Medusa

A medusa (NaN undefineds NaN undefineds) was a monstrous and hateful creature that was capable of petrifying any creature that met its gaze.

Description
Typical medusae had scaly skins of either pale or earthy color. Their eyes glowed with an intense red color, and, instead of hair, their heads were covered in a mass of living serpents. Despite those features, from large distances they could easily be mistaken by ordinary human women. For that reason, it was common for medusae to hide their features behind hoods or veils.

Abilities
The eyes of a medusa were feared, because to look in their eyes was to invite death. A female's gaze would instantly transform living flesh into lifeless stone, while a male's gaze would daze and weaken.

A medusa's vision and petrifying gaze also reached into the Ethereal and the Astral Plane. In the Border Ethereal, as a result of the plane's obscuring nature, the creature's features could only be recognized at dangerously close distances: its bright red eyes could only be seen from or less, while the head snakes were only visible from a distance of less than. Although a medusa's gaze affected creatures in the Ethereal, its head snakes and physical attacks had no effect on ethereal targets.

A medusa was immune to the petrifying stare of other medusae, but was susceptible to be turned into stone by its own gaze. Even after death, a medusa's eyes retained their power for several days, becoming weaker as the corpse decayed.

Combat
A medusa's typical strategy was to lure potential victims within the range of its gaze and then induce them into looking in its eyes. If the victims managed to avert their eyes in time, the medusa followed up with powerful attacks from its head serpents, whose venom was potent enough to severely poison or even kill a creature. If none of those strategies succeeded, medusae were also competent with a number of weapons, such as knives, short swords and shortbows. Many medusae were considered skilled archers and were known to coat arrows with their poisonous saliva.

Biology
The blood of medusae had special properties that allowed it to reverse the process of petrification. In order for it to work, the blood needed to be applied to the petrified creature's mouth or lips by a skilled healer. It could only reverse the condition if the victim had been petrified within 24 hours.

The venom from a medusa's snakes was one of the required material components to scribe a scroll of protection from petrification. Each scroll required of venom, in addition to other ingredients.

Society
Medusae prefered to live alone in small groups, but they desired treasures and dominance over other races most of all. They were typically seen in the company of creatures who were immune to their gaze, such as grimlocks and gargoyles, though they were also known to gather humanoid servants.

It was common for small groups of medusae and maedar to ally with yuan-ti.

Variants
In the Utter East, they were known as "gorgons" (not to be confused with the iron-skinned bulls of the same name). Unlike traditional medusa, they had no legs, but rather a snake's tail to slither on. While their venomous look could petrify a living creature, it was temporary, usually. They lurked within the ruins of Phantom Pass and Old Stone Keep and in the Puzzle Palace.

Notable Medusae

 * Marlos Urnrayle, the leader of the Cult of the Black Earth in the late 15 century DR.
 * Zalkoré, an Omuan queen who was transformed into a medusa by an erinyes and subsequently lost her sanity.

Appearances

 * Adventures
 * Dungeon #48, "Khamsa's Folly" • The Dungeon of Death • City of the Spider Queen • Princes of the Apocalypse • Tomb of Annihilation • Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage
 * Novels
 * The Spectral Blaze • The Last Threshold
 * Video Games
 * Eye of the Beholder II: The Legend of Darkmoon • Pool of Radiance • Curse of the Azure Bonds • Secret of the Silver Blades • Pools of Darkness • Gateway to the Savage Frontier • Dungeon Hack • Neverwinter Nights • Neverwinter Nights: Shadows of Undrentide • Neverwinter • Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear
 * Card Games
 * AD&D Trading Cards