Sorcerous Origin - Rainbow Skyserpent
While many sorcerers can claim a fraction of celestial heritage of indeterminent origin, some manifest their birthright more strongly than others. Often, that of the Couatl - the rainbow skyserpents - are especially strong, and though they share many aspects of their Celestialblooded brethren, Couatl Sorcerers hew far closer to their original in their powers and abilities.
A skyserpent sorcerer is one that stands shoulder to shoulder with their allies on the battlefield, in the thick of things using their magical manifestations to strike, and their spells to shield. At higher levels they gain the ability to fly, speak into other's minds, and see everything as it truly is, unhindered by the restraints of natural vision.
Couatl sorcerers are rarely ever anything but good and kind, almost always compelled to act selflessly and aid others. Though their visage may at first be bizarre and wonderful, they are nevertheless seen as good omens by those who know of them. A couatl sorcerer born into a village may find themselves heralded as an icon of good luck, and showered with gifts and affection as a result. Those that travel rarely find doors closed to them outright, though they equally attract the attention of ne'erdowells who fear that they might run afoul of the Couatlblooded's do-gooding.
Skyserpent Manifestations
| d6 | Manifestation |
|---|---|
| 1 | Portions of your skin turned to scales, of a variety of colours (though usually blue or green). |
| 2 | A pair of (unusable) wings with rainbow feathers grow out from beneath your arms. |
| 3 | Your tongue becomes long and serpentine, with a speech to match. |
| 4 | The touch of your skin feels comforting to others; some might find this unnerving. |
| 5 | Whenever you speak, it's a stilted; this does not apply to telepathy. |
| 6 | Your eye shape shifts to be more serpentine. |
Skyserpent Spells
You learn additional spells when you reach certain levels in this class, as shown on the Skyserpent Spells table. Each spell counts as a sorcerer spell for you, but it doesn’t count against the number of sorcerer spells you know. These spells can’t be replaced when you gain a level in this class.
Skyserpent Spells
| Sorcerer Level | Spells |
|---|---|
| 1st | Bless, Cure Wounds |
| 3rd | Alter Self, Detect Thoughts |
| 5th | Nondetection, Sending |
| 7th | Aura of Purity, Death Ward |
| 9th | Greater Restoration, Scrying |
From 13th level, you do not need to provide costly material components for your Skyserpent spells. From 18th level you do not need to provide any components for them.
Serpent's Body
At 1st level you mouth grows large fangs, and your body a large prismatic scaled tail - representations of your heritage, and infused with magical power. When you cast a spell on your turn, as a bonus action you can use one of these to make an attack against an enemy.
The fangs have a range of 5ft, deal 1d4 piercing and 1d4 poison damage. If they hit, the target must make a constitution saving throw or be Poisoned until the end of your next turn. The tail has a range of 10ft and deals 1d8 bludgeoning damage. If you hit, the target must make a strength saving throw, or be either knocked prone or grappled by the tail (your choice). Grappling a creature pulls it adjacent to you. You can only grapple one creature with the tail at a time, and attacking another creature with the tail breaks the grapple. The grapple can be broken by the grappled creature by using a strength (athletics) check against your spell save DC.
As magical creations they use your charisma modifier for attack and damage rolls, instead of your strength modifier. Their damage also counts as magical for the purposes of overcoming damage resistance and immunities.
You additionally learn the Celestial language, and gain darkvision out to 60ft.
Form Shift
Couatl are natural shapeshifters, and you've inherited a portion of that magic. From 6th level when you cast the Alter Self spell on yourself the duration is increased to 24 hours, and it does not require your Concentration. If you change your form to hide your Serpent's Body fangs and tail, you cannot use these so long as your form is changed. You may change your form to a new one (or revert to your original form) on each of your turns as a bonus action, or immediately end the spell at any time at no action cost, even when it is not your turn.
Telepathy
From 6th level you gain telepathy out to 30ft. You can only use this to speak to one creature at a time, and have them reply in turn.
Flight of the Serpent
From 14th you can manifest the rainbow wings of the couatl beneath your arms. Whenever you cast a Sorcerer spell on your turn you gain a flight speed of 60ft and Resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage until the end of your next turn. If you would fall as a result of losing this flight, you do so at a rate of 50ft per round, and do not take falling damage a result of this.
Shielded Mind
Also at 14th level, you are immune to scrying and to any effect that would sense your emotions, read your thoughts, or detect your location.
Truesight
From 18th level you gain Truesight out to 120ft
Advanced Serpent's Body
Also at 18th level your Serpent's Body feature improves. If a creature fails the save against your fang's poison by 5 or more, they are additionally Stunned until the end of their next turn or until they take damage totalling up to your spell save DC. Your tail's grapple now also Restrains the target, so long as they remain grappled.