Copyright 2008 Wizards of the Coast

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Snakes have been in the game since the beginning. They are present both in the Monster Manual and in the animal appendix of the Monster Vault.

The Lore

Snakes are real world animals, but there’s a huge body of legend surrounding them in practically every culture. D&D seems to be partial to the Western depiction of snakes as treacherous and deadly, since it has Zehir as one of its evil gods.

Still, this entry focuses on monstrous snakes. The mundane varieties likely behave pretty much as they do in the real world, with a lot of them being harmless and the dangerous ones only attacking if they feel threatened.

Though monstrous snakes are large and aggressive enough to actively hunt people, most are still merely dangerous animals. A rare few might be blessed by Zehir, though, which makes them sapient, evil, and more powerful.

Between the two books we have quite a lot of different snake stat blocks.

The Numbers

Snakes are so varied that they have little in common that I can discuss here. They’re all beasts, they all have the Reptile keyword, and they all bite. That’s it.

Spitting Cobra (Monster Vault)

The closest you’ll get to a real snake here. Spitting Cobras are Small Natural Beasts, and Level 5 Minion Soldiers. Their bite does poison damage and marks for a turn, and their Blinding Spittle (ranged 5 vs. Reflex; recharge 4+) does the same damage and blinds (save ends).

I could see an eccentric kobold artificer firing these out of a cannon, or a priest of Zehir summoning them out of thin air.

Deathrattle Viper (Both)

Pretty much a dire rattlesnake. It inhabits forests, jungles, and caves, though they wouldn’t look out of place in a desert either. These vipers are Medium Natural Beasts, and Level 5 Brutes with 75 HP. They have low-light vision, and resist 10 poison. Their land speed is 4, and they also have a climb speed of 4.

Their bony tails produce a magically enhanced Death Rattle that acts as an aura (2) which inflicts a -2 attack penalty to all enemies inside. This is a fear effect.

Their bite allows a secondary attack vs. Fortitude on a hit, which delivers their venom in the form of immediate and ongoing poison damage (save ends).

Deathrattle Vipers also appear in the Monster Vault, and are identical aside from their updated bite damage. Their low speed makes running away from them a feasible tactic even for someone in heavy armor, so they should be paired with other monsters that make this more difficult.

Crushgrip Constrictor (Both)

This is what you’d get if all the shit they say about boas and anacondas was true. They’re found in jungles, marshes, and underground. Constrictors are Large Natural Beasts and Level 9 Soldiers with 96 HP. They have land, climb and swim speeds of 6. They’re the other snake that exists in both books.

Their bite does damage and grabs on a hit, as the snake quickly coils around the target. The escape DC 25 for Athletics and 22 for Acrobatics in the MM, and a gentler 17 in the MV.

Against a grabbed target they can Constrict, which targets Fortitude, does a nice chunk of physical damage, and dazes for a turn.

No explicit mention is made of how many targets the snake can have grabbed. If you’re being relatively realistic, it should be just one. Larger or more supernatural versions might be able to coil around multiple unfortunates.

Flame Snake (Monster Manual)

A snake from the Elemental Chaos. Not much is written about its origins, so it could be a case of parallel evolution or one of those rare instances where creatures from the world migrated to the other planes and adapted to them. As fire elementals, they can be summoned and controlled by magic.

Flame Snakes are Medium Elemental Beasts with the Fire and Reptile keywords. They’re Level 9 Artillery with 74 HP and Resist Fire 20. They have a speed of 6, but can’t climb or swim. They also can’t see in the dark, though it’s reasonable to say their incandescent bodies would shed light.

Their bite does a mix of physical and fire damage, and they can Spit Fire (Ranged 10 vs. Reflex), doing both immediate and ongoing fire damage (save ends).

Shadow Snake (Monster Manual)

The blessed of Zehir, these two-headed monsters are made of solid shadow and are venerated by Yuan-ti. They’re level 16 Skirmishers with 158 HP. They slither at speed 7 and have a climb speed of 7. Their Int is 4: they’re not exactly sapient, but are very cunning, and also Evil.

Their bites do physical and ongoing poison damage (save ends), and they can make Double Attacks because of the two heads. Once per encounter they can make a Shifting Shadowstrike, shifting their speed (7) and biting two different targets as they do so.

Also once per encounter, they can Vanish Into the Night, which makes them insubstantial, gives them phasing, and makes them invisible in dim light. All of this lasts for a turn and makes for an excellent “escape hatch” when the fight starts to go badly. I imagine shadow snakes very rarely fight to the death - they’d be smart enough to cut and run.

Sample Encounters and Final Impressions

The Monster Manual seems to think reptiles gotta stick together, so it has a bunch of encounters that feature snakes alongside level-appropriate sapient reptiles that act as their handlers:

  • Death rattlers and lizardfolk

  • Constrictors and snaketongue cultists (which aren’t reptiles, exactly, but are close enough).

  • Flame Snakes and troglodytes.

  • Shadow Snakes and yuan-ti.

I imagine you could use death rattlers as “minibosses” in low-level adventures featuring kobolds, as well.

These snakes don’t exactly rock my world, but I feel they’re still a good addition to the game.