Island Black Cobra - Flavor Change

[LackofCertainty]

Currently, the Island Black Cobra has:

+8ab
High damage (a snake that can hit for 6-7-8 damage per bite is crazy.  That snake is packing a longsword or something)
High AC (relatively)
Disease


Now, I'm fine with the high AB and High AC, (tiny things have an easy time hitting you and an easy time dodging) but the disease and high damage should be replaced with -nasty- poison, and low damage imo.

I mean, if you look in PnP.... *waits for the groans from the audience* ... most vipers do, well, 1 damage per bite.  A snake bite isn't that damaging in and of itself, it's the poison that causes the real trouble.  As it is now, It's like a snake that could tear your effing throat out, which feels wonky to me.

If you want a dangerous cobra, give it poison, not disease.

Fort Save: DC 18
Initial: 1d6 con
Secondary: 1d6 str 2d6 con

Something like that would be enough to worry people, without equiping the island's snakes with longswords. >_>

[JackOfSwords]

For the most part, I would agree.  However, snake bites from large snakes hurt more than you might think and can be quite deep, so I'd expect more than just 1 dmg per bite.  I would suggest snakes do 1-3 or 1-4.

As for the disease in Ymph cobras, why not?  I don't see any reason they couldn't be disease carriers.

[dragonfire9000]

Ahem. Boa constrictors and their python/viper relatives have incredibly sharp teeth and ridiculous aim. Please do not nerf, just go to your local science museum. Or, better yet, look at this link!

http://www.venomousreptiles.org/data/articles/72/atrox_bite3.jpg

[LackofCertainty]

Ahem. Boa constrictors and their python/viper relatives have incredibly sharp teeth and ridiculous aim. Please do not nerf, just go to your local science museum. Or, better yet, look at this link!

http://www.venomousreptiles.org/data/articles/72/atrox_bite3.jpg

The damage in the picture you showed is caused by the effects of the venom, not the bite. Yes, all snakes generally have sharp teeth, but their teeth are -not- designed to do damage.  

In poisonous snakes, they function like hypodermic needles.

In constrictors, they function as well.... a grappling tool.  They're sharp yes, but not really damaging in the rend/tear/slash fashion.

I can understand giving Constrictors high damage, because there's no good way to recreate their constriction in nwn, but with poisonous snakes.... well give them poison, and take away their longswords.

[Oroborous]

These snakes should breathe fire and be able to summon 1d4 munckins a round.

[Xorisai]

I can understand giving Constrictors high damage, because there's no good way to recreate their constriction in nwn,

Bigby's Crushing Hand?

[RIPnogarD]

Personally I feel all the snakes should be set like bores in that they should not lock on and chase you all the time. My reasoning is that unless a snake sees you as food they generally only attack when threatened. So if you got to close they might feel threatened and bite but would generally NOT chase after you unless they thought they could eat you.

http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=King+cobra&rls=com.microsoft:en-us&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&um=1&sa=X&oi=video_result_group&resnum=8&ct=title#

[Ommadawn]

Can you change their detection radius at all? Making it smaller would simulate them becoming hostile if they feel threatened by you coming too close to them.

[Nightshadow]

My suggestions for snakes:
Low damage, 1-3 sounds good.
Poison: DC 16, 1d6 Con Damage, then 1d6 Str/2d6 Con damage.
Reduce their detection radius or whatever it is called. I'm no expert on snakes, but I've always heard that they don't attack unless they feel threatened.
I believe I once casted Charm Animal on a snake on my druid and it was immune to it or something, though this could have been a Nightmare Bat that I"m thinking of, but if it is the snake I'm thinking of, I think turning off its immunity to mind-affecting spells would be good.

[Oskar Maxon]

It's (likely) not immunity to mind-affecting but the fact that Snakes don't count as animals, much as spiders, and you can therefore not use Charm Animal or for that matter Animal Empathy on them.

[I can has fun?]

They are also immune to sneak attacks.

[petey512]

I actually agree that the cobra should have less damage and more poison... however, since wer'e on the note of immunity to sneak attacks, why is it that almost every monster iv'e come across is immune to that? That's ridiculous, unless it's a dragon or something equally large, I don't see how it could be immune to sneak attacks. I'd like to see all sneak attack immunity gone please!

I'm  done venting on that now, and don't expect it to actually happen.

And yes, I think the snake shouldn't attack you unless provoked.

[JackOfSwords]

That's ridiculous, unless it's a dragon or something equally large, I don't see how it could be immune to sneak attacks.

Often, when something is immune to sneak attacks, it's because there isn't necessarily a "weak spot" to take advantage of by getting in an unexpected blow.  Good examples would be constructs or undead.

[petey512]

Well.... Everything has a weak spot. Animatrons have power cores and zombies do have brains, (not sure if that's how it works on here. :P) But yeah, I see where your coming from.

[Xorisai]

Sneak attack is a very powerful ability, and the tradeoff is that it's only useful in certain situations and against certain opponents.  In NWN, it's actually more powerful than the original PnP; in standard D&D, you also can't sneak attack big creatures (like a giant) unless you can actually reach the critical parts of their anatomy.  Also, any concealment in PnP negates sneak attacks - I'm not sure if that's the case in NWN or not.

At least in PnP, there's no reason why snakes would be exempt from sneak attacks - but this isn't PnP, and I don't pretend to know the decisions that went into which things got which immunities.