| Mod | Save | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| STR | 17 | +3 | +3 |
| DEX | 14 | +2 | +2 |
| CON | 16 | +3 | +5 |
| Mod | Save | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| INT | 3 | −4 | −4 |
| WIS | 12 | +1 | +1 |
| CHA | 8 | −1 | −1 |
Ash Body. The ashcoil python’s body constantly sheds fine gray ash. It can move through a space as narrow as 6 inches wide without squeezing, leaving a faint cloud behind.
Ash Veil. While the ashcoil python is motionless, it is lightly obscured by drifting ash. Creatures have disadvantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight to detect it.
Smothering Coils. A creature grappled by the ashcoil python is also lightly obscured and has disadvantage on Constitution saving throws due to choking ash.
Multiattack. The ashcoil python makes one bite attack and one constrict attack, or two constrict attacks against a grappled creature.
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target.
Hit: 10 (2d6 + 3) piercing damage plus 3 (1d6) fire damage as hot ash burns the wound.
Constrict. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target.
Hit: 11 (2d8 + 3) bludgeoning damage, and the target is grappled (escape DC 13). Until this grapple ends, the target is restrained and takes 5 (1d10) fire damage at the start of each of its turns as ash seeps into lungs and armor.
Description
Ashcoil pythons resemble massive gray-black snakes whose scales look more like layered cinders than flesh. Cracks along their bodies glow faintly with ember-red heat, and every movement stirs drifting ash into the air.
Their eyes glow dimly like dying coals, and when they coil around prey, the ash thickens—filling mouths, eyes, and lungs with choking residue.
When still, they are nearly indistinguishable from collapsed beams, slag heaps, or burned ruins.
Lore
The Para-Elemental Plane of Ash lies between fire and air—a realm of endings rather than destruction. Ashcoil pythons are born where something once burned fiercely and was forgotten: volcanic ruins, razed cities, cremation pits, and battlefields steeped in elemental residue.
They are ambush predators, embodying suffocation, heat without flame, and death without spectacle. Unlike fire elementals, they do not rage—they wait.
Planar hunters value ashcoil pythons for guarding sites meant to remain abandoned.
Temperament (If Used as a Companion or Guardian)
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Quiet, patient, and territorial
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Prefers ruins, smoke, and dim light
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Reacts violently to cold or heavy wind
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Coils protectively around bonded creatures while resting
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Never vocalizes
An ashcoil python does not seek affection—but once bonded, it does not abandon its post.
Where a Party Might Encounter One
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Smoldering ruins or burned fortresses
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Ash-choked volcanic tunnels
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Old pyres or mass cremation sites touched by planar bleed
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Guarding relics meant to stay buried
In-World Saying
“Fire kills loudly.
Ash waits until you breathe.”
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