I'm trying to make a mob boss NPC that's infamous for leisurely conducting business Jabba the Hutt-style while in the presence of his harem of medusae, exploiting his immunity to their gaze to gain an umbrella against his enemies. The medusae typically wear black veils in the presence of visitors to his audience chamber, but his henchmen give his visitors the courtesy of a blindfold to avoid any "accidents."
I originally envisioned him as a stone giant, but I cannot find any humanoid that's immune to gaze or petrification. Maybe you have some ideas for this character?
Just make the character blind, with all the blind fight feats, or have them wear the Swordmaster's Blindfold.
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Angels are immune to petrification. Idk, I kinda like the idea of a mobster fallen angel...
These are some good suggestions! Mobster fallen angel is kind of a neat idea. Is that even feasible? I thought aligned outsiders can't change their alignments.
They can, but it's rare. Examples of this include fallen angels and, in the most recent Adventure Path Wrath of the Righteous, a risen succubus.
There is a 3rd tier universal path ability for mythic characters called "Unchanging" It makes you immune to non mythic polymorph and petrification effects.
1E FR, if you had a magically treated skydrop gem, holding it next to your skin made you immune to petrification.
==Aelryitnh
There is the Amulet of Proof against Petrification,only 8000gp, but it makes you staggered if you fail a save aginst petrification.
You could make something up: you're the DM. You could just say that stone giants, oreads, goliaths, or something else are immune to petrification.
This. I am not a fan of the notion that every single aspect of what the GM puts into play MUST be governed by a rule just to make the players or some other uber-nerd-lawyer happy.
You could easily just say this guy was born with an immunity to petrification (maybe he had a medusa ancestor), and that he has exploited this immunity to indulge himself with a harem of medusae. It says badass, and needs no further explanation. It's hardly game-breaking.
I would prefer such a simple solution over making him blind. Seriously, what is the purpose of a harem if you cannot gaze upon it like a king on a throne?
Bad enough that visitors cannot bask in the glory of such an exotic menagerie without making its master blind, as well.
You could make something up: you're the DM. You could just say that stone giants, oreads, goliaths, or something else are immune to petrification.
This. I am not a fan of the notion that every single aspect of what the GM puts into play MUST be governed by a rule just to make the players or some other uber-nerd-lawyer happy.
You could easily just say this guy was born with an immunity to petrification (maybe he had a medusa ancestor), and that he has exploited this immunity to indulge himself with a harem of medusae. It says badass, and needs no further explanation. It's hardly game-breaking.
I would prefer such a simple solution over making him blind. Seriously, what is the purpose of a harem if you cannot gaze upon it like a king on a throne?
Bad enough that visitors cannot bask in the glory of such an exotic menagerie without making its master blind, as well.
You just pretty much summed up my NPC in a nutshell. I think I agree with you here. It might be best to just make him whatever I want, like a burly human with some kind of unusual heritage that granted him immunity.I think this fits the character better, despite the cool idea of a fallen angel mobster. Who knows, maybe the angel could be his business rival.
Now to think of exactly what the mobster's business is...
Black Market Artwork, specialization in statues
I hear statues of people cowering in fear are all the rage in Cheliax this year. Just don't ask where they got them.
Angels are immune to petrification. Idk, I kinda like the idea of a mobster fallen angel...
Not only angels. Many of the other celestial guys are. What I found are: Agathion, Azata, Angels, Archons and Kami.
A Kami with its ward destroyed could well become malicious and begin to plot for the downfall of the guilty one. That is someone with great political influence this might lead to the kami becoming a mobster.
Medusas are female. The male is called a Maedar. These monstrous humanoids can stone to flesh by touch. This was 2nd ed. If you mob boss is this, then you could have someone "stoned" for a while as punishment.
/cevah
I really like the idea of him being an illegal art dealer. I'm not so sure about Maedar. It's a good suggestion, but it doesn't seem as cool if he's a literally a male medusa.
But I like the idea of stoning people as punishment. He definitely should have a couple of wizards on staff with stone to flesh. Maybe he could also do some loan sharking, using his debtor's stoned loved ones as collateral. If they don't pay, he sells the statue to recoup the financial loss.
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Medusas are female. The male is called a Maedar. These monstrous humanoids can stone to flesh by touch. This was 2nd ed. If you mob boss is this, then you could have someone "stoned" for a while as punishment.
Maedar also appear in Dragon Magazine for 3.5 - an official Paizo product.
I really like the idea of him being an illegal art dealer. I'm not so sure about Maedar. It's a good suggestion, but it doesn't seem as cool if he's a literally a male medusa.
You should look into it a bit more in case you see more of it you like (the Dragon Magazine one specifically, not familiar with 2e). They're really interesting creatures - for example, they don't turn flesh to stone. They turn stone to flesh... with stone-shattering slam attacks. So Ms. Medusa petrifies you, and he turns you back to flesh... right after he shatters you into soon-to-be-bloody-chunks-of-flesh.