Basilisk Monster Card art by Joe Bilicic

Basilisk Culture, Psychology, & Lore

by Rett Weissenfels

“When Kabu’ru was overrun, children ran through the streets singing. Perhaps their little voices repelled the beasts, or maybe their small frames weren’t worth the effort. Regardless, their eerie rhymes are remembered to this day.

‘Green glow in the alley,
kids will fill its belly,
statues, statues,
we’ll all become!’

One, two, three, four,
fix your stare upon the floor,
five, six, seven, eight,
flee the lizard’s death stone fate.’”

– Marjorie Basilflower, from her collection, Nursery Rhymes of the Basilisk.

Culture and Psychology

“He’s no sculptor! The bastard has a Basilisk in his cellar. A thousand gold to the Emir’s menagerie keeper, and he can unveil a new masterpiece every time a tavern wench goes missing.”

-Baelen the Smuggler, in personal correspondence with Inspector Harkon of Kaze’desh City Watch.

Ponderous, eight-legged, reptiles whose glowing, green gaze means death for any who meet them, Basilisks resemble lizards in many ways. Like common lizards, they are cold-blooded and carnivorous, but can grow upwards of 7 feet, not accounting for their tails-which can grow just as long. Their backs are covered in plate scales sprouted with cruel spines. These protect the flank and discourage attacks from behind. Basilisks do not move quickly, especially in cold weather, but they can spread their mass across eight legs, allowing them to move silently when necessary.

Coloration is determined by the climate in which they reside, but greens, browns, and clayish reds are most common, while greys, blues, and blacks are less so. Basilisks can be found almost anywhere above or below ground. They are accomplished burrowers and are known to inhabit caves, particularly those with access to geothermal heat. Aboveground, Basilisks thrive in the hot sun. Those observed in tropical and arid regions are reported to be faster and more animated, while those in colder climes are slower and plodding.

Basilisks possess a monstrously strong bite for crushing petrified prey, and can easily snap bones and pierce armor. Their saliva carries a potent poison, making their bites even more deadly. And a hinged jaw allows them to consume very large portions. Most Basilisks have a rear row of grinding teeth for masticating stone, fronted by a maw of jagged fangs for dispatching live prey. Some Basilisks grow vicious beaks in place of front teeth, that can pierce thick armor and rend the flesh inside.

While Basilisks have been observed consuming live prey, they are best known for eating petrified meat, snapping off whole arms, legs, and heads of stone with their powerful jaws. Recently, scholars have dispatched the long-held notion that Basilisks also consume common rocks. A Basilisk was killed while feasting on the statue of an unfortunate warrior, and the contents of its lower stomach were examined. It was found to contain flesh, not stone. It is now believed that glands located within a Basilisk’s digestive tract secret a bile that effectively transmutes stone to flesh, making these glands highly prized by alchemists and adventurers alike.

Likewise, it is a myth that all Basilisks can turn their prey to stone. This myth is likely perpetuated by the fact that every Basilisk preferentially consumes petrified prey—even Basilisks who lack the stone gaze ability have the glands necessary to revert petrified prey to flesh. While it’s true there are many Stonegaze Basilisks, there are many ordinary Basilisks too: Large, powerful, eight-legged lizards who hunt and eat live prey. And there are Basilisks even more rare than the Stonegaze, each with their own unique magical qualities. The spider-like Emerald-Eyed Basilisk has a penchant for illusions and psychic influence. Winged Basilisks spit Stonescale Poison at their foes from the skies. But many travelers have never spied these exotic beasts, and have only witnessed the petrified remains of a Stonegaze Basilisk’s meal; stony faces frozen in ruin, or the half-consumed stone limbs of adventurers scattered about the entrance to a cave. These sights leave a lasting impression and can cast a pall over even the most animated tavern. Such tales spread like weeds.

Female Basilisks typically lay one clutch of eggs a year, and select their mates during courtship displays, such as plodding dances and ritualistic combat. Coloring plays a significant role in selection, and some males develop brilliant red and orange hues come mating season. While mothers tend the eggs, fathers hunt to provide food, but once the eggs hatch, fathers abandon the nest and return to solitary life. Mothers often tend to their young for a full year and are particularly vicious in defense of their nests. When adventurers stumble upon haphazard galleries of uneaten stone prey in the wild, they can be sure they are near the nest of a mother Basilisk with young.

Basilisks are most often solitary hunters. They dig burrows, construct rudimentary blinds, and lurk in darkened tunnels for unwitting creatures to stumble across them. Basilisks do not often give chase due to their clumsy gait and slow metabolism—most humanoids can easily outpace a Basilisk. But the most common mistake made by adventurers when escaping Basilisks is not fleeing far enough away. Though they are cumbersome creatures, Basilisks possess a highly attuned olfactory sense and can easily track scents for miles. When fleeing, wise adventurers are careful not to lead Basilisks in the direction of their camp.

Because stone does not spoil, Basilisks have a unique advantage: They can store their food indefinitely. It’s not unusual when travelling through Basilisk territory to stumble upon groves or caves carefully packed with petrified creatures, stockpiled for lean times. Sometimes these statues are wearing long-outdated clothing or gothic armor, perfectly preserved in stone. Sadly, the lounge of Basilisks responsible for ancient food caches may have perished centuries ago themselves, leaving behind forgotten victims from another age.

Though adventurers often discuss the stone gaze as a death sentence, there are many cases in which petrified victims have been restored to flesh and go on to live full lives. It is well documented that timing plays a critical role in successfully reviving the petrified. A month or so spent petrified seems to have no lasting effects. Even those revivified within a few years may spend time recovering, but suffer few lasting effects. The Wizard Sigurath kept a Basilisk to petrify and imprison his enemies. A thousand years after his death, when the last of his traps were disarmed and his keep was made accessible to adventurers, hundreds of petrified people were rescued. When restored, only a handful lived, many hindered by an assortment of maladies. But a surprising few made full recoveries and seemed to suffer no ill effects after living for centuries in stasis.

Special Tactics

Basilisks are patient and tenacious hunters. While their eight legs slow them considerably, they also grant the ability to move quietly over terrain of all sorts. Basilisks routinely patrol their territory in search of food, but because of their slow metabolism, they often lay in wait for weeks for prey to meet their gaze. Whereas some hunters rely on speed to capture their prey, Basilisks are ambush predators who use surprise to capture prey in their stone gaze. A particularly hungry or impatient Basilisk may hiss, caw, or click to draw the attention of an unwitting creature.

If there’s the chance a Basilisk can petrify a living creature, then the Basilisk will hunt it. Size, strength, aggression–all factors that dictate other beasts’ willingness to fight–play little part in Basilisk decision making. However, Basilisks are known to avoid the undead, as well as creatures without eyes, as these are immune to the effects of the petrifying gaze. Basilisks who lack the petrifying gaze ability are no less persistent, but engage in ways that favor their other abilities.

Cliff Creeper Basilisks use their stony scales to hide among boulder fields and mountainsides, then flick their harpoon-like tongues at foes and drag them to their death. Emerald-Eyed Basilisks create basic illusions and psychic suggestions to lure travelers off the path. Winged Basilisks harass their prey from the air, spitting Stonescale Poison before landing for a meal.

Qualities

Cold Sensitive. Basilisks are cold-blooded reptiles, thriving in hotter climates, and underground regions warmed by geothermal energy. This makes them particularly susceptible to cold environments and spells or weapons that deal cold damage. But it also means they are able to easily detect temperature fluctuations in their environment, naturally absorbing light on the infrared spectrum through their skin and eyes, allowing them to occasionally track prey based heat.

Scent Stalker. Like many other reptiles, Basilisks have adapted a keen olfactory sense that allows them to smell their surroundings not only through their nose, but their tongue as well. They can perfectly retrace their paths by comparing the scent on their eight feet to the scent of ground, and they track prey in a similar way. Keen Basilisks can petrify a stray adventurer, then follow their path back to the unwitting party and catch them by surprise.

Territorial. It takes a lot of food to satiate a lounge of 300 pound lizards. While groups of Basilisks are somewhat uncommon, all Basilisks share the desire to defend their hunting grounds from outside threats, whether or not they live in solitude. Adventurers should expect Basilisks to patrol and defend their territory rigorously.

Rigid Mind. Reptilian minds are simple and direct. They usually categorize other creatures as threats or opportunities, and spend their days eating, fighting, reproducing, and defending their territory. Most Basilisks are resistant to magical charms and other beguilements. Only well-learned spellcasters can hope to trick them with illusions, charms, or other mind-altering effects.

Weaponry

Melee 1. Bite. Basilisks’ powerful jaws clamp down on their opponents dealing 2d6+3 piercing damage, plus 2d6 poison damage.

Melee 2. Tail Lash. Basilisks’ tails are large, unwieldy appendages that are difficult to control. But when swung with their powerful legs, a Basilisk’s tail deals 2d6+6 bludgeoning damage. Medium sized and smaller opponents struck with a tail attack must Save DC 12 DEX or STR, or be knocked Prone.

Ranged 1. Regurgitate. Many Basilisks possess the disgusting ability to vomit the contents of their stomach with remarkable force. Foes may find themselves pelted with a disgusting, globular mess of blood, stone, bones, bile, and poison that easily burns exposed flesh, dealing 1d6 acid + 1d6 poison damage with a range of 30ft.

Ranged 2. Poison Spray. Once per combat, the glands in a Basilisk’s mouth can be stimulated to produce a substantial spray. This affects a 10′ square at a range of 30′. Those in or passing through affected squares take 2d6 poison damage and are slowed to half their speed. A DC 15 DEX Save halves this damage and nullifies the slowing effect. The poison spray lasts 1d4 rounds.

Special Units

Emerald-Eyed. Though most Basilisks have glowing green eyes, Emerald-Eyed Basilisks are notable for having eight eyes, arranged in an arachnid pattern, each resembling a sparkling green stone. This inhibits their chances of being surprised, and increases their combat accuracy. Furthering the arachnid comparison, survivors report that Emerald-Eyed Basilisks climb natural surfaces as well as spiders. And while Emerald-Eyed Basilisks are known to wield the petrifying gaze, they are also rumored possess psionic abilities and simple illusionary spells. Some travelers report hearing an Emerald-Eyed Basilisk whispering in their minds; others said they felt compelled to explore deep caves that harbored an Emerald-Eyed Basilisk. Still others maintain that shifting lights and shadows led them into encounters with these deadly beasts. Whether Emerald-Eyed Basilisks are unusually intelligent, or simply well-adapted to hunt prey with their rare abilities, it is not known.

Cliff Creepers. The cliff sides and mountain faces of the world host this bizarre animal. Cliff Creeper Basilisks have stony skin that shifts in color from grey to black to help them blend with their vertical environment. Cliff Creepers easily balance on precarious outcroppings and climb sheer stone walls. Their bulbous eyes allow them to see 360 degrees, limiting their exposure to surprise attacks. They have powerful claws, able to grip rocky cliff sides, and their tails have developed into a functional fifth limb, able to grab and grip. Their tongues flick out up to 10ft, and are tipped with a vicious, harpoon-like spike that pierces their prey, pulling them in to be eaten. Cliff Creepers are less lumbering and more agile than other Basilisks; they grow to about half the weight of their heavier cousins. Cliff Creepers are masterful grapplers, quickly closing the distance with prey to entangle them with powerful claws or wrap them up with their tongues. Many Cliff Creepers lack petrifying gaze, but those who do have it are marked with glowing green eyes. Their ability to see all around them makes their gaze exceptionally dangerous.

Fire Sleepers. Fire Sleepers are armored with thick natural plates. They warm themselves deep belowground in extreme heat, near geothermal vents and lava beds. It is rare that Fire Sleepers venture far from intense natural heat, but when abroad they are drawn to any available sources of heat, especially forges. Many travelers report having their campfires trampled by Fire Sleepers. Interestingly, when a fire destroyed the city of Balmaran, cleanup efforts were hampered when a lounge of Fire Sleepers refused to leave the still smoldering ashes. Their thick plate like scales afford them a much higher AC, and resistance to most elemental types of damage. Fire Sleepers can sometimes expel excess heat through their mouths as a fire breath weapon.

Winged Basilisk. As if encountering a Basilisk in a dim cavern or verdant forest wasn’t horrifying enough, some Basilisks begin developing wings when they reach adulthood. Though Winged Basilisks tend to be much smaller, more limber, and lengthier than their grounded counterparts, they can be far more deadly. Many Basilisks who develop wings lack petrifying gaze. Instead, they spit Stonescale Poison which turns flesh to stone on contact, causing great pain, and restricting movements and abilities.

Special Abilities

Fire Resistant. Due to their thick scales, some Basilisks are resistant to heat and fire. They take half damage from sources of fire damage.

Stonescale Poison. Of the many Basilisks lacking the iconic petrifying gaze, there are those that have developed a horrifying ability to spit Stonescale Poison. When Stonescale Poison touches your skin, it begins to turn to stone. Unlike petrification, the Stonescale Poison only works locally, does not spread, and, because it is poison, can be cured with a lesser restoration spell. If a Basilisk hits Stonescale Poison, the target takes 3d6 acid damage. Roll a 1d8 to determine which part of the body will become encased in stone.

Head – The head becomes encased in stone. Creatures can still breathe, but they can’t see, hear, or speak until restored.
Torso – Flexing the chest to breathe becomes more difficult adding disadvantage to any physical skill checks, attack roles, and saving throws.
Left Arm – Actions requiring the use of the creature’s left arm are now made at disadvantage. Consider the impact while using shields, swinging weapons, and casting spells that require somatic components.
Right Arm – Actions requiring the use of the creature’s right arm are now made at disadvantage. Consider the impact while using shields, swinging weapons, and casting spells that require somatic components.
Left Leg – Speed is reduced by half. Physical skill checks, saves, and other actions are made at disadvantage.
Right Leg – Speed is reduced by half. Physical skill checks, saves, and other actions are made at disadvantage.
Equipment – Stonescale has little to no effect on armor or weapons, but things like rations, if splashed, become inedible.
Fizzles – Target creature still takes acid damage, but the effects of the Stonescale Poison never manifest.

Mindstab. While Emerald-Eyed Basilisks are known for their psychic abilities, there are common Basilisks that can sometimes develop psychic potential. When a creature does not look at a Basilisk and meet the petrifying gaze, a Basilisk with the Mindstab ability can make a psychic attack. The Basilisk targets a creature it can see, that creature makes a DC 15 WIS Save. On a failed Save, that creature takes 3d6 psychic damage, and must make a successful Save at the beginning of each turn or take 1d6 psychic damage until they do. On a successful Save, the creature takes half damage and suffers no continuing effects.

Soaring Leap. Some Basilisks have learned to use their eight powerful legs to leap from danger and avoid opportunity attacks. Cliff Creepers and Winged Basilisks are naturally inclined to use Soaring Leap, but typical Basilisks can learn this skill as well under the right conditions. Basilisks with the Soaring Leap ability can use a bonus action to leap into the air, moving up to 15′ in any direction, without triggering opportunity attacks from enemies.

Movement

Run. Average. Basilisks have a speed of only 20ft.

Climb. Poor/Good. Most Basilisks are not accomplished climbers, but Cliff Creepers and Emerald-Eyed Basilisks climb natural surfaces well.

Swim. Poor. Thick, heavy scales, and mineral dense bones weigh these creatures down significantly.

Burrow. Good. Basilisks can burrow in packed earth easily with their claws and spines, utilizing burrows as both nests and blinds from which to strike unsuspecting prey.

Fly. No Basilisks save for the Winged Basilisks can fly. Winged Basilisks fly very well with a fly speed of 40ft.

Grudges

Basilisks hate Gorgons and attack them on sight. The two species will circle endlessly, each trying to petrify the other. Basilisks are territorial, and stalk those who enter the land surrounding their lairs. Beyond Gorgons, it is difficult to gauge the grudges Basilisks may harbor with any significant accuracy. Their palate doesn’t appear to discriminate, and they devour petrified Dwarves as readily as petrified stags or mountain lions. For Basilisks born with the petrifying gaze, there is no restraint on what they may hunt other than what experience has taught them they can petrify.

Basilisk