Snake-themed Drow PC?

[Unoriginal]

How would you build a snake-themed PC, with the constraint to have Drow as the race (given the most obvious snake-themed PC is Yuan-ti)?

It doesn't have to be optimized at all, just thematic.

Some ideas I had:

-Magic Initiate to get Find Familiar (Snake or Winged Snake)

-milking snake venom to poison your weapon

-Staff of the Python, Dagger of Venom

[terodil]

How would you build a snake-themed PC, with the constraint to have Drow as the race (given the most obvious snake-themed PC is Yuan-ti)?
I'll think on this some more, but one thing that immediately popped into my head: Druid who shapeshifts to different variants of snakes? (I'd assume that'd require the drow to be some sort of surface outcast -- I don't think I've ever seen a classic drow who was a druid)

Edit: or ranger with snake pet, which would have less of a story/background requirement

[Unoriginal]

I'll think on this some more, but one thing that immediately popped into my head: Druid who shapeshifts to different variants of snakes? (I'd assume that'd require the drow to be some sort of surface outcast -- I don't think I've ever seen a classic drow who was a druid)

Edit: or ranger with snake pet, which would have less of a story/background requirement

Druid and Ranger are the two most "animal-linked" class, true.

[Vogie]

Use a refluffed Primal Savagery as a snakebite-esque attack
http://gatherer.wizards.com/Handlers/Image.ashx?multiverseid=378449&type=card

[Trustypeaches]

Be a true madman and play a Green Draconic Sorcerer.

Or you could just go Black and reflavor acid as poison because honestly who would tell the difference.

[terodil]

Been thinking about this some more. How much do you want the snake motif to influence the mechanics? Or are you okay with just fluffing your character?

'Snakes' are generally associated with
- poison (duh) -- you already mentioned using poison on your weapons, Trustypeaches mentioned Draconic breath.
- ambush/betrayal -- that would push you into the direction of a trickster (rogue or equivalent).
- silver tongue -- build your character with proficiency in persuasion and a few points in CHA? Or maybe take the Actor feat.
- slippery -- idea: when prone, you can move slightly faster than regular crawl speed (by whatever factor seems balanced to you).

Some fluff ideas:
- Let's get the (maybe too) obvious one out of the way: Talk with lotssss of essses.
- Talk with animals (snakes only) as a (probably free) feat.
- Have an amulet or tiara that regularly turns into a pet snake and back, perhaps that grants above feat or does something else with little mechanic impact but story fluff. As a story hook, lose it and suffer from some detrimental effect because it has almost become a part of you.
- Perhaps, if you want to go martial, fluff your second attack as the bite of the snake? Though I could imagine that becoming turning out slightly funny when you're fighting against tin-cans.
- Maybe you have the (very faint) blood of a medusa in you? Perhaps your hair turns into small snakes at night / when in water / at new moon / ..., so you need to wear a cowl?

[Trustypeaches]

This actually seems an excellent concept for a Grappler Monk, from a monastic order that practice the Way of the Boa.

They attack using Snake Style before grappling their stunned foes, incapacitating them. You could theme this order appropriately.

[Unoriginal]

Been thinking about this some more. How much do you want the snake motif to influence the mechanics? Or are you okay with just fluffing your character?


On the question of "how much influence on the mechanics", any amount would do, as long as it's not 0. Fluffing it is pretty simple, by itself.

It's not really a character I'm building, more of a thought experiment. Though a Drow character in the campaign I'm DMing might get involved with snake cultists.


Thanks for your other points!

Maybe a Shadow Monk would be good? Or a Drunken Master with proficiency in poisoner's kit?


This actually seems an excellent concept for a Grappler Monk, from a monastic order that practice the Way of the Boa.

They attack using Snake Style before grappling their stunned foes, incapacitating them. You could theme this order appropriately.

Grapple Monk could work, too.

[terodil]

Grapple Monk could work, too.
Or just use the reverse as part of the 'slippery' property, advantage against being grappled (though that'd definitely not be free ;))

[Man_Over_Game]

I like the idea of a snake-based underworld group that uses different snake types to identify their members and fighting styles.

Python: 1 Rogue, Barbarian Battlerager X. Focuses around grappling and killing their prey without ever giving them the chance to escape. Used for brute force and scare tactics.

Viper: Rogue Assassin. Kills quickly, and is terribly lethal. Once struck, you're already dead. Used to kill quickly and silently.

Cobra: Ranged Fighter Battlemaster. Is more towards aggression than the Viper, and is always ready for combat. Universal killing machines, used as guards or for frontal assaults.

Rat-Catcher: Rogue Thief or Rogue Arcane Trickster. These are the eyes and ears of the underworld. They mostly stay out of the way and do what they're told, but are the primary source of communication.




These are based on the 4 families of snakes. Python are Boidae, the stranglers, who generally have large bodies. Rat-Catcher is actually based off of the Colubridae, which are the small snakes that you see in fields and such that eat small mammals. Vipers are Viperidae and Cobras are Elapidae, which are very similar, except Elapidae have fixed fangs (always lethal), where Viperidae have fangs that hinge into place (conditionally lethal), which is where I got the inspiration for a Fighter and Rogue Assassin class.

[xroads]

You could always play a cleric with the healing domain. Snakes were often associated with medicine in ancient Greece. Maybe play a cleric that wields a staff carved like the Rod of Asclepius (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rod_of_Asclepius). You could also easily fluff some of your spells such that snakes appear (ex. Cure Wounds visually might look like a snake bites the wound).


Alternatively, you could play a cleric with the trickery domain. This would give you access to a poison flavored Divine Strike. And some of the other trickery spells and features have a sneaky (read: snake like) flavor.

[lunaticfringe]

There is a fairly common primal fear of snakes in humans that made be evolutionary. You could play up the fear angle. Long death Monk, Conquestadin, Whisper Bard? (Can't recall if they get fear stuff, afb).

[Vogie]

What I would do is use a refluffed Raven Queen Warlock, but with the Sentinel Raven replaced with a Sentinel Serpent.

It'll overall be weaker than a normal RQW (unless, I suppose, you get a Flying Snake faux-miliar), but I would ask the DM if I could have a Snake with a Constrict ability in lieu of a flight speed.

You would then gain the ability to also shapeshift into a snake, and only a snake, at 6th level.

Use Invocations to make the character look effortless - Pick up Beast Speech to speak with snakes, and Fiendish Vigor as a "snake skin" that you generate then shed when you take enough damage.

The 10th and 14th level abilities can also be easily renamed to follow a snake-themed patron.

[stoutstien]

I totally give this player a access to the classic drow priestess snake head whip. Maybe even allow it to be semi sentient.

[Honest Tiefling]

Been thinking about this some more. How much do you want the snake motif to influence the mechanics? Or are you okay with just fluffing your character?

'Snakes' are generally associated with
- poison (duh) -- you already mentioned using poison on your weapons, Trustypeaches mentioned Draconic breath.
- ambush/betrayal -- that would push you into the direction of a trickster (rogue or equivalent).
- silver tongue -- build your character with proficiency in persuasion and a few points in CHA? Or maybe take the Actor feat.
- slippery -- idea: when prone, you can move slightly faster than regular crawl speed (by whatever factor seems balanced to you).

Those last two options just scream bard to me. I take it a bard using poisoned weapons is out the question, and refluffing things to be snake-like, such as using a whip in the shape of a snake. Magical Secrets could add some poison/snake themed spells. The skills could be used on Nature and Acrobatics to know more of snakes, and to be all bendy like one. Pity, because of that lovely charisma bonus.

Another idea is to tap into other culture's ideas of snakes. Depending on what culture you want to plunder for symbolism, you can go with connotations of life, water, guarding, medicine, or even the cosmos. If you do that, I could see a Celestial or Undying Warlock with a few things being refluffed being empowered by some sort of cosmic snake figure. Refluff eldritch blast as snakes of pure force energy sinking fangs into the target for instance.