The early 4e hype said they would eliminate Save or Die effects. Have they? In that case, are there no powers like disintegration? And how do medusas work without petrification? Just looking for some clarification.
They have eliminated anything that's basically a single save vs. death.
First, a quick primer on 4e saves... Generally, all effects last at least one round. If you are taking ongoing damage, that's taken at the start of your round, before anything else. At the end of your round - after doing everything - you get to save vs. each of the effects that are on you.
Generally, saves are more or less a coin flip. 10 or higher on a d20 is a successful save. There are all kinds of ways to modify this, however... Wizards can inflict penalties, special powers can, feats and items can give you bonuses against certain conditions... Anyway, this will work for the moment.
Disintegrate: Much like in 3.5, it's not a single save vs. death. It's got two main uses - utility-wise, you can use it to zap an inanimate object, and it turns into dust. Or, if you use it to zap a creature, it does a hefty amount of damage, a serious amount of ongoing damage, and when you save against
that, you have a lower amount of ongoing damage until you save one last time. It's not a weak spell, basically.... you take a lot of damage at first, then it works on dissolving you for at least 2 more rounds.
Medusas are pretty tense; we had one last session. Instead of turning an enemy instantly into stone, the petrification happens over a few rounds. Much like you'd expect, they have a gaze attack vs. Fortitude. If it hits, the target is slowed. On a failed save, the target is immobilized. If they fail the save on the second round, they're petrified. It only amounts to a 20% chance of petrification each time a character is affected by the gaze, but remember that combats last quite a few more rounds in 4e, and that medusae have more HPs than you'd expect. They also have some very potent poison (which boosts their petrifying gaze), and a good ranged attack.
I've found that the series of saves is a really fun effect. It gives the character's allies a chance to do something about the condition (by giving them extra saves with their own abilities), while gradually ratcheting up the tension.
-O