Staff of the Python 5e magic item

Staff, uncommon (requires attunement by a cleric, druid, or warlock) · 2024 version below

Type: Staff
Rarity: Uncommon
Attunement: Required
Price (2014): 101–500 gp (DMG value range)
Price (2024): 400 gp

You can use an action to speak this staff's command word and throw the staff on the ground within 10 feet of you. The staff becomes a giant constrictor snake under your control and acts on its own initiative count. By using a bonus action to speak the command word again, you return the staff to its normal form in a space formerly occupied by the snake.

On your turn, you can mentally command the snake if it is within 60 feet of you and you aren't incapacitated. You decide what action the snake takes and where it moves during its next turn, or you can issue it a general command, such as to attack your enemies or guard a location.

If the snake is reduced to 0 hit points, it dies and reverts to its staff form. The staff then shatters and is destroyed. If the snake reverts to staff form before losing all its hit points, it regains all of them.

Staff of the Python in the 2024 rules

The 2024 Dungeon Master’s Guide revised the magic items, and the SRD 5.2 carries the new text. What changed:

Same rarity and attunement; the text is reworded for the 2024 rules glossary.

Type: Staff
Rarity: Uncommon
Attunement: Required

As a Magic action, you can throw this staff so that it lands in an unoccupied space within 10 feet of you, causing the staff to become a Giant Constrictor Snake in that space. The snake is under your control and shares your Initiative count, taking its turn immediately after yours.

On your turn, you can mentally command the snake (no action required) if it is within 60 feet of you and you don't have the Incapacitated condition. You decide what action the snake takes and where it moves during its turn, or you can issue it a general command, such as to attack your enemies or guard a location. Absent commands from you, the snake defends itself.

As a Bonus Action, you can command the snake to revert to staff form in its current space, and you can't use the staff's property again for 1 hour. If the snake is reduced to 0 Hit Points, it dies and reverts to its staff form; the staff then shatters and is destroyed. If the snake reverts to staff form before losing all its Hit Points, it regains all of them.

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