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The Yuan-Ti is a species from168澳洲幸运5开奖网: Dungeons & Dragons, born with serpentine characteristics and qualities, such ﷺas scales, split large tongues, or snake-like noses and eyes. They all boast a resistance to poison and an ability to speak with snakes.

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The Yuan-Ti's capabilities make for great versatility when selecting your character's class and create pathways to engaging roleplay, adding a herpetological twist to your campaign. Here's everything you need to know about making a character from this race in D&D.

The History Of Yuan-Ti

yuan ti
Art via Wizards of the Coast

The Yuan-Ti were born from the ancient, dark rituals performed by their ancestors to merge their humanoid forms with that of a snake. Their society tends to circulate around religious cities deep within forests or jungles, with the heads of temples ofte𓆉n being at the center of their social climate.

Accomplishment is heavily celebrated in Yuan-Ti culture, with achievements being cited as receiving their god's favor.

While some Yuan-Ti remained human-like in appearance, others were warped into more reptilian forms, such as having snake tails in the place of legs or hoods around the muscles of their neck. Some Yuan-Ti are almost entirely snake-like, sporting very little humanoid features, becoming prominent monsters in the Dungeons and Dragons canon called Yuan-Ti Abominations.

The warping of Yuan-Ti is common in their histories, with some Yuan-Ti attempting to achieve godhood through similar dark magic to that of the rituals done by their ancestors. One such ritual involves the slaughter of hundreds of snakes and a bath in their enemy's blood, resulting in the painful transformation of the Yuan-Ti into a Yuan-Ti Anathema, one of the most powerful forms a Yuan-𒈔Ti can take.

In former sourcebooks, Yuan-Ti were divided into Purebloods, Malisons, and Abominations, but these classifications have been removed in favor of the more encompassing 'Yuan-Ti.' As such, be sure not to confuse the playable species with the monsters!

Because of this, Yuan-Ti are sometimes stereotyped and distrusted by other species, and you may find yourself drawn towards combating prejudice at the perceived intermingling of dark magic and the Yuan-Ti. Though some may believe Yuan-Ti to be practitioners of the dark arts, Yuan-Ti are varied and can be anything you want them to be.

Features

Yuan-Ti art from Dungeons & Dragons
Yuan-ti Art via Wizards of the Coast

  • Poison Resilience

  • You have Advantage on any saving throws you make to dismiss or avoid the Poisoned Condition on yourself. This will also grant you resistance to Poison damage.

Though they lack the ability to generate any non-magical venom of their own, unlike some of their snake counterparts, Yuan-Ti retained the ability to resist and adapt to any poison in their system, making them particularly effective against enemies who rely on poison to do extra damage to your character.

Be sure to ask your DM about the area your campaign is in. Not only does Poison Resistance make your character effective while fighting other Yuan-Ti, but it can be utilized in settings that make heavy use of monsters such as Giant Spiders and Wyverns. Yuan-Ti would also be particularly practical in a campaign set in the Underdark, where many creatures use poison to incapacitate characters.

  • Magic Resistance

  • This feature allows you to have Advantage on saving throws against spells directed at your character.

Being the result of a magical ritual isn't all people make it out to be, but it certainly has its advantages. Magic resistance is a feature not afforded to many playable species, and it can be absolutely crushing against spellcasters.

This feature in✅ particular makes Yuan-Ti an attractive option for those looking to go up against magical opponents.

  • Darkvision

  • Your character can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light and in darkness as if it were dim light. You only see in shades of gray.

Darkvision is afforded to most of the fantastic species in Dungeons and Dragons, though it's a good feature to have, no matter how common.

  • Serpentine Spellcasting

    • You know the Poison Spray cantrip.
    • This trait permits you to cast Animal Friendship an unlimited number of times, though you can only target snakes with it.
    • At the third level, you're able to cast Suggestion. You can’t cast this spell again until you've finished a long rest. You can also cast it using any spell slots you have of 2nd level or higher.
    • Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma is your spellcasting ability for these spells when you cast them with this trait (you can choose this during character creation).

Serpentine Spellcasting is a great trait for utility, giving you access to Suggestion and Animal Friendship, therefore leaving a spellcasting Yuan-Ti free to take other spells, which is great for those odd situational moments that crop up in campaigns. The ability to only cast Animal Friendship on snakes is not only thematic but also leaves you with serpent animal companions for 24 hours.

In snake-ridden areas, one could accumulate as many snakes as the Dungeon Master allows with your unlimited ability to befriend them. In terms of damage, Poison Spray is also a useful cantrip to have on one's character, especially with its 10-foot radius, letting you have some space from your opponent in the event you run out of spell slots.

Best Yuan-Ti Class Options

Yuan-ti Anathema, the highest form of the species, from Dungeons & Dragons
Art via Wizard of the Coast

While Wizards of the Coast has made species less important to selecting a class for ꦓplay, now you have more options than ever to play a character 𝕴with the class you like. Still, some classes have advantages over others when it comes to the Yuan-Ti.

Monk
  • Monks tend to rely on getting in and getting out during combat, utilizing their speed and resistances to keep them up and fighting. Magic Resistance becomes crucial here, allowing the player to get out of saving throws the enemy spellcasters may use to try and incapacitate you.
  • Furthermore, Poison Resistance is good to have at early levels before the Monk grants you immunity.

Rogue
  • Magic Resistance functions well with spells that often reveal a Rogue's position, such as Faerie Fire. Being able to stay hidden and achieve sneak attacks is paramount to many playstyles of Rogue. This feature also allows Rogues to stay mobile during dungeon crawls and scouting, where unseen traps may have magical effects.
  • Poison Resistance also works well here, letting the Rogue resist a common damage type.

Barbarian
  • Magic Resistance is useful, considering a Barbarian is resistant to so many types of damage, leaving you otherwise open to being attacked by spells that may require you to make a nasty Wisdom or Intelligence save. This is mitigated by your resistance.

Druid
  • With the ability to speak to snakes via unlimited Animal Friendship, the Yuan-Ti's traits work well for a character who feels like dipping into the preexisting flavor of the nature-oriented Druid.
  • Access to Poison Spray means you can take more useful cantrips from the Druid spell list.

Best Feats For A Yuan-Ti

D&D: Savalirwood with shadowy figures lurking in the dark woods.
Savalirwood by Jonah Baumann

Feats help assist your character by bolstering your abilities and adding new skills to your character that you may not get inherently. They often allow you t𒀰o explore avenues not covered by your class and can helꦬp flesh out the backstory of your character.

Resilient
  • This feat allows you to increase one ability score by 1, to a maximum score of 20. You also gain proficiency in saving throws using the chosen ability, which blends well with your existing resistances.

Shadow Touched
  • This feat allows you to increase your Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma score by 1, to a maximum score of 20.
  • You also learn the Invisibility spell and one first-level spell of your choice from the illusion or necromancy schools of magic, and you can cast each of these spells without expending a spell slot. You can’t cast again until you finish a long rest.
  • Shadow Touched adds onto the spells you already know inherently from Serpentine Spellcasting and makes for an effective stealth build.

War Caster
  • You have Advantage on Constitution saving throws to keep your concentration on a spell, which allows for extra peace of mind when in combat, especially alongside Magical Resistance.
  • You can also cast spells when you have weapons or a shield in your hands, which could allow your innate spellcasting to come into play with martial builds.
  • When an opponent's movement provokes an opportunity attack from you, you can use your reaction to instead cast a spell at the creature, rather than make an opportunity attack. Though the spell can only have a casting time of 1 action and can only target that creature, this is still a good feat when considering you may not have to use your spell slots to potentially cast Suggestion and halt, dismiss, or charm the opponent while they attempt to escape.

Poisoner
  • One of the drawbacks to having resistance to poison is that it's the most 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:commonly resisted damage type. This gets negated with this feat and makes it so that whenever you make a damage roll that deals poison damage, you will ignore resistance to poison damage.
  • You can apply poison to a weapon or piece of ammunition as a bonus action, which layers on flavor for those who wish their Yuan-Ti could be more snake-like.

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