On Toril, of the Forgotten Realms, lies a continent far to the Southwest of Faerun. Katashaka was the original home of multiple different tribes of humans that now inhabit the Chultan Peninsula, such as Eshowe, Tabaxi, and Thinguth. This is even where the Tabaxi language first came to be.
Among those who hail from Katashaka is a mercenary company called the Anaconda. Coming from an honorable and sophisticated culture, members of the Anaconda keep their cultural secrets to themselves, such as their language. They worship an unnamed snake god, and the organization only recruited married couples.
Monks of the Way of the Serpent are excellent scouts and combatants. Engaging in skirmish tactics, Serpent Monks attack in the dead of night, augmented by darkvision. Monks that follow the Way of the Serpent, study an ancient philosophy and fighting style similar to that of the Anaconda, though with key differences.
The Anaconda uses potions to grant themselves temporary infravision, whereas Serpent Monks channel their ki to grant themselves darkvision. The Anaconda will occasionally resort to the use of poisoned blowdarts when facing overwhelming odds, while Serpent Monks channel their ki to poison their unarmed strikes. While followers of the Way of the Serpent have learned to channel their ki in different ways to grant themselves effective abilities that the Anaconda would otherwise rely on equipment and technology for, the Anaconda's training allows them to maintain effeciency for long periods of time, whereas Serpent Monks not-so-much when they've drained their ki.
Play this subclass if you would like your Monk to learn into abilities normally found in Rogue and Ranger subclasses. Avoid this class if you want a subclass that is strictly combat-oriented.
- from the publisher's blurb