Just a couple of questions that have come up in our group.
1) If a character is turned to stone, are all of their items?
2) Is it right to assume that a Medusa can only use her "Gaze Attack" once per round against a single target since gaze attacks state they are an attack action? It was interpreted by one player that because the Medusa's range for the attack was 30, that ALL players within that range, regardless of where they were had to make the save every round. Another player stated that the "Gaze Attack" required an attack action and that the medusa had to "choose a target".
3) Does a Medusa's head/blood have any magical qualities after being severed?
A gaze attack takes effect when foes look at the attacking creature’s eyes. The attack can have any sort of effect; petrification, death, and charm are common. The typical range is 30 feet. The type of saving throw for a gaze attack is usually a Will or Fortitude save (DC 10 + the 1/2 gazing creature’s racial HD + the gazing creature’s Cha modifier; the exact DC is given in the creature’s text). A successful saving throw negates the effect. A monster’s gaze attack is described in abbreviated form in its description. Each opponent within range of a gaze attack must attempt a saving throw each round at the beginning of his or her turn in the initiative order. Opponents can avoid the need to make the saving throw by not looking at the creature, in one of two ways.
Averting Eyes: The opponent avoids looking at the creature’s face, instead looking at its body, watching its shadow, tracking it in a reflective surface, etc. Each round, the opponent has a 50% chance to avoid having to make a saving throw against the gaze attack. The creature with the gaze attack, however, gains concealment against that opponent.
Wearing a Blindfold: The foe cannot see the creature at all (also possible to achieve by turning one’s back on the creature or shutting one’s eyes) and does not have to make saving throws against the gaze. However, the creature with the gaze attack gains total concealment against the opponent.
A creature with a gaze attack can actively gaze as an attack action by choosing a target within range. That opponent must attempt a saving throw but can try to avoid this as described above. Thus, it is possible for an opponent to save against a creature’s gaze twice during the same round, once before the opponent’s action and once during the creature’s turn.
Gaze attacks can affect ethereal opponents. A creature is immune to the gaze attacks of others of its kind unless otherwise noted. Allies of a creature with a gaze attack might be affected; these 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. The creature can also veil its eyes, thus negating its gaze ability.
Petrified wrote:
A petrified character has been turned to stone and is considered unconscious. If a petrified character cracks or breaks, but the broken pieces are joined with the body as he returns to flesh, he is unharmed. If the character's petrified body is incomplete when it returns to flesh, the body is likewise incomplete and there is some amount of permanent hit point loss and/or debilitation.
2) Is it right to assume that a Medusa can only use her "Gaze Attack" once per round against a single target since gaze attacks state they are an attack action?
Gaze (Su): "Each opponent within range of a gaze attack must attempt a saving throw each round at the beginning of his or her turn in the initiative order. Opponents can avoid the need to make the saving throw by not looking at the creature, in one of two ways." (Averting Eyes/Blindfold) In addition:
"A creature with a gaze attack can actively gaze as an attack action by choosing a target within range. That opponent must attempt a saving throw but can try to avoid this as described above. Thus, it is possible for an opponent to save against a creature's gaze twice during the same round, once before the opponent's action and once during the creature's turn."
1) Assuming that the gaze attack works in the same way as a Flesh to Stone spell than yes all carries items are transformed as well.
"The subject, along with all its carried gear, turns into a mindless, inert statue."
2) All characters in range who are looking at the medusa have to make a save unless they avert their eyes or are wearing a blindfold (or are already blind). From the Universal Monster Rules
"Each opponent within range of a gaze attack must attempt a saving throw each round at the beginning of his or her turn in the initiative order."
3) Within the confines of the games rules as they stand no part of a dead medusa possesses any particular magical qualities. Mythologically the original Medusa's severed head was able to transform the titan Atlas, the mortal Andromeda and the wicked King Polydectes into stone. Her blood was said to create the coral of the Red Sea and the vipers of the Sahara.
There's no reason you couldn't create your own magical items that produce similar effects but keep in mind that medusa in D&D are more common forms of the legendary Gorgons and so may not possess as potent magical blood or powers.
Jorda. Thanks a ton. And yeah, its weird having many Medusae and not one woman turned hideous gorgon Medusa.
Grick. Can you point out where the
"A creature with a gaze attack can actively gaze as an attack action by choosing a target within range. That opponent must attempt a saving throw but can try to avoid this as described above. Thus, it is possible for an opponent to save against a creature's gaze twice during the same round, once before the opponent's action and once during the creature's turn."
