Venom Thrall

[Tinalles]

I'm working up an adventure set in Serpent Age Golarion, and I needed a way for serpentfolk to make some of their human slaves into more loyal servants. So I came up with the following template.

Feedback, please? I've never made a template before, and I'm not sure if it's 1) too powerful for the listed CR, or 2) too weak for the listed CR.

Venom Thrall:

Venom Thrall

Venom thralls are the most favored slaves of the serpentfolk, slowly addicted over a period of months to the venom of their master. The minute quantities of poison injected in the initial bites cause searing pain in the unfortunate slave -- but in time, the touch of their master's fangs comes to send the venom thrall into an intense euphoria that they would do anything to experience again. Any slave who survives the process develops a few of the serpentfolk's defensive traits, and an unswerving loyalty to their master.

Venom thralls commonly fill sensitive positions in their master's household, such as personal bodyguard or hatchery warden. They may also be found conducting espionage on rival serpentfolk lineages, overseeing lesser slaves, or capturing fresh stock from primitive human tribes. Venom thralls receive the best food, the most comfortable quarters, and the choicest mates from among the lesser slaves -- sufficient inducement that many slaves volunteer for the agonizing process of envenomation.

Creating a Venom Thrall

"Venom Thrall" is an acquired template that can be added to any humanoid creature (hereafter referred to as the base creature). Most venom thralls are humans or halflings. The longevity of elves leads serpentfolk to prize them for venom thralls, but they often die in the process. More exotic venom thralls are known, but rare.

CR: Same as base creature +1.

AL: A venom thrall's alignment changes to lawful evil at the conclusion of envenomation. A venom thrall will obey their master's instructions without question.

Type: A venom thrall gains the subtype (augmented).

Armor Class: A venom thrall gains a +2 bonus to natural armor. Some exceptionally old venom thralls actually grow scales, increasing this bonus to +4.

Defensive abilities: A venom thrall gains spell resistance equal to 5 + the base creature's hit dice. A venom thrall also gains immunity to paralysis and poison (except serpentfolk poison).

Special Abilities: A venom thrall may communicate telepathically with their master when within 100 feet.

Weaknesses: A venom thrall must receive a dose of their master's venom at least once every four weeks. Serpentfolk venom is highly individual; the venom thrall cannot switch allegiance to a new master, for only the original is capable of supplying the dark nectar they crave.

If the venom thrall goes longer than four weeks without a dose, they go into withdrawal. During withdrawal, the venom thrall must make a fortitude save once every 24 hours. The DC for this save starts at 6 and increases by 1 each day. On a failed save, the venom thrall suffers 1 point of Constitution damage. Reaching 0 Constitution kills the venom thrall. Receiving a dose of venom from their master stops this process, and any lost Constitution is restored after 8 hours' rest.

A venom thrall who survives 30 consecutive withdrawal fortitude saves has beaten the addiction. Such an individual retains the bonus to natural armor, but loses all other benefits (and drawbacks) of the venom thrall template.

[Kazarath]

I think its good. Generally anything serpentfolk related is great in my book.

[Thomas LeBlanc]

Check out the half-celestial template for a base. The CR adjustment could change as the creature increases in HD. You could create a HD/abilites chart to show when the creature gets the +4 natural armor bonus.

Overall, well thought out. But a half-celestial gets more for their +1 CR. The weakness is especially nifty and could make a great way to begin a campaign with the party seperated from their master.

My thoughts:
1) Why not gain the subtype (reptilian)?

2) Start the natural armor bonus at +1 and increase with base creature HD. (developing scale)

3) Grant a +2 bonus to Escape Artist that increases with HD. (becoming more flexible)

4) Could gain darkvision 30' at current CR adjustment and could improve distance with HD.

5) Telepathy could work with any serpentfolk or venom thrall.

6) Granting a +1 bonus to mind-affecting effects would not be too bad either. Could increase with HD like the natural armor bonus.

[Tinalles]

Adding darkvision would be a good idea as-is -- considering Serpentfolk live underground a lot of the time, it would make a venom thrall a lot more useful to them.

I also like the idea of the venom benefits getting better with increased HD. I'll put a bit more thought into it and come up with a revision.

[Tacticslion]

One more possible suggestion is a minor lowlight vision (half again as far as a human) that upgrades into darkvision. But I'm not sure if you want to do something like that, as there's not really a solid precedent.

Very nice concept, though!