Serpent Druid

“You have entered the domain of serpents.”

Serpent druids have a special affinity for serpents. They focus their knowledge and magic on learning the secrets of all things serpentine, to the exclusion of much other animal lore known by most standard druids. Many believe that serpents hold a special place in the world, and are keepers or guardians of secret natural lore. Though some serpent druids are known to be evil and may revere evil serpent gods or entities, others are quick to point out that true serpents are not evil and are one of nature’s most magnificent creations, existing in perfect harmony with the natural cycle of life and death.

Hit Die: d8

Requirements

To qualify to become a serpent druid, a character must fulfill all of the following criteria:

Class Skills

The class skills for this class (and the key ability for each skill) are Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Escape Artist (Dex), Fly (Dex), Handle Animal (Cha), Heal (Wis), Knowledge (geography) (Int), Knowledge (nature) (Int), Perception (Wis), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Spellcraft (Int), Stealth (Dex), Survival (Wis), and Swim (Str).

Skill Ranks at Each Level: 4 + Int modifier

Table: The Serpent Druid
Class Level BAB Fort Save Ref Save Will Save Special Spells per Day
1st +1 +1 +1 +1 Snake Affinity, Wild Shape +1 time per day, Powerful Snake Companion
2nd +2 +1 +1 +1 Power of Fear +1 level of existing class
3rd +3 +2 +1 +2 Swift Serpent Wild Shape, Wild Shape +1 time per day
4th +3 +2 +2 +2 Venom Immunity +1 level of existing class
5th +4 +3 +2 +3 Giant Serpent Allies, Wild Shape +1 time per day +1 level of existing class
6th +5 +3 +2 +3 +1 level of existing class
7th +6 +4 +3 +4 Wild Shape +1 time per day +1 level of existing class
8th +6 +4 +3 +4 +1 level of existing class
9th +7 +5 +3 +5 Wild Shape +1 time per day +1 level of existing class
10th +8 +5 +4 +5 Amphisbaena Wild Shape +1 level of existing class

Class Features

All of the following are class features of the Serpent druid prestige class.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency

A serpent druid gains no additional proficiencies in any weapon or armor.

Snake Affinity

The serpent druid develops a close affinity for snakes and loses affinity for other animals. A serpent druid permanently gives up the ability to use his wild empathy on any animal other than a snake or snake-like beast. He also permanently gives up the ability to assume the form of any creature other than a snake, and his animal companions must always be snakes. Finally, when using the Summon Nature’s Ally spell, he can only summon snakes.

Wild Shape (Su)

The serpent druid’s wild shape ability continues to improve as he advances in the prestige class, just as if he were gaining levels in druid. This allows him to assume more powerful wild shapes, and more times per day. A serpent druid may only wild shape into snakes. If no snake of the appropriate size exists for the serpent druid to wildshape into, he can apply the Giant or Young template to it to make it the appropriate size. For example, a high enough serpent druid can assume the form of a Huge snake, but there are no Huge standard snakes in the Bestiary of this size. A large snake can be made into a huge snake by applying the Giant template to it.

Alternately, if the GM allows it, he could select one of the new deadly snakes from this book, which count as one size category higher than their listed size for purposes of wild shaping. For example, a dire krait or a dire spitting cobra are both Large creatures, but would count as Huge.

Powerful Snake Companion (Ex)

When determining the powers of his snake animal companion, the serpent druid combines his druid levels and serpent druid prestige class levels, +1. For example, a 5th level druid/1st level serpent druid would count as a 7th level druid.

The Power of Fear (Ex)

At 2nd level, the serpent druid taps into the snake’s ability to instill fear, and uses this fear to force others to do his bidding or flee. He adds the following spells to his spell list, though he must still be high enough level to cast them: cause fear, command, greater command, fear, scare and symbol of fear. These spells count as divine spells for the serpent druid. In cases where a spell has different spell levels (such as Brd 3, sorcerer/wizard 4), use the sorcerer/wizard spell level.

Swift Serpent Wild Shape (Ex)

At 3rd level, the serpent druid now only needs a swift action to use wild shape, instead of a standard action.

Venom Immunity (Ex)

At 4th level, a serpent druid gains immunity to all poisons.

Giant Serpent Allies (Ex)

At 5th level, all snakes the serpent druid summons via summon nature’s ally gain the giant template.

Apply the Rebuild Rules listed under the Giant template to each snake.

Amphisbaena Wild Shape (Su)

At 10th level, when the serpent druid assumes snake form, he may apply the amphisbaena serpent template to himself, giving him an extra bite attack and the improved uncanny dodge ability. He does not gain the amphisbaena’s regeneration or split abilities, however.

Spellcasting

Except for levels 1 and 3, whenever a new serpent druid level is gained, the character gains new spells per day as if he had also gained a level in druid.

Section 15: Copyright Notice

Grimoire Viperian: A Tome of Exotic Lore Copyright 2021 Magic Skull Games Author: Steven F. Johnson

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