Shapechanger. Zul'kah can use his action to polymorph into a Huge giant poisonous snake, a yuan-ti, or back into his true form. Its statistics are the same in each form. Any equipment it is wearing or carrying isn't transformed.
Legendary Resistance (3/Day). If Zul'kah fails a saving throw, he can choose to succeed instead.
Magic Weapons. Zul'kah weapon attacks are magical.
Magic Resistance. Zul'kah has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.
Ophidiophobia Aura. Any creature of Zul'kah’s choice other than a snake, marilith, or a yuan-ti, that starts its turn within 30 feet of the Akass and can see or hear him must succeed on a DC 23 Wisdom saving throw or become frightened of snakes, mariliths and yuan-ti. A frightened target can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success. If a target’s saving throw is successful or the effect ends for it, the target is immune to this aura for the next 24 hours.
Six Heads. Zul'kah has advantage on Wisdom (perception) checks and on saving throws against being blinded, deafened, stunned, or knocked unconscious.
Multiattack (Zul'kah Form Only). Zul'kah makes two claw attacks, one constrict attack, and one Flurry of Bites attack.
Flurry of Bites. Melee Weapon Attack: +14 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 27 (6d6 + 6) piercing damage. It must succeed on a DC 22 Constitution saving throw or be poisoned for 1 minute. While poisoned in this way, the target can't regain hit points, and it takes 19 (3d12) acid damage at the start of each of its turns. The target can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success.
Constrict. Melee Weapon Attack: +10 to hit, reach 10 ft., one creature. Hit: 18 (4d6 + 4) bludgeoning damage, and the target is grappled (escape DC 18). Until this grapple ends, the creature is restrained, and the Zul'kah can't constrict another target.
Claw (Zul'kah Form Only). Melee Weapon Attack: +14 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 19 (3d8 + 6) slashing damage plus 9 (2d8) acid damage.
Rattle. Zul'kah rattles the cluster of hooked barbs on his tail. Each creature within 60 feet of the Zul'kah that can hear him must succeed on a DC 20 Wisdom saving throw or be stunned for 1 minute. A creature can repeat the saving throw each time it takes damage and at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success. Once a creature successfully saves against this effect, or if this effect ends for it, that creature is immune to the Zul'kah's rattle for the next 8 hours. Yuan-ti and Snakes are immune to this effect.
Innate Spellcasting. Zul'kah's spellcasting ability is Charisma (spell save DC 23, +14 to hit with spell attacks). He can innately cast the following spells, requiring no material components:
At will: detect magic, dispel Magic, entangle, animal friendship (snakes only)
3/day each: counterspell, polymorph, haste, mislead, cloudkill, suggestion, fear
1/day each: Teleport, dominate monster
Zul'kah can take 3 legendary actions, choosing from the options below. Only one legendary action option can be used at a time and only at the end of another creature's turn. Zul'kah regains spent legendary actions at the start of his turn.
Move. Zul'kah moves up to half his speed.
Tail Attack. Melee Weapon Attack: +14 to hit, reach 15 ft., one target. Hit: 17 (2d10 + 6) bludgeoning damage plus 11 (2d10) acid damage.
Conjure Snakes (Costs 3 Actions). Zul'kah disgorges a swarm of poisonous snakes, which occupies the same space as Zul'kah, acts on its own initiative count, and attacks as directed by Zul'kah. Zul'kah can control up to six of these swarms at a time.
Description
The Prince of Serpents. In his true form, he is a 40 ft (12.2 m) monstrous serpentine figure covered in tight sinewy muscles. The demon lord possessed supernatural strength unbefitting to his lanky build having wickedly clawed arms sitting on a serpentine torso with a scaled digitigrade lower body and a long serpentine tail with a small clustered pair of green barbs near the tip that he can rattle in a manner similar to rattlesnakes.
Where the demon lord's head would be, sprout six different snake heads each said to have a name and personality of its own. Although the eyes of the heads were sometimes completely black, they also could glow a menacing shade of emerald green. Akass's skin is covered in deep olive-brown scales with black bands and cross bands over his base color giving off a slight iridescent sheen. However, Akass could change his coloration to that of any snake to better blend in with his surroundings at will.
Pragmatic Evil. Unlike most demons and demon lords that strive for destruction and entropy, Zul'kah is atypically pragmatic for a demon lord, Even going as far as to ally himself with mortals, yugoloths, and other demon lords to further his ambitious goals. One of his known allies is Shaktari the Queen of mariliths which he shares a tenuous partnership, the reason for it being so tenuous is a closely guarded secret by the prince.
Behind the niceties and flattery lays a duplicitous and calculating mind that is solely focused on furthering his own goals by any means necessary. Although he prefers charm and subtle manipulation, Zul'kah is capable of terrible violence when provoked.
Infernal Conquest. The Prince of Serpents was a relatively unknown demon lord, only whispered of within the fringes yuan-ti society. Sages of the planes hypothesize that he was once a Balor of Fraz-Urb'luu before the demon lord fell from power, the Balor not soon after became an adherent of Sseth that had defected once the god was captured by zehir. Not long after that balor then betrayed zehir and took along with him a sizeable chunk of the god's demonic army to go conquer an abyssal layer of his own.
One of his most impressive exploits is how he managed to lure an exiled archdevil into his abyssal layer and beset him with swarms of demons and other monsters until he was weak enough for him to attack the exiled archdevil. By defeating him, he ripped his influence over snakes and poison from him. This imbued the balor with the archdevil's power and increased his status to a demon lord. After his decisive victory, he then set his venomous gaze on the Yuan-ti of the material planes and wishes to achieve godhood to become the chief deity of the Yuan-ti.
Cult Of Zul'kah. All the followers of the viridescent deceiver are elusive, manipulative, cannibalistic, unpredictable, and willing to kill comrades and rivals alike if doing so pleases their dark lord. The worshipers of the prince of serpents have their hands in many schemes, often plying the middle ground between two factions, and thus spend a lot of energy making sure neither of their allies learns of their conflicting connections.
Cults that bound themselves to the worship of the Prince Of Serpents and imitated his ways indulge in ritualistic cannibalism and humanoid sacrifice to become like their Dark Patron in form, as well as in thought and emotion. Those chosen by their dark lord are known as sibilant devourers, these individuals undergo a gruesome and physically taxing ritual that has the said individual mutated into having a second fully functioning head that the demon lord is rumored to use as a way to peer into the prime material and relay information to his most loyal servants.
Lair and Lair Actions
Zul'kah's Lair
Zul'kah's principal lair is a ziggurat of immense size and grandiose structure within his Abyssal domain of Thozhoaziall (The Sibilant Jungle) which he had taken from an unknown lesser demon lord. His layer of the abyss is a humid, sprawling, vegetation-chocked rainforest filled with an abundance of fiendish flora and fauna. Below the monolithic structure lies the city of Zorai. Cutting through the city is a river fed by the River Styx, Zorai is a bustling merchant city, its streets often filled with booths and stalls stocked with magical items and extraplanar oddities as well as slaves. The ziggurat is made of jade and obsidian. The city contains Yuan-ti, snakes, medusi, demons (primarily mariliths), as well as cultists and extraplanar slaves as well as any other creature bold enough to sell their wares in the domain.
Lair Actions
On initiative count 20 (losing initiative ties), Zul'kah takes a lair action to cause one of the following effects; Zul'kah can’t use the same effect two rounds in a row:
- Zul'kah chooses a room within the ziggurat and casts hallucinatory terrain on it, affecting no larger than a dimension of a 150-foot cube and any hostile creature in the room must succeed a DC 22 Intelligence (Investigation) check to disbelieve it. The effect ends on the next initiative count 20.
- A pillar of pulsating infernal flesh, snake scales, and bone covered in various limbs, eyes, and wailing mouths erupts from a point on the ground the Zul'kah can see within 120 feet of it, creating a 20-foot-high, 10-foot-radius pillar. Each creature in the pillar’s area must make a DC 17 Wisdom saving throw or be affected by the antipathy/sympathy spell and lasts until it is destroyed or dismissed by Zul'kah. Any spell cast by Akass that requires concentration can instead be given to a pillar of flesh to concentrate on for the spell's duration. The pillar has an AC of 16 and 50 HitPoints if a pillar is destroyed the pillar then begins to rapidly decompose.
The region containing Zul'kah and-or his lair is warped by his magic, which creates one or more of the following effects:
- The area within 5 miles of Zul'kah becomes overpopulated with venomous snakes and other serpentine creatures.
- A blood-red fruit grows from random plants within a 1-mile radius. Any creature that sees the fruit must Succeed on a DC 17 Wisdom saving throw or be compelled to eat the fruit once any part of the fruit is consumed the creature is then under the effects of the geas cast by Zul'kah. If a target’s saving throw is successful or the effect ends for it, the target is immune to this aura for the next 24 hours.
- If a humanoid spends at least 1 hour within 1 mile of the lair, that creature must succeed on a DC 23 Wisdom saving throw or descend into a madness determined by the Madness of Zul'kah table. A creature that succeeds on this saving throw can't be affected by this regional effect again for 24 hours.
If Zul'kah dies, these effects fade over the course of 1d10 days.
Madness of Zul'kah
If a creature goes mad in Zul'kah's lair or within line of sight of the demon lord, roll 1d100 on the Madness of Zul'kah table to determine the nature of the madness, which is a character flaw that lasts until cured. See the Dungeon Master's Guide for more on madness.
Madness of Zul'kah
|
D100 |
FLAW (LASTS UNTIL CURED) |
|---|---|
| 01–20 | "This place is death! This is hopeless, we have no chance against him. We're going to die here! We're going to die! I don't want to die here!" |
| 21–40 | "I am terrified of snakes and other serpentine creatures." |
| 41–60 | "I reject the concepts of good and evil. I kill when it is expedient and do whatever it takes to survive and achieve my goals." |
| 61–80 | "No one can ever know my true intentions, they'll try and stop me or ruin my plans" |
| 81–90 | "All other creatures are beneath me, they are nothing but tools to further my machinations" |
| 91–00 | "I'm so hungry. I need to eat! Why are my companions hoarding all of the rations? They want me to starve, I know it." |
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