Serpent-Holder
A Serpent-Holder crafts the Rod of Asclepius, a staff wound with a serpent construct. They use it to deliver their spells, tend to wounded allies, and answer their enemies with venom.
Tools of the Trade (Level 3)
You gain the following benefits.
Tool Proficiency. You gain proficiency with the Herbalism Kit. If you already have this proficiency, you gain proficiency with one other type of Artisan's Tools of your choice.
Potion Crafting. When you craft a Potion of Healing or an antitoxin, the amount of time required to craft it is halved.
Serpent-Holder Spells (Level 3)
When you reach an Artificer level specified in the Serpent-Holder Spells table, you thereafter always have the listed spells prepared.
| Artificer Level | Spells |
|---|---|
| 3 | Detect Poison and Disease, Inflict Wounds |
| 5 | Lesser Restoration, Protection from Poison |
| 9 | Mass Healing Word, Revivify |
| 13 | Aura of Life, Death Ward |
| 17 | Greater Restoration, Raise Dead |
Asclepian Serpent (Level 3)
Your craft has yielded a staff, the Rod of Asclepius, coiled with an Asclepian Serpent. The rod is a Spellcasting Focus for your Artificer spells, and you determine both its and the serpent's appearance.
Rod of Asclepius. The rod may take the form of a Quarterstaff, Spear, or a weapon that has the Heavy and Reach properties. When you create a new serpent at the end of a Long Rest, you can bond with one of these weapons you are holding to make it your Rod of Asclepius; if you don't, a plain Quarterstaff is crafted and bonded instead. If the bonded weapon is a magic weapon, it retains all of its magical properties. Your bond with the rod ends when you form a new bond or when you die. A crafted rod disappears when the bond ends.
As a Bonus Action, you can release the serpent from the rod into an unoccupied space within 5 feet of you, or you can recall it to the rod from any distance. While released, the serpent uses the Asclepian Serpent stat block.
The serpent is Friendly to you and your allies and obeys you. It vanishes if you die.
The Serpent in Combat. In combat, the serpent acts during your turn. It can move and take its Reaction on its own, but the only action it takes is the Dodge action unless you take a Bonus Action to command it to take an action. If you have the Incapacitated condition, the serpent acts on its own and isn't limited to the Dodge action.
Restoring or Replacing the Serpent. If the serpent has died within the last hour, you can take a Magic action to touch it and expend a spell slot. The serpent returns to life after 1 minute with all its Hit Points restored.
Whenever you finish a Long Rest, you can create a new serpent if you have a Herbalism Kit in hand. If you already have a serpent from this feature, the first one vanishes.
Asclepian Serpent
Small Construct
- Armor Class 13 + your Proficiency Bonus
- Hit Points five times your Artificer level
- Speed 30 ft., Climb 30 ft.
STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA 10 (+0) 16 (+3) 14 (+2) 4 (-3) 12 (+1) 6 (-2)
- Immunities Poison; Charmed, Exhaustion, Poisoned
- Senses Blindsight 10 ft., Passive Perception 11 + PB
- Languages understands the languages you know
- Challenge None (PB equals your Proficiency Bonus)
Courier. When you cast an Artificer spell with a range of Touch, the serpent can deliver the spell. The serpent must be within 100 feet of you and must take its Reaction to deliver the touch when you cast the spell.
Scaly Bond. Add your Proficiency Bonus to any ability check or saving throw the serpent makes.
Actions
Physician's Strike. Melee Attack Roll: your spell attack modifier, reach 5 ft. Hit: 1d4 + your Intelligence modifier Poison damage.
Soothing Touch. The serpent touches a willing creature within 5 feet of it. The target regains Hit Points equal to 1d4 + your Intelligence modifier. The serpent can use Soothing Touch a number of times equal to your Intelligence modifier (minimum of once), and it regains all expended uses when you finish a Long Rest.
Design Note
The Asclepian Serpent is modeled after the Battle Smith's Steel Defender, with a few key changes. It starts out as Small so you can't start using it as a mount at level 3, is a little less durable, but most importantly it gets the Courier trait, which lets it act similar to Find Familiar and deliver Touch spells without compromising your own positioning.
Additionally it adds a little bit of healing to the Serpent-Holder's toolkit via Soothing Touch, to not have output too far behind full casters.
Serpent Modifications (Level 3)
You know three Serpent Modifications of your choice from the list at the end of this subclass. Modifications come in three categories — Fangs, Tails, and Scales — and each installs a distinct effect on your Asclepian Serpent.
You can install two Modifications on the serpent at a time, and you can't install the same Modification twice. When you finish a Short Rest or Long Rest, you can replace any installed Modifications with others you know.
When you reach certain Artificer levels, you learn additional Modifications and can install more on the serpent at a time: a total of five known and three installed at level 5, seven known and four installed at level 9, and all nine known and five installed at level 15.
Whenever you gain a level in this class, you can replace one Modification you know with another from the list.
Design Note
I wanted the subclass to feel like you built this thing, not you were assigned a pet. Modifications are the customization lever: pick the Fangs, Tails, and Scales that match what your party needs that day. The short-rest swap was important to me. If the encounter ahead calls for a grappler instead of a burrower, the craft should let you retool.
The installed-count scaling (2, 3, 4) is where a lot of the subclass's late-game power actually lives, so I wanted it sitting inside this feature rather than split across higher-level slots. By Tier 4 you're stacking four effects on a single serpent, which is where the character's build choices really start to show at the table.
Asclepian Savant (Level 5)
Whenever you cast a spell using your Rod of Asclepius as the Spellcasting Focus, you gain a bonus to one roll of the spell. That roll must restore Hit Points or be a roll of Poison or Necrotic damage. The bonus equals your Intelligence modifier (minimum bonus of +1).
Design Note
This is directly modelled on the Alchemist's feature of the same family, narrowed to just Poison damage and healing. Alchemist gets Acid and Fire too; Serpent-Holder doesn't, because the spell list doesn't support them. It's a deliberately boring level 5 feature, and I'm okay with that. The signature at this tier is everything the serpent is already doing, and the Savant bonus is there to make sure your heals and your Ray of Sickness keep pace with what a same-level Cleric or Alchemist is outputting.
Flash of the Serpent (Level 9)
When you use your Flash of Genius, your Asclepian Serpent can move up to its Speed toward that creature as part of that same Reaction. This movement doesn't provoke Opportunity Attacks, and if the serpent ends the movement within 5 feet of that creature, the creature regains Hit Points equal to 1d8 + your Intelligence modifier.
Design Note
Flash of Genius is one of the most interesting Reaction-economy features in the game, and I liked how Cartographer piggybacked on it with Ingenious Movement. Reusing that hook for a healing rider felt natural. When you're already spending your Reaction to bail someone out of a failed save, having the serpent sprint over and top them up with 1d8 + Int is the exact kind of two-in-one moment this class's Reactions deserve.
The healing sits outside a spell slot, which matters. At Tier 3 you're often rationing slots for Revivify or Aura of Life, and this gives the Serpent-Holder a small, reliable heal that doesn't eat the resources they need later in the day.
Staff of Life (Level 15)
Your rod answers to the craft that once drew the dead back from the underworld — the craft for which the gods struck Asclepius down.
Evolved Serpent. Your Asclepian Serpent's size becomes Medium, and its Hit Point maximum is now seven times your Artificer level.
Apotheosis. When a creature you can see within 60 feet of your Asclepian Serpent drops to 0 Hit Points or has died within the last minute, you can take a Reaction to command the serpent to race to the creature's aid. If the serpent is coiled on the rod, it is released into an unoccupied space within 5 feet of you. The serpent then moves up to its Speed toward that creature. If the serpent ends that movement within 5 feet of the creature, the creature returns to life (if dead) or regains consciousness (if at 0 Hit Points), regains Hit Points equal to twice your Artificer level, and ends the following conditions on the creature: Blinded, Deafened, Paralyzed, Poisoned, and Stunned. Once you use this feature, you can't use it again until you finish a Long Rest.
Design Note
Asclepius's death came from reviving the dead, so the capstone had to be a resurrection. Apotheosis is more than Revivify and less than Raise Dead, and it's bounded by the serpent's movement, so the positioning you've been doing all combat actually pays off here. If the serpent's already near the front line, you can catch someone the instant they drop. If it's twenty feet away, the Reaction still works but you might not cover the distance.
Reviving with a condition scrub (Blinded, Deafened, Paralyzed, Poisoned, Stunned) was deliberate. At this tier, characters don't usually die from hit-point damage in isolation, they die because they got stun-locked first. Clearing the combo in one Reaction is the payoff the subclass has been building toward.
The Evolved Serpent upgrade is the chassis part of the capstone. A Medium serpent with seven-times-level HP stops being a glass cannon and starts being something you can send into the fray without it popping on the first AoE. Combined with a fourth Modification slot, this is where the customization you've been doing all campaign finally clicks into a creature that can legitimately act as a third combatant.
Serpent Modifications
Fangs
Hemlock Fangs. The serpent's Physician's Strike deals an additional 1d4 Poison damage on a hit, and the target's Speed is reduced by 10 feet until the end of its next turn.
Panacea Fangs. When the serpent uses Soothing Touch on a willing creature, that creature can also end one disease or one of the following conditions on itself: Blinded, Deafened, or Poisoned.
Hypodermic Fangs. When you deliver an Artificer spell to a creature via the serpent's Courier trait, the serpent can make a Physician's Strike against that creature as part of the same Reaction.
Tails
Lasso Tail. Once on each of your turns, the serpent can pull an ally within 10 feet up to 5 feet toward itself (no Action required).
Pythian Tail. The serpent gains Tremorsense with a range of 30 feet. When it detects a creature that has the Invisible condition or the Hidden condition this way, it can alert you (no Action required), causing that creature to lose those benefits against you until the end of your next turn.
Warding Tail. The Asclepian Serpent can occupy the same space as a willing creature, coiling around it like a living shield. While a creature shares the serpent's space, that creature has Half Cover.
Scales
Ouroboros Scales. At the start of each of your turns, the Asclepian Serpent regains a number of Hit Points equal to your Proficiency Bonus.
Earthen Scales. The serpent gains a Burrow Speed of 20 feet.
Vitality Scales. Whenever you deliver a spell with Courier that restores Hit Points, one creature affected by the spell (your choice) regains additional Hit Points equal to your Proficiency Bonus.
Battle medics are a pretty common archetype people want to play in tabletop games, and Artificer on the surface looks very thematic for it (especially for players of Team Fortress 2). Unfortunately, the Artificer spell list doesn't actually support it that well, and subclasses don't really offer much either. The Artillerist can have a Eldritch Cannon Protector handing out constant temporary HP, but that gets a little stale.