Dungeon23 (Bonus): The Snake God

 

He watches...(adapted from original and AI images courtesy of NightCafe.)

Number Encountered (#): 1

Armor Class (AC): 0 [19] (body); 2 [17] (eyes)

Hit Dice (HD): 10 (large eye 20 hp, small eye 10 hp, body 40 hp)

Move (MV): flight 30 ft. (10 ft.)

Attacks (ATK): 1+ (1d6 tentacle or special)

Saving Throw (SV): magic-user 11

Morale (ML): 12

Treasure (TR): I-type treasure plus F-type magic items, or by HD

Alignment (AL): Chaotic

Experience (XP): 2,800 (or HD + five specials)

 

The being worshiped as the “Snake God” is in truth a malevolent, Chaotic intelligence originating from the depths of the Ovoid From Beyond the Stars.  Its levitating, semi-spherical body appears as a dark mass of perpetually writhing, squamous, and tentacular “snakes.”  When the Snake God is roused, its “snakes” part to reveal a large, central eye.  Up to ten, smaller eyes can also emerge from within the rippling forms when necessary to employ the alien being’s formidable psychic powers.

Its central eye projects psychic waves that disrupt all magical energies in front of it up to 10 feet, and functions as an anti-magic (shell) spell.  Spellcasters, such as magic-users and clerics in the way of its central gaze can “hear” a pulsating, or buzzing sensation in their minds that is uncomfortable at best, and maddening at worst. However, it seems to make sense to those given over to Chaos. In combat, its smaller eyes can project psychic beams that manifest random, spell-like effects at will.  The GM should decide on offense or defense, then roll 1d8 on the appropriate table:

Offensive beam:

1.       Cause Serious Wounds

2.       Magic missile (two missiles)

3.       Finger of death

4.       Disintegrate

5.       Telekinesis

6.       Flesh to Stone

7.       Fireball

8.       Polymorph Others

Defensive beam:

1.       Cause Fear

2.       Charm Person (or Monster)

3.       Slow

4.       Confusion

5.       Hold Person

6.       Sleep

7.       Phantasmal Force

8.       Protection From Normal Missiles

The creature can reposition these eyes, which sink into its writhing mass, and reemerge from the desired direction.  Although it mainly depends on these eye beams for offense, it can also fend off enemies with tentacle slaps.  It can produce, and attack with as many tentacles as enemies surrounding it.

The Snake God’s body is so dense that is has an effective Armor Class (AC) of 0 [19.]  Its eyes are only slightly more vulnerable, since they can fold back into the mass, and have an AC of 2 [17.]  Its central eye can sustain 20 points of damage before it is rendered useless (stopping the anti-magic effect,) while a smaller eye can be destroyed after 10 hp of damage.  When ten of these smaller eyes are destroyed, no more will appear.

The body itself can sustain 40 points of damage before it begins to grow unstable, flailing its innumerable appendages, and macerating into a dark, inert mass of semi-solid ichor.  Anyone touching the mass will find it extremely corrosive (3d8 damage.)  If the mass manages to dissolve and kill a living being, it will become a black pudding with the same hit dice as the slain creature.  It will then seek out, and kill other living creatures until it becomes a fully-formed (10 HD) black pudding.

The Snake God currently dwells in its own sanctum within the True Temple of the Snake-Men, where its Noble rulers grant the deity their unholy obeisance.  The Snake God does not speak, but seems to communicate tele-empathically with those that understand the language of Chaos.  Although only one Snake God has revealed itself to the denizens of the Underworld below the Northern Marklands, it is possible others of its kind exist within the Ovoid.  However, no adventuring scholar, sage, or even mad sorcerer has ever returned with such information.

 

 

This work includes material taken from the System Reference Document 5.1 (“SRD 5.1”) by Wizards of the Coast LLC and available at https://dnd.wizards.com/resources/systems-reference-document. The SRD 5.1 is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License available at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode.

Dungeon23 (Bonus): The Deep Fey of the Underwilds

Deep Fey

Ennan (left) and eunshiel (right) deep fey (adapted from AI images courtesy of Bing Image Creator.)

 

Eunshiel

Armor Class (AC): 4

Hit Dice (HD): 1+1

Move (MV): 120 ft. (40 ft.)

Attack (ATK): 1 weapon (1d6+1 short sword, or 1d4+1 winged knife)

# Encountered (#): 2d4 (4d10)

Save (SV): Elf 1

Morale (ML): 7-9

Treasure (TR): E-type or by HD

Alignment (AL): Chaotic

Experience (XP): 60 (or HD + two specials)

 

Ennan

Armor Class (AC): 4

Hit Dice (HD): 2

Move: 60 ft.  (20 ft.)

Attack (ATK): 1d6+1 (hand axe or short sword) or 1d6 (crossbow)

# Encountered (#): 1d4 (3d10)

Save (SV): Dwarf 1

Morale (ML): 8

Treasure (TR): G-type or by HD

Alignment: Neutral or Chaotic

Experience (XP): 60 or (HD + one special)

 

Deep fey share common ancestors with demihumans and other surface fey.  Whereas the surface fey rebelled from servitude to the dragons, the clans that would one day become the deep fey remained loyal.  As the rebelling fey hunted their draconic masters, the ancestors of the deep fey sought to defend them, creating a centuries-long enmity with their cousins.  Alas, the surface fey succeeded in their rebellion, and their civilizations ascended to great heights while the deep fey fled to shelter underground; either following their fleeing masters or as refugees after these dragons were slain.  The deep fey have changed and adapted throughout the centuries to life in the unique and dangerous environment of the Underwilds.

Eunshiel

The Eunshiel (OON-shayl) are ancestors of modern-day elves and halflings.  They are slightly shorter than surface elves and much thinner, with delicate features, and pale, violet-tinged skin and hair (from a lifelong diet of violet shrieker mushrooms.)  Their ears are long and slender, and their eyes dark and near pupilless; well-suited to the lightless environment of the underwilds (90-ft. darkvision,) but bright light bothers them (-1 to hit.)

Eunshiel warriors are harnessed in arms and armor crafted by the ennan.  Their form-fitting chainmail functions as +1 armor, but it is far too slender to fit even surface elves.  They carry scalpel-sharp, short swords that have a +1 bonus to damage, but are difficult to wield without extensive training (non-eunshiel using these can cut themselves accidentally on an attack roll of “1”.)  They also carry throwing knives with a winged, draconic design that they are able to throw with extraordinary accuracy.  Once per combat, an eunshiel that surprises an enemy may throw a winged knife and strike unerringly as a magic missile spell (1d6+1 damage.)  For every five HD, an eunshiel may throw an additional winged knife simultaneously.  Eunshiel like to coat these winged knives in myconic poisons native to the Underwilds.

All eunshiel have sorcerous training and can typically cast darkness or sleep once per day.  A favorite tactic is to envelop enemies in magical darkness and slay them with their winged knives.

The example above is the typical eunshiel warrior or scout.  Other eunshiel may have additional HD, abilities, or spells of unique or greater power.

The eunshiel worship Tiama’at the Many-Faced and serve all Chaotic dragons.  Their art, architecture, and clothing tend to have draconic motifs.  Despite their Chaotic nature, they pride themselves in remaining loyal to the dragons, and hate the surface fey and demihumans with fanatical passion.

The eunshiel live bizarre lives of cruelty and decadence, enjoying bizarre and depraved pastimes when they are not busy serving their masters' needs.  They are subservient and obsequious with dragons, and snake-men, but consider all other beings beneath them, even their fellow deep fey.  They are deeply jealous of the snake-men’s favored status with their dragon goddess, but bite their tongue when around them.  They believe the snake-men have turned from Tiama’at and if they could but prove it and slay their aberrant Snake God, it might be their chance to elevate their status and take over the snake-men’s cities as their own.

In the Underwilds, the eunshiel are found in bands that hunt and patrol the domain near dragon’s lairs.  For every 20 eunshiel encountered, there is a leader with 2d4 HD, additional spells and possibly magic items usable by elves.  Eunshiel fighting alongside their leader have morale scores of 9.

Ennan

The Ennan (EH-nahn) are evolutionary ancestors of dwarves and gnomes.  They are almost completely hairless save for tufts on their head and/or short beards, with pale gray skin tones like the underground stone, and large ears.  Like their cousins, the eunshiel, their eyes are large and dark, and can see well in the dark (90-ft. darkvision,) but also suffer -1 to hit in bright light.

The ennan are masters of toil and creation.  They can work for hours on end without exhaustion.  Their idea of a good time is to engage in crafts such as smithing, stone-carving, or engineering with singular focus.  Indeed, their labors are greatly prized by the denizens of the Underworld.  Although hard-pressed to do so, the snake-men would grudgingly admit that their magnificent cities would not be possible without the ennan’s expertise.

While the ennan are not as passionately hateful as the eunshiel, their crafts have a penchant for the sinister: exotic weapons, mechanized siege engines, intricate traps, and sadistic torture devices.  Ennan don’t mind their lower status among the other beings of the Underworld: their work is all that matters.  However, some younger ones have begun to question their subservience to the eunshiel, dragons, and snake-men.  They wonder whether their distant cousins above had the right of it, and whether they should leave these ungrateful masters behind to pursue their work unmolested.

In combat, the ennan’s work-hardened strength and endurance make them fearsome foes (+1 damage.)  In addition, their weapons tend to have ingenious features.  For example, their shields may have spikes or blades that grant them an additional, 1d4 damage attack, an axe or sword may a have a serrated edge that causes terrible wounds, which take twice as long to heal, or a crossbow might fire two, or even three bolts at the same time.

For every 15 enann, there is a leader with additional 1d4+1 HD, which may possess better armor (AC 2 [17]) and/or magic items.  Enann fighting alongside their leaders have a morale of 10.

 

 

This work includes material taken from the System Reference Document 5.1 (“SRD 5.1”) by Wizards of the Coast LLC and available at https://dnd.wizards.com/resources/systems-reference-document. The SRD 5.1 is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License available at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode.

Dungeon23 (Bonus): The Snake-Men of the True Temple

Snake-Men

Snake-men by caste: Emissary, Myrmidon, Noble (adapted from AI images courtesy of NightCafe)

Number Encountered (#): 1d4 (1d4)

Armor Class (AC): Emissary 7 [12]; Myrmidon 5 [14] or 6 [13]; Noble 6 [13]

Hit Dice (HD): Emissary 4; Myrmidon 5; Noble 6

Move (MV): 120 ft. (40 ft.)

Attacks (ATK): Emissary 1 (1d6 short sword); Myrmidon 1 (1d8 sword or 1d10 polearm); Noble 1 (1d4 dagger or staff); and/or special

Saving Throw (SV): Emissary - fighter 4; Myrmidon - fighter 5; Noble - cleric 6

Morale (ML): Emissary 7; Myrmidon/Noble 8

Treasure (TR): C-type or by HD

Alignment: Chaotic

Experience (XP): Emissary 400 (or HD + two specials); Myrmidon 600 (or HD + three specials); Noble 1,400 (or HD + four specials)

 

Snake-men are ancient, ophidian monstrosities, whose origin dates back to a shrouded time before the history of humans, and perhaps even demihumans.  They have a mysterious connection to both dragons and the Old Ones. 

Snake-men are sterile, and reproduce by merging their essence with that other humanoid creatures via sorcerous and alchemical processes they refer to as flesh-crafting.  Centuries, perhaps millennia of this practice have caused three distinct castes to form, with their degree of ophidian ancestry determining their primacy:

Emissaries:  These are the most humanoid-like, resembling humans or demihumans with up to 20% snake-like features. They are the lowest caste, and are used as workers, spies, and negotiators with other, lesser beings far from the snake-men's domain.  While Emissaries prefer humanoid or monstrous thralls to do their fighting, they can still be formidable foes.

Myrmidons: The warrior caste is approximately 50% closer to their ophidian ancestors, and they command the lower Emissaries while still serving under the superior Nobles.  In combat, they are typically armed with swords and shields, or polearms, in addition to their ophidian abilities.

Nobles: The greatest of the snake-men are almost completely serpent-like and alien in appearance.  They command all the other castes without question, and prefer to have them, or other servants fight in combat.  If forced to fight, they tend to favor natural ophidian weapons if they possess them.  Nobles often employ magic items such as wands or staves and the highest among them – considered great rulers of their cities, know more spells than those indicated below.

Regardless of caste, all snake-men have serpentine features from the following table.  Roll 1d10 to determine their distinguishing feature: Emissary – once, Myrmidon – twice, Noble – three times.  A repeated roll may improve the ability to an advanced version with additional or greater utility (counts as two abilities.)  Roll again on a third, repeated result.  Furthermore, these features are more pronounced by caste.  For example, an Emissary might have snake-like eyes; a Myrmidon will have snake eyes and a human-reptilian face, while a Noble will have an entirely serpentine facial structure:

1.       Snake eyes or pheromones: charm person 1/day; Advanced: charm (monsters) 1/day

2.       Distendable jaws and fangs: bite attack for 1d8 damage; Advanced: bite is poisonous (save against poison or die)

3.       Extendable hood: can spit poison that blinds for 1d10 rounds (victim saves at +2); Advanced: spits acid for 1d6 damage, which burns for an extra 1d6 the next round, and the blindness is permanent unless cured magically.

4.       Snake tongue or heat-sensing pits: surprised only on a 1-in-6; Advanced: can detect hidden or invisible enemies within 30 ft.

5.       Snake arms: 1d4/1d4 damage bite attacks; Advanced: bites are poisonous (save against poison or die)

6.       Ophidian lower limb(s): constrict for 1d4 damage  every round after hit; move reduced to 90 ft. (30 ft.); Advanced: snake limb(s) provide an additional slap attack for 1d6 damage and can climb or swim at double move.

7.       Shed scales: Can regenerate 1 hit point per round for 1d4 rounds after taking damage; Advanced: can shed entire skin to maneuver or escape (acts like an invisibility spell for one round.)

8.       Thick scales: AC +1; Advanced: prehensile, serpentine torso can dodge for an additional +1 to AC.

9.       Venomous blood: Deals 1d4 poison damage to any creature that successfully hits the snake-man with a melee attack; Advanced: blood is acidic and burns for an additional round.

10.   Camouflaging scales: Can blend seamlessly with surroundings for a 3-in-6 surprise chance; Advanced: scales bend light, causing a displacement effect (attacks are at -2 against it.)

Any snake-men that have a poisonous attack or venomous blood are immune from ophidian poisons themselves.  In addition, all snake-men are competent sorcerers.  Emissaries and Myrmidons can cast the following spells once per day: (cause) fear, darkness, and animal friendship (snake charm.)  Nobles delve deeper into sorcery than the other castes and can cast the following once per day: (cause) fear, darkness, levitate, polymorph (others,) animal friendship (snake charm,) and (transmute) sticks to snakes.

Snake-men live in antediluvian ruins and cities in near-unreachable parts of the world or underground, often shared with other creatures aligned with Chaos.  For every group (2 or more) snake-men encountered, there is a 1-in-6 chance that there is an additional snake man of one caste higher, and a 1-in-6 chance of 1d4 additional snake-men of one lower caste (Emissaries may have 1d4 humanoid or monstrous thralls of dungeon levels 1-3 instead.)  Snake-men Noble rulers are unique creatures only found as supreme overlords of their remote cities.  Snake-men with a higher caste present enjoy a +1 bonus to morale.

Despite their strict societal structure, byzantine intrigues frequently occur both within and between castes of snake-men.  Some stories exist about members of lower castes secretly employing flesh-crafting techniques to artificially rise above their station - considered a capital crime.  The snake-men also practice flesh-crafting on other creatures in a bizarre, religious manner, as if it was part of some sacred duty.  They are almost certainly responsible for the existence of several types of monstrous humanoids, beasts, and mongrel aberrations that plague the world above.  Sorcerers prize the snake-men’s scriptures (a dangerous task to obtain) for their transmutatory secrets.

Snake-men speak the secret language of all snakes, the unholy language of Chaos, and can also speak the Common tounge (if they mussst.)

 

 This work includes material taken from the System Reference Document 5.1 (“SRD 5.1”) by Wizards of
the Coast LLC and available at https://dnd.wizards.com/resources/systems-reference-document. The
SRD 5.1 is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License available at
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode.