10 replies to this topic

[Amazor'dra]

I'm hunting for info on medusas, particularly male medusas.


All I know about them is what I can get from the 3E Monster Manual and the very small bit about Vashaak, the male medusa who serves Baalzebul, from Book of Vile Darkness... but is there any other info available on male medusas?

Most importantly; if medusas have the ability to lay eggs (since they look like snakes/lizards) or uh... the other way.

[Stone Wolf]

They mate the same way as humans (and often with humans). Once month after that they lay 2-6 eggs, which hatch 8 months later. The hatchlings only have green stumps instead of snakes for hair. They don't get the animated snakes and the petrification ability until age two.

If the mate is a Maedar (male Medusa--kinda), 25% of the hatchlings are male and 75% female. If the mate is human, they're all female.

[Amazor'dra]

Thank you!

Where'd you get this info?

I thought that Maeders were just a special kind of male medusa.

EDIT: I'm asking because Vashaak can still use a petrifying gaze, while a maeder cannot. (and Vashaak is the only "character" I know of who is considered a male medusa.)

Edited by Amazor'dra, 19 December 2004 - 09:16 PM.

[Torack]

You can check out their 2e statistics etc. in the Monstrous Manual thread on this page.

[Stone Wolf]

Yeah, that all came from the 2E Monstrous Manual. Maedars cannot petrify normally. They can do stone to flesh 3 times a turn (iirc). Basically a Medusa petrifys, and then the Maedar mate smashes the statue that remains. He then turns the chunks back into flesh. Food for all!

[Archmage Silver]

I guess that 3E manual has less info on medusas then. I can't say I'm surprised though.

[Amazor'dra]

Weeiiird.

*finishes with looking through the 2E MM*

Well, maybe Vashaak was originally a female priestess who had displeased the Hag Countess, so the Countess turned Vashaak into a male and gave him to Baalzebul as a present. A sneaky way to form an alliance while punishing a servant who disobeyed her.

Vashaak
+ Has snakes on head
+ Wearing mask to hide petrifying gaze
+ Cannot pass through stone

Maedars
+ Any pictures portray 'em as bald
+ Don't have a petrifying gaze
+ Can pass through stone

[Stone Wolf]

I think it's mainly a case of making stuff up as they go along, regardless of previous books.

[Amazor'dra]

I'm writing a story that deals with a male medusa, so I'm just trying to sort of draw it all together. o.o

[Stone Wolf]

Oh, I thought you meant that the male medusa were in the Book of Vile Darkness. For fictional purposes it sounds interesting. I was just thinking that WotC changed something again.

[Amazor'dra]

Well, the story I am writing does deal with Vashaak, who is also written briefly about in the Book of Vile Darkness. (page 160)

There was just so very little about the character outside of stats that made me go digging unsuccessfully at first for more info on male medusas.

If I'm going to "roleplay" a character in a custom story(IE, were you and a friend decide to write a story, pick which characters you want to write for, and then write up the story as you go along, switching story parts from different character's perspectives between you and a friend.) , I wanted to know as much as I could before doing so.

EDIT:

From Book of Vile Darkness:

Vashaak Ratoth Bruu is the offspring of one of the Hag Countess?s most powerful medusa servants. She presented Baalzebul with Vashaak as a gift in an attempt to forge an alliance. The alliance is not yet formed, but Baalzebul has become somewhat enchanted with the male medusa. Vashaak is now the chief handservant of the archdevil, serving as his hands in all sorts of tasks, many of them unsavory even by Vashaak?s standards. Vashaak wears an iron mask to hid his pertifying gaze and keeps his snakes wrapped in a single iron chain atop his head. The mask and the chains can be shed very quickly (as a free action) if Vashaak needs to enter battle.

Edited by Amazor'dra, 20 December 2004 - 02:47 PM.