Syluné's Viper (Wizard Spell)

This spell temporarily transforms one of the caster's arms into a retractable serpent, whose eyes the caster can see through (if desired), complete with a fanged mouth. This serpent bites once per round as if it were a wizard seven levels higher than the caster, and its bite does 1d4+1 points of damage and forces the victim to make a saving throw vs. spell. If the saving throw is failed, the victim is convulsed for the following round. During this time, the victim is helpless to attack, deliberately defend, or complete any other volun­tary task or activity, and has his or her Armor Class penalized by 4. The serpentine arm can extend up to 50 feet and is effectively weightless. It can bite through armor plate, shields, and the like, and is a magical force rather than a real snake. It is unaf­fected by magic governing serpent kind.
The serpentine arm cannot constrict or en­twine about victims, and its bite is not poisonous. Each time a victim is struck a saving throw vs. spell must be made to avoid the convulsive effect. The arm can climb vertical walls and then drag the caster's body after it if the caster so desires, but it moves at the caster's movement rate. The caster cannot work any other magic while one of her arms is in serpent-form, but she can end the spell before expiration by silent act of will.
The serpentine arm can be struck by foes. It is AC 4 and has 44 hit points beyond the caster's own. If attacks reduce these hit points to 0, the serpentine arm vanishes and the spell ends. All at­tacks on the caster during the functioning of a Sylune's viper spell inflict damage against these extra hit points created by the viper arm first. Excess damage beyond the viper's 44 hit points is suffered by the caster directly.
The material components of this spell are a scale and a tooth from any snake (not necessarily a fang).
Notes: Rare or very rare in the Forgotten Realms setting; virtually unknown elsewhere.
Category:Wizard Spells
Category:Spells from Wizard's Spell Compendium
Category:Spells