Serpent [Herald and Teak]

Both live in steaming tropical jungle, often among other intelligent reptile races.

Heralds are swift snakes banded black and gold, with sapphire or emerald eyes. Serpent lords enchant colorful poisonous jungle snakes into heralds to carry word or negotiate for them, granting at least six languages including Common. They serve gladly and are usually restored after the mission. A dispel magic that beats 16th-level magic also returns one to a giant poisonous snake with lethal venom.

A herald talks first, flattering foes while plotting a getaway. At 4th level it can cast each of these once a day: hypnotism, invisibility, friends, hypnotic pattern and comprehend languages. If talk and flight both fail, it strikes twice a round, each bite dealing 1d4 points of damage and automatically injecting a toxin that acts in 1-3 rounds (save vs. poison negates). Victims forget everything, even who they are and their memorized spells, for 2-8 hours. As a magical creation it has no ecological role, though it still eats live birds and small animals.

These giant constrictors of teak and ironwood forests often top 30 feet. Their bark-like hide gives foes -2 to surprise and grants them AC 3.

Waiting high in the canopy, a teak serpent drops on prey below, biting for 1d6 points of damage and trying to coil. Once it has a grip, it crushes for 2d6 points every following round. Prying loose a victim takes 80 points of combined Strength, and one snake can squeeze three man-sized creatures at once.

Feared throughout their jungles, they usually eat large animals, especially young elephants, but attack small groups of people readily, then may doze up to a week. Spellcasters sometimes bind captured ones into magical staves, and their scales add +2 to AC when used with barkskin, lasting as long as the spell.