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Geiger Counter
2010-03-08, 06:26 AM
If you are a snake from the waste down, how does that effect skill checks?
Can you even climb?

HunterOfJello
2010-03-08, 06:30 AM
there are such things as Tree Snakes, so I would assume so

Geiger Counter
2010-03-08, 06:39 AM
Snakes would be pretty good at climbing rough cylinders, but what about a stones wall? a rope? a ladder?

Ashiel
2010-03-08, 06:47 AM
As someone who lives around snakes, and has handled the odd chicken/green snake; lemme tell you my friend, them suckers can climb the craziest stuff.

For example: My father has a shop-garage for mechanical work. We found a green-snake in the shop under a lot of stuff (he was just chillin'). So we go to pick him up and he starts slithering up the wall...strait up. Like, it's a cinder-block wall, but that means there's not really any holds, it's just a semi-rough surface; but this snake was zippin' right up.

I ended up having to get a pole and knocking him down to grab 'im. Green-snakes are probably the tamest wild animals you'll find, as if you're gentle with 'em, they're far from aggressive and can even show self-restraint (my little brother keep trying to grab his head and the snake initiated a few mock-strikes in warning. When he finally DID bite my little brother, it wasn't even using enough force to break the skin).

In game terms, I'd say anything that sports a snake-like body should get a +8 bonus to climb checks, the ability to take 10, and possibly a climb speed of 20ft (or either half your base speed, or base speed -10ft). Also, swimming should receive similar benefits. :smallsmile:

Ixcuazl
2010-03-08, 09:01 AM
Yuan-ti halfbloods can have a serpentine lower half - their speed is reduced to 20ft but they get 15ft climb and swim speeds, plus a constrict attack. Something like that?

Skaven
2010-03-08, 09:44 AM
Snakes can climb better than most legged things, can climb some things others can't. Can't climb some things others can.

Best to use common sense.

A rope? No.
A tree? yes.

etc.

A yuan ti can climb some things other snakes can't with their arms.

Thurbane
2010-03-08, 08:33 PM
I don't think there is any RAW to supprt this. In the case of a Centaur, I believe Races of the Wild spells out some hefty penalties for having the lower body of a horse, but I'm not sure how applicable that is to a serpentine lower body.

Gensh
2010-03-08, 09:52 PM
I believe that the 3rd Ed Fiend Folio has information for replacing a humanoid character's legs with a snake tail. As far as logistics are concerned, I think it'd just be the DMs call.

Rainbownaga
2010-03-08, 10:38 PM
A rope? No.


Why not a rope? If you've still got arms and a serpent's tail instead of legs I'd imagine rope climbing would be easier

Serpentine
2010-03-09, 12:42 AM
You rang?

Actually, I think everyone else has it pretty well covered. Should get a bonus to climbing most thing. The snake part is all muscle and very strong (ever had even a small snake twining round your fingers?) and I believe there's something to do with the belly scales that gives a lot of extra grip. As pointed out, most, if not all, snakes are at least able to climb, and I believe most do it very well.

Skaven
2010-03-09, 08:40 AM
Why not a rope? If you've still got arms and a serpent's tail instead of legs I'd imagine rope climbing would be easier

Nothing to support your lower body, which is a lot heavier than a pair of legs. Plus gear (though the smart thing would be to tie the pack+extra gear to the end of the rope while climbing).

If its a short rope distance, I could see the rear part of the snake-half supporting the body enough to scramble up, but a long rope that's longer than the snake tail.. well, you'd need enough arm strength to support all that weight a distance. Climbing a rope with just arms is tough even without a huge amount of coils behind you, i'd imagine it would be like lifting a horse, though we don't have a real world equivalent to compare weight values to.

Amiel
2010-03-09, 08:40 AM
Snakes, within D&D at least, have Climb as innate skills.

You could assume that half snakes also benefit.

Vizzerdrix
2010-03-09, 09:11 AM
Hmm... any way to get this within a +2 LA? I'd love to play a half snake.


Or have racial levels for Yuan-Ti half bloods been printed?

Noble Savant
2010-03-09, 09:33 AM
With regards to ropes, the snake half simply coils around the rope, and slinks up while the hands pull. It's probably more efficient in the end really. The only thing. that the snake bottom can't handle is bracing between two walls to climb, (like a chimney).

Xenogears
2010-03-09, 09:57 AM
Hmm... any way to get this within a +2 LA? I'd love to play a half snake.


Or have racial levels for Yuan-Ti half bloods been printed?

You can always pay 12k for a Yuan-Ti Replacement Tail Graft. Replaces your legs with a snake tail. -10 land speed, climb and smim speeds equal to 1/2 your original land speed, and you can constrict. Now you can be any race and still be half snake-looking.

Vizzerdrix
2010-03-09, 01:20 PM
You can always pay 12k for a Yuan-Ti Replacement Tail Graft. Replaces your legs with a snake tail. -10 land speed, climb and smim speeds equal to 1/2 your original land speed, and you can constrict. Now you can be any race and still be half snake-looking.

Not good enough. I'd have to wait until I'd built up 12k and it is rare for our groups games to go that high.

2xMachina
2010-03-09, 01:32 PM
Ask your DM so that that graft becomes a +2 half Yuan-Ti template instead? (In fact, I must say +2 is a little high for it. +1 sounds about ok, since all it saves is 12k.)

erikun
2010-03-09, 02:54 PM
As mentioned before, snakes climb very well. They also swim well too, although perhaps not well enough to have a swim speed. (It would depend a bit on the snake.) They can also "run" in a method similar to sidewinding (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidewinding), so they aren't impaired much for movement.

If anything, snakes would have trouble with the Jump skill. They could spring up like a legged individual, but clearing a hurdle with that long tail will be difficult. Also, a "running jump" won't be as effective for a snake as it would for a human. While a straight-up jump wouldn't be a problem, any other form of jumping would likely have penalities.

20' movement speed, 20' climb speed, and can take 10 on climb checks would be rather appropriate for a human/snake hybrid. Possibly a +8 racial bonus to climb checks. I'm not sure about penalizing jump checks, especially considering that the 20' movement rate already does so. Perhaps keeping jump checks normal, but disallowing running jump checks? Just a thought.