Hunting Serpent (Ninja Archetype)
Another archetype from Villain Codex and one of the rare ninja archetypes to boot, today we’re looking at the Hunting Serpent!
In context with the organization it is associated with, hunting serpents are the ninja servants of Fang Monastary, a monastic and ascetic order that reveres the ancient serpentfolk cultures of the past, viewing their past mastery of the world as an ideal to be achieved. These ascetics seek to reforge themselves into perfect beings to better serve their own ambitions, so that they can reforge a similar empire with all the strengths of the serpentfolk, but none of the weaknesses that lead to their downfall.
Hunting Serpents in particular serve as enforcers for this group, specifically in hunting down those who have glimpsed their true goals or have stolen serpentfolk artifacts from their holdings. However, they can also serve a similar role in most any sort of organization you wish to put them in, for their speciality is less serpent-themed and more focused on hunting down their prey.
Pursuit is the bread and butter of these ninja, and they train to follow the trail of their prey in both society and in the wilds.
Once they’ve found their prey, their deadly strikes prove more than just exceptionally lethal, using secret techniques to mark their foe for death, making them easier to harm and track.
Furthermore, this mark also seems to guide the weapons of the ninja, allowing them to strike at the vitals of foes regardless of whether they are able to defend themselves.
If you’re interested in a ninja with a focus on their quarry, or in running one against your players, this is a great way to do it. Their ability to mark foes with bonuses to attack and damage makes them slightly better once a stand-up fight begins after the initial sneak attack. Especially since they can apply their sneak attack regardless of conditions on a single attack every round after applying the mark at later levels. As such, there is less necessity on specializing in feinting, freeing them up for other builds.
I imagine that these ninja in particular are devoted to carrying out their contracts to the end out of a sense of honor, or carrying out their orders in devotion to the cause. This also makes them even more resistant to information extraction than most other ninja as well.
The party has been followed by a cloaked stranger ever since they looted the tombs of the stag lords. With this stranger has come misfortune that is too perfect to be coincidence, as if they are being harried and driven to a specific point. This becomes all the more true when they finally confront their shadow, in front of a dire wolverine den.
Some of the most powerful kitsune mystics are considered demigods by their own kind and even the locals. However, even they have a need for more subtle hands at times, and often train less magically inclined kin to be silent hunters of those who have personally insulted them and try to slip away.
To the public, the Fang Monastery is a benevolent ascetic group focusing on snake style martial arts and is well-known for its acts of philanthropy. However, even the most well-meaning initiates are soon corrupted to wickedness and power-lust by the First Fang and other instructors. Those that do realize the evil of the monastery before turning to evil are the least of those the Hunting Serpents bring down.
