I mentioned this in both the Third Dawn threads here and over at WotC. Some time ago, I built a campaign setting featuring a psionic race built loosely on the snake/human archetype. This is a reconstruction, stripped of anything I'd consider my IP, to be used or ignored at your leisure.
Naga
Picture (except for the hood and snakes emerging from the back)
Culture: The naga on the main continent of the campaign setting were exiles-in-hiding. The naga homeland had been conquered two generations previously by an apparently immortal naga who claimed divine right to rule not only naga, but all sentient races. Thousands fled the resulting dictatorship. Most other cultures know naga primarily through violent contact with the army of the dictatorship, resulting in a generally poor view of the race as a whole by outsiders. Agents of the dictator also sought escapees for reclamation and re-education (and nobody does re-education like psions), resulting in the outcast naga being forced into hiding unless they could find powerful allies.
Nonetheless, naga as a whole are a spiritual people more prone to philosophy and improving their own mind than conquest.
Appearance: Naga can either appear completely human or as creatures combining the torso of a human with the lower body of a snake. Naga tend to be uncomfortable wearing clothing that restricts their shape-changing, primarily pants, and most naga tend to wear robes and the like as a result. Among themselves, naga consider colorful scales attractive and many will decorate their tails with coloration should their natural colors be considered too drab.
Game Stuff:
- Type: Monstrous humanoid (shapechanger, psionic, reptilian)
- Size: Medium
- Speed: Base land speed, 30'. Their land speed in half-serpent form is only 20', but they get +4 to Swim and Climb checks.
- Senses: Low-light vision
- Naturally Psionic: Naga gain 2 pp at first level.
- Shapechanger: As a full-round action that does not provoke an attack of opportunity, a naga can change between humanoid and half-serpent forms.
- Bonus Feats: A naga in half-serpent form naturally has Improved Trip and Improved Grapple as racial bonus feats. A naga who meets the normal prerequisites may take these feats again. If they do, they gain the normal benefits of the feat while in human form and they also gain an additional +2 to the check bonus the feats provide while in half-serpent form. A naga may use his racial bonus feats as prerequisites for other feats, but would lose the benefits of those other feats while in human-form. (If you're planning to take a prestige class or the like that requires Improved Grapple or Improved Trip as a prerequisite, do yourself and your DM a favor and just take the feat rather than trying to figure out whether you can access the prestige class features in human form!)
- Immune to Trip: A naga in half-serpent form cannot be tripped.
- Armor Limitations: A naga cannot change form while wearing any mundane clothes that includes pants. This includes armor other than chain shirts. Armor (other than chain shirts) without the lower portions will provide 1 point less benefit to AC, but does not restrict shape-changing. Magical armor changes shape with the naga, as normal.
- Favored Class: Ardent (or Psion, if you're not using Complete Psionic).
Half-Naga
Culture: Half-naga are exceedingly rare, even in the naga homelands. While naga may intermarry with other races (especially human), cross-species fertility rates are exceedingly low. Half-naga have no culture of their own, never having a high enough population to warrant one, but instead tend reflect the culture of their parents. Unfortunately for the naga-in-exile, the presence of half-naga is a dead give-away to the identity of their parents and such children must be carefully hidden. As a result, many half-naga grow up paranoid and fearful.
Half-naga are infertile and never have children of their own.
Appearance: Half-naga appear generally human but lack all body hair and are instead covered in fine scales. Half-naga may lack hair on their heads as well, but this is less common. They tend to pick up clothing styles from their parents.
Game Stuff:
- Type: Humanoid (psionic, reptilian)
- Size: Medium
- Speed: Base land speed, 30'.
- Senses: Low-light vision
- Naturally Psionic: Naga gain 3 pp at first level. Why they have greater psionic potential than either parent species is not known.
- Natural Armor: A half-naga's scales provide +1 natural armor bonus. They may take the Improved Natural Armor monstrous feat if they meet it's normal prerequisites.
- Poison Resistant: Half-naga gain +2 on saves against poison.
- Favored Class: Psion. They are less prone to philosophy than their naga parents, but still favor their psionic nature.
Racial Feats
Blinding Spit
Prerequisites: Naga or half-naga
Effect: You have some small use of the venom your ancestors long ago lost. 3 times per day as a standard action that does not provoke an attack of opportunity, you can spit a blinding fluid at an enemy. (Or a friend, we don't mind!) This is a ranged touch attack, but the range is only 5 feet. The victim is blinded, if hit, and remains so for 1d4 rounds, or until he takes a full-round action (provokes AoO) to wash his eyes with water. This blindness only defeats eye-based vision (including darkvision), but will not hinder most creatures with blindsight of blindsense. You may spit on an opponent you have grappled.
Improved Blinding Spit
Prerequisites: Naga or half-naga, Blinding Spit, BAB +5
Effect: You may use Blinding Spit as a swift action.
Constrictor
Prerequisites: Naga, BAB +5
Effect: While in half-serpent form, you automatically deal your unarmed damage to a grappled opponent every turn without needing a grapple check. You may still make the check as normal to deal more damage.
Improved Constrictor
Prerequisites: Naga, BAB +7, Constrictor
Effect: While in half-serpent form, you make grapple checks as a creature one size category larger than you currently are.
Serpent's Gaze
Prerequisite: Naga or half-Naga
Effect: As a full round action that provokes attacks of opportunity, you may make a gaze attack against a single humanoid opponent. The target must make a will save or be mesmerized. A mesmerized opponent cannot take any actions save to stare at you until your next turn, when you may again attempt to mesmerize him. This is a mind-affecting effect.
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