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I have a new crusade 
I think it might be time to rework serpents a bit. The little ones are passable, but the big ones are, in my opinion, far too frequent and far too durable.
This problem is compounded by the fact that the game is by nature optimized to have you hang out at 950' as long as possible, so you are going to meet scads of these things. Song of sharpness used to be a an OK way of dealing with them, but it's kinda boring to take every game, and it was nerfed pretty hard in 1.2 anyways.
Little s have 5d4 protection, which is 1d4 more than Kemenrauko, who are theoretically made of solid rock. Sure, gemstone harder than normal stone, etc. These are OK because you really only need one good hit against them.
However, the big S are 6d4, breathe reasonably hard for correspondingly reasonable values of Con (even with resists on), and have a good chunk of HP besides. My biggest problem with them is the strategy of 'carry a big weapon' just doesn't work. I just played a game with a dude who was packing (+20,3d12), and was routinely whiffing against the thing (hitting for 0 damage.)
If you met maybe 4 or 5 of these a game, I think it would OK where they're at. However, you are very likely to meet _way more_ than this. They are by far the most tiresome monsters at deep depths now, IMO
Some suggestions:
a) Make them rarer or deeper or both (e.g. all depth 22-23 or something)
b) Nerf their protection so that the little guys are 4d4 and the big ones are 5d4
c) Keep their protection the same but reduce their hit die (maybe 6d4,8d4 instead of 8d4,10d4)
d) Give them one of the mechanics that stops them from chasing you forever (territoriality, etc)
"Or something"
I think it might be time to rework serpents a bit. The little ones are passable, but the big ones are, in my opinion, far too frequent and far too durable.
This problem is compounded by the fact that the game is by nature optimized to have you hang out at 950' as long as possible, so you are going to meet scads of these things. Song of sharpness used to be a an OK way of dealing with them, but it's kinda boring to take every game, and it was nerfed pretty hard in 1.2 anyways.
Little s have 5d4 protection, which is 1d4 more than Kemenrauko, who are theoretically made of solid rock. Sure, gemstone harder than normal stone, etc. These are OK because you really only need one good hit against them.
However, the big S are 6d4, breathe reasonably hard for correspondingly reasonable values of Con (even with resists on), and have a good chunk of HP besides. My biggest problem with them is the strategy of 'carry a big weapon' just doesn't work. I just played a game with a dude who was packing (+20,3d12), and was routinely whiffing against the thing (hitting for 0 damage.)
If you met maybe 4 or 5 of these a game, I think it would OK where they're at. However, you are very likely to meet _way more_ than this. They are by far the most tiresome monsters at deep depths now, IMO
Some suggestions:
a) Make them rarer or deeper or both (e.g. all depth 22-23 or something)
b) Nerf their protection so that the little guys are 4d4 and the big ones are 5d4
c) Keep their protection the same but reduce their hit die (maybe 6d4,8d4 instead of 8d4,10d4)
d) Give them one of the mechanics that stops them from chasing you forever (territoriality, etc)
"Or something"
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