Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Vulkhar 05-14-07, 03:16 PM	Hi all. I hope, I am on the right board here, thats always confusing in a new forum. I just had an idea about a variant Medusa, not a Monster, but instead a Priestess of a divining Snake Cult, and I would be glad if someone helped me with the "crunch" side of it. O.K., let's start with the fluff side. The Medusa is a monster from the greek mythology, described in the Odyssey, for example, a woman with snakes instead of hairs, whose glance can petrify. A fancyful terror, just as it is depicted in the D&D Monster-handbook. Now, good old Schliemann proved that not all tales told in the Odyssey and the Illiad were pure fancy. Troya existed.. I just thought about, how a real-world medusa could be possible. Well, Snakes "growing" from a head instead of hairs could well be snakes woven into hairs or tied to a crown. Now, this surely ain't no especially safe headdress, as the one wearing it would constantly be in danger of being bitten. On the other hand, the ability to wear such a thing would surely demonstrate a special intimacy with snakes. You would have to learn how to move, without angering your headpiece until the snakes become accustomed to you. What a befitting headpiece for a priestess of a Snake Cult, at the same time distancing her from the mundane folk and legitimating her claim to have bonds with higher powers. About the petrifying glance, I had two different ideas. One of them would be best decribed by D&Ds "fascinate"-condition. A woman with living snakes on the head and probably accustomed to an especially smooth movement mode to avoid angering them, might be a sight, that makes it hard to look anywhere else or concentrate on anything but standing there and staring at it - almost like petrified, a rabbit staring at a snake. The other one has to do with the snake's venom. Some snakes produce pretty potent neurotoxins, that are able to excite severe cramps in all muscles of a victim - including the breathing apparatus and the heart. If the victim is tough enough to survive this intoxication he will still suffer a long time under hallucinogenic side effects - catatonia might be one of them. I could imagine a snake cult, that actually builds upon this hallucinogenic effects to produce deliric visions as a base for divinations. The famous Oracle of Delphi was intoxicated by poisonous volcanic fumes, a "Medusa" might have the same effect from snake bites. There would probably be a high mortality risk among apprentices of this cult, until they evolved enough of a resistance against the venom to overcome the paralyzing effect. On the other hand the Cult will probably be very knowledgeable about treating snakebites and maybe about other illnesses, too - Snakes are associated with rebirth, lore and medicine after all. I do imagine the "Medusa" Class not so much as a spellcasting class, but rather as a variant of the Expert Class. Lots of skillpoints to pump into a smattering of social and knowledge skills, including Animal Handling, Alchemy, Intimidate , Perform, Stonemasonry et et et. The "Gaze"-attack could be more like a class ability, based on intimidation or perform, that increases in severity from fascinated, dazed, stunned to outright paralyzed according to the amount of success of the opposed Will Check. In combat the snakes would, at low-levels, probably bite only those foolish enough to enter the Medusa's grid, but with growing intimacy to the snakes the Medusa will learn how to lure them along her arms or her staff for touch attacks and will finally develop the nasty habit of throwing venomous snakes after her foes when enraged. Another trick might be having a small, but especially venomous viper silently crawl over to the fascinated victim of her gaze attack. On the utility side, she should be a healer that is especially proficient with curing conditions, caused by high-level poisons and diseases and the power to use some high level divinations, courtesy mostly to her estranged mental state after series of venom intoxication. I do not really see her as a Player Character, more as a characterful NPC who could be used as a guardian of an ancient temple, a source of strange prophecies or an intimidating healer-type. I would still like to be able to balance her level with a PC-Class for calculating ECL and scaling her if needed for a combat encounter. I could start throwing D&D-Terms around now, but honestly, I am not good at that. I will be rather waiting for some advices and start to build from that. Thanx for your interest Vulkhar.
Dex 05-16-07, 09:14 AM	The proper place for a thread like this is the Classes and Prestige Classes forum here: http://boards1.wizards.com/forumdisplay.php?s=&daysprune=30&f=17 As for some starting help, I think that you've got the basics already, mechanics-wise, so you just need to decide at what levels they should gain the following abilities: Gain a snake crown Diving spellcasting Enchantment spells as a spell-like ability They should probably have a good will save, a 3/4 Base attack bonus, and maybe +1 Divine spellcaster level every second level (depending on how powerful you want your abilities to be). As for prerequisites for the class, perhaps: Cleric of the Scalykind domain (in the Forgetten Realms setting) OR have a snake as a familiar or animal companion. Must have passed a trial in which they are bitten by a snake (or otherwise poisoned) Must be able to cast Neutralise or Delay Poison.