Invisible Medusa and her Gaze Attack?

[hong]

Ah, but what if it was an illusion of a mirror in a totally dark room?

Bump

 

[Ranes]

Why? Why am I doing this? I'm only going to get honged for my trouble.

All right. We're talking about a vampiric medusa with true seeing in a totally dark room with an illusionary mirror in it, correct? And the question is: does she have to make a saving throw against getting petrified when she looks in the mirror, right?

In that case, no. My answer would be yes, if she didn't have the true seeing up.

 

[Sithobi1]

But if it's a vampire, it won't have a reflection, so it can't use its gaze attack on itself, since it's effectively invisible to itself in the mirror.

 

[Ranes]

I'll admit I'm not that familiar with D&D vampires but I don't see the reference to it not being able to see its own reflection. I know that's traditional vampire myth but all I see in the MM is that it can't get too close to a mirror.

 

[hong]

Everybody assumed it was an (illusion of a mirror) in a totally dark room. Little did they know, it was IN FACT an illusion of (a mirror in a totally dark room). And NOW, my FIENDISH PLAN is COMPLETE!

 

[phindar]

Fiendish, though I'm not sure I buy it. An illusion of darkness? Why have darkness spells if a lower level illusion (since darkness doesn't need to make noise) does the job, and has the added benefit of letting the caster and his allies see through it?

 

[Quartz]

You give up too easily. You're supposed to exploit the loophole in the MM statement that a creature "is immune to gaze attacks of others of its kind unless otherwise noted." Since that only mentions others of its kind, presumably the medusa can affect itself with its own gaze attack

And this would be true to mythology.

 

[shilsen]

And this would be true to mythology.

As I've already mentioned above, it would not.

Perseus does not turn Medusa to stone by reflecting her gaze, and the fact that he looks at her in a mirror indicates that her reflected appearance has no effect. Note that in the myth she can turn people to stone if they look at her, whether she's looking or not (Perseus has to use the mirrored shield though she's sleeping), and her head retains the power after death.

 

[phindar]

Well, the medusa wasn't the only creature who could turn people to stone, and in all fairness, myths vary a bit here and there. Something that was passed along in oral recitations over thousands of years will have more than one or two versions out there.

 

[Darklone]

Basilisks were the ones who turned people to stone with their gaze, right? The Medusa was simply soooo ugly that people turned to stone when they looked at her.