The Serpent

These warlocks make their pacts with the Mother of Serpents. Most warlocks who take this pact are female. The origin of these warlocks as serpentine assassins heavily influences their perception among others to this day; it’s rare to find another warlock who would trust a Pact of the Serpent warlock, because they’re known for being sly and ferocious.

All warlocks who take the Pact of the Serpent take some assassin training as part of their warlock pact. Their fondness for poison makes them efficient and dangerous assassins, and the few remaining warlocks who use the title Lady of Serpents often have work for newer warlocks in training.

Taking the Pact of the Serpent is a risk — since the Mother of Serpents is cut up and her pieces scattered and buried, the best way for an interested warlock to commune with her and make a pact is through poison. New warlocks must survive a bite from a venomous snake to take this pact, and while their body fights off the poison and they make their pact with the Mother of Serpents, they develop their resistance to poison and the ability to secrete venom to use as a weapon.

This pact grants the following benefits to the warlock.

Expanded Spell List

At first level, you gain poison spray and acid splash as cantrips.

These do not count against the number of warlock cantrips you know. Your pact with Mormo also lets you choose from an expanded list of spells when you choose a warlock spell.

The following spells are added to the warlock spell list for you.

Spell Level	Spells
1st	constrictor staff*, magic fang*
2nd	corrode metal, serpent’s stare*
3rd	hypnotic pattern, spiders’ potency*
4th	bite of the mamba*, blight
5th	cloudkill, serpent hands*

*see note three: new spells

Poison Resistance

Starting at 1st level, you gain poison resistance. When you reach 10th level, it becomes poison immunity.

Venomous Barb

Starting at 6th level, your warlock pact allows you to secrete venom from your nails which you can deliver with a scratch.

You may make an unarmed attack to scratch an opponent, and they take 2d4 poison damage in addition to the damage of the scratch. You can use this ability once per short or long rest, and you cannot poison yourself with your own nails.

Your poison becomes more potent as you study, and you add an additional 2d4 poison damage at levels 10 and 14.

Uncanny Dodge

Starting at 10th level, your assassin training allows you to use your reaction to halve an attack’s damage against you when an attacker that you can see hits you. In addition, you gain an intuitive sense warning you of nearby traps, granting you a +2 bonus to Dexterity checks made to avoid traps.

Ophidian Spirit

Starting at 14th level, as an action, you may use your pact with the Mother of Serpents to assume ophidian traits for different benefits. The trait lasts for one hour per warlock level, and you may use this ability once per short or long rest.

Trait	Ability
Forked Tongue	Treat all weapons as envenomed; they deal an additional 2d4 poison damage
Scaled Skin	+3 to AC
Serpentine Agility	+2 to all Dexterity checks