D&D 5E Holy crap, that's cool

[Tormyr]

Actually, that's not quite my complaint. My complaint is that I have to signpost these kinds of monsters in a way that I don't have to for standard monsters. If I want to use a basilisk, then I have to scatter statuary around the place, just to warn the players that a basilisk is in the area. Fine for a basilisk, but what about a pylrolisk? It's not like they leave anything to find. Why is every medusa stupid enough to leave signs of her presence everywhere? Medusa's are as smart as humans.

It's annoying because it means that every encounter with these monsters is too similar for my tastes.

charred and mangled corpses?

 

[Riley37]

If I want to use a basilisk, then I have to scatter statuary around the place, just to warn the players that a basilisk is in the area. Fine for a basilisk, but what about a pylrolisk? It's not like they leave anything to find. Why is every medusa stupid enough to leave signs of her presence everywhere? Medusa's are as smart as humans.

Okay, fine: if you were a medusa, what would YOU do about the statues?

Also, if you were a medusa, what would do you when you *weren't* turning people into statues, or removing those statues? Do you enjoy turning people into statues? Do you gain any objective benefit from turning people into statues? If you demand consistency, then go all the way, please.

The source material which gives us the Medusa story doesn't have the problem of overly similar encounters, because Medusa was a *unique individual*, a human under a horrible curse. IMO, that's a much better story than "you encounter yet another medusa because I rolled yet again on the same random monster table. Oh, so I guess that means you saw some statues recently". I mean, even *Nethack* uses Medusa better than that.

The Corpses of Previous Victims is a common marker for the lair of a Big Bad Monster, such as the Vorpal Bunny. Gnawed bones among scattered bits of armor, or hung from trees as intentional warnings. I've never been near a crocodile's lair, but given their feeding habits, I imagine it would stink horribly. A pyrolisk might leave piles of ash; a pylrolisk, however, has an extra L, and thus would leave plies of lash.

Meh. AmerginLiath has already won the thread (basilisks going on blind dates).

 

[Ridley's Cohort]

So this means that there are likely many petrified basilisks in and around basilisk breeding grounds.

Not completely unreasonable. The bigger and stronger will more easily make saves, so the small/young should flee against an obviously bigger foe.

 

[Hussar]

Okay, fine: if you were a medusa, what would YOU do about the statues?

Also, if you were a medusa, what would do you when you *weren't* turning people into statues, or removing those statues? Do you enjoy turning people into statues? Do you gain any objective benefit from turning people into statues? If you demand consistency, then go all the way, please.

The source material which gives us the Medusa story doesn't have the problem of overly similar encounters, because Medusa was a *unique individual*, a human under a horrible curse. IMO, that's a much better story than "you encounter yet another medusa because I rolled yet again on the same random monster table. Oh, so I guess that means you saw some statues recently". I mean, even *Nethack* uses Medusa better than that.

The Corpses of Previous Victims is a common marker for the lair of a Big Bad Monster, such as the Vorpal Bunny. Gnawed bones among scattered bits of armor, or hung from trees as intentional warnings. I've never been near a crocodile's lair, but given their feeding habits, I imagine it would stink horribly. A pyrolisk might leave piles of ash; a pylrolisk, however, has an extra L, and thus would leave plies of lash.

Meh. AmerginLiath has already won the thread (basilisks going on blind dates).

Hammers work. . And maedar. I would assume that a reasonably intelligent medusa would only use her gaze against real threats. A girl's gotta eat after all.

I don't think crocodiles have lairs and I image most of their victims are at the bottom of the river.

 

[SigmaOne]

Didn't realize this was a resurfaced thread.

Read the first post.

Thought, "yeah!" and went to click XP.

Realized I'd already XP'd this thread.

Would do it again if I could.

 

[Reynard]

Actually, that's not quite my complaint. My complaint is that I have to signpost these kinds of monsters in a way that I don't have to for standard monsters. If I want to use a basilisk, then I have to scatter statuary around the place, just to warn the players that a basilisk is in the area. Fine for a basilisk, but what about a pylrolisk? It's not like they leave anything to find. Why is every medusa stupid enough to leave signs of her presence everywhere? Medusa's are as smart as humans.

It's annoying because it means that every encounter with these monsters is too similar for my tastes.

I don't know -- it's not like goblin raids, chimera attacks or any other non-save-or-die monster doesn't leave evidence of its passing. if the party spends any significant amount of time in a goblin infested area, for example, they should find plenty of evidence that goblins are about and should gain the benefits of planning accordingly and suffer the consequences of ignoring that information.

Plus, the great thing about assumptions is that they are fun to toy with. I once planted clues about a snake woman that turned men to stone which ended up being a Yaun-ti and her pet cockatrice rather than a medusa. Especially for players that have been at this for a long time, I find they appreciate those kinds of bait and switch encounters because, like you said, encounters with very schtick oriented creatures can feel samey.

 

[Reynard]

Hammers work. . And maedar. I would assume that a reasonably intelligent medusa would only use her gaze against real threats. A girl's gotta eat after all.

What we really need is a stone eating creature that we can use as medusa/cockatrice/basilisk markers. You don't find statues, you find pebbly scat!

 

[Thunderfoot]

No you still age, you just look awesome - lol

 

[Thunderfoot]

Hammers work. . And maedar. I would assume that a reasonably intelligent medusa would only use her gaze against real threats. A girl's gotta eat after all.

[MENTION=22779]Hussar[/MENTION] Nice to see someone else read the "Ecology of a Maedar" in Dragon years ago - one of my favorite articles on monster ecology and the one that set me to thinking about ecology in the greater gaming universe when I start making dungeons.

 

[Hussar]

I don't know -- it's not like goblin raids, chimera attacks or any other non-save-or-die monster doesn't leave evidence of its passing. if the party spends any significant amount of time in a goblin infested area, for example, they should find plenty of evidence that goblins are about and should gain the benefits of planning accordingly and suffer the consequences of ignoring that information.

Plus, the great thing about assumptions is that they are fun to toy with. I once planted clues about a snake woman that turned men to stone which ended up being a Yaun-ti and her pet cockatrice rather than a medusa. Especially for players that have been at this for a long time, I find they appreciate those kinds of bait and switch encounters because, like you said, encounters with very schtick oriented creatures can feel samey.

But this is a bit different. Rumours that there is a gobin or chimera about are fine, as are rumours of a medusa. That's cool. This goes a bit beyond finding some scat or burned wagons though. Basically every medusa/basilisk/cockatrice has a statue garden within spitting distance of their lair, just to conveniently tell adventurers that they are very close to finding them.

Do your goblins leave signs outside their holes saying, "Hey, goblin hole, beware small corridors, but, don't worry about bigger monsters"?