Basilisk for Sale [Archive] - Wizards Community

Basilisk for Sale [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
WCH
04-10-05, 10:44 PM PCs killed an adult basilisk (resulting in one of them being petrified), and it had some young in its cave (two eggs about to hatch, and one newborn). The rogue wants to sell them for profit. How hard should it be to find someone willing to buy a dangerous creature like that, and how much would someone pay?
Elven Doritos
04-10-05, 10:50 PM That's difficult to adjudicate without more knowledge of your campaign setting. Perhaps, however, I can be of some service as to the types that would by it:

-Crazed alienist who wants fresh creatures to experiment with.
-Whatever official mage guilds there are, to study their habits and behavior
-Government officials/Black Market dealers, looking for supplements to their armed forces
-Arena fighters (though the specatators might be in danger)
-Sporting enthisasts, out for a good hunt

That is all,
The Petrified Doritos
Riznar
04-10-05, 10:53 PM Sell it to your local LG court system that wants an alternative to the death penalty. Just keep the statues in a nice dry place.
The_Dark_One
04-10-05, 10:53 PM You know, a more evil rogue would want to release them in a small farming community and charge to take them away. And this would be better than selling them, because there's really no limit to the number of times that you can do it.

Do they reproduce? I thought they were born from a rooster's egg and hatched by a toad (I may be thinking of another creature). Maybe the D&D version has a more sensible method of reproduction...

In response to you actual question, I have no idea... :( :weep:
WCH
04-10-05, 11:00 PM @Elven
Campaign setting is divine high, arcane low (not in terms of potency, just frequency; there are only three (known) powerful wizards left in this area of the world, for instance), and there's a fairly strong mafia run by the Church of Hextor.

@Dark_One
The Monster Manual doesn't specify; the rooster thing I think is a cockatrice, though. I figured they're reptiles, so they probably lay eggs, and so put a couple eggs in its lair. If I'm wrong, oh well, that's how it works in my world. :P
WCH
04-11-05, 02:01 AM Hmm... just had a sadistic idea... evil NPC expresses interest in and buys the two eggs. The basilisks which come out he trains extensively, buying a wondrous item for himself to make him immune to their gaze attack, and making them more powerful than usual. At a later point, the rogue has to fight him, and seriously regrets selling to him. :P

For that kind of situation, what would be a good price? The egg of a rare magical beast, reknowned for its deadliness and effectiveness as a guard.
Sildatorak
04-11-05, 03:09 AM Because a basilisk's gaze requires a fort save, anything without a constitution score is immune. If you want the basilisks to end up in the hands of the BBEG, you should consider having him be undead or a construct.

A fighter 4/sorcerer 1/green star adept 10 who specializes in grappling and uses strength draining spells (ray of exhaustion, ray of enfeeblement, etc) could make an interesting foe, especially if he has a pair of advanced basilisks that are trained to focus their gazes on anyone who waves their hands around while chanting.

I guess that doesn't answer the question about price, though. I'd base it on whatever seems to be a lot for the party but won't unbalance them with too much gear for their level.
WCH
04-11-05, 03:22 AM Wouldn't make much sense for a construct to approach them on the street and buy their eggs off of them, would it?

Party is all lvl 3. I think I'll have him offer a low amount, like 200 gold or something, but have him accept up to 1000. Does that sound reasonable for a basilisk egg?

Oh, one last thing I'm not sure about... how long would you expect a basilisk to take to reach maturity? If anyone is familiar with real life lizards (or other reptiles), how long does it take them to develop into adults?
Callista
04-11-05, 04:32 AM Reptiles, technically, are adults when they hatch--they can take care of themselves quite well. So I would give your Basilisk-lings their gaze attack from the get-go.

As for being able to reproduce--generally, that happens when a reptile reaches a certain size. For a crocodile, it's about two and a half meters, or 10 years old; for smaller animals, like lizards, it can be two years or even less.
Phrennzy
04-11-05, 09:59 AM Keep in mind that a basilisk has a very slow metabolism, and so it's growth rate might also be slow.

I would give it the gaze attack right away, but I would also keep the DC low.

You might just want to create the ecology of the basilisk yourself.

As for the value? I'd say 1000gp is pretty good - if not more. A lot depends on the intelligence of the creature. The higher the intelligence, the higher the value, because it can be trained more readily.

As for the Construct BBEG not being able to buy it on the street - what kind of BBEG does his own shopping? Delegate!
snowlynx
04-11-05, 10:45 AM The monster manual always makes hatchlings more expensive then eggs (because eggs come with the responsibity of caring for them and the chance they won't hatch.) I would guess about 1000-2000 gp for the eggs, but 2000-5000 for the hatchling.

The rogue should be prepared to spend a good deal of time finding a buyer, and needs to care for the eggs in the meantime. I would roleplay out the rogue trying to sell the items, perhaps rolling some gather infromation checks just to ask around town to figure out who was interested. I doubt anyone in town would be willing to buy such a creature, as it is rather dangerous in town. Still, the creepy old (wizard/lord/retired adventurer/dragon/etc.) that lives (on the outskirts of town,in the mountains, at the entrance to the underdark/under the bed/etc.) might be interested.
Dunther the Great
04-11-05, 11:24 AM Give the PCs two choices of who to sell it too, A (as yet unknown) BBEG who offers more than market price for the eggs and hatchling and someone who is a goodguy for a little less than market price. If they sell it to the BBEG they'll regret it down the line, but if they sell it to the goodguy they'll benefit instead (maybe they can ride the basilisk against the BBEG for instance)
Phrennzy
04-11-05, 11:32 AM The monster manual always makes hatchlings more expensive then eggs (because eggs come with the responsibity of caring for them and the chance they won't hatch.) I would guess about 1000-2000 gp for the eggs, but 2000-5000 for the hatchling.

The rogue should be prepared to spend a good deal of time finding a buyer, and needs to care for the eggs in the meantime. I would roleplay out the rogue trying to sell the items, perhaps rolling some gather infromation checks just to ask around town to figure out who was interested. I doubt anyone in town would be willing to buy such a creature, as it is rather dangerous in town. Still, the creepy old (wizard/lord/retired adventurer/dragon/etc.) that lives (on the outskirts of town,in the mountains, at the entrance to the underdark/under the bed/etc.) might be interested.

Yeah, have some fun with it. Don't just let the Rogue walk into the town square, hold up the 6 legged lizard and scream, "BASILISK FOR SALE!"

One other thing to note - it might be against the law to traffic in dangerous creatures. There are RL laws for selling poisonous snakes - imagine a creature that can 'kill' you just by looking at you.
urial angel of death
04-11-05, 10:40 PM Give the PCs two choices of who to sell it too, A (as yet unknown) BBEG who offers more than market price for the eggs and hatchling and someone who is a goodguy for a little less than market price. If they sell it to the BBEG they'll regret it down the line, but if they sell it to the goodguy they'll benefit instead (maybe they can ride the basilisk against the BBEG for instance)
riding basalisks hmmm :smirk: :plotting: :evillaugh :schemes: my evil senses are tingling the lizardfolk and yuan-ti guards for one of my BBEGs will have to ride one
Sildatorak
04-12-05, 12:39 AM Wouldn't make much sense for a construct to approach them on the street and buy their eggs off of them, would it?

That's what minions are for. And a green star adept looks normal except for the green skin, so a disguise self would be sufficient to appear perfectly normal.

I think that for a 3rd level party you should probably give them around 2 or 3 kgp for the pair of eggs. Split among the members that will be a significant payoff and well within the wealth-by-level guidelines, and if the rogue keeps it all for himself his wealth won't be more than 1 level too high and will be corrected for within a level or two.
Planar Wanderer
04-12-05, 03:47 AM *kicks the door open and enters the thread with a blindfolded basilisk on his shoulder in manner similar to a bazooka; holding a piece of string attached to the blindofold that will remove the blindfold* FREEZE!

Okay, all joking aside, if the players don't like the idea of doing that IG then I'm with Dunther here, its quite nice to give the players a choice that calls to their morality that will affect them further down the line, especially if its quite a bit further down the line so that the players have almost forgotten about the event when it comes back to haunt them, then just drip feeding clues that perhaps it wasn't such a good idea after all.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
WCH 04-10-05, 10:44 PM	PCs killed an adult basilisk (resulting in one of them being petrified), and it had some young in its cave (two eggs about to hatch, and one newborn). The rogue wants to sell them for profit. How hard should it be to find someone willing to buy a dangerous creature like that, and how much would someone pay?
Elven Doritos 04-10-05, 10:50 PM	That's difficult to adjudicate without more knowledge of your campaign setting. Perhaps, however, I can be of some service as to the types that would by it: -Crazed alienist who wants fresh creatures to experiment with. -Whatever official mage guilds there are, to study their habits and behavior -Government officials/Black Market dealers, looking for supplements to their armed forces -Arena fighters (though the specatators might be in danger) -Sporting enthisasts, out for a good hunt That is all, The Petrified Doritos
Riznar 04-10-05, 10:53 PM	Sell it to your local LG court system that wants an alternative to the death penalty. Just keep the statues in a nice dry place.
The_Dark_One 04-10-05, 10:53 PM	You know, a more evil rogue would want to release them in a small farming community and charge to take them away. And this would be better than selling them, because there's really no limit to the number of times that you can do it. Do they reproduce? I thought they were born from a rooster's egg and hatched by a toad (I may be thinking of another creature). Maybe the D&D version has a more sensible method of reproduction... In response to you actual question, I have no idea... :( :weep:
WCH 04-10-05, 11:00 PM	@Elven Campaign setting is divine high, arcane low (not in terms of potency, just frequency; there are only three (known) powerful wizards left in this area of the world, for instance), and there's a fairly strong mafia run by the Church of Hextor. @Dark_One The Monster Manual doesn't specify; the rooster thing I think is a cockatrice, though. I figured they're reptiles, so they probably lay eggs, and so put a couple eggs in its lair. If I'm wrong, oh well, that's how it works in my world. :P
WCH 04-11-05, 02:01 AM	Hmm... just had a sadistic idea... evil NPC expresses interest in and buys the two eggs. The basilisks which come out he trains extensively, buying a wondrous item for himself to make him immune to their gaze attack, and making them more powerful than usual. At a later point, the rogue has to fight him, and seriously regrets selling to him. :P For that kind of situation, what would be a good price? The egg of a rare magical beast, reknowned for its deadliness and effectiveness as a guard.
Sildatorak 04-11-05, 03:09 AM	Because a basilisk's gaze requires a fort save, anything without a constitution score is immune. If you want the basilisks to end up in the hands of the BBEG, you should consider having him be undead or a construct. A fighter 4/sorcerer 1/green star adept 10 who specializes in grappling and uses strength draining spells (ray of exhaustion, ray of enfeeblement, etc) could make an interesting foe, especially if he has a pair of advanced basilisks that are trained to focus their gazes on anyone who waves their hands around while chanting. I guess that doesn't answer the question about price, though. I'd base it on whatever seems to be a lot for the party but won't unbalance them with too much gear for their level.
WCH 04-11-05, 03:22 AM	Wouldn't make much sense for a construct to approach them on the street and buy their eggs off of them, would it? Party is all lvl 3. I think I'll have him offer a low amount, like 200 gold or something, but have him accept up to 1000. Does that sound reasonable for a basilisk egg? Oh, one last thing I'm not sure about... how long would you expect a basilisk to take to reach maturity? If anyone is familiar with real life lizards (or other reptiles), how long does it take them to develop into adults?
Callista 04-11-05, 04:32 AM	Reptiles, technically, are adults when they hatch--they can take care of themselves quite well. So I would give your Basilisk-lings their gaze attack from the get-go. As for being able to reproduce--generally, that happens when a reptile reaches a certain size. For a crocodile, it's about two and a half meters, or 10 years old; for smaller animals, like lizards, it can be two years or even less.
Phrennzy 04-11-05, 09:59 AM	Keep in mind that a basilisk has a very slow metabolism, and so it's growth rate might also be slow. I would give it the gaze attack right away, but I would also keep the DC low. You might just want to create the ecology of the basilisk yourself. As for the value? I'd say 1000gp is pretty good - if not more. A lot depends on the intelligence of the creature. The higher the intelligence, the higher the value, because it can be trained more readily. As for the Construct BBEG not being able to buy it on the street - what kind of BBEG does his own shopping? Delegate!
snowlynx 04-11-05, 10:45 AM	The monster manual always makes hatchlings more expensive then eggs (because eggs come with the responsibity of caring for them and the chance they won't hatch.) I would guess about 1000-2000 gp for the eggs, but 2000-5000 for the hatchling. The rogue should be prepared to spend a good deal of time finding a buyer, and needs to care for the eggs in the meantime. I would roleplay out the rogue trying to sell the items, perhaps rolling some gather infromation checks just to ask around town to figure out who was interested. I doubt anyone in town would be willing to buy such a creature, as it is rather dangerous in town. Still, the creepy old (wizard/lord/retired adventurer/dragon/etc.) that lives (on the outskirts of town,in the mountains, at the entrance to the underdark/under the bed/etc.) might be interested.
Dunther the Great 04-11-05, 11:24 AM	Give the PCs two choices of who to sell it too, A (as yet unknown) BBEG who offers more than market price for the eggs and hatchling and someone who is a goodguy for a little less than market price. If they sell it to the BBEG they'll regret it down the line, but if they sell it to the goodguy they'll benefit instead (maybe they can ride the basilisk against the BBEG for instance)
Phrennzy 04-11-05, 11:32 AM	The monster manual always makes hatchlings more expensive then eggs (because eggs come with the responsibity of caring for them and the chance they won't hatch.) I would guess about 1000-2000 gp for the eggs, but 2000-5000 for the hatchling. The rogue should be prepared to spend a good deal of time finding a buyer, and needs to care for the eggs in the meantime. I would roleplay out the rogue trying to sell the items, perhaps rolling some gather infromation checks just to ask around town to figure out who was interested. I doubt anyone in town would be willing to buy such a creature, as it is rather dangerous in town. Still, the creepy old (wizard/lord/retired adventurer/dragon/etc.) that lives (on the outskirts of town,in the mountains, at the entrance to the underdark/under the bed/etc.) might be interested. Yeah, have some fun with it. Don't just let the Rogue walk into the town square, hold up the 6 legged lizard and scream, "BASILISK FOR SALE!" One other thing to note - it might be against the law to traffic in dangerous creatures. There are RL laws for selling poisonous snakes - imagine a creature that can 'kill' you just by looking at you.
urial angel of death 04-11-05, 10:40 PM	Give the PCs two choices of who to sell it too, A (as yet unknown) BBEG who offers more than market price for the eggs and hatchling and someone who is a goodguy for a little less than market price. If they sell it to the BBEG they'll regret it down the line, but if they sell it to the goodguy they'll benefit instead (maybe they can ride the basilisk against the BBEG for instance) riding basalisks hmmm :smirk: :plotting: :evillaugh :schemes: my evil senses are tingling the lizardfolk and yuan-ti guards for one of my BBEGs will have to ride one
Sildatorak 04-12-05, 12:39 AM	Wouldn't make much sense for a construct to approach them on the street and buy their eggs off of them, would it? That's what minions are for. And a green star adept looks normal except for the green skin, so a disguise self would be sufficient to appear perfectly normal. I think that for a 3rd level party you should probably give them around 2 or 3 kgp for the pair of eggs. Split among the members that will be a significant payoff and well within the wealth-by-level guidelines, and if the rogue keeps it all for himself his wealth won't be more than 1 level too high and will be corrected for within a level or two.
Planar Wanderer 04-12-05, 03:47 AM	kicks the door open and enters the thread with a blindfolded basilisk on his shoulder in manner similar to a bazooka; holding a piece of string attached to the blindofold that will remove the blindfold FREEZE! Okay, all joking aside, if the players don't like the idea of doing that IG then I'm with Dunther here, its quite nice to give the players a choice that calls to their morality that will affect them further down the line, especially if its quite a bit further down the line so that the players have almost forgotten about the event when it comes back to haunt them, then just drip feeding clues that perhaps it wasn't such a good idea after all.