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.

Basilisk dungeons and dragons