See Any Snakes Lately? ... No Seriously, I can't find any.

[TheFamilarRaven]

Sooooo quick question for anyone who so graciously takes the time to read this. Does anyone know of any playable serpentine race in DnD 3.5? And I'm not talking about the obvious Yuan-Ti.

For context, I have an itching to play a snake, or snake-like creature/humanoid for a campaign. Starting ECL is 6. I have tried all of my books plus the DnD Monster finder to no avail. It seems as though any creature that remotely resembles a viper in any way shape or form is automatically is placed at +2 LA. Now I can live with +2, except I'm think of rolling a cleric, and the loss of caster level hurts (I can bear +1 LA for casters), but I mean, that can be changed, what's important is that I can play a damn snake! :smalltongue:. And I have nothing against playing a yuan-ti, except the only thing thats LA +2 for yuan-ti is the pureblood, and thats really not a snake now is it? More like a snake wannabe.

As always, any advice is appreciated.

[Flickerdart]

There's always Anthropomorphic Animal from Savage Species.

[Genoin]

If you can use PF material, there is a uncommon PC race called Nagaji, no LA. Fluff wise, it's an anthro lizard/snake/reptile, mechanically, it has most of the race features as an Elf, but it gets +2 Str/Cha and +1 NA bonus. found it by chance when I needed a PF character race for a warrior bard concept. Stats may not be what you are looking for though.

[Waker]

Not so much. I can find plenty of instances of lizard-like humanoids, but for snakes you are pretty much limited to Yuan-Ti and Medusa/Maedar. You'll probably just have to refluff one of the lizards and describe them as being snakey, maybe removing some characteristics in favor of the ophidian, like a venomous bite or a constricting grapple.

[TheFamilarRaven]

Thanks for the responses ... I feared as much... Unfortunately according to the DM a Serpentine race can be approved only if I could find an open source link to the stats. And there is no homebrew or PF ... I'll run the anthropomorphic snake by my DM, see if that works

[Waker]

Thanks for the responses ... I feared as much... Unfortunately according to the DM a Serpentine race can be approved only if I could find an open source link to the stats. And there is no homebrew or PF ... I'll run the anthropomorphic snake by my DM, see if that works

It is more of a lizard than a snake, but you might try the T'Kel from Dragon 317. Nothing too fancy; bonus to dex, penalty to int, monstrous humanoid, swim speed and claw attack, darkvision and no LA or RHD. You could see if he'd be willing to swap the claws for a bite attack or something else.

[Pilo]

There is the Extaminaar race from Champion of Ruin p14, which are LA 0 and can speak with snake at will and charm snake 3 times a day. They are human but still related to Yuan-Ti.

[Eldan]

Reflavour?

I mean, what would you want from your snake? I'd say pretty much anything with a dexterity bonus works. Natural armor, a bit attack and venom would be a nice bonus.

[ShurikVch]

How about the Shinomen Naga from OA?
Greensnake is only +1 LA...

[Curbstomp]

What about playing a reptilian race with Animal Devotion? That is in a standard book and would let you get some fangs. Or... just play a Druid and spend most of your time in snake-form. Or... do both as they are not mutually exclusive concepts.

[Sian]

yeah ... Greensnake Shinomen Naga is probably the best bet, although it got nerfed hard in the Dragon #318 update (not that it didn't deserve it, with the statline it were sporting in OA)

[Eldan]

Kobold in the RoTD version? Dexterity bonus, reptilian, bite attack. All you need, really.

[Dalebert]

I don't find it surprising that there aren't a lot of player races that are snake-like specifically. Snakes have no limbs. At least lizards have four limbs so it's not much of a stretch to make them into bipedal versions and really, lizards are a lot like snakes but with limbs. I hope you find what you're looking for though. I found myself enjoying the idea of role-playing a lizard person who has no taboo about eating the dead and such while still respecting life.

[Tarlek Flamehai]

Wereserpent form Serpent Kingdoms?

[Palanan]

Bit of a reach...but maybe you could do something with a single tsochari strand? This is from Lords of Madness. They're certainly snakelike, and a little Awakening could make a close approximation.

[Rubik]

How about asking to use the tauric template? A Dragonwrought tauric kobold/constrictor snake would do quite nicely.

[nedz]

How about asking to use the tauric template? A Dragonwrought tauric kobold/constrictor snake would do quite nicely.

Only if the constrictor snake has at least 4 legs — which is uncommon.

[Rubik]

Only if the constrictor snake has at least 4 legs — which is uncommon.Hence why I said to ask. As in, ask his DM.

If you can afford a scroll or a casting of PAO, you could always go kobold and PAO yourself into a sarrukh. If the casting is from a StP erudite with the Supernatural Transformation (Psionics) feat, it's even undispellable.

[georgie_leech]

Hence why I said to ask. As in, ask his DM.

If you can afford a scroll or a casting of PAO, you could always go kobold and PAO yourself into a sarrukh. If the casting is from a StP erudite with the Supernatural Transformation (Psionics) feat, it's even undispellable.

Giant in the Playground is not in any way responsible for head injuries caused by books being thrown at even mentioning polymorphing into a sarrukh, regardless of intentions.

[Rubik]

Giant in the Playground is not in any way responsible for head injuries caused by books being thrown at even mentioning polymorphing into a sarrukh, regardless of intentions.PAO doesn't give you magical abilities, though, so unless you have another way of acquiring them *coughAssumeSupernaturalAbilitycough* you should be safe.

[Venger]

PAO doesn't give you magical abilities, though, so unless you have another way of acquiring them *coughAssumeSupernaturalAbilitycough* you should be safe.

the theoretical supernaturally transformed stp erudite could always blast you with an ocular shapechange after slapping on some metamagic reducers.