She's a medusa with a gem sewn into the skin between her breasts that allows her to form an illusion that functions like a "change shape like a doppleganger once per day" ability. She's neutral-good (raised by a noble who kept her as a pampered animal when adventurers wasted the coven of medusas harassing people on the nearby road. She had to keep a thin cloth over her eyes to negate the Gaze attack, but still see. She was so pampered, there's no emotional damage from technically being a "pet"). She had to flee her home when it was attacked by a rival lord. She found the gem when she was going on solo adventures into old, cleared out dungeons and scavaging (it was dropped by a high-level adventurer. She doesn't do combat, and she has poor seach checks). She became a bard due to her intensive training as one (paid for by the noble who raised her-he wanted entertainment that he didn't have to pay by the day). I know she's gonna be skilled with craft, perform, and appraisal skills, but I'm not sure about feats or any real fleshed out details beyond these. Also, I'm not sure how to handle her medusa-self. She's gonna keep the base ability modifiers no matter what form she takes, but what about how she uses her gaze ability? Should the snakes just be invisible? If someone uses a true seeing ability, would they be petrified? Also, I'm not too sure about how to present her. She's gonna be likeable to the party, but she's very spoiled and obsessed with her goal (getting into a royal court using her bardic abilities, shapechanging (for appearence and attractiveness, not spying), and wealth and/or reputation gained as an adventurer). Also, the first foray will be into the original Ravenloft Strahd adventure so I'm not sure how she'll fit into this. The party is unaware at first of what she is.
Any help or ideas is appreciated!
Putting so much effort into a DMPC is almost asking for trouble.
If you need a larger party, consider allowing the Leadership feat, or letting players control multiples. You might also try Gestalt rules.
First, ask yourself if you can achieve the same effects with a human (or other PHB race) bard. If you can, I'd say use that instead of the exotic race - unless of course the party is already composed of similar creatures.
Medusae have pretty high LA IIRC.
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Savage Species has it broken into 10 levels, and don't gain any Petrifying Gazes until level 6 (and then its only 1/day).
So this is your PCs' boss/employer/job finder?
Give her the place PCs don't want to play.
see if you can give her healing ability, and some nice diplomatic skills.
With her back story, the nobility feat doesn't seem to far off. diplomacy and Know(nobility) become in class, even for hit dice, with that feat.
High society and master manipulator also are some good socialite feats.
If they use true seeing the vale should still work, or you could give her a cursed ring that suppresses su abilities. (the gaze attack is su)
Starts with 3 feats, (2 + int) X 9 Skill points from race.
6d8 HD, LA +4, +4 Dex, +2 Con, +2 Int, +2 Wis, +4 Cha.
Bab 4, Ref 5, Will 5, Fort 2, +3 natural armor.
Thats what she has before class levels, according to savage species.
Not just high LA, but hit dice too.
Starts as a 10th level character.
Yea, but you can't multi class until you are done (no bard levels)
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True, but I've played in games where the DM decided that rule wasn't in effect.
As the DM, it would be a way to get around unlimited Petrifying gaze, which until it's Unlimited Times per day, can only be used at the user's descretion, not just when people look at her.
As a Storyline reason, the Medusa never truely learned her skills due to being a "Pet" for so long.
So, even though I'm the DM, I'm gonna be running a PC as an NPC for my party, as half of our group quit as the semester ended.
She's a medusa with a gem sewn into the skin between her breasts that allows her to form an illusion that functions like a "change shape like a doppleganger once per day" ability. She's neutral-good (raised by a noble who kept her as a pampered animal when adventurers wasted the coven of medusas harassing people on the nearby road. She had to keep a thin cloth over her eyes to negate the Gaze attack, but still see. She was so pampered, there's no emotional damage from technically being a "pet"). She had to flee her home when it was attacked by a rival lord. She found the gem when she was going on solo adventures into old, cleared out dungeons and scavaging (it was dropped by a high-level adventurer. She doesn't do combat, and she has poor seach checks). She became a bard due to her intensive training as one (paid for by the noble who raised her-he wanted entertainment that he didn't have to pay by the day). I know she's gonna be skilled with craft, perform, and appraisal skills, but I'm not sure about feats or any real fleshed out details beyond these. Also, I'm not sure how to handle her medusa-self. She's gonna keep the base ability modifiers no matter what form she takes, but what about how she uses her gaze ability? Should the snakes just be invisible? If someone uses a true seeing ability, would they be petrified? Also, I'm not too sure about how to present her. She's gonna be likeable to the party, but she's very spoiled and obsessed with her goal (getting into a royal court using her bardic abilities, shapechanging (for appearence and attractiveness, not spying), and wealth and/or reputation gained as an adventurer). Also, the first foray will be into the original Ravenloft Strahd adventure so I'm not sure how she'll fit into this. The party is unaware at first of what she is.
Any help or ideas is appreciated!
Hi,
I think this is a very intriguing and creative idea for an NPC. As far as feats are concerned, you could give her a few of the "non-combat" feats like "Alertness" or "Lightning Reflexes." And, you could give her a feat or two that would enhance her spell-casting abilities (I don't have the titles of those feats handy, at the moment).
As for handling her "medusa-self," I think you've got that well worked out, especially since she has a great background story and a gaze-attack negating cloth covering her eyes. As for the "snakey-hair," I think it should be "invisible". This is probaly a given, but making the "snakey-hair" look like "ordinary hair"-with the change-self gem-would be best.
IMO, as long as the cloth is covering her eyes, her gaze attack should remain nullified, even if a "True-Seeing" spell is used on her. IMO, "True-Seeing" pierces an illusion but does not nullify the protective effect of a simple, non-magical cloth covering the Medusa's eyes. So, someone using a "True-Seeing" spell on the Medusa should not be petrified.
Finally, in regard to presenting her to the party, I think it would be fun to keep her true appearance a secret and just allow her to develop organically, by following: her goals (becoming a member of a royal court and amassing wealth) and alignment (neutral-good). Since you intend her to be likeable, it will be truly dramatic to see how the party reacts, once the party discovers her true appearance. But, be prepared for the possibility that one or more of the party members may want to destroy her, because she's a Medusa-a "monster".
As for her illusion, go with a very arabic design perhaps even a bellydancer withher fave veiled and her hair drawn back into tight seperate braids, kind of like 'corn rows'. Or, the ever popular burka, hide everything except her eyes and then you can still use the sheer cloth if you like to hide even her eyes. if she ever needs to run, all she has to do is take off the burka.
Guard:"well what did she look like?"
Merchant:"umm she was wearing black, and black, with some more black."
Guard:"was she heavy or thin?"
Merchant:"I dont know, I couldnt tell with the robes on."
Guard:"Tall or short?"
Merchant:"tall for a woman, or maby a man bent down?"
Guard:"Oi."
IIRC, it is not so much if you look at the medusa, but if the medusa looks at you. That said I would think that the gaze attack is supressable power, kinda like supermans heat vision, he can use it all the time, but if he couldnt turn it off it would mean a lot of property damage. Same for her, I would think of it like crossing your eyes, most people can cross their eyes for a few seconds, some people actualy practice to keep their eyes crossed for much longer.
The Monster Manual doesn't specify, but Savage Species does state that until it is "At Will" the Medusa can only use it in an Active Fashion. And that definately implies a full Medusa has the Gaze on All the time.
Think of it more like Cyclops Eye Rays (X-Men), which his "glasses" prevent them from being on all the time.
Unless specified otherwise, a creature with a gaze attack can control its gaze attack and “turn it off ” when so desired. Allies of a creature with a gaze attack might be affected. All the creature’s allies are considered to be averting their eyes from the creature with the gaze attack, and have a 50% chance to not need to make a saving throw against the gaze attack each round.
So a medusa does not have to blindfold itself. It can just suppress its gaze attack. Alternatively, take the narrow gaze feat from savage species (which changes it to an active gaze attack), so it won't accidentally petrify the PCs in combat.
For disguise, a hat of disguise should suffice. I think you are all thinking too hard here, when magic items clearly solve the issue so readily.
True, but I've played in games where the DM decided that rule wasn't in effect.
I don't have Savage Species, but I have to ask: when one of your players says, "I only want to take X levels of Monster Y, so that I can avoid the negative effect at the next level," are you going to allow it? For that matter, are you going to explicitly allow the PCs to be of monstrous races?
In normal NPC-creation situations, this wouldn't be an issue, because the DM can do whatever the heck he wants (as long as it contributes to the story and doesn't anger his players, of course), But if you are going to run this character as a 4th or 5th member of the party, then it's important that the character be made to the same rules that the PCs are constrained to using, or something very much like it. Otherwise the players are going to feel gypped by your rules-breaking DMPC.
Save this idea to use as a PC of your own in a monstrous campaign someday. (It really is rather well-developed and would be fun to play, in my opinion.) Replace it with a normal, run-of-the-mill, jack-of-all-trades bard that will support the PCs rather than threatening to steal their spotlight.
I don't have Savage Species, but I have to ask: when one of your players says, "I only want to take X levels of Monster Y, so that I can avoid the negative effect at the next level," are you going to allow it? For that matter, are you going to explicitly allow the PCs to be of monstrous races?
It depends, but my general answer would be no to the first, and possibly yes to monstrous races, assuming that it does not disrupt gameplay too much. For example, a mindflayer would be very hard to slot into a standard party, but an astral deva is still doable.
If you look at savage species progression, a lot of monsters have their HD and abilities front-loaded to aid survivability. Multiclassing would allow a PC to get most of their good abilities, while potentially avoiding the downsides.
Take for instance the ghaele eladrin progression. Its first 5 lvs are extremely strong. 5 outsider HD, cleric5 spellcasting, good stat bonuses, NA and some decent SLAs. All in all, even better than what a cleric5 can access. This is balanced out by its more lackluster progression afterwards. if you multiclass out now, you break the system.