Naga

**Naga** are an ancestry of snake-like humanoids primarily found in Satyavarsha.

## **Life at a Cost**

The story of the Naga is somewhat well-known.

Before the Cascade, Humans  lived all over the world, including in and around Satyavarsha. There, the native Naga made their home under the heel of the old empire. These snake-like people were said to be the direct creations of their serpentine god, the Nagaraja. Indeed, they used what they called the 'serpentine form' to practice magic  - the winding coil of a snake likely forming the necessary spiral.

But once the Cascade struck the world, the Humans in Satyavarsha began to die in huge numbers. Seeking refuge from the destruction of Humanity, the Human leaders came to the Naga to strike a deal. The Naga would turn the Humans into Naga themselves, casting off their Human nature to save them. In return, Satyavarsha would be freed from the empire.

The deal was struck, and the remaining Humans were turned into Naga through their serpentine magics. This created a divide in the Naga ancestry. Native Naga would come to be known as Purebloods, while transformed Naga would be known as Kin.

And so the Naga have lived ever since.

## **Purebloods and Kin**

Purebloods tend to be the most snake-like of Naga, possessing larger numbers of serpentine features: forked tongues, yellow snake eyes, scaled skin in shades of green, yellow, brown and black. They take pride in their serpentine nature, since they believe it makes them more godlike - resembling the form of the Nagaraja, and the form of their magic. In lieu of natural venom, Purebloods pratice poison-craft, which is considered holy.

Kin usually have more subtle snake-like features: off-colour skin, yellowish eyes, forked tongues and so on. Due to the shape-shifting magic used to create them, Kin can change their appearences to subtly resemble other ancestries by altering their snake-skin, and can shed it in a pinch. Some Kin live in far-flung corners of the world, never revealing their origins.

## **Naga Traits**

Your Naga character has the following racial traits.

***Ability Score Increase***.Your Charisma score increases by 2.

***Age***. Purebloods are slightly longer-lived than Kin, the oldest of them being about 150 years old. Kin mature at the same rate as humans and have lifespans similar in length to theirs.

***Size***. Naga range from 5 to over 6 feet tall, and tend to have slender builds. Your size is Medium.

***Speed***. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

***Darkvision***. Like snakes, you have some capacity to see in darkness. You 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 can't discern color in darkness, only shades of grey.

***Forked Tongue***. You gain proficiency in the Deception skill, and can cast *Animal Friendship* at will, though you can only target snakes with it. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for this spell.

***Serpent's Guile.*** You have advantage on saving throws against being charmed, are immune to the poisoned condition, and are resistant against poison damage.

***Languages***. You can speak, read, and write Draconic, and one of Abyssal or Common.

***Subrace***. Two main subraces of naga exist in the world: those believed to be direct creations of the Nagaraja, called purebloods, and those who were humans  transformed into naga, called kin.

### **Pureblood**

***Ability Score Increase***. Your Intelligence score increases by 1.

***Tool Proficiency***. You gain proficiency with the poisoner's kit.

***Poison Mastery***. You are intimately familiar with poisons and their most fatal applications. Any poison, spell or effect you create ignores resistance to poison damage.

### **Kin**

***Ability Score Increase***. Your Dexterity score increases by 1.

***Chameleon Form***. As an action, you can subtly change your physical appearance to disguise your identity as a Naga. You hide the most obvious characteristics - things like scaled skin and snake-like eyes - but your overall appearance, physical features and size stay the same. You can use this to appear as a member of another ancestry, though none of your statistics change. While disguised, you add 1d4 to any Charisma (Deception) checks made to maintain it under suspicion.

Alternatively, you can change your appearance to match your surroundings. You add 1d4 to any Dexterity (Stealth) checks made to hide you make while doing so.

These changes last until you use an action to revert to your true form.

***Shed Skin***. You can use your bonus action to end one condition on yourself causing you be grappled, restrained or paralyzed. Once you use this feature, you can't use it or your Chameleon Form trait again until after you finish a long rest.

## **Meta Information**

Naga are a setting-specific replacement for Yuan-Ti.