D&D 5E Yuan-Ti player race - how would you build one?

So one of my characters decided to try out a cursed circlet and it is now slowly turning him from a half-elf to a yuan-ti. So the question is, what would a yuan-ti player race look like?

I've got a few ideas (+2 Cha, +1 Str, poison resistance, speak to snakes, poison bite) but there are a couple of other factors I'd like some inspiration for.

For starters, there are three different flavours of yuan-ti (pureblood, malison and abomination). The player will be turning into a malison (with the snake arms!), so there's that. Secondly, all the yuan-ti in the MM have magic resistance. This is a great power and not something I want to hand out. Maybe a 1/day advantage on a save?

The real risk in creating races is that it's so easy to make them overpowered. Look at p. 282 of the DMG, and the "monster races" there -- none of them measure up to what the PC races have, and that's a good thing. To be fair to the other players, though, you need not try to replicate the MM stats, but use the MM stats to inspire something balanced with other PC races.

If I were making a Yuan-ti race, it would be Pureblood only. Given that what we see in the MM has 9d8 hit points. I'd suggest:

+2 Charisma
60' darkvision
Language: Abyssal, common.
Innate Spellcasting:
* speak with animals cantrip (snakes only)
* at 3rd level: poison spray cantrip
* at 5th level: suggestion

All that seems fairly straightforward, and just by itself makes a pretty powerful race.

Then there are the things you might want to add to more closely match the MM description:
* poison immunity: this is more powerful than Dwarven resistance.
* magic resistance
* +1 Intelligence

Let's start with the +1 Int -- it's implied by the stat descriptions, and would perhaps be worth including in exchange for the 3/day uses on poison spray and suggestion (which also then more closely matches the MM description; the limit is a bigger hit to PCs than monsters).

Poison immunity and magic resistance are both big things, and are (I'd suggest) why the Pureblood isn't listed on p. 282. But we don't need to let that stop us. I'd suggest giving the player a version of Dwarven Resistance, and allow it to be upgraded with a feat:

That would then give:

Yuan-Ti Pureblood.
+2 Charisma, +1 Int
60' darkvision
Yuan-ti resistance [=dwarven resistance]
Language: Abyssal, common.
Innate Spellcasting:
* speak with animals cantrip (snakes only)
* at 3rd level: poison spray cantrip (3/day)
* at 5th level: suggestion (3/day)

for starting characters, and then a new feat (which is only available at level 4 at the earliest):

Pureblood [feat]
You have developed innate abilities of your race.
* your dwarven resistance is upgraded to damage immunity: poison.
* you have the condition immunity: poison.
* you have magic resistance: advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.


Now, I know you said Malison and not Pureblood -- that involves natural shapeshifting, etc. Is it the appearance that the player wants (i.e. to look like the dude on MM p. 309?). If so, the above would still work -- appearance is independent. If it's the shapeshifting and multiple forms, then you're going way beyond the abilities of other PC races, IMO

EDIT p.s. welcome to the boards!

Kobold Stew said:

Poison immunity and magic resistance are both big things, and are (I'd suggest) why the Pureblood isn't listed on p. 282. But we don't need to let that stop us. I'd suggest giving the player a version of Dwarven Resistance, and allow it to be upgraded with a feat.

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I get why you'd take the angle of upgrading the racial via a feat, but personally I'm not a fan: having a feat that applies only to members of a certain race seems like a contradiction to the way feats have been set up this edition (where they provide large, but general boosts). As well, having +2 to one ability score and +1 to another seems like a lot for a race that has enormous natural defenses to magic. Perhaps take away the spellcasting and make it unlocked as they level up, like so:

Yuan-Ti Pureblood

+2 Cha
Darkvision 60
Language: Abyssal, Common
Snake Tongue: You can communicate simple ideas and requests to snakes. (Similarly to the bullywug talking to frogs)
Damage immunity: Poison
Condition immunity: poisoned
Magic Resistance: At 5th level, you have advantage on saving throws against magical effects that target only you. Once you reach 17th level, this feature applies to all magical effects.

This way it retains the magic resistance and ability to talk to snakes, without breaking it with the magic resistance (until the top tier of play, when you get things like foresight and holy aura that give you advantage on all saves anyway). Maybe the resistance to magic should reduce the effect of magical healing on you as well?

Check out the conversions Remathlis has done for other NPC races at

http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?361168-D-amp-D-Conversion-Races

I'm glad to see anyone working at converting the Yuan-ti to PC status.

I generally start with the traits from a PC race and fill those in from the monster manual entry. This is how I did our half-gnoll paladin in our campaign. With its shapechangehe malison is overpowered as races go. I would suggest using an intersection (what both have) between the Pureblood and Malison and calling it a Malison Type 1.

Ability Score Increase. Cha +2, Str +1
Alignment. Most are neutral evil
Size. Medium
Speed. 30 feet
Darkvision. 60 feet
Poison Affinity. You have immunity to poison and cannot be poisoned.
Yuan-ti Legacy. You can cast animal friendship as a first level spell once per day. Once you reach 3rd level, you can cast the suggestion spell once per day as a 2nd-level spell. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for these spells.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Abyssal, Common, and Draconic.
Bite. You can bite your enemies. Strength is your ability for your bite attack, and the attack die is a d4.

This is only slightly more powerful than a Tiefling. It has immunity to poison and the poisoned condition, but poison pops up a lot less than fire. It also gets 1 more language. It sacrifices a cantrip compared to the Tiefling. All in all, I think this would work without ruffling any feathers by it being "too good."

This may not be strong enough for what your looking for, but this is a conversion based on a home-brewed model I did earlier.

Yuan-Ti:
Ability Score Increase: Dex. +2, Cha. or Int. +1
Alignment: Most are neutral evil
Size: Medium
Speed: 30 feet
Darkvision: 60 feet
Advantage: on poison saves
Resistance: to poisons
Serpent Empathy: all natural serpents have a starting attitude of friendly towards Yuan-Ti. They will not attack a Yuan-ti unless attacked first. This ability does not, however, allow Yuan-Ti to communicate with, or control, any serpent.
Bonus Skill: Nature
Languages: Common, and Draconic.

There are some great home brews here will certainly be doing some trialing

I love the idea of making them a malison (or a halfbreed as they were called in 2nd Ed.). I love the 2nd Ed. picture with the snake head and torso but arms.

How does the player feel about turning into a yuan-ti? It might be worth an out of character talk to figure out how far they're willing to go. If putting on the cursed circlet was a lark and having snakes for arms would spoil their interest in the character, you might want to gradually make minor or cosmetic changes and have a side quest to return them to normal. If they're totally on board for turning into a yuan-ti, go all out.

Knowing what they prefer ahead of time can save you time and effort. And knowing their preference doesn't mean you have to give them everything they want immediately. You can still make them earn their preferred outcome and tell an interesting, non-railroaded story, even if it everyone knows the intended conclusion.

I'll be playing one in the new Storm King campaign.
A Yaunti Necromancer FTW

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Balfore said:

I'll be playing one in the new Storm King campaign.
A Yaunti Necromancer FTW

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A Yaunti Thread Necromancer?

Hmm.. I've been tempted by a Yanti as well.. thinking Bard, College of Whispers tho Glamour may actually be even more subversive hmm