D&D Homebrew - The Hebi-no-onna (Snake Woman)
Beware beautiful figures who enthrall you with a look and eagerly wish to embrace you... Beneath their alluring smile and shimmering sleeves, glinting eyes and venomous fangs lay coiled, ready to strike!
A monster class for Dungeons & Dragons 3e/3.5, inspired from the Sword & Sorcery Studios' bestiary for the Ravenloft campaign setting, "Ravenloft: Denizens of Darkness" and its 3.5 edition update "Denizens of Dread".
The configuration for this specific monster class was created by Aboleth Eye!
As always, though this was made with D&D 3.5 edition in mind, with a few tweaks you can absolutely use this material with Pathfinder 1st edition! -- Aboleth Eye
Photo by jeremy smith on Unsplash
Origins & Physiology
Throughout the diverse realms of the Demiplane of Dread, all manner of creatures prowl the dark to prey upon humanity. And many are able to hide their monstrous traits to disappear into the surging, terrified throng of their prey. The Hebi-no-onna, also known as the Snake Women, are one such species predating on innocent mankind. Luckily, they primarily reside in the realms of medieval Japan-inspired Rokushima Taiyoo, or the South Asian-inspired cluster of Sri Raji and The Verdurous Lands. They prefer warmer climates, and have thankfully not taken the leap to board vessels across the Saragoss and brave the colder climes of the Core.
Hebi-no-onna are powerful enchanters who control serpents of all sorts. They resemble beautiful human women in physical stature and appearance, except for certain serpentine traits they take great lengths to hide. Their most obvious monstrous trait of a snake woman is that instead of possessing arms and hands, these creatures have two venomous snakes instead. They typically wear kimono or other finely made, long-sleeved dress to hide their limbs in their voluminous sleeves. That is, until their prey is within biting distance.
Speaking of biting, not only are their snake-arms capable of inflicting venomous bites, Hebi-no-onna additionally have snake fangs hidden in their own mouths. When agitated or caught in close combat, their snake-arms spring from their wide, lengthy sleeves, and their eyes transform from deep pools of green into serpentine slits as they attempt to puncture their prey.
Typically, Hebi-no-onna resemble female humanoids of their native lands. They are usually beautiful and highly decorated paragons of the Rokuma or Rajian people, when found in the Demiplane of Dread. They have also been discovered in realms of similar cultural traditions, such as the lands of Kara-Tur. Their snake-arms are typically venomous vipers, but some Rajian snake women have cobras instead.
No males of this species exist. With no way to produce offspring naturally, a mature snake woman must mate with a human, elf or half-elf partner. Sometimes prospective mates actively resist her charms, forcing these creatures to capture and break their spirits until pliable. Once the task is done, the mate must be sacrificed in a grand ritual, typically attended by all the members of the snake woman’s cult. After slaying their mage, the Hebi-no-onna must devour their mate's internal organs to fully conceive a child. The offspring of this union is always of the mother's monstrous species, and always female. Regardless of their biological father's race or appearance, however, they are always human-like in appearance, and their traits resemble their mothers most of all. Only one child is born from each of these monstrous unions.
A mature snake woman can only conceive and bear a child once per year; and due to their paranoid and conniving natures, these creatures typically only mother one child at a time. Typically as the young matures, the mother and child become suspicious of each other, eventually parting ways after nearly killing each other. These disputes grow from their inherently greedy abs prideful natures.
Hebi-no-onna grow at a faster than humans, reaching physical maturity at about age 12. Once they mature, they typically depart their mother's compound to establish their own lair. Most young snake women are trained in the arts of magic and utilizing their supernatural gifts of hypnotism and poison by their mothers. Until then, their snake arms are small and their bodies can only produce weak, nauseating venom.
There are two types of venom coursing through the veins of snake women--one their snake-arms are capable of inflicting, and the other a more unique poison called daigatu (or "nightmare wine"). They are immune to the venom of all serpents as a result; which is necessary with how many snakes are drawn by their presence to serve and protect them.
Hebi-no-onna are speak their native domain's language, as well as Draconic. This racial language, along with their innate ability to communicate with all snakes, has scholars wondering if they are a mutated caste of the Yuan-ti serpentfolk or the petrifying Medusa race.
Personality & Powers
Hebi-no-onna make their lairs in vast underground complexes, old ruins or stylish walled residences within wealthy human cities. All snake women are vain and avaricious--they like to surround themselves with fine artwork, beautiful jewelry and high-quality gemstones, as well as decorating tehir lairs with mirrors to enjoy their own beauty. Snake women refuse to accept anything but the most luxurious and comfortable décor in their private chambers. They believe they are the most beautiful creatures in existence, and they must be worshipped by lowly humans.
Due to this narcissistic desire for beauty and worship, many mature snake women establish serpent-worshipping cults of hypnotized thralls, with them at the center. The eyes of a Hebi-no-onna are actually hypnotizing to humanoid creatures, bending the will of those who meet their gaze. However, their eyes become serpentine when using this unique gaze attack, so they use it subtly to not attract attention.
All snake women are talented arcane enchanters, raised as specializing in the Enchantment school throughout their lives. The scales of their snake-arms are also magical, granting them the benefits of casting spells without requiring extensive gathering of spell components. Upon reaching maturity, they almost always continue as Enchanters.
Hebi-no-onna, like their serpent thralls, are incredibly venomous. Their snake-arms, upon successfully biting a creature, are capable of inflicting potent snake venom to slowly weaken or outright kill their victims. However, their own fangs are able to inflict a powerful hallucinogenic venom known as daigatu, also known as "nightmare wine". Daigatu poison comes in just before a snake woman reaches maturity at age 12, though it begins very weak. Victims of the poison suffer from incredible nausea, allowing the snake woman's servants to overwhelm the afflicted target. However, eventually a Hebi-no-onna becomes capable of inflicting their daigatu poison's true potency. Victims of this more potent poison suffer from paralyzing hallucinations of their own worst fears!
(While the Denizens of Dread bestiary describes their capability to inflict potent Daigatu at-will, for a player monster race I have made the executive decision to tie it to daily uses based on their racial Hit Dice)...
Lastly, as a snake woman's powers of enchantment grow in strength, they become capable of fully hypnotizing a victim with a single look from across the room. This is a gaze attack similar to other serpentfolk, except it is not perpetually active and requires an active staredown of their victim. Those enthralled by a snake woman's gaze becomes enamored with the enchantress and more pliable for their social and magical charms. Long-term use of this ability might ingrain a permanent affinity towards a snake woman, therefore growing the numbers of their cult-like following.
A snake woman makes sure her foes must fight past her guards while she casts spells or uses her gaze attack, usually from inside a protected space--such as a lesser globe of invulnerability spell. If she believes the is in real danger, a snake woman attempts to use spells such as greater teleport to save herself. However, unless she is severely wounded, a snake woman is usually proud to flee. They typically rush their attackers with their thralls and serpent servants to allow their escape.
Typically a Hebi-no-onna makes use of their poison abilities towards unsuspecting foes. They maintain their human facade up until the perfect moment to strike, startling their prey with sudden, poisonous fangs. Despite having ample control over their snakes, they cannot abide the thought of one being chopped off and marring their beauty.
The Hebi-no-onna [Monster Class]
The starting racial traits of a Hebi-no-onna are described below:
Starting Racial Traits:
- Medium Monstrous Humanoid (serpentfolk)
- Base land speed: 30 feet
- Starting Racial Ability Bonuses: Wisdom +2
- Natural Weapons: Hebi-no-onna are born with two snakes where a human’s arms would be, and they also have a natural bite attack. They may make melee attacks with both of their snake-arms as a full-round action, or just with their own bite attack. See Natural Weapons in the Class Features section for more details.
- Due to having snakes for arms, hebi-no-onna cannot hold items or weapons and make use of their Snakes at the same time. They must either hold an item with their snake-arms coiled around them, or they must be free to attack.
- A Hebi-no-onna’s snake arms can inflict snake venom as an injury poison on a successful hit. See Poison (Snake Venom) below for more details.
- At 5th level, their bite attack can inflict a special injury poison called Daigatu (known as “nightmare wine”) on a successful hit. See Poison (Weak Daigatu) and Poison (Potent Daigatu) below for more details.
- Immunities (Su): Hebi-no-onna are immune to the poisons and gaze attack effects of snake-like or reptilian creatures (including the Hypnotic Gaze and Poisons of their own kind, as well as similar abilities like the medusa’s petrifying gaze). They are not immune to gaze or poison effects from other non-serpent creatures, such as dragons, fey or aberrations.
- Snake Control (Su): Hebi-no-onna receive a +8 racial bonus to Charisma-based skill checks to command or communicate with snakes. They also benefit from a permanent speak with animals effect, but only with snakes or serpent-like creatures.
- Languages: Draconic and Common (or one Ravenloft domain language, usually Rokuma or Rajian)
- Bonus Languages: any non-secret language
- Favored Class: Enchantment Specialist Wizard
- After completing their racial class, most Hebi-no-onna continue on as Enchanters. Upon taking their first level as an Enchanter (matching their racial prohibited schools of magic), they immediately gain the Familiar benefts as if they were a caster level of their combined racial and class Enchanter levels.
- Some Hebi-no-onna instead take levels in Rogue, navigating busy cities better and surprising victims with more vital attacks with their snake arms and serpent fangs. They often focus in Craft skills applied to alchemy or poisonmaking, allowing them to take on the Ravenloft setting's Court Poisoner class to turn their racial poisons into bottled alchemical concoctions.
- Despite their tendency to form cults around them, snake women are not religious and do not serve higher powers. Their cults are entirely focused on venerating and strengthening their powers of control and illusion, often teaching their servants arcane spells in service to them.
- Outcast Rating (Ravenloft only): 6 (1 when their serpent-arms and other reptilian traits are hidden, seen as a beautiful but cold person)
Abilities: Hebi-no-onna are born with a talent for prepared arcane spellcasting, so they prioritize Intelligence to make use of this talent. Charisma is second in priority, as they are gifted towards social manipulation; and at higher levels that ability score directly benefits their hypnotic gaze abilities.
Most snake woman have moderate Dexterity scores to avoid conflict, or to better utilize their snake arms with feats like Weapon Finesse. Strength and Wisdom are often of human level, while these monstrous humanoids do benefit from better Constitution scores (in regards to improving their poisons).
Hit Dice: d8
Racial Class Skills: Appraise, Bluff, Concentration, Craft (any), Diplomacy, Knowledge (arcana), Sense Motive, Spellcraft
Skill Points per Hit Dice: 2 + Intelligence modifier, quadruple at 1st Hit Dice
Table: the Hebi-no-Onna Class
| Level | Hit Dice | BAB | Fort | Ref | Will | Special | Spellcasting |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | 1d8 | +1 | +0 | +2 | +2 | Feat; Starting Racial Traits, Poison (Snake Venom 1d2) | +1 level as Enchanter |
| 2nd | 2d8 | +2 | +0 | +3 | +3 | Dexterity +2, Multiattack | +1 level as Enchanter |
| 3rd | 3d8 | +3 | +1 | +3 | +3 | Feat, Eschew Materials | +1 level as Enchanter |
| 4th | 4d8 | +4 | +1 | +4 | +4 | Poison (Weak Daigatu) | +1 level as Enchanter |
| 5th | -- | +4 | +1 | +4 | +4 | Constitution +2, Poison (Snake Venom 1d4) | -- |
| 6th | 5d8 | +5 | +1 | +4 | +4 | Intelligence +2 | +1 level as Enchanter |
| 7th | 6d8 | +6/+1 | +2 | +5 | +5 | Feat, Charisma +2 | +1 level as Enchanter |
| 8th | 7d8 | +7/+2 | +2 | +5 | +5 | Bonus Feat | +1 level as Enchanter |
| 9th | 8d8 | +8/+3 | +2 | +6 | +6 | Hypnotic Gaze (3/day 30 feet) | +1 level as Enchanter |
| 10th | -- | +8/+3 | +2 | +6 | +6 | Constitution +2, Poison (Potent Daigatu) 1/day | -- |
| 11th | 9d8 | +9/+4 | +3 | +6 | +6 | Feat, Dexterity +2 | +1 level as Enchanter |
| 12th | 10d8 | +10/+5 | +3 | +7 | +7 | Intelligence +2, Bonus Feat | +1 level as Enchanter |
| 13th | 11d8 | +11/+6/+1 | +3 | +7 | +7 | Poison (Potent Daigatu) 2/day | +1 level as Enchanter |
| 14th | 12d8 | +12/+7/+2 | +4 | +8 | +8 | Feat, Charisma +2 | +1 level as Enchanter |
| 15th | -- | +12/+7/+2 | +4 | +8 | +8 | Constitution +2, Poison (Snake Venom 1d6) | -- |
| 16th | 13d8 | +13/+8/+3 | +4 | +8 | +8 | Bonus Feat, Poison (Potent Daigatu) 3/day | +1 level as Enchanter |
| 17th | 14d8 | +14/+9/+4 | +4 | +9 | +9 | Intelligence +2 | +1 level as Enchanter |
| 18th | -- | +14/+9/+4 | +4 | +9 | +9 | Charisma +2, Hypnotic Gaze (at-will 60 feet) | -- |
Class Features
Proficiencies: Hebi-no-onna are proficient with simple weapons but no armor or shields. They can wield weapons with their snake-arms but have to give up their Snake Bite natural weapons while holding them.
Natural Weapons (Bite and Snakes): At 1st level, a Hebi-no-onna can only make a single melee attack with their Bite or with one of their Snake-arms.
Their Bite natural weapon attack inflicts 1d2 plus their Strength bonus in piercing damage at 1st Hit Dice. At that level their Snakes natural weapon attack inflicts 1d2 plus Strength bonus in piercing damage.
Additionally, their natural weapons can inflict certain racial poisons on a successful attack roll as a swift action (see entries below).
At 5th level, the Snakes of a Hebi-no-onna thereafter inflict 1d3 plus their Strength bonus in piercing damage.
Poison (Snake Venom) (Ex): The Snake of a Hebi-no-onna's arms are venomous. On a successful Snakes melee attack, the target suffers initial and secondary damage of 1d2 Constitution damage. The Fortitude save DC to resist snake venom poison equals 10 plus half the creature's racial Hit Dice (rounded down) plus their Constitution modifier.
At 5th level, Snake Venom poison damage increases to 1d4 Constitution initial and secondary damage.
At 15th level, Snake Venom poison inflicts 1d6 Constitution initial and secondary damage.
Spellcasting: Starting at 1st level, snake women cast arcane spells as a wizard specializing in the enchantment school. They must have an Intelligence score capable of casting spells, and they must prepare their spells in advance from spellbooks or scrolls as a normal wizard. At 1st level, the hebi-no-onna must choose two schools of magic as their prohibited schools of magic; once chosen these prohibited schools cannot be changed.
They typically forgo flashier schools like evocation or conjuration, in order to draw less attention to their spellcasting abilities. They make use of any enchantments they can acquire, and they protect themselves from strong-willed enemies behind illusion and abjuration spells.
Hebi-no-onna gain bonus spells per day from a high Intelligence ability score, as well as their Enchantment specialization. They do not receive any additional benefits from their racial spellcasting, such as gaining a Familiar or Wizard bonus feats as they level up. They cannot gain alternative class features with their racial spellcasting, such as from High Specialist or other wizard class variants.
Multiattack: At 2nd level, a Hebi-no-onna gains Multiattack with their snake-arms. Additionally, they can make two snake-arm attacks as a full-attack action.
If both of a Hebi-no-onna's Snakes succeed in a full-attack action against a single target, the target only needs to make a single Fortitude save against a single dose of Snake Venom. The save DC of this two-hit attack's poison is increased by +2 for this saving throw.
Eschew Materials: At 3rd level, a Hebi-no-onna’s snake arms develop magically potent scales, allowing them to forgo most material components for arcane spellcasting. The hebi-no-onna gains Eschew Materials as a bonus feat.
Bonus Feat: At 8th level, a Hebi-no-onna gains a bonus feat from the following list: Dodge, Improved Initiative, Scribe Scroll, Spell Focus (enchantment), Spell Focus (illusion) or Spell Penetration.
They gain an additional bonus feat from the list above at 12th and 16th levels.
Poison (Weak Daigatu) (Ex): Starting at 4th level, a Hebi-no-onna’s fangs become venomous, inflicting a unique poison called Daigatu or “nightmare wine” on a successful hit. If a snake woman succeeds a single bite attack against a creature, they can inflict this special injury poison at-will as a swift action. A victim must succeed a Fortitude save or suffer being nauseated as initial damage (as the stinking cloud effect), lasting 2d4 rounds. There is no secondary damage for this effect.
The Fortitude save to resist Weak Daigatu Poison equals 12 plus their Constitution modifier.
Hypnotic Gaze (Su): At 9th level, a Hebi-no-onna gains the ability to hypnotize a creature that meets her eye. As a standard action, up to three times per day, the snake woman targets a single creature within 30 feet line of sight. The target that meets her gaze must succeed a Will save or become hypnotized (as the hypnotism effect).
The effective caster level is 14 for this supernatural ability. The Will save DC to resist this effect equals 10 + ½ their total Hit Dice (rounded down) plus Charisma modifier.
When a snake woman uses this attack, her eyes change to the yellow, slitted eyes of a reptile. Their serpentine monster traits are revealed when using this supernatural ability, instantly alerting onlooking creatures to their Outsider Rating penalties.
Use all the normal rules for gaze attacks with this ability. This is a charm, mind- affecting effect.
At 18th level, a snake woman can use their hypnotic gaze at-will, and the ability's range increases to 60 foot line of sight.
Poison (Potent Daigatu) (Ex): Starting at 10th level, once per day a maturing Hebi-no-onna may choose to inflict a more potent Daigatu poison as a swift action on a single successful Bite attack, causing the victim to suffer horrific hallucinations of their worst fears.
This more intense poison requires a victim to succeed a Fortitude save against a stunning effect as both initial and secondary damage. Each failed save causes the target to be stunned for 1d10+2 rounds. Additionally, the victim suffers a -4 alchemical penalty to saves made against fear effects during the duration of the stunning effect, due to intense hallucinations (including Horror and Madness effects in the Ravenloft campaign setting).
The save DC for Potent Daigatu poison equals 10 + half their racial Hit Dice (rounded down) plus their Constitution modifier.
At 13th and 16th levels, a snake woman receives an additional daily use of potent Daigatu per day (maximum 3/day at 16th level).
Author's Notes
I am a massive fan of the original Sword & Sorcery Studios lore for the Ravenloft campaign setting. A conglomeration of many pocket dimensions of gothic horror across time, space and completely different worlds; Ravenloft is home to endless innocent lives, the greatest villains in the expanded planescape, and (as you have read above) some of the most twisted and unique creatures prowling the night. And the monster manual Denizens of Dread (2004) is full of all sorts of new horrors to throw in front of your gothic heroes.
The Hebi-no-onna are fascinating creatures. They are such a strange breed of monster, beautiful ladies born with serpents for arms and venom running through their veins. I won't lie, I am honestly surprised that they are wholly original to S&S/Ravenloft. There are snake woman in various real mythologies around the world, but none that I could find really fit this specific configuration of snake and sexy lady. There are references to the D&D serpent-like people known as the Yuan-Ti in their lore, but that has been left vague on purpose by the writers to be used as a dungeon master sees fit.
There are women with snake bodies and human heads, ladies who turn into divine serpents, ancient statues of goddesses holding snakes in both hands... But surprisingly these are a unique configuration of snake and woman. And I love that it is entirely original; so naturally I had to make it a race option for my own potential Ravenloft games!
These monsters were also present in the contemporary Kara-Tur setting of D&D--found in the Oriental Adventures setting book by Green Ronin Publishing.
I hope you enjoy the Hebi-no-onna! I had a blast bringing them to life!
-- Aboleth Eye
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