The Mechanics of the Iron Cobra from DRAGON(R) issue #164 A mechanical serpent has no ecology, after all! by Spike Y. Jones (C)1990 by TSR, Inc. All Rights Reserved. "As you can easily hear, Grainne, our own crwth is much gentler in tone than the quayteros of the worshipers of Ishtar the Dancer. Now, compare my telyn with this other harp called a kissar. It's made from the skull of a minotaur that has had strings attached to its horns by--" "Look at Aidan! Look at Aidan!" cried Fiona, interrupting the bard in midlesson. "If you're trying to look like a fool, Aidan, you're doing a good job of it," muttered the children's older sister. "I'm trying to get this horn to blow, Grainne, but it just won't work." "That `horn' is actually a very rare instrument in this country," said the bard, "for I found it in a land beyond the Imbran Mountains, and indeed, beyond the deserts on their nether side. It is a `naganai'." "A what?" asked the red-headed boy. "A `snake-flute' in the language of a man named Gawara Hawara." "It doesn't look like a flute," observed Grainne. "Or a snake," added Fiona. "And it doesn't sound like either," added Aidan with a grin as he handed the tube of wood and metal to its owner, who took it in his right (and only) hand. "That's a part of its special magic," said the bard. "Magic? Like in the stories?" "Yes, Fiona, magic like in the stories." "And was there magic when you got the flute?" "Yes, Aidan, there was magic in the 'nai, and there was magic all around it, and there is magic in it still." "And will you please tell us about it, Mr. Farwanderer?" "I wonder how it was that I knew what the next question asked of me would be? Yes, Grainne, I will tell you this story, but only as I can see that otherwise our music lesson will go no farther this day. Fiona, bring me the other naganai, the polished wooden one, from my instrument satchel. Aidan, you get me a drink to wet my lips--but only water, mind you; it's hardly past dusk. And Grainne, you merely make yourself comfortable here while the others are about their tasks, for you shall have a task of your own--a musical task--to perform later." There had been a sound, and from close by. It was not a proper command and had been nothing at all intelligible, but it was the first time in untold years and miles that there had been a sound. The listener hesitated in the near darkness--then moved in that direction. It was so close. "Years ago when I was still earning the title `Farwanderer,' for I had yet to see many of the faraway places that by now I have, I arrived in the city of Mangala on the banks of the Porah River. I was traveling in those eastern lands looking for an education of sorts and the means to support myself until the education was through. In Mangala I found what I thought was a way to combine the two. "The average person of that place is much the same as those of Mardukan to our south, but their magicians are of a different sort entirely. While Mardukanian spell-casters use their elaborate rituals to ensure good harvests and to protect their people from barbarian and monster attacks, Mangalan wizards use their magicks to fabricate items of power for their personal profit. And I had heard of one such magical creation, rumored to be unique in the world. "This thing, called the Light of Surya, was a flawless diamond that had been magically engraved with the words to a number of spells of great power. Fortunately, those spells could only be cast by one strong of will and pure of heart, and the mage who possessed it, Gawara Hawara, had neither, having gained the periapt by way of a poisonous snake, as he was both a coward and a scoundrel. While I myself had not the . . . magical aptitude to use such a device, I thought that retrieving and returning it to the rightful owners would be beneficial to all involved--including myself," he added hastily before Aidan could say the same. "I was younger then, and willing to lay aside my greatest talent for a bit of glory and a chance at being killed." He hefted the strange flute in his hand. "Did you sneak in and grab it?" asked Fiona. "Or did you break in and fight for it?" countered Aidan. "Being not as rash as many another young adventurer," the bard continued blithely, "I did not present myself at the mage's door and demand the return of the periapt. Instead, remembering such sage phrases as `ignorance breeds indigence' and `over hurried, soon buried,' I decided to first learn as much as I could concerning Gawara Hawara's security measures. "The first thing I was told by those I approached was that he guarded himself and his treasures with snakes--mind you, not just any snakes, but magical creatures with scales of steel and blood of oil.((1)) "These `iron cobras,' for such were they called, he constructed for himself in his apartments and released to prowl the courtyards and recesses of his mansion. It was one such device as this that he sent to slay the mage-priest of Surya to gain the magical gemstone I sought, one of many such stolen articles said to litter his quarters. Many a prospective pilferer had died in the clutches of these cobras, and only one, Asman, called `the Lucky' after his one encounter with the snakes, had survived their attacks to tell me of their effectiveness. "But the theft and subsequent protection of his ill-gotten gains were not all for which Gawara Hawara used the cobras. He would sometimes hire them out as relentless assassins, even offering them to high officials for legitimate purposes if the price tendered was exorbitant enough. Whereas a man being hunted by another man could hope to use trickery or speed to escape his pursuer, or could hope to defeat him in combat if finally cornered, the same could not be said of the man chased by the iron cobras. The iron serpents were unceasing and never lost a trail once they'd found it.((2)) I was told that they were invincible in combat. Worse still, they often struck at night or when their victim was unable to defend himself, making maximum use of their stealth and deadly poison. "The cobras were not alive and did not think for themselves. Instead, they followed the commands given them by Gawara Hawara. To ensure that the commands could not be overheard and then spoken by other men, he constructed his serpents in such a way that they would respond only to commands issued by way of his flute, his naganai.((3)) No one I spoke with in Mangala knew the songs he played to command his snakes, as he refrained from playing where he could be overheard, unless the audience was not expected to survive to pass on the tune. "So," said the bard, setting aside the wood and metal 'nai and taking the plain wooden one, "I first had to learn how to play this instrument. Luckily, it being one of the more popular of those played in Mangala, I had my choice of many capable tutors, and I quickly mastered its techniques of play. Aidan, you can try to play this 'nai." Aidan took the proffered instrument and proceeded to produce two or three audible but painfully bad notes before passing it back to the bard. "Now, give it to Grainne and we'll see what sort of impression my chwibanogl lessons have made on your sister." The older girl accepted the 'nai, took a few seconds to nervously adjust her finger-holds, then played a halting but recognizable scale on it. "That's better, Grainne, especially as the 'nai can play notes quite different from the chwibanogl you're used to. You will both get the chance to continue with your lessons while I continue with this story. You'll play the tunes I show you, as it is not easy for me," he said, raising his left arm but not letting the concealing folds of his sleeve drop away from its stumped end. "Grainne shall play on the audible 'nai, while Aidan will follow along silently with the other." Aidan's expression fell for a moment as he took the silent 'nai. Perhaps Mr. Farwanderer had given him the quiet instrument to keep him from playing badly again. But the barest hint of a smirk tickled the corners of the bard's mouth, and the boy realized that there might be other reasons for the choice of instruments. His usual smile resurfaced. "Now, as I was saying," the bard resumed, his face regaining the serious expression he wore during instruction, "having learned to play the naganai, I next went to discover the tunes Gawara Hawara used. Mangala being a city of magicks, I visited a guild of magicians and asked if I could borrow from them a scrying device." "Scrying?" asked Fiona. "That's like spying," replied Aidan, looking up from his fingering of the 'nai, "but it's magic." "By paying them a fair price, leaving the rest of my instruments in their care as collateral, and promising them further payment if I was successful, I procured the loan of a pair of magical eyepieces known as `eyes of the eagle.' Equipped with these crystals, I rented a room on a hill overlooking Gawara Hawara's house. Although it was some distance away, with the crystal eyepieces I could see the mage as if he were but feet away from me. Every time he came into my sight, I watched him in hopes that he would give some command to his cobras. "A few times a day, he did make rounds of his yards, inquiring of his constructs if there had been any disturbances, then replaying their original orders or changing them if anything noteworthy had occurred. "It took me a fortnight and more before I felt confident that I had learned all of the tunes I would need. I watched closely and mastered the fingerings for a half-dozen different commands." He reached for Grainne with his one hand. "This," he said, carefully raising and lowering her fingers over the holes of the wooden naganai to a simple beat, "was the command to attack intruders. And this," he said, moving her fingers through an identical pattern, "was the command to report to Gawara Hawara." "But they're the same," Grainne complained. "Ah, the fingerings are the same, but are the songs?" "If they were loud or quiet . . . " said Grainne after a thoughtful pause. "Or if they were notes with the same fingerings but different sounds . . . " pondered Aidan. ". . . with different pitches, then the songs would differ." finished the bard. "Both good answers, and both correct. I watched Gawara Hawara even more closely for the next week to notice any signs of intonation changes or octave jumps. And by way of movements of his cheeks and lips, the way he shifted his head, and the way the muscles of his throat and mouth tightened at certain points, I was sure I had been able to determine exactly what all of the notes were and how the songs were to be played. Now, try blowing the tune the easiest way." When Grainne played a passable version of the song, giggling erupted from Fiona's direction. "I couldn't help it, Mr. Farwand'rer," the child protested before the bard could chastise her, "Aidan was blowin', too!" "I thought you meant for both of us to try it," Aidan answered as his teacher turned toward him, a look of purest mischief belying his avowed innocence. "Be that as it may, it would be to the advantage of all involved if you merely fingered along with your older sister and left the cheek puffing to another time. Now, Grainne," the bard continued, "if you were to blow doubly hard when you reach the third note, and only just whisper the last, you will find that you can play notes of different pitch at those two places, one an octave above, and one an octave below the normal pitch." Grainne now played a tune quite similar to the first with only the two requested modifications. "Very good! That first tune you played, that Aidan tried to echo, was `attack,' and the second was `report.' Of course, even if properly played on the naganai in Aidan's care, neither variation would be audible, but the method would be the same, and I assumed the result would be, too." Once in a great while, the naganai's slave would pass some of its smaller brethren along its journey, lying damaged beyond repair in the wastes of the desert or at the bottom of mountain defiles, or even lying rusted beneath the surfaces of still lakes and slow rivers. All had tried to carry out their last orders, and all had failed in their attempts. But now the servant had a new order, an order that would last until canceled.((4)) It moved quickly to fulfill its command, iron fangs parting in anticipation. "And then you got the thing?" asked Fiona, attempting to steer the story firmly away from the music lesson. "Yes, dear, it was time to make my try for the Light of Surya. I had watched the mage until I had determined just these sorts of differences between the tunes he played regularly. There were slight variations to some tunes played on different days or in different places that apparently made the commands more precise, but I was confident that the general commands I'd learned were sufficient. "I readied myself in my least conspicuous clothing, secured my all-important naganai and a few other tools of value, belted on my smallsword, and made my way through the dark of the night to his mansion's outer walls. "As I began my ascent, I thought for a moment that I spotted movement further along the garden wall. But when I paused to look more intently, I saw nothing. I told myself that it was just nervousness and finished the climb. From the wall's top, I looked for any sign of cobras in the yard but saw none. One of the reasons real cobras are dangerous is that they can disappear in the darkness and undergrowth as effectively as a skilled thief; apparently, this is one of the reasons cobras were chosen to model for these constructs. "I crept toward the manse across the compound, headed for a small door that I'd seen Gawara Hawara use but rarely--and I was almost discovered. One of his mechanical minions approached me along the path, but apparently I saw it before it saw me. I immediately stopped and attempted to blend silently into the same shadows the cobras were using for concealment, as I did not want to betray my presence by playing my 'nai too soon. The silvery snake stopped short of my concealment and spread its hood out about its head, turning in all directions as a human would turn with a hand cupped to his ear.((5)) Luckily, although it looked directly at me for a time that felt like hours, it finally refolded its hood and glided swiftly past. Evidently, it was intent on finding something or someone else. "Shaken but not unnerved by this good fortune, I waited until the iron serpent was well gone, then made for the door. It had been locked, but the device was a simple one, the mage putting trust in the abilities of his iron guardians to protect him. I left the door ajar behind me, in case I had no time later for a leisurely exit, and I proceeded cautiously forward. "It was not dark inside, for the mage had attached some small globes to the ceiling at intervals that cast magical light bright enough to allow navigation of the corridors without fear of bumping against walls or breaking crockery. I had no sure idea where the periapt was secured, but I assumed that it would be in the center of the building, away from entrances as vulnerable as the one I had come through, and that it would be close to the rooms Gawara Hawara occupied, mages and misers often surrounding themselves with their treasures. So, I made my way upward and inward. "Stealing through the mage's apartments was a nerve-wracking experience, as I paused and hid at every imagined sound. Although everything was sized for humans, there were small holes cut into the walls and doors to allow easy access for the snakes, a fact demonstrated when another inattentive iron sentinel emerged from one of these channels a short distance ahead of me and departed across the hall. "I eventually ascended a flight of stairs and arrived at a room that appeared to be the location of Gawara Hawara's room, and hopefully of the Light of Surya. Gathering my courage, I opened the last door and entered the chamber. As I'd guessed, the room contained a mass of treasure; silver, gold, gems, jewelled arms and armor, and beautiful works of art, all illuminated by the magical light-globes fixed in the doubly high ceiling. And nowhere could a cobra be seen. Made bold by this wealth of wealth and dearth of protection, I stepped in and made for an alabaster pedestal in the room's center, upon that shone the gem I sought. "And it was at this moment I learned that it is never wise to assume the unlikely. For there I was in the most important room of the mage's lair, and it did not enter my mind that he would have guarded that room more effectively than the rest of his demesne. Before I could traverse half the distance to my goal, something that I had previously taken to be a rolled carpet((6)) unfurled, showing itself to be a shockingly huge iron cobra that raised its head more than my own height above the floor.((7)) "Guessing that it would not be wise to attempt to bluff this monster, I grabbed my naganai and played the command song for it to `stand fast and report,' the tune I was most sure of. Now, Grainne, if you remember it. . . ." he said expectantly. Grainne raised the 'nai to her lips and complied, and the bard returned to his narration when she had completed a halting rendition of the command. "To my chagrin, the monstrous snake failed to pause, continuing its measured advance. Thinking that I'd mistaken the tune, I played another song" --at which point Grainne played "return to patrols" unbidden-- "but it did me no better. The cobra approached still. "Realizing that there had somehow been an error in my preparations, I drew my smallsword and took a defensive stance. Much faster than its stately stalking of me, the automaton lashed out. Desperation more than skill enabled me to jump aside at the last possible moment. As I dodged, I stabbed my blade at the automation, only to have the weapon clang and shatter against a surface stronger than my sword's cheap steel.((8)) That action was my last against the periapt's final warder. Before I could even think of another attack to make, it reared up once more and, with a lightning lunge, thrust its fangs into my shoulder and poisoned me." Years of silence had been broken less than an hour before by meaningless noise, then again minutes later by an actual command: the command to attack all but the holder of the naganai. It should have made no difference to the serpent, but it seemed to move a trifle faster through the darkness than it had before, as if to fulfil this latest order before the holder of the naganai could pick up and move away. It was the last and greatest of its kind. It would not fail now. "But you couldn't have been poisoned! You're still alive!" "The sting of a bee needn't kill to frighten away a curious boy, Aidan, and not all poisons need be fatal in order to be effective.((9)) In this case, it was enough for the venom to leave me paralyzed, lying on the flagstones until Gawara Hawara could investigate the clamor we had made; after that, my death would be assured. "I was too distraught to judge the interval, but I imagine Gawara Hawara was not long in coming. He was a tall man with a shaven pate, and he was wrapped entirely in many-layered green robes. A jewelled dagger hung at his hip, and he had in his hand the same silvered naganai that Aidan now holds. With a most evil look on his face, he approached to question me before having me disposed of. But before he could ask his first question, we both heard a clinking sound from somewhere across the room. "Whirling about, Gawara Hawara saw nothing. Only momentarily puzzled, he lifted the naganai to his lips and began to play. At first I thought the poison of the cobra had deafened me, for I heard no sound from the 'nai, but I soon realized that it must be something else for I could still hear the rustling of his robes. Immediately after this realization, a normal-size iron cobra appeared from one of the perforations in the walls. Moments later, another appeared, then a third. When they'd halted before them, Gawara Hawara played another silent tune and they opened their fans, `looking' for the unseen assailant. I discovered then that part of the magic of this naganai was that it could be heard only by his iron legions. "Of a sudden, one of the snakes ceased its rotations and a whispering sound like wind through dry leaves came from it.((10)) Hearing this, Gawara Hawara played yet another soundless song. Immediately, all of his small charges made for the shadows behind one treasure pile. "Realizing that he'd been found out, a man dressed all in black leapt from behind an urn of coins and landed beside the leading snake. Swinging downward with a glowing sword, he struck its head off with one blow, then grabbed its fallen body and slung it about him, spraying the floor between himself and the other snakes with its ichor. Then, with extraordinary calm, he took a handful of slim darts from his belt and dipped their tips in the venom dripping from the downed cobra's fangs. "Not at all dismayed by this apparently senseless act, the other snakes continued forward, but once they arrived at the pool of fluid their progress stopped. Writhe and twitch as they might, they could neither move forward nor retreat from the blood of the fallen one.((11)) That being the case, the brazen thief walked up to the plinth and plucked the Light of Surya that sat there. "This I thought was the man's only mistake, for he'd apparently forgotten about the enraged Gawara Hawara. After the mage recovered from his shock at the scene, he uttered an oath in his foreign tongue and desperately played the command to attack once more. "At this last command, the immense serpent whose head had hung over me now started after the thief. Audacious and unafraid to the end, the man in black stood his ground, selected an envenomed dart, and calmly blew it through his dart-tube at the mage. Not being interested in watching his adversary fall dead to the floor, he turned to where I lay on the floor and removed the scarves he had worn to hide his face. "To my surprise, the man was familiar, but it was not until he spoke that I recognized him. `Thank you,' Asman the Lucky said, `for showing me the way into Gawara Hawara's lair, and for showing me the Light that I have sought all these years.' Then he turned and ran down the stairs, barely eluding the monstrous cobra that followed in slow but determined pursuit. "It took me some while to get up from where I lay. Surprisingly, I was not attacked in that time. The snakes that had been stranded in the oily puddle had evidently escaped and joined the pursuit of Asman, and unless they caught him, they're probably pursuing to this day. Only the gods know where they've all gone now." On a chilly night like this, a human would call the light streaming from the windows of the two-storied building friendly. To the long, sinuous figure in the black street outside, the light was merely a signpost that its mission was coming to a close. With mechanical precision unhampered by the dents and scratches it had collected on its years-long journey, the serpentine machine advanced on the inn's front door to carry out the first order it had received since it had left the tower in Mangala. Its head lowered to serve as a ram. The door would not hold beyond the first blow. "I was too weak from the lingering effects of the poison to make much use of the treasures piled around me, so I selected a few choice and expensive pieces to make up for the loss of the prime treasure and limped out of the room. As I passed the body that had been Gawara Hawara, a cautious thought struck me and I took from his hands the magical naganai with which he had commanded his crawling weapons. Then, knowing full well that the rest of the booty would be long pillaged before I could heal and return, I painfully made my way back to my room on the other side of Mangala. Through all the intervening years, I have kept the naganai here, just in case I should happen to meet one of his iron snakes, still intent on punishing the thief and I." "Mr. Farwanderer, you can't play the 'nai anymore, so why do you still keep it around?" "Ah, Aidan, while no one can play a song on it, nor can I play many of the cobra's commands, it might still be useful." He took the instrument from the boy and quickly, almost carelessly, fingering a short flurry of soundless notes. "In an emergency, I need only remember that the tune to make the snakes resume their normal patrols, as if no enemy had been encountered, needs but a single hand to play." The serpent paused, head drawn back and flattened for the blow. Yet another new command had been given: "Resume patrols in the compound in Mangala." Clockwork eyes gleamed in the moonlight as it appeared to considered the order and reach a decision. Then, in unhurried silence, the cobra turned its 18' of iron power from its target and began the return trip across the mountains, the deserts, and the rivers to home. Iron cobras are described in the AD&D(R) 1st Edition FIEND FOLIO(R) tome, pages 52-53. It is assumed herein that these creations can be made by high-level wizards, and that they are more common than generally believed (they are certainly far less powerful than iron golems). Iron cobras have a 50% chance to hide in shadows (the FIEND FOLIO tome says they hide as well as 8th-level thieves, but this chance is 49%). 1. While they exhibit some signs of life, iron cobras are merely cunningly designed magical constructs. Rare and expensive materials, powerful spells, and secret crafting techniques are required to build them, with different combinations of these creating iron cobras with different capabilities. Still, many components are held in common by all such devices: mithral, adamantite, or meteoritic iron; a vial of oil of slipperiness; and many gemstones crafted into gears and bits of machinery. The cost of constructing even the smallest and least useful of these automatons is 2,000 gp. A mage owning a manual describing the methods of constructing iron cobras will protect it dearly, as it can fetch a price in the hundreds of gold pieces--thousands if it contains special directions such as those for creating giant iron cobras. As an aside, while these constructs are the sort of thing that the tinker gnomes of Krynn might manufacture, an iron cobra appearing in a DRAGONLANCE(R) setting would likely have come from some other universe, as the cost for tinkers to make an iron cobra would be well above 20,000 steel pieces. But if confronted with an iron cobra or the remains of one, a tinker would have to make a check vs. wisdom on 2d12 in order to tear himself away from the fascinating device. 2. Iron cobras are not alive, so they do not need food, water, or sleep, nor will they ever forget a command or be distracted from a task. Thus they make excellent servitors and, because of their combination of tracking and lethal combat capabilities, are sometimes used by bounty hunters or even respectable legal authorities. 3. Iron cobras can be commanded in many ways, the means being decided upon during creation. While most iron cobras obey voice commands, some respond only to coded messages, hand signals, nonverbal sounds (such as musical instruments) or other exotic or long-range modes of communications. The manual used to create an iron cobra includes a list of possible command devices, so that a person possessing a deactivated iron cobra and the manual from which it was created could, through trial and error, determine the one method of controlling it. The commands themselves can be of any sort the creator desires, from such simple things as "attack," to complicated orders such as "attack, targeting spell-casters first, followed by elves, then by all others." Whatever the commands, they must be selected at the time of the cobra's creation; it will answer to no commands not built into it after that. Whatever the commands and command method decided upon, they must be individually programmed into each iron cobra created. Thus the creator could use similar but subtly different commands for each of his constructs, so that determining the commands for one might not help an attacker use them against others. This would also allow the controller greater subtlety in issuing commands. 4. Many iron cobras are created with a built-in "fail-safe" command that comes into effect if the cobra spends a considerable length of time without receiving orders. Typical fail-safes include commands to return to the cobra's creator, to its owner, or to a specific place after a period of time has elapsed (up to one year). Iron cobras designed to be left alone for unlimited periods of time, such as guardians of a tomb, sometimes use other fail-safes, such as commands to slay all intruders, to prevent the theft of the treasures in the lair, or to hide and await further instructions. 5. Every iron cobra can detect a single specific property by spreading its hood and orienting it on that quality. Typical properties detected for are covered by existing divination spells (e.g., good, evil, magic, undead, invisibility, etc.); the ranges and areas of effects are as if those spells were cast by a 12th-level human mage, with the divinatory ability being usable as many times each day as desired. Other divinatory properties can be used, but the mage must have cast on the near-completed construction a spell designed (for example: a spell that detects those who worship a particular god, for one who plans to use his iron cobra against the worshipers of an opposed deity). The iron cobra's construction manual will list specific materials that must be varied according to the detection spell bestowed on it (e.g., an iron cobra designed to detect poison would include eyes glazed with celadon, purported to locate such substances, while one designed to detect magic might replace those with eyes of magic-sensing star sapphires). While an iron cobra is almost infallible at detecting the property for which it was constructed, it cannot serve every purpose. If a mage built an iron cobra to detect evil, for use as a guardian of his treasures, a neutral-good thief would elude his precautions. Thus, owners of more than one iron cobra often have them constructed to detect different properties such as evil, magic, and poison, in hopes that intruders and victims will be revealed by at least one of these traits. Without its outspread hood, an iron cobra is incapable of sensing anything beyond that which is mundanely presented to it by way of sight, sound, or touch (unlike a real snake, it has no sense of taste or smell). The hood has the same armor class as the rest of the cobra, but attacks specifically aimed at the hood can damage it without destroying the cobra itself. The hood has the equivalent of one-fifth of the cobra's normal hit points (never less than one point), but these points are in addition to those listed for the iron cobra and are not calculated into its hit-point total for purposes of destroying the machine or for experience-point calculations. 6. The normal construction of an iron cobra is such that it obviously appears to be a machine. If its creator adds 10% to its cost and construction time, the cobra can be made to have some other outward appearance, the most common of these being the appearance of an actual cobra (or other type of snake, if the hood and its detection abilities are eliminated). 7. Most iron cobras are of the small and inexpensive sort, but some are giants as large as six times standard size. The cost of manufacturing huge cobras is considerably more than six times that needed to make normal iron cobras, running as high as 50,000 gp depending on what "special features" are included. Some mages would spend those thousands on having many normal iron cobras, but some consider it a fair price for a huge serpent's combat capabilities and its effect on enemy morale. The giant iron cobra is identical in all ways with the smaller version of the same monster except as shown in the Iron Cobra Table and in other notes here. Both are unaffected by spells such as snake charm. Although some think that cold or lightning spells should have a special effect on them, they are insulated so that they suffer no more than any living creature caught in one of these spells. Thus, an ice storm cast on one would still do damage normal to the spell, but it would have no extra effects due to the nature of the target. 8. As iron cobras are made of exotic and strong metals, laced together by powerful enchantments, normal weapons used against them do only half damage on a hit. In the case of giant iron cobras, the metals used are as much as six times as thick, and the enchantments similarly stronger. Because of this, the giant iron cobra's skin is much tougher than that of the small version and a nonmagical weapon (which will do the giant cobra no harm) has a possibility of breaking against it. If the attacker misses with a roll high enough to have hit armor class 10, his weapon has struck the snake's skin and, if it fails a saving throw vs. crushing blow, it will shatter. Additionally, for every bonus point of damage done due to the attacker's strength, the saving throw for the weapon will be one point worse because such forceful blows are more likely to break the weapon. Thus, if the sword of a character with a 16 strength was forced to make a save, it would have a 5% worse chance of making its save than the weapon of a weaker character due to the stronger's +1 damage bonus. 9. Just as the iron cobra can have any sort of detection spell centered on its hood, it also can be equipped with any type of poison in its fangs. Poison can be changed by the controller of the cobra whenever desired by merely draining out the old poison and replacing it with a new one. Typical toxins include those that cause damage or death, those causing special effects such as paralysis, sleep, or various discomforts (disease, allergies, rashes, etc), and other, more exotic, substances that can incapacitate or cause insanity in victims. Whatever the substance injected into the victim on a successful hit, an iron cobra is equipped with only 3-8 (1d6+2) doses of it, and they cannot withhold poison at will; whenever they bite, if they still contain poison, it will be delivered into their victim. While giant iron cobras would appear to have capacity for more poison than normal ones, they still carry only 3-8 doses of their poison, but have larger and more potent doses. Thus, if the same poison is used by both small and giant iron cobras, that of the larger mechanism is 10% more effective (save vs. poison at -2 beyond any adjustments vs. the poison of the smaller machine). 10. While iron cobras are usually given instructions that preclude the need for return communication ("kill all intruders"), some mages consider it useful to allow their charges to communicate information as well as perform other tasks. The most common method of doing this is to program certain movements of its body to correspond to specific reports it is likely to need making. If this is done, a reporting iron cobra will look very much like a live snake as it sways its body and bobs its head to convey a message to its master. Although they are not normally constructed for it, iron cobras can also be built that have the capacity for rudimentary speech. Without lungs, lips, and other sound-generating devices, they can be made to "speak" by rasping together some of the gears in their mouths and the plates on their backs or hoods in code (so a short mouth rasp might mean "intruders have been detected," while a repeated scraping sound might mean something as mundane as "tea is being served in the library"). In no case can an untrained person interpret these noises or movements. 11. Most of the iron cobra's components are reduced to useless scrap if it is destroyed, making its resale value after destruction less than 10% of its intact value, but some substances within it retain their use if separated quickly from the rest to prevent contamination. These include the oil of slipperiness lubricating its gears, which acts as described in the Dungeon Master's Guide for 1-4 hours after being removed from the cobra, and its poison, which maintains its full effects for 1-4 turns after removal. Iron Cobra Table -- -- Normal -- Giant -- CLIMATE/TERRAIN -- Any -- Any -- -- FREQUENCY -- Very rare -- Very rare -- ORGANIZATION -- None -- None -- ACTIVITY CYCLE -- Any -- Any -- DIET -- Nil -- Nil -- INTELLIGENCE -- Non (0) -- Non (0) -- TREASURE TYPE -- 2,000+ gp -- 25,000+ gp -- -- ALIGNMENT -- Neutral -- Neutral -- NO. APPEARING -- 1 (1-6) -- 1 -- ARMOR CLASS -- 0 -- -2 -- MOVEMENT -- 12 -- 9 -- HIT DICE -- 1 -- 5 -- THAC0 -- 19 -- 15 -- NO. OF ATTACKS -- 1 -- 1 -- DAMAGE/ATTACK -- 1-3 -- 1-8 -- SPECIAL ATTACKS -- Poison -- Poison -- SPECIAL DEFENSES -- See text -- See text -- MAGIC RESISTANCE -- Nil -- Nil -- SIZE -- Small (3'long) -- Huge (18'long) -- -- MORALE -- 20 -- 20 -- -- XP VALUE -- 270 -- 1,400 -- END FILE