity bonus to AC (if any) for one round, or until the next attack the snake makes against it with any weapon, whichever occurs first. If successful, that attack is treated as a confirmed critical hit. These benefits apply to the snake only (not to her allies).

A snake may enter a hypnotic dance once per day at 1st level, and one more time per day at 3rd, 5th, 7th, and 9th level. She cannot enter a hypnotic dance while wearing heavy armor or carrying a heavy load.

Vipers Viciousness (Ex): A snake uncovers several tricks to sharpen her abilities in combat, but it is her sheer mercilessness that makes her a lethal foe in battle. A 2nd level snake gains a +4 bonus on all rolls made to confirm a critical hit. This bonus increases to +8 at 7th level.

Forked Tongue (Ex): Like the spirit of her animal namesake, the snake is cunning and deceitful. At 3rd level, she gains Persuasive as a bonus feat.

Improved Critical: When she reaches 4th level, a snake gains the Improved Critical feat in a weapon of her choice. She gains this feat even if she does not meet the prerequisites for it.

Serpents Suppleness (Ex): Beginning at 6th level, the snakes body subtly changes. This almost unperceivable transformation allows her to bend and

twist her body in much the same manner as a real snake does. From this point onward, the snake gains a +4 bonus on all Escape Artist checks, on all grapple checks made to escape a grapple or a pin, as well as on any opposed grapple checks initiated by an opponent.

A snake can also maneuver through tight spots more easily, and move through places others of her race cannot. Consider the snake as being one size category smaller when squeezing. A snake loses the benefits granted by this ability if she wears heavy armor or carries a heavy load.

Lethal Strike (Ex): When she reaches 7th level, the snake becomes expert at striking where it hurts. When scoring a critical hit with a weapon for which she has the Improved Critical feat (or an equivalent weapon, such as one with the keen special ability or a keen edge spell effect), the critical multiplier of that weapon is increased by 1 (e.g. a longswords critical multiplier improves from x2 to x3 in the hands of a snake). A snake gains this ability again at 10th level (the two iterations of this ability stack).

Designers Notes

Few things in the game are as amusingly frustrating as rolling a natural 20 on an attack, only to miss the confirmation roll. The vicious and lightning-fast snake is for players who live for the temporary surge of adrenaline that comes when you score a critical hit. Its abilities are not only designed to improve the frequency and damage output of critical hits, but also to give players some control over when their characters are going to score a critical. Because critical hits are not limited to front-line combatants, we chose class requirements that were open enough to allow characters of any class to take snake levels. Consequently, two PCs with snake levels might look quite different.

THE SNAKE ADVANCEMENT TABLE

Level Base Attack

Bonus Fortitude

Save Reflex Save

Will Save

Special

1st +1 +0 +2 +0 Hypnotic dance 1/day 2nd +2 +0 +3 +0 Vipers viciousness +4 3rd +3 +1 +3 +1 Forked tongue, hypnotic dance 2/day 4th +4 +1 +4 +1 Improved Critical 5th +5 +1 +4 +1 Hypnotic dance 3/day 6th +6 +2 +5 +2 Serpents suppleness 7th +7 +2 +5 +2 Hypnotic dance 4/day, lethal strike 8th +8 +2 +6 +2 Vipers viciousness +8 9th +9 +3 +6 +3 Hypnotic dance 5/day 10th +10 +3 +7 +3 Lethal strike

Warriors of the Wild: Snake 2

LANEAS ONASSAEL CR 9 Female elf rogue 3/fighter 2/snake 4 CG Medium humanoid Init +5; Senses low-light vision; Listen +10, Spot +0 Languages Common, Elven, Orc AC 18, touch 11, flat-footed 17

(+1 Dex, +5 armor, +2 shield) hp 55 (9 HD) Immune magical sleep Fort +7, Ref +9, Will +5; +2 against enchantments,

evasion Speed 30 ft. (6 squares) Melee +1 scimitar +13/+8 (1d6+4/15-20) or Ranged mwk composite longbow +10/+5 (1d8+3/x3) Base Atk +8; Grp +11 Atk Options Combat Expertise, Improved Disarm

+17, hypnotic dance 2/day (DC 20), Point Blank Shot, sneak attack +2d6

Combat Gear potion of cure serious wounds (2), potion of displacement (2), potion of invisibility (2)

Abilities Str 16, Dex 12, Con 12, Int 13, Wis 10, Cha 12 SQ trapfinding, trap sense +1, vipers viciousness +4 Feats Combat Expertise, Improved Critical (scimitar),

Improved Disarm, Improved Initiative, Iron Will, Persuasive, Point Blank Shot, Weapon Focus (scimitar)

Skills Bluff +13, Climb +11, Diplomacy +3, Disguise +1 (+3 when acting), Gather Information +9, Hide +11, Intimidate +17, Jump +5, Knowledge (local) +6, Listen +10, Move Silently +11, Open Lock +7

Possessions combat gear, +2 studded leather, +1 buckler, +1 scimitar, masterwork kukri, masterwork composite longbow (+3 Strength) with 20 arrows, cloak of resistance +1, 255 gp

Hypnotic Dance (Su): Performing a hypnotic dance requires a move action or can be performed for free during a move action in which Lanes Onassal moves up to her speed. The target of the hypnotic dance must be within 30 feet of the square from which Lanes Onassal initiated her move action, and must be able to see her dance. If the victim fails a DC 20 Will saving throw, it takes a 2 penalty to AC and is denied its Dexterity bonus to AC (if any) for one round, or until the next attack Lanes Onassal makes against it with any weapon, whichever occurs first. If successful, that attack is treated as a confirmed critical hit. These benefits apply to the snake only (not to her allies).

Vipers Viciousness (Ex): Lanes Onassal gains a +4 bonus on all rolls made to confirm a critical hit.

Warriors of the Wild: Snake 3

HAJMOHR SNAKEFANGS CR 16 Female hill giant sorcerer 2/snake 7 NE Large giant Init 1; Senses low-light vision; Listen +5, Spot +5 Languages Giant AC 25, touch 10, flat-footed 25

(1 Dex, +4 armor, +11 natural, 1 size, +2 deflection) hp 185 (21 HD) Fort +17, Ref +11, Will +14 Speed 40 ft. (8 squares) Melee +2 shocking burst greataxe +28/+23/+18/+13

(3d6+15/19-20/x4 plus 1d6 electricity) or Ranged rock +16 (2d6+9) Space 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft. Base Atk +17; Grp +30; serpents suppleness Atk Options Cleave, hypnotic dance 4/day (DC 26),

Power Attack, rock throwing, shocking burst (+3d10 electricity), Improved Sunder +36

Combat Gear potion of fly, potion of haste, potion of darkvision

Sorcerer Spells Known (CL2) 1st (5/day)shield, true strike 0 (6/day)detect magic, light, mage hand, read

magic, resistance Abilities Str 28, Dex 8, Con 18, Int 8, Wis 10, Cha 18 SQ lethal strike, rock catching, serpents suppleness,

vipers viciousness +4 Feats Blind Fight, Cleave, Combat Casting, Improved

Critical (greataxe), Improved Sunder, Iron Will, Persuasive, Power Attack, Skill Focus (Concentration), Weapon Focus (greataxe)

Skills Bluff +11, Climb +12, Concentration +17, Diplomacy +6, Disguise +4 (+6 when acting), Escape artist +3, Gather Information +6, Hide 5, Intimidate +8, Jump +15, Listen +5, Spot +5

Possessions combat gear, +2 shocking burst greataxe, amulet of natural armor +2, bracers of armor +4, cloak of resistance +3 and charisma +2, handy haversack, ring of protection +2, 100 gp

When under the effects of haste, resistance, and shield, Hajmohr Snakefangs has the following changed statistics: AC 30, touch 11, flat-footed 29

(1 Dex, +4 armor, +4 shield, +11 natural, 1 size, +2 deflection, +1 dodge)

Immune magic missile Fort +18, Ref +13, Will +15 Speed 70 ft. (14 squares) Melee +2 shocking burst greataxe +29/+29/+24/+19/+14

(3d6+15/19-20/x4 plus 1d6 electricity) or Ranged rock +17 (2d6+9) Skills Jump +27 Hypnotic Dance (Su): Performing a hypnotic dance

requires a move action or can be performed for free during a move action in which Hajmohr Snakefangs moves up to her speed. The target of the hypnotic dance must be within 30 feet of the square from which Hajmohr Snakefangs

initiated her move action, and must be able to see her dance. If the victim fails on a DC 26 Will saving throw, it takes a 2 penalty to AC and is denied its Dexterity bonus to AC (if any) for one round, or until the next attack Hajmohr Snakefangs makes against it with any weapon. If successful, that attack is treated as a confirmed critical hit. These benefits apply to the snake only (not to her allies).

Rock Catching (Ex): Hajmohr Snakefangs can catch Small, Medium, or Large rocks (or projectiles of similar shape). Once per round, a giant that would normally be hit by a rock can make a Reflex save to catch it as a free action. The DC is 15 for a Small rock, 20 for a Medium one, and 25 for a Large one. (If the projectile provides a magical bonus on attack rolls, the DC increases by that amount.) The giant must be aware of and ready for the attack in order to make a rock catching attempt.

Rock Throwing (Ex): Adult giants are accomplished rock throwers and receive a +1 racial bonus on attack rolls when throwing rocks. Hajmohr Snakefangs can hurl rocks weighing 40 to 50 pounds each (Small objects) up to five range increments. The range increment is 120 feet.

Serpents Suppleness (Ex): Hajmohr Snakefangs gains a +4 bonus on all Escape Artist checks, on all grapple checks made to escape a grapple or a pin, as well as on any opposed grapple checks initiated by an opponent. Hajmohr Snakefangs can also maneuver through tight spots more easily, and move through places others of her race cannot. Consider the snake as being one size category smaller when squeezing.

Vipers Viciousness (Ex): Hajmohr Snakefangs gains a +4 bonus on all rolls made to confirm a critical hit.

Warriors of the Wild: Snake 4

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System Reference Document Copyright 2000-2003, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.; Authors Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, Skip Williams, Rich Baker, Andy Collins, David Noonan, Rich Redman, Bruce R. Cordell, John D. Rateliff, Thomas Reid, James Wyatt, based on original material by E. Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson.

Warriors of the Wild: Snake Copyright 2008, Mattieu Bgin and Richard Farrese.

Warriors of the Wild: Snake 5

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