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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Empirate" data-source="post: 6069889" data-attributes="member: 78958">Very nice work - embedding fantastical monster in your game world's mythology should make any encounter with them more memorable, especially if some research can be done beforehand.My concern doesn't adress your background, but the actual mechanics of the fight itself. I.e., CR 5, AC 18, HP 52. Any half-competent 3rd or 4th level party can simply hack your Basilisk to pieces in a couple rounds. Short fights against single monsters are rarely what you'd call epic. What might make this memorable is if a PC gets petrified - but unless the party has researched how to cure him/her, that doesn't make the petrification event especially fun. Nor will the encounter remain at all memorable if any petrification that does occur is instantly cured after the beast is dead.I'd change a few things for these reasons. I'd simply double the Basilisk's HP and change the way its gaze works: on a failed save, you take 2 points Con damage and are dazed for a round. In the next round, you must roll another save, and if you fail, you take 2 points Con drain and are paralyzed for a round. Only on a third failed save, which you roll in the following round, do you actually get petrified. Make sure there's a way to research halfway decently how this works. You wouldn't even need to change the monster's CR with these changes, IMO.Another thing concerning your feat selection: with 20' move, the Spring Attack chain is all but useless. I'd rather go for Improved Initiative, Iron Will, and Improved Iron Will, to protect your weak-willed beastie against save-or-suck effects the party might employ. Improved Trip usually needs Combat Expertise as a prereq (which your basilisk doesn't qualify for), so maybe make it a bonus feat? Or just replace it with Power Attack.A final consideration: the <a href="http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/monsters/cockatrice.html#_cockatrice" target="_blank">Cockatrice</a> seems based on the mythical basilisk as much as the monster that actually bears its name, have you considered basing your monster on that?</blockquote>

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