Today we have a hundred activities for the Gorgon. I remember being a bit puzzled by the presence of both Medusae and Gorgons as a lad who had voraciously devoured Bulfinch's at a tender age, but now I don’t mind them as a distinctive “D&D-ism,” a quaint combination of Catoblepas and the Khalkotauroi perhaps.
During early days, after exhausting the more common literary authorities, many monsters were strip-mined from whatever sources one could lay their paws on (the Rust Monster, Bulette, and Owlbear “Chinasaurs” being another excellent example of this), and the point of origin for this one could very well be the Bestiary pictured below:
The existence of a Save category for Petrification seems to drive the special abilities of several Monsters, but I do occasionally enjoy working them in together as a thematic motif. Plus, it’s always a bonus when a Player’s stumble across one of those “extremely lifelike” statues that seem to dot fantasy landscapes and aren’t quite sure if it was Basilisk, Cockatrice, Medusa, Gorgon, a powerful Wizard, or even potentially something more “gotcha” like a Gargoyle, Living Statue, or a lonely Caryatid Column (I always picture those in pairs for some strange reason).
See some of the other stone-to-flesh critters above for more information on how to handle their Petrification abilities in novel ways.
No comments:
Post a Comment