Storm snake

Storm snake

(Creature)

Common

Medium

Beast

Dragon

Electricity

Level

5

Source: Howl of the Wild, pg(s). 185

Storm snakes are reclusive snake-like beasts distantly related to dragons. They appear in the wild only during the intense storms that carry their electricity-harnessing bodies through the air in crackling halos of light.

Appearance

Storm snakes resemble spined serpents with metallic scales. While related to dragons, they have underdeveloped limbs and lack wings.

Abilities

Storm snakes are carried through the air on currents of wind during storms or periods of powerful gales. They stay aloft by expanding and contracting their scales to capture static electricity from those currents, which encases them in a halo of white- or blue-hued electricity.

Creatures that make physical contact with a charged storm snake suffer a harmful static shock, and storm snakes use their cutting metallic tail as a weapon capable of shocking foes. A storm snake can also absorb most of the electricity from being struck by lightning and redirect it toward foes in a dazzling shock.

Storm snakes can also rapidly concentrate static electricity from an area and emit it in a form that harms all creatures except plants, which instead immediately begin to regenerate or grow at a rapid rate. Few farmers have managed to harness this ability for agricultural purposes as the results do not adversely change edible plants' flavor or nutrition. Most who attempt to do so fail, though centaurs in stormy areas have managed to exchange greens with the snakes for them to divert lightning from their crops.

Ecology and habitat

Until research identified their true nature, storm snakes were a frequent subject of various cultures' folklore. They were long believed to be agents of storm deities, omens of oncoming disaster, composed of mist or water vapor, or have survived by consuming electricity.

In truth, storm snakes are herbivorous relatives of dragons and raised in mountaintop broods. They prefer eating grasses, tree leaves, and other plants, and their flight during storms and absorption of lightning suggest a symbiotic relationship that protects and encourages the growth of the plants they eat.

On Golarion

The scales of a storm snake are used to line the barrel and stock of fulmination fang gun swords to capture and infuse the gun with electricity and to partially protect the user from electric shocks.