Yuan-Ti
by Prince Phantom
Ah how the mighty have fallen. I’m not usually in favor of nerfs of any kind, but there’s always an exception to every rule. The old Yuan-Ti was often considered one of if not the strongest race in the game, and while I probably wouldn’t go that far, it definitely had some serious advantages over the majority of the competition. The revision reigned in some of the more egregious features and now this race is perfectly suitable for any table. We’ll go over the revision first, and then the old version so you can see exactly how things were changed.
Yuan-Ti Features
Darkvision : Always nice to have.
Serpentine Spellcasting: We get Poison Spray, a terrible cantrip, Animal Friendship but only for snakes, and Suggestion, one of the best 2nd level spells in the game. Let’s talk about that weird thing with Animal Friendship. Only being able to target snakes means that you’ll probably want to seek out snakes to use this on. Once you’ve got them under the spell, you can harvest their poison. If you can find a buyer for this poison, you’ve just made infinite money! Okay maybe not infinite, but still, poison is expensive so you’ll get a pretty penny for this. Or you could just use the poison the way poison is normally used.
Magic Resistance: This is the type of magic resistance that only grants advantage against actual spells, which is still very good but not as broadly applicable as one might think. This is especially true with the recent shift in monster design to include spell-like abilities in place of actual spells for monsters to cast. I still definitely appreciate having this, and at higher tier play this will definitely come up often, it’s just not as overpowered as the old version.
Poison Resilience: This is the standard resistance to poison damage and advantage versus the poisoned condition. Note that this does not provide advantage to reduce the amount of poison damage you take from something like a Wyvern’s stinger tail. This is definitely very nice to have and will come up often at most tables.
The revised Yuan-Ti is defined by its two strong defensive features that literally any character would love to have. The spellcasting is nice too, and can be abused if you play into it. This brings the Yuan-Ti back down to a reasonable level of power, and just about any build wouldn’t mind being a Yuan-Ti. I do worry now that without any standout feature that you can’t find elsewhere, this race will end up being outclassed now and hardly ever selected, but honestly that’s better than it being banned by many DMs.
Final Rating: 4/5
Yuan-Ti (Legacy)
The big changes that were made with the revision were a nerf to both Magic Resistance and Poison Immunity. Yes, you read that right, immunity, not resistance. This race was one of the only ways to get straight up poison immunity, and that is crazy strong. The old magic resistance was the type that worked on any magical effect, making it apply to many more saves. This was definitely powerful, though I wouldn’t go so far as to ban it at my tables. Being a Yuan-Ti comes with its own roleplay challenges, as the race is known to be almost universally evil, and playing against that type provides a fun roleplay challenge that I believe an experienced player could enjoy. I personally feel that this aspect, when played correctly by player and DM, balanced the race out. Still, I think I would no longer allow this version at my tables simply because a more balanced option exists. If you wanted me to give this a rating, it would be a 5/5, but I wouldn’t allow this at my tables.
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