Maedar

[BOZ]

I am working on getting this creature ready for a final submission. We have already converted it to 3.5, so it's just a matter of making sure it's ready to go. The flavor text will probably have to be largely reworked and/or rewritten.

Anything you think should be added, removed, reformatted, etc, let's discuss it.

http://www.enworld.org/cc/converted/view_c.php?CreatureID=798

Maedar
Medium Monstrous Humanoid
Hit Dice: 6d8+12 (39 hp)
Initiative: +2
Speed: 25 ft (5 squares)
Armor Class: 15 (+2 Dex, +3 natural), touch 12, flat-footed 13
Base Attack/Grapple: +6/+9
Attack: Slam +9 melee (1d6+3)
Full Attack: 2 slams +9/+4 melee (1d6+3)
Space/Reach: 5 ft/5 ft
Special Attacks: Stone to flesh
Special Qualities: Darkvision 60 ft, earth walk, immunities, transfer to glyptar
Saves: Fort +4, Ref +7, Will +6
Abilities: Str 16, Dex 14, Con 14, Int 12, Wis 12, Cha 12
Skills: Bluff +6, Disguise +5, Hide +7, Listen +5, Move Silently +7, Spot +5
Feats: Combat Expertise, Power Attack, Track

Environment: Any land and underground
Organization: Solitary or mated pair (maedar and medusa)
Challenge Rating: 04
Treasure: Standard
Alignment: Usually lawful evil
Advancement: By character class
Level Adjustment: +4

This being appears to be a human male, shorn completely bald and hairless on his whole body. He wears nothing over his muscular frame except for a pair of breeches.

The maedar is the little-known male counterpart to the medusa. They are extremely rare, however, and few medusas ever find a maedar spouse. Maedar lack the petrifying gaze of the females. The typical maedar is a monogamist who mates for life; he is fiercely devoted to his mate and will go to any length to assist or avenge her. A widowed maedar will pursue his mate's killer for years. A maedar can easily restore a petrified medusa with his stone to flesh power.

Because of the maedar's rarity, most sages are unaware of their existence. Maedar are rarely seen; generally they remain in the lair they share with a medusa mate. A maedar's magical power provides food for him and his mate. He smashes her petrified victims with his fists and then transforms them into flesh, which they both consume. A maedar will wait in the lair, guarding the pair’s hoard of food and concealed treasure while his mate hunts.

Most medusas typically mate with human males, as a maedar can be difficult to find. This cross produces two to six eggs that hatch into fledgling females, who mature into medusas. When a medusa is able to find a mate with a maedar, the eggs will hatch into human infants instead (who turn to stone at the sight of their mother), though an infinitesimal percentage of males born from such a pairing will be maedar.

Maedar are generally antisocial, but will sometimes cooperate with evil creatures such as kobolds and orcs. A maedar will typically provide security for such creatures, or some other reward for their servitude. Maedar abhor being forced to serve another creature, and will always take revenge for such an affront.

A typical maedar is 5 to 7 feet tall and about the same weight as a human.

Maedar speak Common and Infernal.

COMBAT
A maedar will enter combat unarmed, slamming opponents with its powerful fists. To terrify its opponents, a maedar will sometimes smash victims that a medusa has petrified, and transform the remains back into flesh to eat later. When a maedar is about to be killed, it may surrender its life as a last resort by becoming a glyptar. If confronted by a very powerful enemy, the maedar and his mate will usually try to flee.

Stone to Flesh (Su): Once every 3 minutes, with a successful melee touch attack, a maedar can use stone to flesh as the spell cast by a 12th-level caster.

Earth Walk (Su): A maedar can move through stone, dirt, or almost any other sort of earth except metal as easily as a fish swims through water. The maedar requires a full round of concentration to activate this power, or to deactivate it. The maedar moves at its normal speed without hindrance, leaving behind no tunnel or hole, nor creating any ripple or other signs of its presence. A move earth spell cast on an area containing a maedar in earth flings the maedar back 30 feet, stunning the creature for 1 round unless it succeeds on a DC 15 Fortitude save. A phase door spell cast on an area containing a maedar in earth slays the maedar instantly and irrevocably.

Immunities (Su): A maedar is immune to petrification and paralysis, as well as any magic intended specifically to inhibit movement such as hold person and slow. A maedar is also immune to the poisonous bite of a medusa's serpentine hair.

Transfer to Glyptar (Su): If a maedar reaches 0 hit points and remains conscious, it can transfer its life force into the surrounding earth and rocks. This act kills the maedar’s body, but its spirit lives on. The maedar’s consciousness drifts through the ground until it encounters gemstones, such as feldspar or amethyst. The maedar’s spirit will permanently merge with such a rock crystal, becoming a glyptar (see below). The maedar’s mind eventually goes irrevocably mad from being trapped inside a tiny stone.

MAEDAR CHARACTERS
The favored class of the maedar is fighter. Maedar clerics have access to two of the following domains: Earth, Healing, Knowledge, and Protection.

GLYPTAR
A glyptar is a tiny crystal animated by the spirit of a maedar. When first formed, a glyptar is usually buried below the earth, and unable to free itself. If removed intact from the ground, the maedar’s spirit will be able to animate the crystal. A glyptar can fly at a speed of 25 feet per round, with perfect maneuverability. The glyptar retains the maedar’s mental abilities (Int, Wis, Cha).

A glyptar can animate objects, as the spell, if firmly attached to an inorganic item (Caster level 20). Such objects have the glyptar’s mental stats, and are directly under control of the glyptar. If a glyptar is set in the hilt or handle of a melee weapon, the weapon will function as if it has the dancing quality, allowing the glyptar to make attacks with the weapon using the maedar’s base attack bonus, and Strength bonus to damage. If a glyptar is set in the eye of a stone statue, the glyptar can animate the statue as if it were a stone golem. All of these effects end if the glyptar is removed or removes itself from the item.

A glyptar retains all of the maedar’s powers, except for the ability to transfer its spirit. A glyptar can use its stone to flesh attack, and can use this power through any object it is animating. A glyptar can use earth walk, taking any object it is animating with it; the phase door spell does not affect a glyptar moving this way. A glyptar also has the same immunities as a construct. It has both darkvision 90 feet and low-light vision.

A glyptar only cooperates with living beings when it chooses to do so, and cannot be forced to comply. A glyptar is immune to telepathy and cannot speak, but can use an appropriate animated object to write out messages in any language that the maedar understood.

The only way to destroy a glyptar is to shatter its stone, which will free the maedar’s spirit to take its place in the afterlife. A glyptar does not care whether or not it is destroyed: it will not aid a character in destroying it, but it will not stop a character from doing so. A glyptar has damage reduction 10/magic and bludgeoning, and has 5 hit points.

1986 Wizards of the Coast, Inc.
Originally found in Dragon Magazine #106 (“The Ecology of the Maedar,” February 1986, Ed Greenwood), Monstrous Compendium MC3 - Forgotten Realms Appendix I (1989), and the Monstrous Manual (1993). The glyptar was origina

 

[BOZ]

and, here is the original text to compare it to:


Dragon Magazine #106 ("The Ecology of the Maedar," February 1986, Ed Greenwood)

The ecology of the maedar
Medusa's male counterpart does what she doesn't
by Ed Greenwood

The hearthfire flickered in the tavern known as The Leaning Post. The evening was old, and the few tipplers left in the taproom were crouched close around the fire. Tongues were wagging with tales of fell keeps and grim adventures, and monsters most strange. Old Urvan, a grizzled warrior of scars and reputation most grim, rubbed his bald pate and disagreed with a younger man.
"Nay," he rumbled, wagging a cold grey eye, "men die like cattle, for all their armor; I’ve fought a dozen, on horseback, and slain them all, and me a lone man with but my fists. But the woman-monster, the medusa, the maiden who turns ye to stone, is far the worse."
From his dark corner, Elminster coughed. "Oh? Think ye so?" he said casually. Everyone fell silent at the sage’s words. He spoke seldom, but his tales were not soon forgotten. Old Urvan fixed the sage with a colder grey eye and emitted a grunt that urged Elminster to speak.
"The medusa is a fearsome thing, true," Elminster said slowly, looking around the firelit circle of faces. "But as bad or worse is the male, the stealer-through-stone, the maedar. Medusae, ye see, have mates. An' they’re by far the deadlier sex. . . ."
Elminster then unburdened himself of the tale of Ilguld the illusionist and the Walking Stone of Yarech. It is a long tale, full of mimes and bawdy jests and local jokes, and unless one is the raconteur Elminster is, 'tis better to paraphrase, thus:
Ilguld was an adventurer, the youngest and least powerful of a proud and reckless band who rode out of Waterdeep often, combing the caverns of the wild North. On one jaunt, the group met a medusa, whose gaze turned two brawny warriors to unmoving stone. The survivors withdrew hastily and thought of a plan. Ilguld had with him a small mirror, and this he tied across his eyes so that, peering down, he could see only the ground before his toes. He covered himself in his storm cloak, the cowl thrown forward to conceal his face.
Thus prepared, Ilguld advanced into the monster’s lair, shuffling like an old man and leaning on a staff. The medusa rushed him to bite and slay. As he tried to fend her off with his staff, she tore open his cowl - and, gazing into the mirror, turned herself to stone while she still clutched him.
Ilguld tugged himself free of the stony grasp, ran from the lair, and called his comrades out of hiding. They rushed forward heedlessly to seek the medusa's treasure, waving aside Ilguld’s stammered warnings, and were soon deep within the maze of small caverns that made up the medusa’s lair. Ilguld followed more cautiously, and was scared badly when he saw his comrades at the other end of a long cavern - coming back toward him as fast as they could run with their bags of coins and coffers of gems. The illusionist noticed immediately that two of the band were missing. As he watched, a part of the wall seemed to move, reaching out to fell the rearmost adventurer. At that, Ilguld cast a spell of invisibility on himself and fled until he was just inside the entrance to the lair.
Seconds later he again heard the weapon-clanking and curses of his comrades. They had dropped their treasure and were running hard. The men, now without two more of their number, burst past him and out of the cave. Ilguld remained frozen as he beheld what had chased them out - a muscular, bald-headed man clad only in breeches, who came behind the group at a fast trot.
Ilguld dared to leave the cave entrance after this strange man passed, taking care not to stumble or make undue noise. He turned in the direction his friends had gone, and just ahead he saw them - statues, all, frozen forever in the midst of their flight. Beyond the statues stood the medusa, stone no more, her arms raised in triumph.
As he watched the bald man approach the medusa, Ilguld realized that she must have somehow been restored to life and had left the lair by another route so as to lie in wait for the intruders to exit. The medusa and the man embraced, and she spoke to him in loving tones. Ilguld was amazed again by what happened next. He saw the man shatter the stone form of his fellow mage and then touch some of the fragments, which turned from stone rubble to bloody flesh. The bald man and his mate, the medusa, sat down to eat as Ilguld tore his gaze away from the scene and stole away as softly as he could.
"A likely story," Urvan scoffed. "One man, weaponless, defeating an entire band?"
"Why, Urvan," Elminster replied mildly, lifting his tankard, "I hear from your own lips that such a feat — defeating a dozen armed men, and their horses too - is easy, if one has but the use of both fists. Is it then not so?"
"Phauugh," Urvan replied eloquently.

Notes
1. The gaze of a medusa can turn itself or any other medusa to stone. Such petrification is permanent unless reversed by spell or special ability (see note 3 below).
2. Maedar are the male counterparts of the medusae. (Singular and plural forms of "maedar" are the same; the name can be used to refer to both genders collectively, or to the male alone. The latter usage is employed in this text.) The maedar are far rarer and more reclusive than their mates, and are seldom seen. Many men do not even know, or believe, that they exist. They dwell in the depths of caverns, guarding the pair’s hoard of treasure (and food) while their mates hunt.
Maedar appear as bald-headed (in fact, completely hairless) muscular human males. In all statistics they are identical to medusae, except that they have two attacks per round, doing 2-8 points of damage with each blow of their mighty fists. Maedar cannot petrify other creatures and are themselves immune to petrification and paralyzation (including related magics such as slow and hold spells) from any source whatsoever, although they can be confined by webs, forcecages, and the like.
3. Maedar have the ability to turn stone to flesh by touch, once every three turns. Thus, one can free a medusa who has gaze-trapped herself to stone — or, by smashing petrified prey to rubble and then turning it to stone, gain an easy meal for himself and his mate from a creature petrified earlier by the medusa. Like medusae, maedar can see into the Astral Plane and the Ethereal Plane, and they can use their stone to flesh ability into those planes as well.
Maedar possess the ability to pass through stone as xorn and xaren do, at normal movement rate. A maedar requires one round of concentration to adjust his molecular structure before entering rock and after leaving it again; no other activity may be undertaken during this round. If struck by a phase door spell while passing through stone, a maedar is killed. If a mated maedar and medusa are confronted by a stronger creature in their lair, the male will abandon the female to her fate without hesitation, escaping through the rock walls of the cavern. However, a maedar will never neglect to unpetrify a medusa when it is safe to do so.
The treasure of a medusa and maedar is usually concealed (behind loose stones, in crevices, etc.) in addition to being guarded by the maedar. The males monitor the treasure continuously and frequently move it from place to place within the lair, particularly to discourage thievery by other creatures able to pass through stone. Males and females alike will flee from strong attackers, abandoning whatever treasure they cannot carry, rather than defend a hoard to the death. The treasure hoard of a medusa and maedar will almost always contain a selection of feminine garb that doubles as the medusa's wardrobe.
4. All maedar and medusae speak and understand the language of lawful evil, the common tongue, and any other languages spoken often by creatures in the vicinity. Details of the courtship of a mated pair are unknown, but they do pair for life (one choosing another partner only if a mate is slain), and live and hunt together at all times. The female produces 1-3 live young every 10 years or so. Young have the same abilities as their parents, but no physical attacks and only 1-2 HD. (A young female can petrify, and a young male can pass through stone and turn stone to flesh; however, the asplike, poisonous "hair" growth of a medusa develops only in maturity, and young maedar lack the strength for damaging blows.) Offspring gradually gain hit dice as they approach maturity and adulthood, a process that typically takes four or five years. When they reach maturity and gain the ability to physically attack, the young are roughly encouraged to strike out on their own; no more than one adult medusa and one adult maedar will ever be found in the same lair. If a medusa is slain but her mate survives, the male will search tirelessly for the killer(s) to take revenge, sometimes pursuing such quarry for years. A maedar can track as a ranger does, but this does not include the ability to follow the trail of a creature that has passed through stone. All maedar and medusae are immune to the poison of (their own and other) medusa hair growths.
Medusae and maedar respect, but do not worship, Skoraeus the Living Rock (see Legends & Lore, Nonhuman Deities), and have a like attitude toward lawful evil deities and creatures. They will cooperate with lawful evil creatures such as orcs, kobolds, or even devils, for reward or security or (rarely) under duress. If forced to aid or serve another, they will always seek revenge. Meader and medusae cannot be trusted by other creature except of their ilk. Occasionally they will bargain with, or purchase information or services with, their treasure.



2E Monstrous Manual

Medusa, Maedar

Maedar - Glyptar
CLIMATE/TERRAIN: Subterranean - Any
FREQUENCY: Very rare - Very rare
ORGANIZATION: Solitary - Solitary
ACTIVITY CYCLE: Any - Any
DIET: Carnivore - Not applicable
INTELLIGENCE: Very (11-12) - Very (11-12)
TREASURE: P,Q(x10),X,Y - See below
ALIGNMENT: Lawful Evil - Lawful evil
NO. APPEARING: 1 - 1
ARMOR CLASS: 5 - 5
MOVEMENT: 9 - Fl 9 (A)
HIT DICE: 6 - 1-4 hp
THAC0: 15 - See below
NO. OF ATTACKS: 2 - 1
DAMAGE/ATTACK: 2-8/2-8 - 1 hp or by animated weapon
SPECIAL ATTACKS: See below - Nil
SPECIAL DEFENSES: See below - See below
MAGIC RESISTANCE: Nil - Nil
SIZE: M (5'-7') - T (under 6")
MORALE: Elite (13-14) - Elite (13-14)
XP VALUE: 975 - 65

Maedar
Maedar are male counterparts to medusae, though they lack the petrifying gaze of the females.
The typical maedar is a muscular, hairless humanoid male, usually dressed in a kilt or tunic.

Combat: Maedar attack with powerful fists that each cause 2d4 points of damage. One every three turns, the maedar can turn stone to flesh by touch. Maedar can pass through stone at their normal movement rate. They require one round of concentration before this; no other activity can be undertaken that round. Maedar struck by a phase door spell while passing through stone are killed instantly.
Maedar are immune to petrifaction and paralyzation (including related spells, such as hold and slow). They are immune to the poisonous bite of a medusa's serpentine hair. In addition, maedar can see into and extend their stone into flesh power into the Astral and Ethereal planes.

Habitat/Society: Maedar are the little-known male version of the medusae. They are extremely rare, however (far more rare than the frequency would indicate), and few medusae ever find a maedar spouse. Most medusae typically mate with human males. This cross produces two to six eggs that hatch into fledgling, human-like females, who mature into medusae. The cross insures the continuation of the medusae species.
When a medusa finds and mates with the extremely rare maedar, the eggs hatch into human infants, 25% male and 75% female. Only 1% of the males born of these matings are actually maedar; the remaining males and all the females are normal human infants who die at the sight of their mother.
The typical maedar is a monogamist who mates for life; he is fiercely devoted to his mate and will go to any length to assist or avenge her. A widowed maedar will pursue his mate's killer for years.
Because of the Maedar's rarity and natural reclusiveness, even most sages are unaware of their existence. Maedar are rarely seen; generally they remain in the lair they share with a medusa mate. A maedar's magical power provides food for him and his mate. He smashes her petrified victims, then transforms them into meat.

Ecology: Maedar may cooperate with lawful evil creatures, such as kobolds and orcs, in exchange for security or reward. If forced to aid another creature, maedar seek revenge at the first opportunity.

Glyptar
Glyptars are rock crystals animated by the spirits of maedar. When a maedar has foreknowledge of his death, he can transfer his life force into the rocks. An extremely evil maedar retains his consciousness as it drifts through the ground. When such a life force encounters gemstones, such as feldspar or amethyst, it is trapped within and cannot leave voluntarily. Eventually the maedar goes mad. (Note that once a maedar is trapped within a glyptar crystal, his life force cannot be trapped in a second crystal.)
If this glyptar is removed intact from the ground, the maedar's spirit is now able to animate the crystal and anything inorganic attached to it. Thus if the glyptar is set in the eye of a stone statue, the maedar's life force animates it as a golem. This can affect a maximum of 1,000 pounds.
Similarly, if the glyptar is set in the pommel of a sword, the sword can be animated to strike as though it were wielded by the living maedar. The weapon gains a +1 bonus to its attack roll, strikes as if it were wielded by a 6th-level fighter, and gains a +2 bonus to its damage roll. Note that the glyptar's stone to flesh power enables the weapon to sink harmlessly into stone as the glyptar uses its power.
The glyptar retains its other powers as well. The glyptar and its attachments may pass through stone at will at the normal movement rate. It is immune to phase door spells. Once every three turns the glyptar can perform a stone to flesh attack against a target touched by the glyptar or its setting. Glyptars remain immune to paralyzation and petrification attacks of all sorts.


Plus, the MC3 entry contains a couple of paragraphs about the glyptar that were omitted from the Monstrous Manual:

Glyptars cannot be mentally contacted or influenced by any mind-affecting spells. They cannot be forced to cooperate by any means. They only cooperate when they choose. Glyptars cannot be spoken with telepathically; however, they can cause their attachment to write out messages in common, medusa, or any other language understood by the maedar.

A glyptar can be destroyed only by shattering its stone, at which time the maedar’s spirit leaves the Prime Material plane. It does not care whether this happens or not. A glyptar can see 90 feet on the Astral and Ethereal planes, and it can use infravision to see 90 feet in all directions.

 

[demiurge1138]

As it stands, the maedar is perfectly servicable. I'd either raise the speed to 30 or lower it to 20 - the 25 is a little weird. And the iterative attacks on the slams should be dropped. No +9/+4 anymore.

My problem is more with the creature itself. Maedar are, well, boring. They're "just-so monsters". Why are all medusas female? Because there are males, maedar, but they are very rare. How do medusas eat if their gaze petrifies everything? The maedar touches it and turns it into flesh.

But as they stand, there's no real reason a DM would want to throw a maedar at his party. They're blah. A sack of hit points. Now, I'm not one of those guys who thinks that all of a creature's abilities have to be immediately applicable in combat or they're out. But the maedar doesn't even really have any tricks. The features they have that makes them interesting is the earth glide, which a bunch of other monsters have, and the glyptar, which is weird and won't come up in the vast majority of maedar encounters. In order to make the most of the earth glide, why not give them Spring Attack as a bonus feat, so they can pop in and out of the earth while fighting?

I suggest giving the maedar some spice. We're told they're deadly with their fists, so let's prove it! Stunning strike? A x3 critical mod? An awesome blow-like effect? Sure! They have some power over stone, being able to turn it into flesh, so a few battlefield control abilities like spike stones or stone shape might be wise.

One suggestion I definately present, regardless of whether or not you want to expand beyond the source material, is to give them adamantine strike. Make their fists act as adamantine weapons for the purposes of overcoming damage reduction and hardness. This would let them get away with the trick mentioned in the flavor-text that they smash the petrified victims of the medusa and transform them into bloody meat-gobbets. It'd also make them positively fearsome if we gave them Improved Sunder.

Let's prove Elminster right when he said "Medusae, ye see, have mates. An' they’re by far the deadlier sex. . . ."

Demiurge out.

 

[Aspect of BOZ]

Well, it is what it is. the concept is, yes, the male version of the medusa. They do have an entirely different set of powers, though, so they are basically totally different creatures. while I don't want to take it too far from the original source material (one of my biggest 3E pet peeves), we can definitely consider jazzing them up at least a little bit.

As for the speed, the 2E medusa and maedar had speeds of 9. the 3E medusa has a speed of 30, so therefore will the maedar.

 

[demiurge1138]

Hah. Your biggest pet peeve is one of my design imperatives. Monsters like the maedar demand something new!

Alright, so if we're going to leave it intact for the most part, I still call for the adamantine strike ability. It makes good sense for their flavor-text that has been around since the beginning. Giving them Improved Sunder on top of that isn't, so much, but would work with the ability (why do they have Track, exactly?).

Demiurge out.

 

[Aspect of BOZ]

see, now that's more like it - stick with the concepts, but improve on them without changing the creature's fundamental nature. i'll wait for some input from shade-o-rama before adding on to the maedar.

as for the feat, well we were working from (Scott's?) 3.0 conversion in the Overhaul thread and it had Combat Expertise and Power Attack which we decided to stick with, and we needed a third. looking back on that thread, we found this quote: "A maedar can track as a ranger does, but this does not include the ability to follow the trail of a creature that has passed through stone."

 

[demiurge1138]

Ah. There we go. That makes sense, then... but he definately needs some ranks in Survival to make that actually useful.

I'd suggest adding Improved Sunder as a bonus feat. Combat Expertise makes some sense (and helps his fairly low AC).

Demiurge out.

 

[Conaill]

Gah - what a screwed-up genetics!

medusa x human male = medusa
medusa x maedar = humans

Wha?

Any chance of changing this? This bit of insanity just spoils the whole critter for me...

 

[demiurge1138]

Gah - what a screwed-up genetics!

medusa x human male = medusa
medusa x maedar = humans

Wha?

Any chance of changing this? This bit of insanity just spoils the whole critter for me...

I have to agree. Medusa x human male = medusa makes sense. Male babies should be human and, therefore, dead. But medusa x maedar, since they're the same species, should produce medusa and maedar (the latter being highly rare).

Demiurge out.

 

[Aspect of BOZ]

Demiurge, we'll definitely take your skill and feat suggestions into consideration. I'm waiting for some input from Shade before I really make any changes, since he is supposed to be co-writing this with me.

Everyone should feel free to make any suggestions they like in any of these three threads, and we'll have a look at it.

Conaill, there you go again trying to apply logic to fantasy. I'll consider making that change - it's not a major feature of the creature, and changing it may be a "fix" for some (although, leaving out the mating section altogether might be even better).