VelvetViolet
Adventurer
I had this simple idea for an aex (plural aexes), a male counterpart to the medusa. I’d use the name maedar, but WotC might sue, so I’m using the name of Medusa’s gorgon father according to the classical writer Hyginus. All text below is designated open game content.
Aex (Male Medusa)
The man stands before you, with a sneer on his lips. He is clean-shaven, seemingly hairless and there seems to be something vaguely cold about him. With a hiss, the smooth flesh of his belly splits down the center and a twisting mass of serpents lashes out of the wet crimson split, fangs dripping with poison.
AEX CR 12
XP 19,200
LE Medium monstrous humanoid
Init +2; Senses all-around vision (with snakes), heatsense 80 ft. (with snakes); Perception +17 (+21 with snakes)
Defense
AC 19, touch 12, flat-footed 17 (+2 Dex, +7 natural)
hp 76 (9d10+27);
Fort +6, Ref +8, Will +8
DR 10/magic; Immune paralysis, poison, sleep effects; Resist cold 10; SR 23
Weakness blind
Offense
Speed 30 ft., swim 30 ft.
Melee mwk scimitar +10/+5 (1d6+3/18-20), mwk scimitar +10 (1d6+3/18-20), 8 snake bites +10 (1d4+1 plus grab plus poison) or 8 snake bites +12 (1d4+3 plus grab plus poison)
Space 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft. (10 ft. with snakes)
Special Attacks constrict (1d4+3), poison, snakes
Typical Sorcerer Spells Known (CL=HD, default 9)
4th (5/day, DC 17)—bestow curse, mass reduce person
3rd (7/day, DC 16)—blink, ray of exhaustion, vampiric touch
2nd (7/day, DC 15)—blindness/deafness, ghoul touch, mirror image, scare
1st (7/day, DC 14)—charm person, chill touch, ray of enfeeblement, reduce person, shield
0 (at will, DC 13)—acid splash, daze, detect magic, flare, ghost sound, message, read magic, touch of fatigue
Statistics
Str 17, Dex 15, Con 17, Int 15, Wis 15, Cha 17
Base Atk +9; CMB +12; CMD 24
Feats Blind-Fight, Extend Spell, Multiattackᴮ, Skill Focus (Perception), Two-Weapon Fighting, Weapon Focus (scimitar)
Skills Bluff +12, Craft (alchemy) +14, Disguise +9, Intimidate +14, Knowledge (arcana) +15, Perception +17 (+21 with snakes), Sense Motive +2 (+10 with snakes), Spellcraft +6, Stealth +14, Swim +14; Racial Modifiers Disguise +6, Knowledge (arcana) +4, Perception +4 when using heatsense, Sense Motive +8 when using heatsense, Spellcraft +4, Swim +8
Languages Common
Special Abilities
All-Around Vision (Ex) An aex’s snakes allows him to see in all directions. Aexes gain a +4 racial bonus to Perception checks and cannot be flanked.
Heatsense (Ex) An aex’s snakes can sense infrared heat patterns (such as the body heat of living warm-blooded creatures) within 80 feet as though the snakes had blindsight. The snakes are not distracted or blinded by other sources of heat and it works even if all of the aex’s other senses are blinded. However, it doesn’t work if the snakes’ heat-sensitive pits are blocked or covered. Some creatures, like the undead or the incorporeal, may not have a discernible heat signature, if any at all.
An aex using the heatsense ability gains a +8 racial bonus when using Sense Motive to detect if a creature is lying or not, or to interpret the creature’s true emotional state if it’s not already apparent. They don’t gain this advantage using the skill on cold-blooded creatures.
Poison (Ex) Snake bite—injury; save Fort DC 17; frequency 1/round for 6 rounds; effect 1d3 Str; cure 2 consecutive saves. The save DC is Constitution-based.
Scimitar—as per snake bite. This poison is alchemically distilled from the aex’s own snake venom.
Snakes (Ex) An average aex has 1d6+9 venomous constrictor snakes attached to its spine inside its abdomen, but can only strike with up to 8 snakes at once. These snakes attack as their own entities and act independently from the aex—should an aex be rendered unconscious, the snakes are still active (though if the aex dies, the snakes perish as well).
To sever a snake, an opponent must make a sunder attempt with a slashing weapon targeting a snake. A snake is considered a separate weapon with hardness 0 and hit points equal to the aex’s HD. To sever a snake, an opponent must inflict enough damage to reduce the snake’s hit points to 0 or less. Severing a snake deals damage to the aex’s body equal to the aex’s HD. An aex can’t attack with a severed snake, but takes no other penalties. When a snake is destroyed, it regrows in 1d4 weeks.
Spells All aexes cast spells as a sorcerer of a level equal to the aex’s HD (DC 13 + spell level). They favor spells that in some way diminish, pain, or warp their opponents, often tending toward Necromancy or Transmutation spells.
Ecology
Environment any land and underground
Organization solitary, pair (1 aex plus 1 medusa), or cabal (1d2 aexes plus 1d3+1 medusas)
Treasure double standard
While often dismissed as a mere folk legend, the aex (plural aexes) is the male counterpart of the medusa. An aex looks like any human male, usually with an earthy complexion like the medusa, but have a few minor and major differences from other men. Aexes are universally blind due to an absent or deformed optic nerve at birth, though their eyes otherwise look normal. Aexes completely lack any head and body hair, though wigs or a potion of hair growth can conceal this for a time. Their most notable and easily overlooked feature is a thin scar running from the bottom of the breastbone to the top of the groin of every aex. This “scar” is actually an orifice, and it can split open to reveal a nest of venomous constrictor snakes growing out of the aex’s body cavity. These “snakes,” while having blind underdeveloped eyes, can sense heat sources with heat-sensitive pits in their snouts to make up for the aex’s lack of sight. Lastly, if one were to carefully flay an aex's skin, a fine layer of highly flexible and resilient scales would be found beneath just on top of the bare muscle.
Due to both their innocuous outward appearance and the fact they make up under a third of the medusa population, aexes aren’t as well known as their female counterparts. Medusas and aexes will produce pure medusa and aex offspring with human and half-human partners, sometimes to the detriment of the human parent who would not survive seeing a medusa child. For this reason, medusas and aexes generally couple only with those who are blind or able to accept (and prepare for) their partner’s nature.
It is unknown why aexes are blind, as medusas are immune to the gaze of their own kind and it stands to reason that aexes would be too if they could see. A folktale among the medusas to explain this discrepancy claims that the aexes didn’t always exist, but were artificially created. So the story goes, a blind man (usually named Aex or Aegis) fell in love with a medusa and had several children by her. However, while his daughters were healthy, all his sons were stillborn. Seeking a solution, he sought out a witch for a solution. The witch subjected him to special rituals of transformation that made him the first aex and, in a twist of irony, all the sons that followed were as blind as their progenitor. Many variations on this tale exist, changing or adding various details to tell a different lesson, whatever that lesson is supposed to be.
Aexes usually try to conceal their true nature if at all possible. They typically fight with weapons and spellcasting as if they were human, even to the point of adopting popular skirmish tactics. If there is no way to prevent their nature from being revealed, however, they pull their bellies open to bite at opponents with their serpentine heads. Their lairs are often defended with traps, magical and otherwise, as well as a kennel (1d3+2) of dracolisks (half-dragon/half-basilisks).
15. COPYRIGHT NOTICE
Open Game License v 1.0a Copyright 2000, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.
System Reference Document Copyright 2000-2003, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.; Authors Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, Skip Williams, Rich Baker, Andy Collins, David Noonan, Rich Redman, Bruce R. Cordell, John D. Rateliff, Thomas Reid, James Wyatt, based on original material by E. Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson.
Creature Collection Copyright 2000, Clark Peterson.
Open game content from The Slayer’s Guide to Yuan-Ti copyright 2002, Mongoose Publishing.
Creature Collection Revised Copyright 2003, White Wolf Publishing, Inc.
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook. © 2009, Paizo Publishing, LLC; Author: Jason Bulmahn, based on material by Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, and Skip Williams.
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary. © 2009, Paizo Publishing, LLC; Author: Jason Bulmahn, based on material by Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, and Skip Williams.
New Monster: The Aex Copyright 2014, Author Kurt Marinko.
Aex (Male Medusa)
The man stands before you, with a sneer on his lips. He is clean-shaven, seemingly hairless and there seems to be something vaguely cold about him. With a hiss, the smooth flesh of his belly splits down the center and a twisting mass of serpents lashes out of the wet crimson split, fangs dripping with poison.
AEX CR 12
XP 19,200
LE Medium monstrous humanoid
Init +2; Senses all-around vision (with snakes), heatsense 80 ft. (with snakes); Perception +17 (+21 with snakes)
Defense
AC 19, touch 12, flat-footed 17 (+2 Dex, +7 natural)
hp 76 (9d10+27);
Fort +6, Ref +8, Will +8
DR 10/magic; Immune paralysis, poison, sleep effects; Resist cold 10; SR 23
Weakness blind
Offense
Speed 30 ft., swim 30 ft.
Melee mwk scimitar +10/+5 (1d6+3/18-20), mwk scimitar +10 (1d6+3/18-20), 8 snake bites +10 (1d4+1 plus grab plus poison) or 8 snake bites +12 (1d4+3 plus grab plus poison)
Space 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft. (10 ft. with snakes)
Special Attacks constrict (1d4+3), poison, snakes
Typical Sorcerer Spells Known (CL=HD, default 9)
4th (5/day, DC 17)—bestow curse, mass reduce person
3rd (7/day, DC 16)—blink, ray of exhaustion, vampiric touch
2nd (7/day, DC 15)—blindness/deafness, ghoul touch, mirror image, scare
1st (7/day, DC 14)—charm person, chill touch, ray of enfeeblement, reduce person, shield
0 (at will, DC 13)—acid splash, daze, detect magic, flare, ghost sound, message, read magic, touch of fatigue
Statistics
Str 17, Dex 15, Con 17, Int 15, Wis 15, Cha 17
Base Atk +9; CMB +12; CMD 24
Feats Blind-Fight, Extend Spell, Multiattackᴮ, Skill Focus (Perception), Two-Weapon Fighting, Weapon Focus (scimitar)
Skills Bluff +12, Craft (alchemy) +14, Disguise +9, Intimidate +14, Knowledge (arcana) +15, Perception +17 (+21 with snakes), Sense Motive +2 (+10 with snakes), Spellcraft +6, Stealth +14, Swim +14; Racial Modifiers Disguise +6, Knowledge (arcana) +4, Perception +4 when using heatsense, Sense Motive +8 when using heatsense, Spellcraft +4, Swim +8
Languages Common
Special Abilities
All-Around Vision (Ex) An aex’s snakes allows him to see in all directions. Aexes gain a +4 racial bonus to Perception checks and cannot be flanked.
Heatsense (Ex) An aex’s snakes can sense infrared heat patterns (such as the body heat of living warm-blooded creatures) within 80 feet as though the snakes had blindsight. The snakes are not distracted or blinded by other sources of heat and it works even if all of the aex’s other senses are blinded. However, it doesn’t work if the snakes’ heat-sensitive pits are blocked or covered. Some creatures, like the undead or the incorporeal, may not have a discernible heat signature, if any at all.
An aex using the heatsense ability gains a +8 racial bonus when using Sense Motive to detect if a creature is lying or not, or to interpret the creature’s true emotional state if it’s not already apparent. They don’t gain this advantage using the skill on cold-blooded creatures.
Poison (Ex) Snake bite—injury; save Fort DC 17; frequency 1/round for 6 rounds; effect 1d3 Str; cure 2 consecutive saves. The save DC is Constitution-based.
Scimitar—as per snake bite. This poison is alchemically distilled from the aex’s own snake venom.
Snakes (Ex) An average aex has 1d6+9 venomous constrictor snakes attached to its spine inside its abdomen, but can only strike with up to 8 snakes at once. These snakes attack as their own entities and act independently from the aex—should an aex be rendered unconscious, the snakes are still active (though if the aex dies, the snakes perish as well).
To sever a snake, an opponent must make a sunder attempt with a slashing weapon targeting a snake. A snake is considered a separate weapon with hardness 0 and hit points equal to the aex’s HD. To sever a snake, an opponent must inflict enough damage to reduce the snake’s hit points to 0 or less. Severing a snake deals damage to the aex’s body equal to the aex’s HD. An aex can’t attack with a severed snake, but takes no other penalties. When a snake is destroyed, it regrows in 1d4 weeks.
Spells All aexes cast spells as a sorcerer of a level equal to the aex’s HD (DC 13 + spell level). They favor spells that in some way diminish, pain, or warp their opponents, often tending toward Necromancy or Transmutation spells.
Ecology
Environment any land and underground
Organization solitary, pair (1 aex plus 1 medusa), or cabal (1d2 aexes plus 1d3+1 medusas)
Treasure double standard
While often dismissed as a mere folk legend, the aex (plural aexes) is the male counterpart of the medusa. An aex looks like any human male, usually with an earthy complexion like the medusa, but have a few minor and major differences from other men. Aexes are universally blind due to an absent or deformed optic nerve at birth, though their eyes otherwise look normal. Aexes completely lack any head and body hair, though wigs or a potion of hair growth can conceal this for a time. Their most notable and easily overlooked feature is a thin scar running from the bottom of the breastbone to the top of the groin of every aex. This “scar” is actually an orifice, and it can split open to reveal a nest of venomous constrictor snakes growing out of the aex’s body cavity. These “snakes,” while having blind underdeveloped eyes, can sense heat sources with heat-sensitive pits in their snouts to make up for the aex’s lack of sight. Lastly, if one were to carefully flay an aex's skin, a fine layer of highly flexible and resilient scales would be found beneath just on top of the bare muscle.
Due to both their innocuous outward appearance and the fact they make up under a third of the medusa population, aexes aren’t as well known as their female counterparts. Medusas and aexes will produce pure medusa and aex offspring with human and half-human partners, sometimes to the detriment of the human parent who would not survive seeing a medusa child. For this reason, medusas and aexes generally couple only with those who are blind or able to accept (and prepare for) their partner’s nature.
It is unknown why aexes are blind, as medusas are immune to the gaze of their own kind and it stands to reason that aexes would be too if they could see. A folktale among the medusas to explain this discrepancy claims that the aexes didn’t always exist, but were artificially created. So the story goes, a blind man (usually named Aex or Aegis) fell in love with a medusa and had several children by her. However, while his daughters were healthy, all his sons were stillborn. Seeking a solution, he sought out a witch for a solution. The witch subjected him to special rituals of transformation that made him the first aex and, in a twist of irony, all the sons that followed were as blind as their progenitor. Many variations on this tale exist, changing or adding various details to tell a different lesson, whatever that lesson is supposed to be.
Aexes usually try to conceal their true nature if at all possible. They typically fight with weapons and spellcasting as if they were human, even to the point of adopting popular skirmish tactics. If there is no way to prevent their nature from being revealed, however, they pull their bellies open to bite at opponents with their serpentine heads. Their lairs are often defended with traps, magical and otherwise, as well as a kennel (1d3+2) of dracolisks (half-dragon/half-basilisks).
15. COPYRIGHT NOTICE
Open Game License v 1.0a Copyright 2000, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.
System Reference Document Copyright 2000-2003, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.; Authors Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, Skip Williams, Rich Baker, Andy Collins, David Noonan, Rich Redman, Bruce R. Cordell, John D. Rateliff, Thomas Reid, James Wyatt, based on original material by E. Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson.
Creature Collection Copyright 2000, Clark Peterson.
Open game content from The Slayer’s Guide to Yuan-Ti copyright 2002, Mongoose Publishing.
Creature Collection Revised Copyright 2003, White Wolf Publishing, Inc.
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook. © 2009, Paizo Publishing, LLC; Author: Jason Bulmahn, based on material by Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, and Skip Williams.
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary. © 2009, Paizo Publishing, LLC; Author: Jason Bulmahn, based on material by Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, and Skip Williams.
New Monster: The Aex Copyright 2014, Author Kurt Marinko.
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