Hello zoologists of all shapes and sizes! Welcome to my spellbook and thank you so much for checking out the 43rd episode of our beast series. Today we’re gonna be taking a look at one of the more damage orientated beasts in the 1/8ths category. We’re looking at the Poisonous Snake 5e monster. The Poisonous Snake is also found in the basic rule set so it’s kind of found all over the place.
This creature is also an incredibly popular choice amongst dms for early level encounters. I really like the snake in general, it’s also a good idea to mix in some non poisonous snakes in there as well. Much like the giant rat and disease giant rat you can really kind of play him off of each other. But without further ado let’s take a quick look at his stats here.
Stats
- Type: Tiny beast, unaligned
- Armor Class: 13
- Hit Points: 2 (1d4)
- Speed: 30 ft., swim 30 ft.
The poisonous snake is unsurprisingly considered to be a tiny beast and that is unaligned. It has an AC of 13 and 2 hit points calculated by rolling a d4. He has a swim speed of 30 feet and a normal movement speed of about 30 feet as well. Actually really like the AC on the poisonous snake i think that’s pretty good. Now let’s take a look at its actual stats here.
- STR: 2 (-4)
- DEX: 16 (+3)
- CON: 11 (+0)
- INT: 1 (-5)
- WIS: 10 (+0)
- CHA: 3 (-4)
- Senses: Blindsight 10 ft., Passive Perception 10
- Languages: —
- Challenge: 1/8 (25 XP)
You’ll see that he’s not very strong, he does however have a +3 to dexterity which is pretty awesome. Outside of that he’s about as dumb as he can get, yeah it’s pretty typical stuff from there. Now taking a look at his senses you’ll see 10 feet of blindsight which is pretty good, and a passive perception of 10 which isn’t terrible as well. Now looking at these stats as safe to assume he’s not very good for really anything but let’s check out his attack action and that might be enough to change your mind.
Actions
Bite: Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 1 piercing damage, and the target must make a DC 10 Constitution saving throw, taking 5 (2d4) poison damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.
So the snake can do a bite attack, then there’s a melee weapon attack +5 to hit heck yeah! Reaching a five feet away. It can only target one target and deals one piercing damage which isn’t too great! But however and the target must make a DC10 constitution saving throw, taking a 5 poison damage on a failed save or as half as much damage on a successful one. You can also just roll 2d4.
I like this because no matter what, they’re taking an extra poison damage, no matter what. If you want to be kind of a meaner DM you could always rule that on three successful attacks they get the poison condition for around, i think that’d be pretty cool as well!
Ultimately these are kinda to show your adventures they mean business, this doesn’t seem like a whole lot of damage upfront but you got a bear in mind, odds are your party’s not gonna be just facing one of these. Typically a group of snakes is far more common especially if you stumble upon their nest.
So action economy plus early level adventures that attack might actually be enough to wear them down, especially with a +5 to hit against the party that probably doesn’t have any magical items probably it has at best half plate or chainmail or leather armor maybe even nothing depending on how you dm.
How you really do think these can be deadly, not as deadly as a couple of the other beasts within that 1/8 kind of group but still deadly enough to make a lasting impression on those new characters, really teach them to respect the jungle.
Conclusion
That being said, let me know how you would use them in your games down beneath in the comments section, also be sure to mention any thoughts, questions, comments or concerns you have regarding the poisonous snake. That being said, i hope you all have a great day and as always happy researching everyone.