Death's Head Inphidian

This tall slender humanoid is dressed in dark-colored robes. Its body is covered in dull blue-green scales with whorls of reddish-brown. Its head is viper-like and its arms end in snake-like hands. It clutches a long wooden staff tipped with a ruby-encrusted snake's skull.

Death's Head Inphidian (CR 5)

Medium Monstrous Humanoid (Reptilian)
Alignment: Neutral Evil
Initiative: +7
Senses: Darkvision 60 feet, Scent; Perception +16

Speed: 40 feet
Space: 5 feet

Defense

Armor Class: 21, touch 13, flat-footed 18 (+3 Dex, +8 natural)
Hit Points: 68 (8d10+24)
Saving Throws: Fort +7, Ref +9, Will +11

Offense

Melee: quarterstaff +12/+7 (1d6+4 plus poison or Grab) or 2 snake-hands +13 (1d8+4 plus bleed and poison)
Reach: 5 feet

Special Attacks: Bleed (1d4), death's head staff

Spell-Like Abilities (CL 8th):

• Constant-- speak with snakes (as Speak with Animals, but snakes only)
  
  
• 3/day- Cause Fear (DC 15), Suggestion (DC 17)
  
  
• 1/day- Accelerate Poison (DC 16; see sidebar), Snake Staff (see sidebar)

Statistics

Str	Dex	Con	Int	Wis	Cha
18 (+4)	17 (+3)	17 (+3)	19 (+4)	20 (+5)	18 (+4)

Base Attack Bonus: +8
CMB +12 (+16 Grapple with staff)
CMD 25

Feats: Blind-Fight, Great Fortitude, Improved Initiative, Weapon Focus (snake-hands)

Skills: Acrobatics +7, Bluff +8, Climb +11, Diplomacy +12, Intimidate +15, Knowledge (history) +8, Knowledge (religion) +11, Perception +16, Sense Motive +9, Stealth +14, Survival +16

Languages: Common, Inphidian, Sylvan, Undercommon, speak with snakes

Special Qualities: snake empathy

Special Abilities

Poison (Ex)

Bite-injury; save DC 21 Fort; frequency 1/round for 6 rounds; effect 1d4 Con damage; cure 2 consecutive saves. The save DC is Constitution-based and includes a +4 racial bonus.

Snake Empathy (Ex)

Snakes, including giant snakes, do not willingly attack a death's head inphidian, though they can be forced to do so by magic. If the death's head inphidian attacks a snake, its protection against that creature ends.

Death's Head Staff (Ex)

The staff of a death's head inphidian can hold poisons in a specially crafted chamber inside the jewel encrusted snake skull. The chamber holds enough poison to deliver three doses. Most death's head inphidians fill the chamber with their own poison (use the stats above). In lieu of poisoning an opponent struck by the staff, a death's head can command its staff to grapple and constrict its target. When a foe is successfully hit by the staff, the death's head inphidian can make an immediate grapple check as a free action. If successful, the opponent is pinned and takes 1d6+6 points of bludgeoning damage each round until it escapes. (Use the death's head inphidian's statistics above to resolve the grapple and escape.) This staff functions only in the hands of a death's head inphidian. In the hands of any other creature, it acts as a normal quarterstaff. The gem-encrusted snake skull is worth a total of 1,000-3,000 gp.

Ecology

Environment: Warm Forests or Plains or Underground
Organization: band (1 death's head inphidian plus 1-2 rattler inphidians) or troupe (1 death's head inphidian plus 1 night adder inphidian, 1-2 rattler inphidians, and 3-4 giant vipers)
Treasure: standard


Death's head inphidians may not be the strongest or largest of the inphidian races, but they certainly are the most feared and respected; hence the reason the death's head is the leader of an inphidian nest. These creatures rule by fear and maintain tight control over their nest. Rules, commands, judgments, and punishments are all meted out by a death's head and all come quickly. As a death's head ages and draws near the end of its life, its position is often challenged by other death's heads, all vying for control of the inphidian nest. Such challenges generally end in the death of all but one death's head inphidian, who becomes the new leader of the nest, after the current leader dies (which is often times aided by the death's head in waiting). For this reason, as a death's head ages, it is rarely ever encountered alone, always having a retinue of other inphidians or giant snakes around it at all times.

A typical death's head inphidian stands 6 feet tall and weighs 180 pounds. Its dull blue-green scales darken and fade as it ages. A death's head has an average lifespan of 50 years.

A death's head in combat is a fearsome creature, having many tools at its disposal-and it uses all of them to the best of its ability. It usually opens combat with its spell-like abilities (suggestion or cause fear) and then launches into melee with its snake hands and staff. A poisoned foe is subjected to its accelerated poison spell-like ability. If overwhelmed, a death's head uses its snake staff ability to occupy its opponents while it makes its escape.