Rethinking Medusa 3 – Junkie Gorgon

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To continue this week’s posts about gorgons, I’m going to make one stat block and one set of abilities and make two versions of the OG, Medusa. I should make it clear that this Medusa is meant to be so dangerous that any party attempting to attack her directly is likely to be killed.

Medusa by Arnold Böcklin,1878

Today’s Medusa is meant for “weird” adventures.

First, the stats:

Medusa

No. Encountered: Unique

Alignment: Neutral

Movement: Unencumbered Human

AC: As chain plus shield

HD: 12  (60 HP)

Attacks:

Gaze (Range 30 feet)

Her number of snake bite attacks is range dependent

Melee, up to 500 bites

4 feet, up to 100 bites

8 feet, up to 30 bites

12 feet, 5 bites

16 Feet, 2 bites

Damage:

Gaze: Within 30 feet, save at -4 or turn to stone

Reflected Gaze: Save at -2 or be charmed.

Bite: 1d6 + poison (save or die)

Each successful strike from the snakes on her head have a cumulative 10 percent chance of grabbing and immobilizing the target.

Morale 12

Spells: Clairvoyance, telekinesis, curse spells as level 20 mage, worldwide range

If she is slain and her head is not removed, she will regenerate in one year. If her head is removed, 1d10 giant scorpions will grow from her blood in one round.

Medusa, Weird

Medusa appears as a short, emaciated woman being strangled by a tangled mass hundreds of snakes. The snakes have the faces of infant humans with fangs and lidless black eyes, allowing Medusa to see across great distances and even time to observe whatever interests her.

It is, in fact, the snakes who are the Medusa. The body is merely a host on which the Medusa perches itself. Its brain serves as a central hub for the minds of the snakes, provided the host has been given a steady supply of poison toad slime, dried purple mushroom powder and other hallucinogens. Its body incubates dozens of snake eggs for safe keeping, laying them as needed to replace dead snakes (the host’s only food).

There is a 5 percent chance, cumulative per turn, the human host will manage to peak out from between the snakes and ask for decent, human-cooked food, news of the outside world or to be killed. Eye contact within 30 feet means being turned to stone.

If the human host dies (which happens after 6 HP of damage is taken), the Medusa must, as a group, make a morale check at -3 or separate into 500 snakes. If it passes, the snakes will attempt to entangle a party member, preferably female, and use it as the new host. This process takes three rounds, during which only 1/10 the normal number of attacks is possible.

Medusa is never surprised and will fight ferociously if provoked. If not provoked, she will ignore intruders. It has been known to swap prophecy for anything that causes hallucinations. She Medusa has no coherent mission or goals and spends most of her time tripping in a small chamber under a temple. It observes the outside world and interferes with curses and voices when it entertains the snakes or the host.

Any surviving snakes (even one) can make another Medusa.