Giant Constrictor Snake
Giant Constrictor Snake (CR 10)
| Neutral - Huge - Magical Beast |
|---|
| Lore: | Know (Arcana) | ||
| 18 | 33 | ||
| Basic DC | Full DC | ||
| Initiative |
19 |
| Perception: | |
| 26 | +16 |
| Passive | Active |
| Ambush: |
| 8+ |
| on a d20 |
- Ambush Notes: Likes setting ambushes and will do so frequently.
Senses:
- Standard Senses
- Keen Scent 30 ft.
Movement Types:
- Walk 40 ft.
- Greater Climb 40 ft.
Defense
| AC |
28 |
| Man Def |
|
31 |
| Monster Health | ||
| 210 | 105 | 16 |
| Hit Points | Bloodied | Hit Dice |
| Saving Throws | |
| Fort: | +7 |
| Refl: | +12 |
| Will: | +7 |
Strong Against:
Offense
| Size: | Huge | ||
| 15 ft. | 10 ft. | ||
| Space | Reach | ||
| To-Hit |
+18 
|
| Man Off |
+19
|
| Action |
| 0 |
| Points |
- Maneuver Offense Notes: +4 on Grapples
Standard Attack (Melee):
- 1x Giant Snake Bite +18 (3d10+14/x2)
as piercing (physical, common)
Full Attack (Melee):
Standard Attack (Ranged):
Full Attack (Ranged):
Siege Damage: Not siege capable
Statistics
| 40 |
| STR |
| 16 |
| DEX |
| 19 |
| CON |
| 5 |
| INT |
| 6 |
| WIS |
| 12 |
| CHA |
Skills:
- Perception: 16
- Stealth: 16 (plus 4 to Stealth rolls if able to prepare an Ambush)
- Survival: 16 (plus 4 to detect Stealth because of Keen Scent)
- All other skills: 11 (no ranks)
Languages: Common (pidgin, can understand but not speak)
Special Abilities
| Constrict (Ex) Standard Action |
|
As a standard attack action, the constrictor snake may attempt to constrict a target within its reach. To do so, it makes a Maneuver Offense check (1d20 + 23 versus the target's Maneuver Defense. If it succeeds, the constrictor snake Grapples the target and immediately deals 2d8+10 points of crushing (physical, common) damage to the target. The constrictor snake may maintain the grapple as a swift action each round, and each round it succeeds, it continues to deal 2d8+10 points of crushing (physical, common) damage to the target, without the need for a separate attack roll.
|
| Lunging Coils (Ex) Standard Action 1/Rnd |
|
Once per round as a standard action, if the constrictor is not currently grappling anyone, it may lunge at a target up to 40 feet away and make a Constrict attack (see above). This is essentially a charge action that allows the use of the Constrict special ability against the target, instead of a standard attack. Lunging Coils follows all the standard rules for a charge, except that the constrictor does not take any penalties to its AC when using this ability and may use Constrict as the attack at the end. |
Giant Constrictor Snake
Despite their incredible size (easily stretching ten paces long, and sometimes much bigger) giant constrictor snakes travel in packs. They are aggressive predators who rely on their massive size, colossal strength, and scaly hides to protect them from any prey that tries to defend itself against being eaten. Their dark scales, mottled with greens, greys, browns, even black and dull red, make them hard to spot, and they are readily mistaken for logs, branches, tree stumps, mossy columns, and other terrain features.
Like all constrictor snakes, giant constrictor snakes crush their prey to death and then swallow them whole. Giant constrictor snakes are not poisonous, but don't really need to be. They are surprisingly fast, given how large they are, easily able to chase down prey that evades their initial assault. Watching a giant constrictor whip its mass across open ground by literally throwing massive loops of its huge body ahead and then pulling itself forward is eerily unnatural, and frankly, dangerous.
Giant constrictor snakes can use their flickering tongues, which give them Keen Scent ability, to hunt prey even when line of sight is restricted, though they also use their normal vision and hearing to ignore the miss chances that using Keen Scent alone would give them.
Giant constrictors usually fight heaped up in a loose, coiling mass the size of a haystack, but can shoot out their bodies in incredible speed, crawl and loop their way up walls and across ceilings with ridiculous speed, and if they manage to throw a loop around you, they can coil and drag you into their heaped mass of muscular loops and squeeze you to death faster than seems possible.
Combat Tactics
Giant constrictor snakes want to use Constrict early and often, both to hamper their prey and to quickly turn the fight from any sort of running melee (and potentially ranged attacks, which are bad for the snake) into a strength contest. In a battle of pure wrestling muscle, the snake will nearly always win.
Constrictor snakes have thick scales and solid muscles, combined with a loose, rounded shape, that gives them a LOT of DR/-, which helps them defend against any light weapons that their grappled opponents might try to use against them.
With Lunging Coils, the constrictor can rely entirely on Constrict as their primary attack action and easily catch up to prey. Even after starting a Constrict-grapple with up to two medium-sized enemies, the snake can move its full speed (including its climb speed), and make attacks of opportunity.
Giant snakes aren't particularly stealthy if they are not able to lay an ambush, so they rely on speed and their very capable grappling abilities to capture and devour prey if they are found roaming free.
Giant constrictor snakes are just a little too intelligent for beasts, able to understand limited bits of Common they hear, and also able to choose terrain that favors their speed. It is truly unnerving to watch a 90-foot snake stop to listen to what you're saying to your companions. And understand it. And then change its actions to avoid what you were planning.
Just creepy.
Constrictors have the Keen Scent sense, allowing them to easily track the location of prey within 60 feet without line of sight, though they always try to augment this in combat with their vision and hearing to avoid taking the 20% miss chance that Keen Scent alone would cause. Keen Scent provides a +4 bonus to perception checks to detect creatures using Stealth, and also allows the use of the Survival skill in lieu of Perception if that skill is better.
Out of Combat
Giant Constrictors are just a little too alien to be popular as vassal and pets, unless the creature taking them in is REALLY mighty. Or really has a whole 'snake' motif going on.
That said, there are lots of reptilian and ophidian bad guys out there who just adore Giant Constrictor Snakes, and so, any time you are fighting Lizardfolk its possible to find a Giant Snake as a temple guardian, and woe betide you!
Similarly, nagas seem to adore giant snakes, and frequently will have entire nests of the things, and those ones tend to get...really, really big.
On their own, Giant Constrictors usually will make a nest in a cave, ruins, sheltered grotto, tangle of fallen trees, even sewers, and get busy laying eggs. Thankfully, Giant Snakes breed slowly compared to some monsters, so its often possible to find the lair and stamp them out before you have to deal with an infestation of the awful things.
Rewards
XP: 9,600
Treasure: Sellable Goods worth 6,875 gp.
- Weight: 100 lbs. Volume: 4 cu. ft.
Optional Treasure Rules: Roll a d20 on Table 1 below once per encounter (NOT per creature). Any items discovered are in addition to the normal treasure for the encounter.
| Table 1: Remnant(s) Found | |
|---|---|
| 1 - 10 | Nothing Found |
| 11 - 14 | 1 Languid Remnant (tier 1) |
| 15 - 17 | 1 Pale Remnant (tier 2) |
| 18 - 19 | 1 Bright Remnant (tier 3) |
| 20 | Roll on Table 2 |
| ### | Nothing to see here! |
| ### | Or here. Move along. |
| Table 2: Remnant(s) Found | |
|---|---|
| 1 - 5 | 3 Languid Remnants (tier 1) |
| 6 - 10 | 3 Pale Remnants (tier 2) |
| 11 - 14 | 1 Intense Remnant (tier 4) |
| 15 - 17 | 1 Blazing Remnant (tier 5) |
| 18 - 19 | 1 Vital Remnant (tier 6) |
| 20 | Roll on Table 3 |
| ### | Or here. Move along. |
| Table 3: Remnant(s) Found | |
|---|---|
| 1 - 5 | 3 Bright Remnants (tier 3) |
| 6 - 8 | 3 Intense Remnants (tier 4) |
| 9 - 11 | 3 Blazing Remnants (tier 5) |
| 12 - 14 | 3 Vital Remnants (tier 6) |
| 15 - 17 | 1 Prime Remnant (tier 7) |
| 18 - 19 | 1 Mythic Remnant (tier 8) |
| 20 | 1 Empyrean Remnant (tier 9) |