Veles Serpent (3.5e Epic Spell)

''Invoking the name of Veles and holding the god's holy symbol aloft, you toss forth the slab of meat with the embedded ruby and sapphire to call forth the primal elements he commands - the water and the earth - to create a gigantic snake made of water and earth elementals. The snake hisses ominously, then proceeds to violently smother your foes. You smirk as you watch the carnage unfold, witnessing Veles's pet obliterate the infidels who defy his will.''

You summon a Colossal serpent (Elemental type), well over 150 feet long, made of numerous water and earth elementals. This great serpent is essentially an exemplar of Veles's power, dispatched to aid the caster, and as such, it has numerous unique characteristics. The Hit Dice of your Veles serpent is equal to your caster level, so statistical values that are dependent on level/Hit Dice (like base attack bonus, ranks in skills, and base saving throw bonuses) aren't included or factored into the statistics block. You'll have to calculate those for yourself. (The Veles serpent prefers to take ranks in Spot, Listen, Hide, Move Silently, Swim, Bluff, and Intimidate, but Climb, Use Rope, and Spellcraft are also considered class skills for it. Use Rope is only a class skill because of its use of Chthonic Serpent maneuvers.)

The Veles Serpent
Note: the Veles serpent only has as many feats as its Hit Dice allow it to have. It selects feats in the listed order.

Combat
The Veles serpent ' s natural weapons (including constriction attacks) are treated as epic and bearing the caster's alignment for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction.

The Veles serpent is an extremely powerful opponent in melee, thanks to its powerful constriction attack and numerous special attacks which build upon said constriction to inflict huge damage. Its favorite strategy is to immediately attack an enemy singled out by its master, before they can react, and swiftly constrict them. Against foes that take to the air, the Veles serpent is at a large disadvantage; while it does have three ranged attacks that it can use to attack airborne foes outside of its melee reach, they all have cooldown times, so the Veles serpent is largely reliant on its caster and her allies to force opponents to face it in non-aerial melee, where it is most powerful.

The Veles serpent will attempt to aid the caster to the best of its ability (though, as previously mentioned, it may also end up relying on its caster to help it out as well). The caster can direct the serpent not to attack, to attack particular enemies, or to perform other actions, but while the serpent generally defers to the caster's wishes, it might disobey if it deems a different course of action to be more tactically sound. The serpent never outright betrays the caster, and always acts in what it perceives to be the caster's best interest. (For example, it may prioritize attacking somebody engaged in melee combat with the caster over attacking whomever the caster ordered it to attack, especially if the designated target is not likely to be defeated quickly or the caster is being overwhelmed by immediate direct threats.)

It must uncoil to move more than half its speed in a round, and can uncoil as a swift action, but its reach is halved and it is forced to abide by the combat facing rules while uncoiled. However, it can only use its Rolling Crush Attack while uncoiled (see below). While uncoiled, the segments each have 1/7th of the Veles serpent ' s HP; also, since they are Huge, their size modifiers are adjusted accordingly. The Veles serpent is automatically "killed" and unsummoned (ending the spell) if the HP of its head is reduced to 0, but the loss of its other sections only reduces its constriction damage by 1d4 per "killed" section and prevents it from using the "killed" sections to carry foes and move efficiently at the same time (see the description of its improved grab below). The Veles serpent makes bite attacks with its head and slam attacks with its tail; its other segments are practically unable to attack. The Veles serpent can coil up at any time as a full-round action that provokes attacks of opportunity, but it only requires a move action to do so if its segments are already arranged in a circle (and it also performs its "Recoiling Grab" as part of that move action; see below). The Veles serpent must be resting on a solid surface to coil up. Once coiled, the Veles serpent is treated as a Colossal creature and may use its full reach and its Serpentine Strike. Anything that alters the Veles serpent ' s current hit points (mainly damage and healing) while it is coiled is divided evenly among all of its segments (with the remainder going to a random segment chosen by a d8 roll, with 1 being the head, 2 being the segment behind it, and so on, and an 8 being the same as a 1). Anything that alters the current hit points of a segment while uncoiled is applied to the Veles serpent as a whole.

 : If any creatures are in the middle of the circle formed by the Veles serpent ' s segments when it coils up, they are automatically grappled and take quadruple constriction damage (and the Veles serpent may gain a position of advantage over them, which will be explained shortly). Creatures caught by this attack are allowed a Reflex save (DC = 20 + the caster's spellcasting modifier + ½ the Veles serpent ' s HD + the Veles serpent ' s Dexterity modifier) to halve the damage and manage to avoid being put into a very disadvantageous position. "Recoiling Grab" provokes attacks of opportunity, but any creatures who attempt an attack of opportunity are not entitled to a Reflex save if they're inside the Veles serpent ' s coils (any creatures outside aren't going to be affected by Recoiling Grab anyways). The Veles serpent gets an especially tight grip on any creatures who fail or forfeit their Reflex saves, which grants it a +20 bonus to all grapple checks and double constriction damage against said creatures until it is no longer grappling them.

 : Being made of water, the Veles serpent gets a +40 racial bonus to Hide and Move Silently checks while remaining perfectly still in water (it's effectively invisible and inaudible). This racial bonus is reduced to +20 while in motion in water, +10 while perfectly still on land, and +5 while in motion on land. It doesn't get its racial bonus at all if in midair. (As it's made of earth elementals as well as water elementals, the Veles serpent can naturally blend in with any terrestrial environment, but not as well as it does with an aquatic one.) The Veles serpent can hide in plain sight while in water, just like a shadowdancer can hide in areas of shadowy illumination.

 and  : Like most serpents, the Veles serpent has no ears and is technically deaf. However, just like a real snake, the Veles serpent compensates for this with an incredibly powerful tremorsense. This tremorsense can pick up vibrations in the ground, even extremely faint ones caused by such things as the air displaced by beating wings striking the ground; in effect, the Veles serpent ' s tremorsense is its sense of hearing for most in-game purposes, allowing it to make Listen checks and do most things that creatures with hearing can do. It cannot hear speech or music, but it can communicate with the spell's caster telepathically. It is not immune to most sonic effects, but is immune to those which are dependent upon the subject hearing a specific noise, such as most forms of bardic music. The Veles serpent is functionally deaf with respect to creatures and objects a significant distance above the ground. A distance is considered to be significant for this purpose if it is large enough that the vibrations of any sound the creature or object in question may produce won't reach the ground without becoming too weak for even the Veles serpent to detect. For example, the Veles serpent wouldn't "hear" an eagle flying 1,000 feet overhead, but it probably would "hear" a sonic warrior from the same distance, since the latter tends to be much louder and causes more intense vibrations. Also, just because the Veles serpent can't "hear" a creature doesn't necessarily mean that it can't see it. However, if the Veles serpent somehow loses its tremorsense, then it is automatically considered to be deafened, taking all associated penalties, until its tremorsense is regained.

 : The Veles serpent can, upon making a successful bite attack upon any opponent, attempt to grapple them as a free action. If it succeeds, it wraps itself around the foe and begins to constrict. Thanks to its massive size, the Veles serpent is capable of grappling several creatures at a time. The Veles serpent is so big that it can hold up to 1 Colossal or Gargantuan opponent, 2 Huge opponents, 4 Large opponents, 8 Medium opponents, or 16 Small or smaller opponents in its coils at any given time without hindering its ability to attack (and capture) other opponents. If it goes over this limit, then it takes a cumulative &mius;4 penalty to grapple checks (against creatures it's grappling) and attack rolls (against creatures it isn't grappling) for every extra size category of creature it attempts to grapple (a Colossal creature being treated as 2 Gargantuan creatures for this purpose unless the Colossal creature is the only one being held). The Veles serpent must remain at least partially coiled while grappling, which it may do by combining 2 Huge segments into a single Gargantuan segment as it uncoils; each such section can hold ¼ as many creatures as the entire serpent without incurring penalties (and ¼ of the absolute limit), and imposes a &minus;10 ft. cumulative penalty to speed while present. The Veles serpent as a whole can always carry a single creature of any size without penalty (except for the aforementioned speed penalty for forming the Gargantuan segment), and any one segment can always carry a single Huge creature without penalty. A Gargantuan segment has the appropriate size modifiers and the combined hp of the two Huge segments combined to form it, and its constriction damage is reduced by 1 die and 2 points. The absolute limit of what can be held in the Veles serpent ' s coils is 3 Colossal creatures, 6 Gargantuan creatures, 12 Huge creatures, 24 Large creatures, or 48 Medium or smaller creatures (if coiled, it can also hold up to 96 Small creatures or 192 Tiny or smaller creatures). The snake can only have so many parts of its body separately coiled up to hold creatures at once, which is why its absolute limit can't be stretched as far when uncoiled.

 : The Veles serpent can constrict just like a constrictor snake, but its massive size makes its constriction ability extremely dangerous in numerous ways. First and foremost, it does 8d4+30 points of bludgeoning damage per round to all creatures it's grappling (though it can do more to creatures it seized with its Recoiling Grab, as mentioned above). In addition to doing hit point damage through crushing pressure, the Veles serpent squeezes the air out of its victims' lungs as it constricts, causing 1 point of Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution damage per round to all creatures it constricts that need to breathe (or more if it managed to seize the creature in question with Recoiling Grab). This ability damage is due to shortness of breath rather than true bodily harm; as such, all ability damage inflicted in this manner goes away after 1 minute if the Veles serpent does not continuously constrict its victim (though it is always constricting while grappling unless swallowing the opponent), and a creature can take a full-round action to catch its breath and immediately eliminate the ability damage if it is freed from the constriction. A creature being swallowed by the Veles serpent still cannot breathe; while it suffers no further ability damage, it cannot get its breath back and eliminate the ability damage it's already taken. Creatures of Large or smaller size are utterly smothered in the Veles serpent ' s coils if they are fully coiled, to the point where they find breathing impossible; they must hold their breath or else suffocate. (If the Veles serpent is uncoiled, it can only suffocate opponents of up to Medium size.) A creature reduced to 0 Strength or Dexterity is immobilized and helpless until it gets its breath back. A creature reduced to 0 Constitution is dead, slain by utter asphyxiation.

 : The Veles serpent can swallow enemies whole and alive (or undead, or just animated), much like a purple worm or nightcrawler. However, like a real snake, the process of swallowing its prey can take quite some time. The Veles serpent can transfer a constricted opponent to its mouth and begin the swallowing process as a full-round action that requires a grapple check (holding the foe in both mouth and coils at the same time, effectively pinning it), and then use a series of full-round actions to swallow the foe starting on its next turn. This works the same way as a spellcaster casting a spell that requires multiple rounds to execute; not including the round where it begins swallowing, the Veles serpent requires at least 5 rounds to swallow a Colossal opponent, 4 rounds to swallow a Gargantuan opponent, 3 rounds to swallow a Huge opponent, 2 rounds to swallow a Large opponent, 1 round to swallow a Medium opponent, or 1 full-round action to swallow a Small opponent, or 1 standard action to swallow a Tiny or smaller opponent. A grapple check is required for every round of swallowing, but once the process begins, the creature being swallowed cannot free itself from the Veles serpent ' s mouth unless it beats the Veles serpent ' s grapple check by 10 or more. On a success by 9 or less, the victim's struggles only prevent it from going further down the Veles serpent ' s throat during that round (like a real snake, the backwards curvature of the Veles serpent ' s fangs makes it nearly impossible to wriggle back out of the Veles serpent ' s throat once swallowing begins). A success by 10 or more allows the creature to offset 1 round's worth of swallowing progress plus 1 more for every 5 points by which its grapple check result beats the Veles serpent ' s check result plus 10. A creature that requires less than 1 round to swallow (in other words, a Small or smaller creature) is swallowed with just one grapple check on the round that the swallowing process starts. Once a creature is fully swallowed, escape via grapple checks is no longer possible, as the cramped, claustrophobic structure of the Veles serpent ' s "stomach" compresses the victim's limbs and holds them immobile (and for smaller creatures that would have enough room to move, the spell's magic holds them immobile instead, in a similar fashion to hold person/hold monster). The Veles serpent ' s "stomach" can hold 1 Colossal, 2 Gargantuan, 4 Huge, 8 Large, 16 Medium, 32 Small, 64 Tiny, or 128 Fine or smaller creatures. Opponents in the Veles serpent ' s "stomach" take 6d12+30 bludgeoning damage and 3d12+15 acid damage per round from the "stomach"'s muscular action and digestive juices, and are also forced to hold their breath or else drown. All creatures in the Veles serpent ' s "stomach" are considered to be fully immersed in water, with the worst possible consequence of any sort of immersion (so, for instance, a vampire will lose ⅓ of its maximum hit points every round and be utterly destroyed when its hit points reach 0, just as if it was immersed in running water). Though the cramped quarters and powerful magic of the Veles serpent ' s "stomach" make it impossible to get anywhere by trying to squirm free, it is still possible to break out with a light melee weapon (anything larger can't be swung effectively due to the immobilizing effects of the magic powering the Veles serpent), assuming that the weapon was already being held when the creature was swallowed; it's impossible to draw a weapon once inside due to the lack of possible motion. (Unlike most creatures, a bludgeoning weapon can be used to break out of a Veles serpent ' s "stomach".) The Veles serpent ' s "stomach" has AC 24 (&minus;8 size, +18 natural, +4 circumstance) and damage reduction 20/epic and adamantine. The "stomach"'s hit points are equal to half the full normal total of the caster (1/12 of the whole serpent's hit points), and once a creature exits, the hole is repaired by the spell's magic; other victims must break out themselves. The Veles serpent takes a &minus;10 penalty on grapple checks while swallowing if it is not coiled when it does so (in addition to its reduced size modifier).

 : The Veles serpent is considered to be both an earth and water elemental, and therefore its   and   abilities work in concert; the Veles serpent gets a +2 bonus to all attack rolls and damage rolls against opponents as long as both it and the opponent are on the ground and/or in water, but takes a &minus;4 penalty to attack rolls and damage rolls if it or the opponent is airborne. An opponent being grappled by the Veles serpent is considered to be wherever the Veles serpent is (in water if the Veles serpent is in water, on land if the Veles serpent is on land, or in the air if the Veles serpent is in the air).

 : Being essentially made of water, a Veles serpent can put out fires of Gargantuan or smaller size just by moving into them. Nonmagical fires are automatically extinguished, while magical fires are treated as though the caster of the Veles serpent had cast superb dispelling on them (this causes no backlash damage to the Veles serpent or its caster). A Veles serpent also adds +2d12 to all non-constriction damage rolls against creatures with the Fire subtype &mdash; against creatures that are actually made of fire, such as fire elementals, this bonus is doubled to +4d12 damage. For constriction damage rolls, the damage bonuses against fire-subtype creatures and fire-based creatures are altered to +9d4 and +18d4, respectively (and are multiplied as appropriate for the Veles serpent ' s special attacks or reduced if it loses segments).

 : The Veles serpent ' s vortex attack works just like a primal water elemental's, except that it uses the Veles serpent ' s HD and modifiers.

 : The Veles serpent ' s push attack works just like a primal earth elemental's, except that since the Veles serpent must uncoil to move properly, its bull-rushing capacity is changed appropriately; its body isn't built for bull rushing, so it's treated as a Huge creature for bull rush and overrun attempts. However, it can always resist being bull rushed, overrun, or trampled as though it is a Colossal creature, regardless of whether it's coiled or uncoiled (it gains a +4 bonus to resist being bull rushed or overrun if coiled, as that posture stabilizes it).

It may use each of its maneuver-like abilities two times before having to refresh them all as a full-round action. It can also refresh one maneuver usage per creature in its stomach as a free action once per round. (It doesn't start an encounter with anything in its stomach.) The Veles serpent uses its natural weapons to perform its maneuver-like abilities, and its initiator level is equal to its HD. Maneuver-like abilities: bloodlust, blurred bonds, devil in the mirror, drumlin wall, sadomasochism, blade of fury, comet crush, red scare, flash of the scarlet menace, no mercy, wrath of Quetzalcoatl, reap the whirlwind, reflections in a rubicund eye, bonds of Jörmungandr, whirlwind lash.

 : Because the Veles serpent is, well, a massive serpent, its range is deceptively huge. While coiled, it can strike 30 feet away from its space as a standard action or when making an attack of opportunity. However, if it is coiled (and only if it is coiled), it can take a full-round action to carefully aim for its target and launch most of its body at them at lightning speed, then retract in the blink of an eye. This allows the Veles serpent to make a single melee attack against an opponent up to 90 feet away from it (taking a &minus;1 penalty on the attack roll if the foe is more than 75 feet away and able to use its Dexterity bonus to AC, as the opponent has a little more time to react). It can use its improved grab when making this attack if its target is Huge or smaller, grabbing the foe in its jaws and yanking it into its space to be constricted; if the foe is Tiny or smaller, the Veles serpent may swallow it immediately as a free action instead of constricting it first (swallowing the foe requires a second grapple check immediately after grabbing the foe). Foes of Gargantuan or larger size are too heavy and bulky to be snatched up from outside the Veles serpent ' s standard attack range. The Veles serpent cannot use its Stilled Charge feat (if it has enough HD to possess it) in conjunction with this attack, but it can combine it with Wave Strike or Severing Strike if it possesses either of those feats. When Serpentine Strike is combined with Wave Strike, the Veles serpent ' s base reach is considered to be 90 feet.

 : If the Veles serpent is uncoiled into its full 7 Huge segments, all of its segments are arranged in a perfectly straight single-file line, and the Veles serpent is facing straight ahead (in the same direction that its segments are lined up in), it can initiate a very special attack. As a full-round action, it can have all of its segments initiate a trample attack in a straight line at a 90-degree angle to its facing, flattening everything of Gargantuan or smaller size in the way. (Basically, the Veles serpent is treated as if it was an oblong creature during this attack, with its center of mass being its middle section unless a collision with an object less wide than itself interrupts its movement.) Creatures on the ground or less than 20 feet above the ground caught in the path of the attack take triple constriction damage due to flattening unless they succeed on a Reflex save and are able to move out of the attack's area on their next turn (if they can't or won't, the Reflex save is automatically considered a failure). Success on the Reflex save and managing to get out of the way negates the damage if one move action was sufficient to escape, or halves the damage if two move actions or running was necessary. Alternatively, a creature being targeted by this attack may make a Jump check as an immediate action, adding half of its Reflex save modifier to the check, to avoid the attack entirely if the ceiling is high enough; the check DC is equal to the save DC plus 32 (the Veles serpent gets to add its size modifier to the DC (which is +2 for Huge since it's fully uncoiled), and also gets a +30 circumstance bonus because managing to make such an incredibly high leap on such short notice is really, really difficult). Failure on the Jump check means that the victim didn't jump in time, while failure by 5 or more means that it was in midair when it got struck, causing it to take quintuple constriction damage instead of triple. Flying away (as a readied action) can also be used to dodge this attack if the creature in question can ascend quickly enough (which generally requires good or perfect maneuverability). The Rolling Crush Attack provokes attacks of opportunity (albeit at a &minus;4 penalty), but any creatures that attempt an attack of opportunity are not entitled to a Reflex save or Jump check. Any creature damaged by the Rolling Crush Attack must also make a Fortitude save (adding ½ of the damage taken to the DC); on a failure, such a creature takes 1d6 points of Strength and Dexterity damage per 5 points of save failure, &minus;1 for every point of failure less than 5, due to bones being crushed by the impact. (This ability damage is "real" ability damage, and heals at the normal ability damage healing rate.) Regardless of the Fortitude save's results, creatures damaged by the attack are also knocked prone and take 1 point of nonlethal damage (3 on a badly failed Jump check); this nonlethal damage is not added to the Fortitude save DC. The caster of Veles serpent can be affected by this attack if she's in the area, but the Veles serpent won't use it if she's in the way for precisely that reason. The base save/check DC for this attack is 20 + the caster's spellcasting modifier + ½ the Veles serpent ' s HD + the Veles serpent ' s Strength modifier. The DC is reduced by 2 for the Reflex save or Jump check for every 20 feet the Veles serpent has to travel to get to a creature, because that creature has more time to react. (The Fortitude save DC isn't affected because a bone-crushing impact is a bone-crushing impact, regardless of how far away it came from.) If the Veles serpent collides with a Colossal creature with one of its middle sections, it immediately stops and performs Recoiling Grab on it, as the interruption of the move throws its body around the intervening creature; however, because the grab is incredibly awkward and clumsy, the Colossal creature (and anything sharing its space) only takes 2.75 &times; constriction damage (2 points of ability damage) and gains a +8 circumstance bonus to its Reflex save. If the head or rear section strikes a Colossal creature, the Veles serpent is knocked off-kilter and rotates 45 degrees around the collision point before stopping, as if it was an oblong creature with the head or tail (respectively) as its center of mass (if it is out of movement, it must complete this movement on its next turn), and the Colossal creature takes half constriction damage (no ability damage). None of these special results of striking a Colossal creature apply if the Veles serpent ' s size has been enhanced.

 : Though primarily a melee fighter, the Veles serpent does have three options for fighting at range - especially against anyone who'd dare try to evade it via flight. The first of these ranged options, the Aqua Ray, is a 150-foot line of water, 15 feet high and 15 feet wide, which does 1d8 damage per HD the Veles serpent has. Anyone in its path is allowed a Reflex save for half damage. Creatures in midair get a +4 bonus to the Reflex save because of the Veles serpent ' s Water and Earth Mastery (likewise, if the Veles serpent is on the ground or in water, any creatures on the ground or in water take a &minus;2 penalty to their Reflex save), but any flying creature struck and damaged by the ray must make a Fortitude save equal to the damage taken or get knocked to the ground, sustaining falling damage, after which creatures whose flight is an extraordinary ability will be too waterlogged to take off again for the next 1d6&minus;1 rounds (if such a creature has the Water subtype, it can take off again immediately). Creatures whose flight is a supernatural ability or due to an ongoing magical effect are free to take off again immediately, unless getting wet somehow interferes with their flight. This attack deals double damage to any creature with the Fire subtype. Because Aqua Ray is effectively a breath weapon, the Veles serpent can only use it once every 1d4+2 rounds. The Reflex save DC is equal to 20 + the spellcaster's spellcasting modifier + ½ the Veles serpent ' s Hit Die + the Veles serpent ' s Constitution modifier; however, the save DC is reduced by 3 if the Veles serpent is uncoiled, as it has more difficulty lining up its shot without its coils to stabilize it. The caster of Veles serpent can be affected by this attack, but that just means that the serpent won't use it if it'd risk harming her.

 : The second ranged attack of the Veles serpent is explicitly designed to utterly devastate flying creatures. Once every eight rounds, as a standard action, the Veles serpent can draw upon the power of its master to generate a huge gravity well. This gravity well forms a 80-foot-radius pitch-black sphere anywhere within 240 feet of the Veles serpent, even in midair. All creatures except the Veles serpent within 120 feet of the sphere must make a Reflex save or get sucked in. Creatures caught in the sphere immediately lose half of their hit points, and also lose the ability to fly, levitate, or otherwise remain above the ground for 10 rounds due to gravity taking an especially intense hold of them. Any ongoing magical effects that enabled flight are outright dispelled, and trying to cast any other such spell in the next ten rounds (or five rounds with a successful Reflex save) will automatically fail. Magic items that enable flight are suppressed as though by dispel magic, except that the duration of the suppression is 1 minute or 5 rounds (based on save success of their owners) and only flight-granting abilities are suppressed (all other magical properties remain intact). Creatures affected by Graviza also take a &minus;4 penalty to Reflex saves and a &minus;20 penalty to Jump checks for as long as their flight abilities are suppressed. Creatures that were flying or otherwise in midair upon being caught in the sphere get slammed hard to the ground, and take double the amount of fall damage that they would otherwise have taken for falling that distance (after losing half of their hit points to Graviza). A successful Fortitude save can halve the damage taken (including fall damage) and halve the penalties and the duration of the aftereffect. The gravity well itself lasts for 1 round. This ability is the equivalent of a 9th-level spell. The save DC is 32 (34 with Ability Focus). The save DC is Wisdom-based. The caster of Veles serpent can be affected by this attack, but that just means that the serpent won't use it if it'd risk harming her.

' :' The third and final ranged attack is simply Veles missile as a spell-like ability, which the Veles serpent'' can use once every 3 rounds. It uses its own hit dice (which are equal to its caster's) as its caster level, and it uses its caster's spellcasting modifier for any effects which rely on it. This is the Veles serpent ' s longest-ranged attack by far, and also perhaps the best-suited to quickly defeating a single opponent, but also the one that poses the least threat to a large group of adversaries. Veles missile also has no special capacity to bring flying opponents down to ground level.

 (Ex): A Veles serpent can glide through stone, dirt, or almost any other sort of earth except metal as easily as it swims through water (albeit not as quickly). Its burrowing leaves behind no tunnel or hole, nor does it create any ripple or other signs of its presence. A move earth spell cast on an area containing a burrowing Veles serpent flings it back 30 feet, stunning the creature for 1 round unless it succeeds on a DC 15 Fortitude save (considering how high its Fortitude bonus is without factoring in its Hit Dice, this will only happen on a natural 1). The Veles serpent cannot carry grappled foes underground, but any foe that it is currently grappling when it submerges into the earth is smashed between the ground and the burrowing serpent's body, taking quintuple (&times;5) constriction damage (or sextuple (&times;6) if initially seized via Recoiling Grab with a failed Reflex save). The foe can halve the amount of damage taken with a successful Fortitude save (DC = 20 + the caster's spellcasting modifier + ½ the Veles serpent ' s HD + the Veles serpent ' s Strength modifier). Regardless of whether or not they made their saves, any creatures that the Veles serpent was grappling when it went underground are immediately released from the grapple once it's submerged.

' (Sp, Ex):' The Veles serpent may use Veles whirl as an extraordinary ability at will while submerged in the ground, though it behaves more like the Veles serpent's Vortex ability; the size is equivalent, and the whirlpool is mobile, able to move at the Veles serpent'' ' s burrow speed. The whirlpool abruptly stops if the Veles serpent surfaces. Veles whirl ' s save DC is 27. The save DC is Wisdom-based.

End of the Spell
When the spell expires or is dispelled, or the Veles serpent has its HP (or its head's HP) reduced to 0 or is otherwise killed (death effect, Constitution reduced to 0, negative levels = HD, etc.), the Veles serpent disperses into its constituent elementals, which immediately return to their own planes. Veles serpent has a +30 bonus to its DC for resisting dispel checks.

Final Notes
Though this spell refers to Veles, Slavic god of water and earth, you may substitute whatever god is most appropriate for your campaign, such as Poseidon or Satan. Change the name of the spell accordingly. Whichever deity you choose to associate this spell with, it is only available to worshippers of that deity.

Material Component: A prime cut of beef, a ruby worth at least 60,000 gp, and a sapphire worth at least 60,000 gp. You may substitute a heart of earth with 20 charges for the ruby and a heart of water with 20 charges for the sapphire (you may substitute for either gem or both of them in this fashion). You must have attuned yourself to a heart of element to use it as a material component for this spell. If you use a heart of element as a material component in this fashion, the heart is not consumed (as it is an artifact, even epic spells cannot destroy it), but all 20 of its charges are expended, leaving its spell-like abilities unusable until it is recharged.

Focus: A silver holy symbol of Veles costing 3,000 gp. For a cleric, druid, or other divine spellcaster, this holy symbol can be the same divine focus used to cast your other spells, but it must be made of silver and cost at least 3,000 gp in order to cast Veles serpent. (The focus is not expensive enough to affect the Spellcraft DC of Veles serpent.)

XP Cost: 6,000 XP.