Copyright 2008 Wizards of the Coast

This is part of a series! Go here to see the other entries.

Nagas are inspired by creatures from Hindu, Buddhist and Jainist tradition. Stories about them originate from both India and Laos. They’ve been in D&D since at least AD&D 1e, and here they’re present only in the Monster Manual.

The Lore

Nagas are serpentine creatures with humanoid faces, more spirit than flesh. They are the guardians of sacred places and secret lore, immune to the ravages of age, hunger, or sleep.

Nagas are sapient, highly intelligent, and possess magical powers. While the book doesn’t specify who exactly summons nagas to guard some secret, I imagine powerful servants of the gods or other equivalent entities might have the ability to do so. You’ll rarely find a naga guarding an easily accessible place like a big city temple or the like - remoteness is the first line of defense for the sites they tend to guard.

Nagas are often fond of treasure, and end up building small hoards out of the belongings of the interlopers they defeat. Some of them grow to despise their original mission, and install themselves as divine rulers of primitive reptilian tribes, over which they seem to have some influence. As you might expect, the servants of Zehir are among some of the most enthusiastic fans of nagas, though they’re not inherently associated with that deity.

The Numbers

Nagas are Large Magical Beasts with the Reptile keyword. Their origin is typically Immortal, but that can vary. They have Darkvision, very high Int scores, speak several languages, and have plenty of mental skills, such as Arcana, Insight, History, and so on. Their specific powers vary per stat block, but there’s always something snaky and something magical.

Guardian Naga

This naga is Level 12 Elite Artillery with 186 HP. In previous editions they used to be always Lawful Good, but here their alignment is listed as “any”. Presumably it matches that of whoever summoned them as guardians. They usually guard arcane secrets, rituals, or artifacts, as well as portals to the Astral Sea. They move at speed 6.

The guardian naga will likely open a fight with Thunderstrike (area burst 1 within 20 vs. Fortitude; recharge 5-6), which does thunder damage and dazes on a hit (save ends). On a miss it still does half damage, with no riders.

From them on it will hit its enemies with Word of Pain (ranged 20 vs. Will), doing psychic damage and immobilizing (save ends). It will likely spread this around so most PCs are immobilized, and then focus on what it perceives to be the biggest threats.

If someone manages to get close, it will Spit Poison at them (close blast 3 vs. Fortitude; recharge 5-6). This does immediate and ongoing poison damage, and it also inflicts a -2 penalty to Fortitude and saves (save ends all).

Only when it has no other alternative will the guardian naga fight in melee. Its only weapon there are weak Tail Slaps that do some damage and push 2 squares on a hit.

Bone Naga

This skeletal naga is a Level 16 Elite Controller with 328 HP. As an undead being, it’s immune to disease and poison, has Resist 20 necrotic, and Vulnerable 10 Radiant. It rattles along at speed 7.

Despite their sinister looks and undead-ness, bone nagas are Unaligned. Their mission usually involves guarding dangerous necromantic secrets, or tombs where some great evil is sealed.

Bone nagas prefer to mix it up in melee, in no small part due to their Death Rattle aura (radius 2) which causes any enemy who starts their turn inside to be dazed! It reinforces that with its Death Sway (Close Burst 3 vs. Will), which dazes enemies who were previously fine (save ends) and does necrotic damage to enemies who were already dazed.

It also has a Reach 2 Bite it can use, which deals immediate and necrotic damage (save ends), with a weakness aftereffect (save ends).

Dark Naga

So named because of its dark-colored scales, this naga is also Evil. That says nothing about the moral value of what it guards: prophecies, oracles, related relics and rituals, and Underdark sites. It is probably more likely to set up one of those cults mentioned in the lore, though.

Dark Nagas are Level 21 Elite Controllers, with 404 HP and speed 8. They’re all about mind effects at close range, starting with Lure (Close Burst 5 vs. Will; enemies only). This minor action pulls victims 1 square and dazes them (save ends), though it does no damage.

Psychic Miasma (Close Burst 3 vs. Will; recharge 5-6) does do psychic damage in addition to its daze effect (save ends). The first failed save here causes the condition to worsen to stunned (save ends).

Their tail sting does poison damage, and is more damaging against dazed targets. It also slows them (save ends).

In short, the party will have a very hard time staying un-dazed when fighting these monsters.

Primordial Naga

The only elemental naga of the bunch (all others are Immortal), this hints that the first nagas served not the gods, but the primordials. This multi-headed monstrosity is a Level 25 Solo Artillery with 1200 HP, comparable to an elder dragon. They guard portals to the Elemental Chaos, and the secrets of the primordials themselves.

Primordial nagas prefer to maintain a good distance between themselves and their foes, whom they will bombard with their fire spit and with wind slams. The first targets Reflex and does both immediate and ongoing fire damage. The second does physical damage and pushes the target 2 squares. Both are minor actions, allowing a stationary naga to make a total of three such attacks in any combination.

When the PCs close to within 5 squares, it will hit them with a Freezing Breath (close blast 5 vs. Fortitude; recharge 5-6) which does cold damage and slows (save ends).

And when the PCs finally close to melee, they’ll have a nasty surprise: primordial nagas are actually quite dangerous up close! First there’s the Energy Cascade aura (2) which does 10 fire and lightning damage to any enemies inside. Then there are the bites. They might be bit weaker than the ranged attacks, but the naga can make five of them. If at least three hit the same target, they also take ongoing acid damage.

Sample Encounters and Final Impressions

These are the sample encounters:

  • Level 12: A guardian naga, 2 fire archon emberguards, 1 stone-eye basilisk.

  • Level 16: 1 Bone Naga, 3 shadow snakes.

Nagas usually partner up with other guardian creatures assigned to the same place, and they can also end up allying or enslaving neighboring creatures to act as spies and agents, either to help with their mission of protection or to build a power base and take over the surrounding region. The latter is something the more evil or ambitious nagas might do.

I like nagas! Their lore has plenty of openings for interactions more complex than a fight to the death, and they have a nice mechanical flavor.