Sultai
The sultai are a semi-reptillian race renowned and feared for their devotion and emulation of the ruthless nature of dragonkind. Their origins are mysterious: some call them rogue clans of yuan-ti, and others consider them ancestors of nagas. Regardless, they most commonly dwell in jungles, where the tropical climate and dense foliage safeguard their cold-blooded hides.
Half Familiar, Half Monstrous
Known to some as lamias or echidnas, all sultai share a common form: the body of a human, but with the slithering tail of a serpent taking the place of legs. Each clan has distinct differences in coloration and appearance like any race, but typically range from dull blue to vivid green to gradients of gray. Some sultai take on completely unique coloration: these specimen are known as gleamscales, often despised by "proper" sultai for their lack of camouflage and distinction from the norm.
Sultai live in settlements not unlike any other culture, with farms hewn along rivers and thatch cottages built around towering trees. Each settlement belongs to a clan, which are each unique in their beliefs and values. Some are religious and warmongering, while others remain agrarian and placid. Each sultai, in some way or another, feels a primal call to see what is beyond their homes, be it for exploration or conquest.
Tyrannical Schemes
The sultai are by no means a benevolent race. Like the familiar yuan-ti, they plot their eventual dominance over the world of the "hairy ones", citing their draconic ancestry as justification for any act committed to achieve this goal. Some clans engage in fiendish affairs to further this end, making deals with forces beyond their control to add profane powers like necromancy to their disposal.
Sultai machinations are further shrouded by their habitat. Feeling most at home in choking swamps and rainforests, few adventurers would dare to slog through such terrain just to be met with a village full of enemies. Sultai also tend to surround their territory in hidden traps, such as dart launchers, snares, and weighted nets.
Sultai Traits
As a sultai, you gain the following traits:
Ability Score Increase. Your Charisma score increases by 2.
Age. Sultai grow slightly slower than humans, reaching maturity around 30 years of age. They may live for upwards of two hundred years, although few ever reach their third century.
Alignment. Sultai tend toward extremes in accordance with the nature of their home clan, rarely ever being primarily neutral. For example, the Clan of Five Shades - servile to Tiamat, goddess of chromatic dragons - would lean toward chaotic evil, but a nomadic clan would lean more lawful neutral.
Constriction. Your tail is a natural weapon which you are proficient with, which can be used to make unarmed attacks. If you hit with it, you deal bludgeoning damage equal to 1d6 + your Strength modifier. Alternatively, your tail may be used to grapple a creature, which does not take up any of your hands. If successful, the creature is left constricted by your coiled tail until they succeed on a contested grapple check to escape. A creature that ends its turn this way takes 1d6 + your Strength modifier bludgeoning damage, if you wish to harm it. You may not make unarmed attacks or initiate another grapple with your tail while it is being used to grapple.
Languages. You can read, speak, and write Draconic and one other language of your choice. Common is an obvious choice, but depending on your history, you may not have grown up in a settlement where it was the primary tongue.
Mesothermal. Owing to your limited ability to regulate your body temperature, you have disadvantage on saving throws against spells and effects that deal cold damage, and have disadvantage on Constitution saving throws made to withstand environments of extreme cold.
Pit Glands. You have advantage on checks to made track, spot or otherwise locate living creatures that are not obscured by thermal camouflage or magic, and to follow their trails. Additionally, you have proficiency in the Survival skill.
Size. Sultai are slightly taller than humans, measuring 6 to 8 feet in height from head to base, though one's tail may stretch for 15 to 25 additional feet. Your size is Large.
Subrace. Choose from one of the following subraces: Anacondan, Gleamscale, Nagaborn, or Viperian. Your subrace grants additional traits.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet. You also have a swimming speed equal to your walking speed.
Thermal Vision. 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. While in darkness, you perceive your surroundings in a thermal spectrum.
Anacondan
The anacondan sultai are the heartiest of their kind, with stout builds and tails even more powerful than most serpentkind. They are typically the soldiers of their clans, brandishing savage weapons and suffocating their foes with ease.
Ability Score Increase. Your Strength score increases by 1.
Heavy-Set. Your tail is extremely bulky, making you a mighty foe to face. You have advantage on saving throws against falling prone. The damage die your your Prehensile Tail increases to 1d8, and you gain a bonus on all grapple checks made with your Prehensile Tail equal to half your proficiency bonus.
Warrior Blood. You gain proficiency in two martial weapons of your choice.
Gleamscale
Gleamscale are a collective subspecies of vibrantly-hued sultai. They tend to embrace their lavish hides, making them effective at diversions and enchantment. Their inscrutable, muddled bloodlines make them scarcely respected within their clans, but mostly in hopes of quashing a gleamscale's potential plans to upheave the clan's order and take power for themselves.
Ability Score Increase. Your Intelligence score increases by 1.
Colorful Talents. You gain proficiency in one of History, Nature, Performance, or Persuasion. You also gain proficiency in either one set or artisan's tools or one musical instrument of your choice.
Natural Allure. You learn the friends cantrip. At 3rd level, you can cast charm person once per long rest. At 5th level, you can cast enthrall once per long rest. You do not need material components for these spells, and Charisma is your casting ability for them.
Nagaborn
Some sultai are indeed the progeny of mysterious nagas. Their faces are more distinctly-reptillian than most sultai, and they are often held to different standards within sultai clans to reflect such mystical powers. Not all are welcome in sultai clans, however, and find refuge outside the safety of the heat.
Ability Score Increase. Your Wisdom score increases by 1.
Naga Ancestry. Choose either Guardian Ancestry or Spiritual Ancestry. You learn a selection of innate spells and an additional language based on the table below. You can cast the 1st and 2nd level spells only once per long rest. Wisdom is your casting ability for these spells.
| Ancestry | Language | Cantrip | 1st level | 2nd level |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Guardian | Celestial | Any cleric cantrip | command | calm emotions |
| Spiritual | Abyssal | Any wizard cantrip | detect magic | detect thoughts |
Viperian
Viperian sultai are slender and nimble creatures that carry dangerous venom in their bodies. They are the tactical masterminds of their clans, striking swift and unseen before their foes know what they're up against.
Ability Score Increase. Your Dexterity score increases by 1.
Bite. Your fangs are a natural weapon that can deliver poison to your enemies. Your bite can use either Strength or Dexterity to attack, and deals piercing damage equal to 1 + your Strength or Dexterity modifier, plus 1d8 poison damage. This poison damage increases to 2d8 if the target is surprised or incapacitated, or if at least one other enemy of the target is within 5 feet of it.
Natural Toxins. You gain resistance to poison damage and have advantage on Constitution saving throws against poison. You gain proficiency in poisoner's kits.
Sultai Names
Sultai tend to take abbreviated Draconic names, sometimes in similar fashion to dragons depending on their habitat. A clan living in a desert may pay homage to the sun or sands, while other names reflect a prodigious family history. Their clan names follow a similar trend, being Draconic translations of significant factors that led to their creation.
A sultai name consists of a surname followed by their clan name. When a sultai comes of age, a title is added between these two names, representing a defining element of that individual.
Sultai Names: Clethtin, Daarden, Delmir, Endrian, Fenkenka, Jandilin, Kabradon, Kerrhyl, Linxaka, Nemmon, Narixi, Sendalor, Shesten, Stalajiir, Thiallor, Verthisa
Sultai Titles: Bloodletter, Dreamtaker, Highreach, Shadowstride, The Careful, The Hunter/Huntress, The Weaver, The Roaring, Watchingeye
Clan Names: Arjhanbiri, Akrabalasar, Bharashdaar, Donamishann, Thavagesh, Heskensora, Harannalkriv, Faridemedrash, Mehenkava, Nadarr, Pandjedraiann, Jheripatrin, Surinahogar, Korinshamash, Havilahedinn, Tarhunuuadjit, Torinnperra
Feat: Chameleon Skin
Prerequisite: Sultai or Yuan-ti pureblood
You can shift the coloration of your skin and scales to perfectly blend in with the terrain around you. You can use an action to become effectively invisible, shifting your coloration to continue mirroring your surroundings as you move. This effect lasts until you take damage, hit with an attack, or cast a spell.
This talent may have other uses, depending on your DM's reception of other ideas. For example, a gleamscale sultai would likely be able to have their skin flare a great number of colors, emulating the effects of cause fear or hypnotic pattern.
Image Credits
- Inspired by Lamia - Player Race
- Magic The Gathering: Sultai Brood
- BlazeMalefica: Rattlesnake Cassiopeia
- Jordi Navarette: Miia
- Legend of the 5 Rings: Naga Crystal
- Chobaryu: Snake Guardian