Tag Archives: Medusa

Best of the Creeping Doom Part 1

December 30, 2010 4:43 pm / Leave a Comment /

The last two posts of 2010 will be my favorite posts and your favorite posts. This isn’t a popular blog by most any standard, and most of you have started reading or subscribed in the last few months. I’ll point to my favorites and hopefully you’ll enjoy those as well.

Rethinking the Ettin and its companion post with some examples was fun to write. I think the possibilities for this sort of creature are endless and if I could use one in every adventure, I would.  Zak S. even used the basic idea for a session.

Junkie Medusa is something I wrote when I was reading through my boxed set of the Lamentations of the Flame Princess Weird Fantasy RPG. This is the third part of the Rethinking Medusa series. Looking back at it now, I am even more determined to work her into an adventure.

My first series of posts on monsters, the Hydrae posts, remains a favorite. I will definitely make the Lernean Hydra and some of its former heads a powerful agent in a campaign world.

My first attempt at creating a setting involved mashing up the Norse Mythos with the Medieval Church. It’s still clumsy and needs detail, but I’m short on time to research and update it until late spring. Still, I used it as part of my background for running Death Frost Doom and it seemed to work pretty well. That setting is also a favorite.

How could you not pick this as your favorite?

My all-time favorite post to date remains the Create Familiar spell. With a face like that, it’s a shoo-in.

So, navel gazing halfway done.

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Rethinking Medusa 4 – Classical Medusa

August 19, 2010 6:26 am / 1 Comment /

Using the same stat block as “Junkie Medusa,” here’s a more classically-minded monster.

Yesterday’s Medusa is one I’d use in Flame Princess campaign, this one, I’d use in something like the Majestic Wilderlands. Her form is less disturbing, her origin is tied to the gods of a campaign and her motives are understandable. In either case, she’s a potentially campaign-changing encounter. Just as before, she’s an encounter that’s best not attacked, at least not directly. Some monsters are not meant to be beaten.

I’m reposting the stat block again below the description. Here’s Uma.

Uma Thurman as Medusa in Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief

Medusa, Classical

Medusa lives atop a high mountain peak in the ruins of a temple.  She is a handsome woman with five hundred snakes of various sizes writhing about her head and body. Any creature that looks at her face directly will turn to stone. Any creature looking at her through a mirror or other reflection must save or be charmed. Her snakes are poisonous and the longest have a reach of about sixteen feet. She cannot be surprised and she never sleeps. Her snakes give her an effective 20 strength when grabbing, pushing, lifting or pulling objects.

With her thousand unclosing snake eyes, she can see across the world and into both the past and the future. Once she has discovered a target, she can watch that target any time at will. She can track and observe 500 simultaneous targets (people or objects) as if observing through a crystal ball. Although she cannot hear her targets, she can read lips and knows many languages. She can remotely cast curses, manipulate small to medium objects and whisper into the minds of her targets.

She is obsessed with destroying gods, and has been since she was cursed with this form. Using her ability to see and manipulate objects and people across the world, she has toppled kingdoms, split churches and wiped out civilizations in order to deprive gods of the worshippers they want and need.

The communities on the surrounding mountain make her offerings of food in exchange for her protection. Some of the locals have even taken to worshipping her. She may be consulted as an oracle of profound accuracy, but will always attempt to frame her answers (and indeed any other “incidental” words or behaviors that might be observed) to meet her own ends.

The only creature able to avoid her scrutiny is her enemy and brother, theLernaean Hydra.

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.

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Rethinking Medusa 3 – Junkie Gorgon

August 18, 2010 2:16 am / 6 Comments /
Uma Thurman as Medusa in Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief

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.

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Rethinking Medusa 2 – The Trojan Gorgon

August 17, 2010 5:51 am / Leave a Comment /

The Trojan Medusa was called forth by the elder women of an ancient city when it was laid waste by a conquering army. The eldest crones called on their most ancient of goddesses, asking vengeance for the rape and enslavement of their daughters.

The gorgon appears as a young maiden. When touched or even approached by any man (or men), dozens of poisonous snakes burst from her body and attack. The snake’s bites paralyze, poison or slowly petrify their victims. Afterward, the snakes return and the gorgon appears as before.

In the centuries since she was created, the gorgon has been drawn to conflict and subsists on the souls of her prey, whether deserving or not.

Trojan Gorgon

No. Encountered: Unique

Alignment: Chaotic or Chaotic Neutral

Movement: Unencumbered Human

AC: As leather

HD: 6  (40 HP)

Attacks: Bites 18 in front, 18 behind 8 foot range

Damage:

Bite 1d6 + special roll 1d6:

1-2 paralysis for 3 rounds (save at -2)

3-4 petrify (save or turned to stone)

5-6 poison (save or die, soul/spirit gone, no raise dead or resurrection possible)

Save: Fighter 6 / Immune to all poisons, death magic, paralysis, petrification. +3 save vs. clerical spells

Morale 12

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Rethinking Medusa

August 16, 2010 5:54 pm / 2 Comments /
Gorgoneion_Regnaudin_Amelot_de_Bisseuil

“…the Gorgon was made out of the terror, not the terror out of the Gorgon.”

-The Odyssey, as translated by Jane Ellen Harrison

A gorgon on a wooden door. Thomas Regnaudin circa 1660

This is the first of a series of posts about gorgons. Medusa is the most famous of gorgons, and in fact the only one by most accounts. She has snakes for hair and the sight of her face (or arguably her gaze) turns men to stone. She some accounts add two immortal sisters under the same curse,  but they aren’t particularly significant in mythology and were probably added later to satisfy the Greek need to make triads out of mythological females.

As for Medusa herself, there are (at least) two versions of how she came to be. One is that she had sex with Poseidon in Athena’s temple. Athena took offense and punished Medusa by turning her hair to snakes and cursing her looks. The other version holds that Poseidon raped Medusa in Athena’s temple and, since she couldn’t punish Poseidon (him being a god and all) she cursed Medusa instead.

In classical mythology her head serves the purpose of helping Perseus defeat Cetus (a sea serpent) and saving his mother being forcefully wed to an evil king (which would be interesting if you subscribe to Medusa’s rape origin). Perseus thanks Athena by giving her Medusa’s head, which she puts on her shield. Medusa is the source of a powerful magical artifact.

In ancient and renaissance European architecture, Gorgon’s faces were carved on gates and doors, to ward off evil. Medusa is a trap.

In older Greek art, Medusa is depicted as hideous, and it is her hideousness that turns men to stone. Medusa is a monster.

In later depictions, Medusa is beautiful. It was Athena’s curse that changed her hair and caused her still-beautiful face to turn men to stone. Medusa is a curse.

Medusa’s blood is said to have transformed into giant scorpions and Pegasus, while her unborn son, the demigod Chrysaor, was born through her neck stump. Chrysaor went on to become king of Iberia and father Geryon. Medusa is a mother and grandmother.

Here’s some ideas based on the above:

Gorgon Ward

In some parts, every door has a non-magical Gorgoneian ward–a carving, painting, mosaic or other depiction of Medusa. The magical version of such a ward will turn a creature into stone if it approaches a door with intent to enter, bypass, open or otherwise enter and is looking at the door. Anyone touching the door risks a poisonous bite from the ward’s snakes (save or die, attack with same HD as level of the ward’s creator). Approaching the door wearing a blindfold avoids the petrification problem but is guaranteed a poison bite. A mirror might save the day. These wards can be created by mages or by clerics of an appropriate pantheon (say, Greek).

Gorgon’s Pox

This is a sexually transmitted disease that suddenly turns men to stone about a week after infection.

Gorgon’s Curse

A woman (or man) under a gorgon’s curse leads a life of loneliness and frustration. The victim of this most serious of curses does not have snakes for hair, nor a garden of petrified guests. Her curse is more subtle:

First, she emits an aura that charms anyone with whom she has contact (no save).

Second, she emits an aura that cases paralyzing fear, dread or insanity (33% chance each) in anyone spending more than an hour within a quarter mile of her (save vs. magic). Even those who make their save will feel compelled to leave the area as soon as is convenient.

Third, she has a 20 percent chance of being charmed by any intelligent creature she meets in person.

Fourth, she does not age.

A Gorgon’s Head

The severed head of a gorgon can be used as a weapon. Any creature that looks at it from a distance of 30 feet or less must save at -4 or be turned to stone immediately, along with any clothing or belongings on his or her body. From past 30 feet, the effect is lesser and leads only to paralyzation for 2d6 turns. Past 60 feet, creatures must save or flee in fear.

More to come this week.

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