Water Serpent

This spell causes a pre-existing body of water of at least thrice the caster's body volume and within spell range to animate in accordance with the caster's wishes. A serpentine mass of water that obeys the caster's wishes, biting at foes as directed. Although the “serpent” is not a sentient force, the magic compels it to follow moving targets and continue to obey a set task until its caster changes the commands governing it, so that it appears to fight or act independently of the caster's supervision.

A water serpent can rise up (to a maximum of 18 feet above the water surface) and strike at targets of the caster's choosing with a “bite” of crushing water that deals 3d8 points of damage, and strikes twice per round. The serpent is AC 1, MV swim 18, has SS hit points (dealing it more damage than that total causes it to collapse, ending the spell), and a TH ACO of 11. It cannot coil around, constrict, or tail-slap foes, being an actual “growth” of the water rather than a whole-bodied creature, but it can batter at wharves, boats, walls, and other solid objects within its reach, forcing “crushing blow” saving throws against all such items if the items are free to move (for example, if they are floating), at a -1 penalty if they are solid and immobile, and at a -2 penalty if they are composed of separate elements, such as the bricks or stones of a mortared wall or the tree-trunks of a wharf piling. It can deliver two such blows per round, or a blow and an attack (at a target creature). Attacks on creatures do not force crushing blow saving throws on worn or carried items.

Unlike the similar Umberlant spell water wyvern, a water serpent cannot be used as a steed. Nevertheless, it can be used (but only by its caster) in a single thrust that picks up the caster and propels him or her forward to a maximum of 60 feet and upward to a maximum of 20 feet. This drive can be precisely aimed, but is not stable enough to

permit spellcasting en route and provides no protection for the caster at the end of the movement. (When the serpent recoils and collapses, it ends the spell and leaves the caster moving forward with the same momentum as the thrust, and, perhaps, nothing beneath him or her.)

Such a thrust is made at MV 18, and can project beyond the body of water out of which the serpent was created. It is typically used to deposit the caster on a balcony, atop a wall, or on some other height clear of the water.

If the creator of a water serpent wills the spell to end, or the serpent passes beyond spell range, it instantly melts away, slumping back into the surrounding waters as the magic dissipates. The caster can freely cast other spells after creating a water serpent, but cannot change its directives in any round in which he or she is spellcasting. A water serpent must always be directed to attack a specific target, not multiple ones. If one is told to strike at “anything that enters through that doorway,” it attacks the first creature to do so and ignore all others, even after its quarry is dead. If told to attack “all creatures entering through that doorway,” it attacks only the first one to do so.

The material components are two fangs from any sort of aquatic creature equipped with sharp teeth (not cartilage or bony ridges, but true teeth).