low level half-snake race?

[flamewolf393]

I want something that is specifically top half human, bottom half snake, no legs. Kinda like a merfolk, but for snakes instead of fish.

Looking for something low level without any weird powers.

[Krakard Vakurt]

Not sure what or why exactly your looking for, but the Yuan-Ti Malison can fit what your looking for (I think).

[Hazrond]

I want something that is specifically top half human, bottom half snake, no legs. Kinda like a merfolk, but for snakes instead of fish.

Looking for something low level without any weird powers.

What you describe is a naga, but im pretty sure most nagas in 3.5 have a rather large LA

[flamewolf393]

What you describe is a naga, but im pretty sure most nagas in 3.5 have a rather large LA

Nagas are just a huge snake with a human-esque head. No upper body or arms.

[Hazrond]

Nagas are just a huge snake with a human-esque head. No upper body or arms.

Maybe the nagas you know, but the nagas i know are essentially human torso on a large snake body

[Snowbluff]

Greensnake Naga. Oriental Adventures.

[flamewolf393]

Ah interesting. I had never seen the ones from oriental adventures. That should work.

The core monster manual nagas of d&d are just what I described. No upperbody, just the head.

[Curmudgeon]

Note that it's a bit of a pain to work with Oriental Adventures content. First you apply the 3.0 Errata file for the book, then all of the revisions to bring it up to 3.5 from Dragon # 318, then the basic 3.0->3.5 conversions (renamed skills, feats, spells, & c.). Greensnake Naga has some noticeable differences when you get done, starting with a changed type.

[Vorandril]

There's also anthropomorphic Constrictor snakes. The only issue really being that they have a +2 LA and 3 or 4 RHD.
The RHD you may be able to get your DM to wave off and ignore (Just make sure you also take away the BAB, skill points, and saves if you do) which just leaves the +2 LA.
For all the stats they get, and Constrict, it's pretty fair. They're some strong guys, and you can build one heck of a grapple-monkey out of them.

The Anthropomorphic template is in Savage Species.

(One day I made an anthropomorphic constrictor with the Winged and Insectoid templates. Rolled a monk. Was hilarious.)

[Andion Isurand]

The Extaminaar (Champions of Ruin, pg 11-14) might serve if you didn't mind them having legs... although it seems they could use one more feature to make them competitive.

[Psyren]

Pathfinder Merfolk is LA 0 and has the "strongtail" alternate racial - this gives them a snakelike tail to move around on land, giving them a land speed of 15 and swim of 30. It's still more fish than snake but you could copy-paste that racial over to a more snakelike race like the Nagaji.

[Lord Vukodlak]

I designed these for pathfinder

[Snowbluff]

Note that it's a bit of a pain to work with Oriental Adventures content. First you apply the 3.0 Errata file for the book, then all of the revisions to bring it up to 3.5 from Dragon # 318, then the basic 3.0->3.5 conversions (renamed skills, feats, spells, & c.). Greensnake Naga has some noticeable differences when you get done, starting with a changed type.

Curmudgeon, Dragon isn't assumed as canonical. After that, nothing in particular about the Greensnake naga is that different in 3.5. I guess Polymorph Self becomes Polymorph if you're a woman?

[bekeleven]

Curmudgeon, Dragon isn't assumed as canonical. After that, nothing in particular about the Greensnake naga is that different in 3.5. I guess Polymorph Self becomes Polymorph if you're a woman?

Actually, I think the dragon mag update may have been the official one. At the very least, it fixed a ton of really broken stuff. The most important being the greensnake naga, which is probably the best use of LA in 3.0. Also that flat-cost weapon enhancement that gives 50% miss chance.

Curmudgeon says they change type, which would make sense since no nagas are humanoid in 3.5, but I don't know where that rule would be.

[Cowardly Griffo]

Serpent Kingdoms also has the Replacement Tail graft. Your legs get replaced with a snake's tail, and it can be applied to any race. It costs 12,000, so I'm not sure if it helps you or not (if you just want low-LA, it might be fine, but it wouldn't be available at low ECL for obvious reasons). GM might throw you a bone and let you take it as a level adjustment or somesuch, the effects aren't really anything spectacular. There's actually a downside, since it reduces your base land speed.

And you wouldn't be a 'real' half-snake, so the default fluff might be off-putting, too. Anyway, just throwing it on the options pile.

[Snowbluff]

Actually, I think the dragon mag update may have been the official one.

That's an oxymoron, isn't it?

[Cowardly Griffo]

The local opinions (yes, opinions) on what constitutes 'canon' notwithstanding, I don't see why it would be. It's an official publication, it's more than allowed to contain official information.

[Urpriest]

Curmudgeon, Dragon isn't assumed as canonical. After that, nothing in particular about the Greensnake naga is that different in 3.5. I guess Polymorph Self becomes Polymorph if you're a woman?

Presumably not, since most such Polymorph abilities switched to Alternate Form.

[Curmudgeon]

Curmudgeon, Dragon isn't assumed as canonical.

Wizards of the Coast states otherwise. Every issue of Dragon had the official D&D logo on the front cover, and usually a tag like "100% OFFICIAL". Dragon # 318 is just as official as the Player's Handbook.

[Snowbluff]

Forgive me if you've forgotten, but Dragon isn't assumed to be used when giving advice. The "100% official" if you consider availability, the publisher, and how often the books are banned for a relative lack of balance. These materials are (erroneously) referred to as "second party" for a reason. Ergo, using them as a basis for anything without the OP specifying otherwise is not always prudent, regardless of what WotC claims.

As for polymorph, the point stands. It's already alternate form. We have a functioning alternative either way, so why bother?

[Urpriest]

Forgive me if you've forgotten, but Dragon isn't assumed to be used when giving advice. The "100% official" if you consider availability, the publisher, and how often the books are banned for a relative lack of balance. These materials are (erroneously) referred to as "second party" for a reason. Ergo, using them as a basis for anything without the OP specifying otherwise is not always prudent, regardless of what WotC claims.

As for polymorph, the point stands. It's already alternate form. We have a functioning alternative either way, so why bother?

It isn't already alternate form, unless you've got an update for it. You can do it by yourself or use the WotC version, but you're doing an update either way, and it's approximately the same amount of work.