Dragon

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Monsters

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Dragon #81

F r o m   a n   u n t i t l e d   t o m e   i n   t h e   l i b r a r y   o f
S u l p h o n   o f   W a t e r d e e p ,   s i g n e d   ? R h a p h o d e l ,
S a g e   o f   S a g e s ? : (AD&D? game notations
and other comments added by the author
appear in italic inside parentheses.)

K n o w ,   O   s a g e ,   t h a t   a   c r e a t u r e   o f t e n
a s k e d   a b o u t   i s   t h e   d r e a d e d   b a s i l i s k ,   w h o s e
g a z e   t u r n s   o n e   t o   s t o n e .   I t   b e h o o v e s   a   s a g e
t o   w a x   w i s e   a n d   e l o q u e n t   a b o u t   t h i s   b e a s t ,
f o r   t h e r e i n   l i e s   t h e   s e e d s   o f   m u c h   r e s p e c t   f o r
y o u r s e l f   a n d   y o u r   l e a r n i n g .

T h e   b a s i l i s k   i s   a   l a r g e ,   r e p t i l i a n   b r u t e
t h a t   i s   b o t h   s l o w   a n d   s t u p i d .   I t   i s   f e a r e d   f o r
i t s   i n f a m o u s   g a z e ,   w h i c h   c a n   a t   w i l l   t u r n
c r e a t u r e s   ( i n c l u d i n g   b o t h   f i s h   a n d   f o w l )   w h o
m e e t   i t   t o   s t o n e .   S o   m u c h   a n y   h a l f - w i t   c a n
t e l l   y o u ,   b u t   m a r k   w e l l   t h e   w o r d s   t h a t   f o l l o w ,   f o r   h e r e   i s   s e t   d o w n   a l l   t h a t   i s   k n o w n   o f
t h e   t r u t h   a b o u t   t h e   g a z e   o f   t h e   b a s i l i s k

P r e c i s e l y   h o w   t h e   c r e a t u r e ? s   g a z e   w o r k s   i s
a   m y s t e r y ;   m o s t   l e a r n e d   o b s e r v e r s   a g r e e
t h a t   t h e   c r e a t u r e ? s   e y e s   e m i t   a   r a d i a t i o n   t h a t
i f   a b s o r b e d   b y   t h e   e y e s   o f   o t h e r   c r e a t u r e s   ?
o r   e v e n   i t s e l f ,   i f   i t s   g a z e   i s   r e f l e c t e d   b a c k
u p o n   i t   ?   c a u s e s   a n   i n e x p l i c a b l e   c h e m i c a l
c h a n g e   i n   t h e   b l o o d s t r e a m ,   a l t e r i n g   l i v i n g
f l e s h   t o   s t o n e .   (Stoned creatures are immediately paralyzed, unable to speak, see, or
feel. They will become unconscious from
lack of air at the end of 1 round, but until
then are capable of mental ? i.e., psionic
and some magical ? activity Any spell or
device supplying air, or removing the need
for it, such as a necklace of adaptation, will
allow continued mental activity, with a
cumulative (intelligence score +1% per turn)
chance of insanity due to helplessness and
total isolation.)

C l o t h i n g ,   a c c o u t r e m e n t s ,   a n d   t h e   l i k e
c a r r i e d   o r   w o r n   b y   v i c t i m s   a r e   n o t   a f f e c t e d ,
d e s p i t e   s o m e   w i l d   t a l e s   t o   t h e   c o n t r a r y .
B e i n g s   w h o   t h r o u g h   n a t u r a l   a b i l i t y   o r   t h e
u s e   o f   m a g i c   a r e   i n   gaseous form  are also
apparently immune to the effects of the
basilisk?s gaze.  (The use of invulnerability
potions allows a saving throw vs. petrification at +2. Any rings or cloaks of protection
being worn add their bonus to the saving
throw.)

A basilisk has two translucent eyelids,
somewhat like the membranes covering the
eyes of a frog, that can at will cover each of
its eyes: an upper eyelid, which drops from
above, and when thus closed overlaps an
inner, lower eyelid, which rises from below
the eye. With the upper and lower eyelids
covering the eyes, a basilisk can see up to 15
man-lengths away  (9" in AD&D scale)  in
normal light, much as men do. Each eye?s
lids operate independently of each other,
and are controlled by the creature; it need
not blink at all, if no irritants get into its
eyes.

When the upper eyelid (only) is drawn
back, a basilisk?s eye sees up to 18 manlengths away  (11" in scale)  on the prime
material plane, with the benefits of both
ultravision and infravision. Or, by concentration, it can scan the astral plane, seeing
up to 12 man-lengths distant  (7" in scale),
or the ethereal plane, seeing up to 18 manlengths away. A basilisk cannot see on more
than one plane at once, but unless they are
actually fighting or hunting in one particular plane, basilisks tend to flick their gazes
from plane to plane every minute  (every
round),  and thus remain aware of their
surroundings in all three planes.

When its inner, lower eyelid is also drawn
back -- and both eyelids can be raised  and
lowered again in less than five seconds -- a
basilisk's gaze petrifies all who meet the
stare of one of its eyes on the prime material
plane, slays all who meet its stare on the
astral plane, and turns ethereal creatures
who meet its gaze into inanimate, insensible
?ethereal stone .? Note that a basilisk?s eyes
are on opposite sides of its head, and thus it
commands a very wide field of vision  (a
260-degree arc),  and can conceivably stone
creatures to either side of it ? two, in total
    in the same minute.

Fortunately for those who encounter it,
the basilisk is not particularly energetic or
cunning, and it simply will not comprehend
the properties of a mirror or other reflective
device if such is maneuvered into position,
and will readily ?stone? itself if such precautions are successfully applied.

Petrified creatures cannot be eaten by
basilisks, and they will therefore strike with
their petrifying gaze only at creatures who
by size or aggressive behavior seem threatening to them. Petrified victims are subject
to all of the effects that stone normally
suffers.  ( These effects include chipping,
frost damage and other weathering, attacks
from a horn of blasting, etc., and these may
well destroy the unfortunate individual.
Contrary to some fireside yarns, stoned
people who are chipped or shattered do not
bleed. Petrification does not otherwise slay
creatures, who are held in a sort of suspended animation, or ?stone sleep.? Protective devices retained by a petrified victim
?a cube of frost resistance, for example ?
will continue to function. )

Basilisks eat all types of small creatures
(including both fowl and fish), carrion, and
some berries. They cannot eat or physically
attack creatures not on the prime material
plane, and apparently only use their gaze
attacks in a defensive manner with respect
to creatures thereon. It should be noted
here that some sages dispute this point.
Further research, dangerous though it is,
will be necessary to remove all doubt as to
the powers of the basilisk on the astral and
ethereal planes, and possible prey it may
seek from those planes.

Basilisks instinctively avoid looking
directly at other basilisks, and they never
deliberately use their stoning gaze on one
another. They can recognize fellow basilisks
by both sight and smell, and although their
sense of smell is not noticeably keen with
respect to hunting down other creatures, it
is sufficiently acute to distinguish between
individual basilisks; i.e., mate and young
are readily discerned from strangers.

Any basilisks encountered will be solitary
hunters, a mated but hunting pair, a nesting
pair, or a pair with grown but immature
young still sharing a lair. Such young often
accompany their parents for up to three
seasons, until they are ready to mate,
whereupon they leave their parents and
each other to seek out their own mates.
Basilisks mate for life, and by instinct breed
every four summers ? usually in water,
w h i c h   h e l p s   t o   s u p p o r t   t h e i r   s l o w ,   h e a v y
b o d i e s .   O n e   o r   t w o   d a y s   a f t e r   m a t i n g ,   t h e
f e m a l e   l a y s   a   c l u s t e r   o f   g r e e n i s h - w h i t e   e g g s
(from  1-8),  each about the size of a man?s
fist. Basilisk eggs have soft, warm, stretchy
surfaces, and they withstand crowding or
even gentle handling and tumbling without
harm; they cannot break the way a duck?s
or hen?s eggs will shatter in similar circumstances. A basilisk parent often picks up an
egg in its mouth to carry it, drops it in a
new location or to defend itself, or rolls eggs
about with its snout ? all without doing the
eggs any damage. After laying its eggs, a
basilisk mother covers them in cool sand or
half-buries them in cool, wet mud. The eggs
are almost always (95% chance) fertile, and
if they survive the nesting period of four to
six weeks  (31-50 days),  they will hatch into
miniature basilisks, 4 to 9 inches long, who
have full gaze powers at birth. During the
nesting period, the parents do not eat, all
the while growing more and more irritable
and fanatical in the defense of their nest and
its surroundings. Hatchlings grow quite
rapidly, reaching man-size in length (from
nose to base of tail) in 4 to 6 months after
they are born. During this growth period,
their parents hunt intensively with them
and for them.

Like other reptilian creatures, basilisks
are cold-blooded. They derive much of their
energy from the heat of the sun, and spend
much time sunning themselves on rocks or
heights to gather this heat. (They will also
often creep up to campfires at night for the
same reason.) But unlike most reptiles,
basilisks can tolerate a fairly wide range of
temperature, and can also store heat efficiently in their coiled digestive organs; thus,
they remain active on warm or mild nights,
even in early spring or late autumn. (Basilisks who live deep underground always
have ready access to volcanic heat ? and if
these subterranean creatures are kept from
this heat source for any longer than a day,
they will grow sluggish and ultimately perish within another three days.) Like their
smaller kin among the lizard population,
basilisks can regrow lost limbs and tails
within 1 to 4 months, provided they have an
above-average supply of food during this
time.

Because of its fearsome petrifying power
(which, it should be noted, is permanent;
affected creatures are not freed by its
?wearing off?), the basilisk has long been a
source of fascination and magical power to
men. Mages and alchemists have found two
parts of a basilisk eye particularly useful:
the internal pupil, lens, and fluid of its eye
which are used as ingredients in potions,
spell inks, and the making of items (such as
eyes of petrification)  concerned with petrifying creatures; and the inner membrane or
eyelid of the creature, used likewise in
magic concerned with protection against
petrification. Other parts of the basilisk are
sometimes tried for such purposes, but with
little or dubious success. An intact eye
might bring as much as 1,000 gp from an
alchemist; parts of it, such as the eyelid or
fluid, up to 400 gp each. Prices vary with
demand, of course, as with all rarities, and
have been known to reach ten times these
amounts.

Various individuals have attempted to use
basilisks as guardians, usually chained in a
particular location, and fed by hooded
attendants, or led about by them with a
collar and several chains. This tactic can be
effective, but eventually fails more often
than not simply because of the nature of the
beast and its powers. Basilisks are stupid,
lazy, and often asleep. If they feel secure ?
they are not intelligent enough to remain
constantly vigilant if no obvious threat is
afoot ? then they will not look about and
repeatedly scan all three planes, and at such
times they may be slain or hooded from the
rear without great danger to the intruder or
interloper they are supposed to be guarding
against.

And even if a basilisk guard is successful
in its stoning attack, the victim is impossible
to interrogate (or rescue, if the wrong person is petrified by accident), and difficult to
move out of the way -- except by the use of
expensive spells and magick items. If more
than 1 basilisk guard is used in the same
general area, they inevitably stone each other
when tricked by cunning intruders, and
starving or beating the beasts does not
improve their drowsy indolence or lack of
alertness. They are simply too stupid to be
trained where to go or not go, or to distinguish between acceptable victims and persons who are not to be petrified. Despite all
this, intact basilisk eggs usually bring up to
500 gp each, and a miniature young one is
worth as much as 700 gp. Mature, less
tractable specimens usually carry a price of
450 to 500 gp.

The effective petrifying range of a basilisk's gaze seems to be a function of how
keen the eyesight of its victim is; although
this tends to be only up to about 5 man-lengths distant  (3" in scale),  cases have been
reported of wizards employing  wizard eye
spells being stoned by basilisk guardians,
and persons employing  crystal balls, eyes of
the eagle  and similar devices being petrified
at great distances.

At present  (the time of Rhaphodel?s
writing is unknown),  little else is known of
the nature of a basilisk's gaze. The foremost
authority on the subject is widely believed
to be the sage Krammoch. of Baldur's Gate.