Yuan-ti, Halfblood

The yuan-ti are descended from humans whose bloodlines have been mingled with those of snakes. Their evilness, cunning, and ruthlessness are legendary.

Yuan-ti constantly scheme to advance their own dark agendas. They are calculating and suave enough to form alliances with other evil creatures when necessary, but they always put their own interests first.

All yuan-ti possess some snakelike features, and many have snake body parts.

Like purebloods, yuan-ti halfbloods appear mostly human, but they always have obvious snake features. The snakelike features of a halfblood may reflect any of a variety of venomous snakes, so a halfblood may have a cobra’s hood or a diamondback’s distinctive scale pattern. These features are usually consistent within a single troupe of yuan-ti, and often mark a troupe’s status within a tribe.

A halfblood is about the same height and weight as a human.

Yuan-ti speak their own language, plus Common, Draconic, and Abyssal.

Yuan-ti are geniuses and fight as such. They plan elaborate traps and utilize their surroundings superbly in combat, preferring ambushes to direct confrontation. They also prefer ranged attacks and spells to melee.

In a mixed group, the least valuable and powerful attack first. This means that the purebloods go before the halfbloods, which go before the abominations. The group leader may order particular members forward before others if that makes for better strategy.

Halfbloods typically hang back out of melee while any purebloods accompanying them made in, using their chameleon power to hide while softening up opponents with their spell-like abilities. If the purebloods all fall, the halfbloods wade into melee in their stead.

Alternate Form (Sp): All yuan-ti can assume the form of a Tiny to Large viper (see the Snake entry, page 280) as a psionic ability. The yuan-ti loses its natural weapons (if any) and gains the natural weapon of the viper form it assumes. If the yuan-ti has a poisonous bite of its own, it uses its own or the viper’s poison, whichever is more potent.

Detect Poison (Sp): All yuan-ti have the psionic ability to detect poison as the spell (caster level 6th).

Poison (Ex): Injury, Fortitude DC 14, initial and secondary damage 1d6 Con. The save DC is Constitution-based.

Produce Acid (Sp): A yuan-ti halfblood has the psionic power to exude acid from its body, dealing 3d6 points of acid damage to the next creature it touches, including a creature hit by its bite attack. If the yuan-ti is grappling or pinning a foe when it uses this power, its grasp deals 5d6 points of acid damage. The acid becomes inert when it leaves the yuan-ti’s body, and the yuan-ti is immune to its effects.

Spell-Like Abilities: 3/day—animal trance (DC 15), cause fear (DC 14), entangle (DC 14); 1/day—deeper darkness, neutralize poison (DC 17), suggestion (DC 16). Caster level 8th. The save DCs are Charisma-based.

Chameleon Power (Sp): A yuan-ti halfblood can psionically change the coloration of itself and its equipment to match its surroundings, granting it a +10 circumstance bonus on Hide checks.

Skills: *Yuan-ti halfbloods using chameleon power gain a +10 circumstance bonus on Hide checks.

Halfblood Variants

The statistics above reflect the most common form of a yuan-ti halfblood, with the head and scaly skin of a serpent but otherwise human features. The curse of the yuan-ti produces a wide variety of halfbloods, however, manifesting their serpentine nature in different ways. To generate a random yuan-ti halfblood, roll d% and consult the following table.

Constrict (Ex): A halfblood with a snake tail deals extra damage (1d4+3 if it also has legs, or 1d6+3 if it does not) with a successful grapple check against a creature small enough for it to constrict.