Where are the Snakemen?

[Sven]

Hi, there.

Where the heck are the snakemen???

They were only shortly mentioned in Conan and Scrolls of Skelos, and as far as I know there is not much new information in Road of Kings (I do not have it yet)

They are the only true non-human race mentioned by Howard in the Hyborian Age, and they lived mostly in the southern jungles.

I would like to see some stats, infos and some history (the Cobra Crown from Scrolls of Skelos is one of the most powerful and most important artefact from this ancient race)

I think they can be a very interesting and challenging enemy if you use them wisely (they still had some power over Stygia before Conan destroyed the last outpost in the southern kingdoms)

 

[Odovacar's Ghost]

Who knows, who cares! You want them so bad, make them yourself! Then submit it here so that others can bitch and moan. Then you can make the errata, which people will bitch and moan about that too. Oh, and make sure that the snakemen and snake women are fat, so people can complain that snake people are supposed to be skinny.

But, I'm sure Zombies!!!! could lay waste to your snakemen!

Note: None of this was an attack or affront towards you.

 

[Judge Walker]

Who knows, who cares! You want them so bad, make them yourself! Then submit it here so that others can bitch and moan. Then you can make the errata, which people will bitch and moan about that too. Oh, and make sure that the snakemen and snake women are fat, so people can complain that snake people are supposed to be skinny.

But, I'm sure Zombies!!!! could lay waste to your snakemen!

Note: None of this was an attack or affront towards you.

Jeesh, someone got up on the wrong side today.

 

[XcomSquaddie]

If you look a little further down the thread list, there is a thread called "serpent men". I think there were some other discussions as well, but you'll have to search for those ones. Below, I've quoted Prof. Dogg and Zamora Joe. To me that seems to be the best semi-official version.

For those interested in converting, the Cthulhu D20 stat are;
Medium_sized Humanoid
Hit Dice: 2d8+2 (11hp)
Initiative: +0
Speed: 30 ft., swim 15 ft.
Armor Class:15 (+5 natural)
Attacks: Bite +2 melee
Damage: Bite 1d4 + poison
Face/Reach: 5 ft. by 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Poison
Special Qualities: Darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision, spells
Saves:Fort +1, Ref +3, Will +2
Abilities: Str 10, Dex 10, Con 12, Int 17, Wis 14, Cha 13
Skills: Concentration +5, Cthulhu Mythos +2, Knowledge (occult) +5, Spellcraft +4
Feats: Weapon Focus (bite)
CR:1
Climate/Terrain: Any warm desert
Advancement: As character
Sanity Loss: 0/1d6

Their poison deals initial damage of 1d6 Con on a failed Fort Save (DC 13) with another save required one minute later, regardless of the first result, to avoid secondary damage of 2d6 Con.

I'm not sure what all those things mean, but there they are.

Lose the Cthulu Mythos skill & treat Knowledge (occult) as Know (arcana) & Spellcraft as Performance (ritual) recalculating with Cha instead of Int as the mod. Forget sanity loss as it's specific to CoC. Just use the normal Conan fear rules. Treat them as 2nd level Scholars for BPP, MAB, Sorcery Styles & known Advanced Spells. Change Inititative to +3. Raise their bite damage to 1d6 & treat it as a finessable attack. Give them DR 5 & a total Dodge DV of 10 + the Dodge bonus of a 2nd level Barbarian (sorry, don't have the chart in front of me). Viola! Instant Conan version of Monte Cook's CoC Serpent-people a la Lovecraft.

Hope that helps.

 

[XcomSquaddie]

One more thing. I believe Howard's King Kull swore to eliminate the entire race of serpent men and it is accepted that he pretty much did so. SO as far as "canon" is concerned, they're gone.

However, I haven't read the Kull stories, or any Howard/Serpent men stories, so I can't say for sure.

However, it is entirely feasible to have the race surviving to Hyborian times, in any numbers from individual wizards, hidden cities or an entire country in a distant jungle.

 

[Mythos]

It is mentioned in the Kull stories that he, Kull, did break the power of the serpent-men.
If you were yo introduce them into a Conan game, the ways to do so would be;

1, A small isolated group. Possibly located in the Black Kingdoms or somewhere in Khitai.
2, Using their ability to appear as a normal human, have a group trying to take over one of the kingdoms that is constantly going through civil wars.
3, A serpent-man mummy has been found in Stygia. Maybe it is attempting to gain control of the preist of Set and prepare the way for Set's return to human form.

 

[VincentDarlage]

Hi, there.

Where the heck are the snakemen???

They are the only true non-human race mentioned by Howard in the Hyborian Age, and they lived mostly in the southern jungles.

Destroyed by Kull, according to Howards' writing. The southern jungle snakemen of the Hyborian Age appeared only in short stories written by L. Sprague de Camp, comic book adaptations of those short stories and, of course, that dreadful Saturday morning cartoon, Conan the Adventurer.

The non-human race mentioned by Howard in regards to Stygia were the Giant-Kings, not serpent men.

 

[TheBruce]

Hi, there.

Where the heck are the snakemen???

Destroyed by Kull, according to Howards' writing.

It is possible that Kull did not destroy all of the Snakemen. If Kull and Conan lived in a time of Earth's past, it is possible the creatures in Howard's "The Little People" and "Worms of the Earth" are degenerate descendants of the Snakemen (I believe this is the theory in Call of Cthulhu).

Of course, these creatures could just be degenerated humans as well...