Several important updates for the Serpent class, which have been in the
works and being tested for a while now in the background, have recently
gone live. These include:

- A new venom called nechamandra. Not milkable. (Serpents, you may
need to log off and back on before you're able to use this.)
- The ability to target illusions at a single person.
- The ability to suggest disrupt in hypnosis. Disrupt just like the
telepathy disrupt.
- The ability to see what venom one has afflicted with when biting with
loki.
- Increased dstab accuracy.
- A new instant-kill skill called Execution in Subterfuge.


One might note that all of these are direct, marked upgrades for the
Serpent class, similar to the last major classlead update for
Runewardens, and thus I wish to add a note of caution:

When reviewing and implementing updates from classlead reports, it is
not always going to be for the obvious benefit of the class. What we
look at is the improvement of combat and the viability of classes
against each other as a whole, and that may sometimes involve weakening
or removing a class ability, just as it may sometimes involve
strengthening or adding another. It's quite possible that one or more of
these Serpent updates will prove to be unbalanced and will need to be
removed or weakened. In summary: please don't build up expectations that
all classlead updates will involve strengthening of classes based on
these past two examples.

Cheers, and thanks to the Serpent classlead Kupo and others who helped
to brainstorm and test, notably Celania, Batista, Tehuti, and
Blujixapug!

Penned by my hand on the 11th of Ero, in the year 440 AF.