Ophidians

The Ophidans are a sly race of Beastfolk uniquely designed to be assassins. They were created by the School of Metamorphosis as a hybrid of snakes and humans. Though the original Ophidans were made by using specific snakes, they were modified over time to have the maximum of reflexes, senses, and venom, making them much more deadly than they previously were. As these modifications were made, the Ophidans were also changed to minimize the outward appearance of their serpentine relation, causing them to become unstable and short-lived. The average Ophidan may live twenty to thirty years before they completely unravel and die. Ophidans tend to have solitary natures, but can very easily put on different faces. It’s thought that compulsive lying is a trait among many Ophidans.

Personality

Ophidians are cold and calculating, and sometimes have trouble understanding the mammals around them.  Decisions for Ophidians are always clear-cut, black-and-white affairs, and if they take the concerns of allies or family into account, it is because they learned how.

Physical Description

The wizards who created the Ophidans created them to be as human as physically possible, so very few serpentine traits remain still. Their eyes are one of their main defining features- all Ophidans have slit pupils, though the distribution of the amounts of which snakes they mix with the most determines the direction in which the pupil is slit and the color. The same factor will determine their hair color, though most Ophidans have extremely fine hair. Most Ophidans will wear their hair relatively long, though they will cut it short from mourning. They also have fangs and slightly forked tongues, causing many Ophidans to have a subtle accent. Though almost all Ophidans are fair-skinned, some will have small patches of scales on their wrists or necks. Females of their race will usually be a height of 5’4” to 5’9”, and males will usually be of a height between 5’7” and 6’.

During the magocratic society, most Ophidans were assassins, thieves, or otherwise used in stealth operations. They used a clan affiliation amongst themselves, defining themselves by their families. Despite their reputation for being incurable liars, which is, to some extent, true, they are extremely loyal to their families, or, in more recent times, employers. Since the collapse of magocratic society, some of the Ophidans have maintained their affiliations, while some have broken free and become loners, though many Ophidans prefer to stay out of sight and with their clans.

Relations

Even in societies that accept or relatively accept the Beastfolk, most Ophidans are treated with mild suspicion and disdain because of their former employment in the magocratic society. The opinion of them is slowly changing in more war-torn lands, where they prove themselves to be capable and surprisingly loyal warriors, but most Ophidans keep minimal contact with society as a whole because of relatively poor opinions of them.

Alignment and Religion

Ophidians, designed to be killers and naturally callous, tend significantly toward Evil.

Adventurers

Ophidians most often become Rogues.  Some leverage their natural hunting instincts to become effective Rangers.

Names

Lots of fricatives and especially sibilants.

Ophidian Racial Traits

Medium-sized

+2 Dex, -2 Con, +2 Wis

[1pt] Bestial Nature: Ophidians can speak with serpents and vipers at will as a magical ability.

Darkvision 60': Ophidians can see 60' out even in total, nonmagical darkness, with a modified form of infravision

Hatred: Ophidians and Galidines have an acute hatred for each other, and will almost never agree to work together

[~4pts] Poison-mastery: When working with mundane and magical poisons, Ophidians do not risk poisoning themselves. They also receive a +2 bonus to Fortitude saves against mundane and magical poison

[~4pts] Venomous Fangs: Ophidians have a bite attack at -5 (their bite counts as a light weapon for Weapon Finesse). It only deals 1 damage, but if their bite deals damage, the Ophidian can choose to inject her opponent with venom. Ophidian venom is similar to any viper venom. The Fortitude save DC is equal to 10 +1/2 the Ophidian's character level + her Con bonus, and the venom deals initial and secondary damage of 1d4 Constitution. Ophidians can only use their venom at most once per day, and their venom cannot be saved and applied to weapons. (The save DC is much higher than that for viper venom in the SRD intentionally - the Con damage is reduced to 1d4 because attribute damage is more powerful in PF)

[~2pts] Tremorsense 20': Ophidians can sense vibrations due to movement within a range of 20' even in magical darkness, but do not have a wide range of hearing otherwise, suffering a -2 penalty to Perception checks when listening

Languages

***