#Dungeons and dragons basilisk manual#

Fortunately, thatвЂ™s as simple as knocking it up from Medium to Huge size and giving it a bigger Challenge Rating.ДЇinally, we need a fun variant, but I was having trouble coming up with something creative. Something that can pose a challenge to higher level PCs.

Of course, that really begs the questionвЂ¦ how the hell do these things even mate?ДЄnyways, weвЂ™ll need a big basilisk, too. That means adult basilisks probably abandon their young after laying their eggs out of fear of turning the younglings the stone or vice versa. Get вЂ™em while theyвЂ™re young!ДЄlso, worth noting is that basilisks are not immune to petrification. And since basilisks eggs are prized by trainers, I imagine baby basilisks arenвЂ™t too far behind in value either.

#Dungeons and dragons basilisk manual#

I assume that the Monster Manual basilisk is a mama or a papa, so a baby would be fun. When it comes to beasts and monstrosities, lesser and greater versions are always fun. Surprisingly, 5e basilisks are pretty close to their folklore counterparts. of movement per turn or 40 with a Dash), though, so theyвЂ™ll continue to use their gaze until thereвЂ™s no more trouble or that trouble is too frigthened by their power to pursue.ДЇinally, it will only use its powerful poisonous bite if cornered. Unless it can immediately turn all of its attackers to stone, chances are it will run away at the start of combat. I imagine that training something with such low intelligence probably results, at most, in вЂњdonвЂ™t let anybody come in here, Fido.вЂќ Then their trainers just plop them somewhereвЂ“probably a hallway bottle neck or small roomвЂ“and hope they do their job. These basilisks might guard something important. Some basilisks are captured at an early age and trained to avoid eye-to-eye contact with their masters. However, itвЂ™s unlikely to challenge more than one or two attackers at a time unless itвЂ™s hungry and desperate. In combat, a basilisk isnвЂ™t smart or wise enough to know whether or not a particular individual is more of a threat than another. It would seem from the D&D fluff that basilisks uses their gaze not only for defense, but to solidify prey and eat it in that format. TheyвЂ™re unaligned monstrosities, which more or less means they just want to eat, sleep, and be left alone. Historians believe that the two were probably once the same creature, and somehow the twoвЂ™s paths diverged.Д«asilisks are pretty dumb (Intelligence 2) and not too wise (Wisdom 8). Hence the вЂњlittle kingвЂќ who hates the odor of weasels story.ДЄlso of note is how close the origin of the basilisk is to that of cockatrices. ItвЂ™s strongly believed that Europeans that first made their way into Southern Asia a couple thousand years ago discovered King Cobras and their natural enemies the mongoose. Oh yeah, and they hated the smell of weasels. However, they were so venomous that they left a trail of venom in their wake. To the Greeks they were seen as the kings of serpents hence the translation of their name вЂњlittle king.вЂќ They werenвЂ™t terribly large, roughly the size of a small snake.

Basilisk lore.Д«asilisks come from European folklore. Since the basilisk is a low-CR baddie, these can be quite the threat for a first-tier party, but pretty easy to avoid at later levels. Its their petrifying gaze that strikes fear into the hearts of adventurers everywhere.ДЄnybody that starts their turn within 30 feet of these buggers and fails a Constitution check starts to turn to stone. Of course, thatвЂ™s not what really gets PCвЂ™s excited about basilisks. They arenвЂ™t terribly bright, but theyвЂ™re pretty tough with a 16 and 15 in Strength and Constitution respectively. In D&D lore (at least in 5e), basilisks are portrayed as large lizards with eight legs. Long story short, someone gets bit, turns to stone, and wham-o: youвЂ™re in jail, bubba. In the adventure that came with the box set, the narrative hookвЂ“the one that made it so your players ended up in ZanzerвЂ™s DungeonвЂ“was the delivery of a basilisk toвЂ¦ someone. I was just 10 back then, but I was totally hooked by it. Way, way back in 1991, TSR published The NEW Easy-to-Master Dungeons & Dragons boxed set. Er, anyway, itвЂ™s time to cover basilisks. DM Dave Leave a Comment on Basilisk Variants for Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition Posted in MonstersД®verybody must get stoned! Sorry, that was my horrible Bob Dylan impression.