danielhkwan
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Preview: Bashe
🕑 Added 2020-07-22 00:41:09 +0000 UTCI'm currently working on volume two of Denizens of Mountains & Seas! In this volume, I'm going to try to include more educational content on the depiction of the natural world in classical Chinese literature, but also the role of these creatures in broader Chinese culture!
So here's a sample of the bashe, a GIGANTIC snake! I'm going to be reworking it's stats and abilities as I continue doing research. I'm taking next week off work, so I'm excited for an opportunity to ONLY write!
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A bashe (or ba-snake) are massive green, yellow, black, or red serpents said to grow up to 600 feet long. Some are known to display different combinations of these four colours. Ba-snakes are known to swallow elephants whole, taking three long years to digest their meal before expelling the bones through their scales.
Hou Yi, the god of archery from Chinese mythology and husband of the lunar goddess Chang’e, was said to have killed a bashe. He buried its corpse under a large hill, where a temple was later built for people to worship its spirit.
In-game: The raw flesh of these serpents and the elephant bones they digest can be used as powerful catalysts for healing medicines. The skin of a bashe will protect the wearer against effects targeting the heart and lungs. If fashioned into a suit of leather armour, the item grants the wearer with immunity to bleeding effects and the ability to survive without air.
Descriptors: serpent, greedy, insatiable, powerful, constrictor
Frequency: legendary
Size: gargantuan
No. Enc.: 1
Movement: 20 ft.
Armour Class: 20
Resistances:
HD/HP: 15/70
Attacks: 1 (bite)
To Hit: +12
Damage: 3d12
Special Attacks: swallow whole, trample
Morale: 10
Treasure Type: G (gut contents)
Swallow whole. When a bashe rolls a natural 20 on a bite attack, it may swallow a creature of size huge or smaller. When inside the bashe, suffer 1d10 bludgeoning damage per round (until the creature dies). Target may attack with bladed weapons at a -5 penalty.
Trample. Due to its massive size, there is a chance 50% chance that a bashe might trample nearby creatures when attacking with its bite. +5 to hit (2d8 damage).
*Tales of creatures like the ba-snake were likely the result of exaggerated encounters with Burmese pythons (Python bivittatus) in Southern China and Southeast Asian. These snakes are known to eat a variety of prey, from birds and vermin to alligators and deer!
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Comments
Daniel Kwan
More like, the appearance of snakes in mythology and perceptions of them in modern culture/belief
Tony Eng
When you say the effect on the broader culture, do you mean like how they appear in idioms and stuff?
