The upcoming Monster Manual will feature artwork depicting some creatures like hags and medusas in both genders, a first for Dungeons & Dragons. In the "Everything You Need to Know" video for the upcoming Monster Manual, designers Jeremy Crawford and Wesley Schneider revealed that the new book would feature artwork portraying both male and female versions of creatures like hags, dryads, satyrs, and medusas. While there was a male medusa named Marlos Urnrayle in Princes of the Apocalypse (who had a portrait in the book) and players could make satyr PCs of either gender, this marks the first time that D&D has explicitly shown off several of these creatures as being of both male and female within a rulebook. There is no mechanical difference between male creatures and female creatures, so this is solely a change in how some monsters are presented.
In other news that actually does impact D&D mechanics, goblins are now classified as fey creatures (similar to how hobgoblins were portrayed as fey creatures in Monsters of the Multiverse) and gnolls are now classified as fiends.
Additionally, monster statblocks include potential treasure and gear options, so that DMs can reward loot when a player character inevitably searches the dead body of a creature.
The new Monster Manual will be released on February 18th, 2025.
Is there in the 5e 2024 MM the indication that male Medusa have the Maedar lore, or are they just treated as Medusa, except male?
I am interested since having them in male and female sex means that medusas reproduce sexually and raise children. Which is OK with maedar being immunue to medusa gaze and potentially taking care of the youngsters (with the possibility that the petryfing gaze starts with puberty, so young medusas can cohabit with their male versions before leaving the lair when they start exhibiting a weak version of their gaze). Also, hunting tactics made sense because of the alternate power. But if they are just male Medusa, I wonder how they do that...
The 1e MM and MM II and Fiend Folio each have unique demon lords and archdevils and unique things like the Elemental and Slaad Lords that have also remained uniques through editions.
Those are planar beings, and to my knowledge, all D&D worlds share the same planes. (Some are more connected than others).
If Medusa was a powerful planar entity that held a realm somewhere in the outer planes, that wouldn't be an issue. But if we're talking about a single creature living on a single World, and those belong in campaign books, not the MM.
Anyway, the point is that a lot of named creatures got turned into generic monsters so you can kill them again and again...
Maybe there can be four common sexes... male and female medusae, plus male and female maedar. Either way you split it it takes one medusa and one maedar to actually propagate the species.
Maybe there can be four common sexes... male and female medusae, plus male and female maedar. Either way you split it it takes one medusa and one maedar to actually propagate the species.
I do like that idea, but I use Incubu/Succubi as the energy vampire creatures in my games. They feed off of passion of any type. Lust, an artist’s passion for theirs creations, intense friendships, bloodlust, and more can all feed a Succubus. Having energy vampire hags would be a bit redundant for me.
..., a one-and-only Medusa would have ended up the same way. Unless she was treated as a unique NPC to one specific setting, she'd end up on every world which would facilitate there being multiple regardless.
The problem here is Medusa wasn't the only gorgon. She had two sisters who could also turn people to stone. Nothing prevents her parents from having other gorgons, or even the three gorgons giving birth to other gorgons.
I mean, Medusa had two offspring posthumously (a winged horse and a male humanoid with a golden sword) in one of the weirdest forms of cesarean births possible, via the neck. Is it less plausible she could have given birth to other gorgons?
I am pretty sure Medusae are immune to petrification. Even in movies like Clash of the Titans, the reflective shield is used to see the Medusa in it, not to have it reflect her gaze.
The problem here is Medusa wasn't the only gorgon. She had two sisters who could also turn people to stone. Nothing prevents her parents from having other gorgons, or even the three gorgons giving birth to other gorgons.
I mean, Medusa had two offspring posthumously (a winged horse and a male humanoid with a golden sword) in one of the weirdest forms of cesarean births possible, via the neck. Is it less plausible she could have given birth to other gorgons?
And hilariously, then D&D went and used the Gorgon name for a completely unrelated bronze-scaled Bull creature that can also petrify things... The idea taken from an old book on animals (that has a lot of made-up fantastical ones).
I think since Stehno and Euryale were immortal, they could possibly go on and have more offspring. The game Titan Quest explain the presence of a lot of Gorgons this way.
Consider the tarrasque. It was stated in older lore that there was only one in existence. But that leads to some odd lore issues. If you have a group of players fight and kill it, no other group could. And if there is only one, where does it live? So it became "every D&D world has a tarrasque" which defeated the purpose of making it only one in existence. Pretty soon, things like "tarrasques wander the hinterlands of the Outlands, beyond the gate towns" or "there is a crystal sphere with Planet Tarrasque in it" was implied in the lore. Still, canonically, the idea that there was one tarrasque in all of creation became an unknown number across multiple worlds that has been killed an unknown amount of times.
There is still only one Tarrasque. As far as I know, it can regenerate from even a loose scale of it, the only way to kill it would be to destroy all the remains and cast Wish on it. Even so, it usually comes back, much like the Godzilla that it is partially based on. Usually, parties can only hope to trap it, cause it to go back to sleep, or - more likely - use some sort of powerful teleportation or plane-shift magic to take it somewhere else, so it becomes some other unfortunate universe's problem.
I don’t have anything against turning creatures from mythology/folklore that were supposed to be one of a kind into the name of their entire species in D&D (Minotaurs, Goliaths, Tritons, et cetera). What bugs me about the name “Medusas” is that there was already a term for the type of creature Medusa is in Greek Mythology; Gorgons. Calling all Gorgons “Medusas” is like calling all Centaurs “Chirons,” all Wizards “Gandalfs,” or all Dragons “Smaugs.” That just seems weird to me.
Feels kinda odd to get angry about this NOW, when D&D is like, 50 years old. You are a bit late to the party.
They could have also been called Stehnos and Euryales... and funnily, there ARE fantasy games where those are also not names, but subspecies of Medusae.
Thing is by now, it is not just D&D that calls Gorgons Medusae, but several video game franchises and other RPGs. JRPGs in particular, but Heroes of Might and Magic as well.
And the name Gorgon has been used for another, unrelated but also petrifying monster by D&D, so they cannot really re-use that. (See above). And Pathfinder and Heroes of Might and Magic has got those as well!
Even Magic the Gathering calls them Medusae. At least they were that in Theros.
About a decade ago, I participated in an Inktober challenge. Can't remember the theme. Anyways, I did an illustration of a male Gorgon Medusa resembling Idris Elba (imagine those golden eyes from his time as an Asgardian in the MCU).
Got a few responses like "Hm a male medusa eh? I suppose that could work" or "I never thought of that!".
It's so ingrained that certain monsters are always male or female. It's like those people who are, like, "Dogs are boys, cats are girls". GROAN.
The funny thing is, D&D 5E did have a male "Medusa" since Princes of the Apocalypse... The Elemental Earth Cult prophet, Marlos Urnrayle! He even got a Nolzur's miniature, bundled with the Medusa. Mind you his snake hair and petrification powers were a gift from Ogremoch, and he was a Human originally, but he looks the part.
Is there in the 5e 2024 MM the indication that male Medusa have the Maedar lore, or are they just treated as Medusa, except male?
I am interested since having them in male and female sex means that medusas reproduce sexually and raise children. Which is OK with maedar being immunue to medusa gaze and potentially taking care of the youngsters (with the possibility that the petryfing gaze starts with puberty, so young medusas can cohabit with their male versions before leaving the lair when they start exhibiting a weak version of their gaze). Also, hunting tactics made sense because of the alternate power. But if they are just male Medusa, I wonder how they do that...
Just because somebody brings up a complaint now, doesn't mean it wasn't an issue before. The medusa/gorgon thing bugged me when I first encountered it 37 years ago, and it still bugs me today.
