FREQUENCY: Rare
NO. APPEARING: 2-5
ARMOR CLASS: 1
MOVE: 9”
HIT DICE: 12
% IN LAIR: 30%
TREASURE TYPE: P, R, V
NO. OF ATTACKS: 1
DAMAGE/ATTACK: 4-24 (bite)
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Otiluke’s
Freezing Sphere
SPECIAL DEFENSES: Immune
to Cold Attacks
MAGIC RESISTANCE: 25%
INTELLIGENCE: High
ALIGNMENT: Chaotic evil
SIZE: L (50’ long, 5’ diameter)
PSIONIC ABILITY: Nil
Attack/Defense Modes: Nil
LEVEL: IX
EXPERIENCE POINT VALUE:
6650 + 16/HP
The cryoserpent is a fearsome monster found only in arctic
climates, in areas where few other monsters will go due to the cold
and desolation. Their lairs are in ice caverns and glacial rifts, though
some (10%) may lair with ice worms (white-colored purple
worms
[see Monster Manual] that burrow in glacial ice). Ice worms and cryoserpents
generally avoid close contact with one another, however,
and if they lair together they may stay at opposite ends of a vast
multiple-entrance tunnel system.
Cryoserpents resemble immense, gloss-white vipers; the head takes
up one-tenth of the total body length. They have numerous razorsharp
teeth, each about two inches long, but no especially large fangs
such as poisonous snakes have. Their eyes are a silvery green color,
with vertical pupil slits similar to cats’ eyes. A cryoserpent’s scales
are
edged with gray, which progressively darkens and covers more scale
area as the cryoserpent ages. Very old and powerful specimens are
said to have a “salt and pepper” appearance as their overall appearance
becomes a dull speckled gray. The inside of a cryoserpent’s
mouth is dark gray, and its hollow tongue (discussed below) is dull
silver.
Cryoserpents live to be about 250 to 300 years of age, and are
nocturnal predators for the most part. During the times of the “midnight
sun,” when the sun does not completely set below the horizon in
the evenings, these monsters are very rarely encountered and prefer
not to venture out of their lairs or ice rifts. They accumulate treasure
by raiding the caverns of white dragons and frost giants, and polar
tribes of men and gnolls often relate tales of terrifying battles between
these monsters for domination of the nearly uninhabited wastelands
where they live. Cryoserpents speak only their own language, of
which little is known.
The spell-like powers of these monsters are unique. Those beings
with four hit dice or levels or below who are met with this creature’s
gaze (and fail their saving throws) are paralyzed; the range of this
gaze
is 9”. Gnolls and men know this power well and fear it more than the
cryoserpent’s other deadlier (but less often used) abilities. When
confronted by creatures other than frost giants who present considerable
danger to the cryoserpents, they will use one of the following special
powers (similar to the various forms of the Otiluke’s Freezing Sphere
spell):
1) If a cryoserpent extends its tongue and touches water with it,
it can freeze the surface solid to a depth of six inches over an area
of
12,000 square feet. This ice will last 12 rounds if the local temperature
is above the freezing point, and will last indefinitely if it is below
freezing. This power proves quite effective against small boats and ships
approaching a seaside lair or a lair on an iceberg. A cryoserpent will
not venture out over this ice sheet, as it is too heavy for the ice
to
support it and it cannot swim, but it can bring other powers into play
to
try to disable the crewmen.
2) The hollow tongue may fire a beam or Ray of cold, 120 feet
long and one foot wide, that will do 48 points of damage if the victim
fails a save vs. spell. If the save is made, the victim takes no damage
and is assumed to have dodged the ray. This power is used most commonly
against white dragons and remorhaz.
3) The tongue may launch a small ball of ice, 4” in diameter, out
to a range of 120 feet with great accuracy (+4 to hit). This ball will
explode when it strikes a target or the ground, doing 4-24 points
damage to all within a 1” radius (those saving vs. magic receive only
half damage).
A cryoserpent may use any combination of the above three attacks
as often as it desires, one power per melee round, up to a maximum
of six such uses per day. For example, a certain cryoserpent may fire
two Rays of cold, three ice balls, and freeze a watery surface once
in a
single day before it cannot use any further attacks of this sort. If
hard
pressed in close combat, cryoserpents prefer using the Ray of cold
up
to six times in a row. Thereafter they will bite.
Cryoserpents are not affected by any sort of cold or cold-based attack,
such as a white dragon’s breath or a Cone of cold. They take
extra damage against heat-based attacks, taking + 1 point damage
per hit dice of the spell’s power, and saving at -2 against such attacks.
A lair of cryoserpents is 5% likely to have 1-2 eggs within it, jealously
guarded by the inhabitants of the lair. The eggs resemble large,
smooth crystalline ovals, about two feet across the longest axis, and
are translucent. The embryo inside is a bright silver-white color,
barely
visible. The eggs are 90% likely to shatter if touched by a warm object
(such as human hands) and will do 2-8 points damage to beings
within a five-foot radius (no save). The eggs have little value because
of the difficulty of preservation, but the hide of an adult cryoserpent,
properly treated and enchanted, may be made into a suit of scale
armor, + 1, that makes the wearer resistant to cold (take 50%
damage from cold attacks, save at + 2)..
Created by Roger Moore
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