Have Illusions, Will (Hopefully) Surprise People With A Basilisk

[Charing]

Hey everyone!
I was hoping I could borrow your wisdom and any fun suggestions you might have.

So I'm currently running my first game of 5e (I play in a campaign usually and I'm no stranger to DMing, but I am new to running this edition) and the plotline involves the party coming up against a Lamia queen in a hidden jungle valley in a desert.

Now, looking at the spell list, it looks very much like a Lamia's not designed to be a straightforward fight - I should be looking to hide and feint and surprise, distract and sew discord.

One of the ideas I have is having the Lamia using Major Image to hide a pet Basilisk of hers, working on the assumption that an illusion of No Basilisk Here is a valid use of the thing. However, looking at the rules for the gaze, it was suggesting that it wouldn't take effect unless both the basilisk and its potential victim could see each other. I was just wondering how you guys would work with this yourself, because presumably the basilisk can still see out normally - do the players see it but not realise it's there, or would it not happen until they saw through the illusion or it was otherwise dropped?

I'd also appreciate any other tips, tricks, or things you'd probably do in this situation. :)

Party is 5 level 3 characters, an Eldritch Knight, an Arcane Trickster, a Thief, a ranger, and a warlock. Bit of an odd mix possibly, but I'm not meant to be running it for long, just a few sessions while the GM moves house.

[JackPhoenix]

Major Image can't create an illusion of "nothing" to hide something by RAW and RAI... that's what Invisibility and Hallucinatory Terrain are for. Nothing isn't object, creature or visible phenomen... it's...well... nothing.

You can, however, create an illusion of something hiding the basilisk: a rock or other object large than it is. It would block the LoS from both sides, though. The result would be the same in your suggestion, though: gaze works only if the basilisk and it's victim can see each other. Invisible basilisk could see the target, but the target wouldn't be able to see it, and thus immune to its gaze.

[Ninja_Prawn]

I should be looking to... sew discord.

Like this?
http://img14.deviantart.net/e231/i/2011/356/8/b/discord_by_magnastorm-d4jwgsb.jpg
Anyway, you may be aware of this already, but Lamia + Basilisk (2,700 equivalent XP) is way above the 'deadly' threshold for 5no level 3 PCs (2,000 XP). That's not necessarily a problem, but it's something to keep an eye on.

Now, I don't see any way for the basilisk to petrify anyone without them seeing it, and Major Image isn't really up to disguising a living creature (and the PCs would see through an illusory disguise as soon as they started getting petrified anyway, unless you disguise it as something else with a petrifying gaze, which defeats the point). Also, unless they're surprised, they can avert their eyes, and you lose a lot of the basilisk's shock value. I wouldn't personally be comfortable surprising the PCs when they're already in combat; they're on their guard by that point. So the only time to surprise them is before combat starts.

Therefore, some of the options I'd be looking at are:

Open the combat with a basilisk ambush and then drop a lamia on them when they think the situation is under control.
Split them up and try to petrify them one at a time. Maybe use the lamia's illusions to cover an escape between ambushes.
Create illusions of multiple basilisks so they either avert their eyes from *everything* or risk getting petrified before they figure out which one is real.

[Charing]

Yeah, that's cool - works just as well for my purposes! And I suppose it's going to be quite an interestingly nasty surprise if people end up walking quite close to it beforehand... Thanks!

Is there anything else you'd make the encounters with it interesting? Interesting ways it could use all its illusions and so on? I'd love to make it as memorable and interesting as it should be.

[Charing]

Sorry Ninja, that one's on me not being clear enough - I'm not planning to hit them with both at once, because that seems excessively cruel(But I assume she's still got to be around to cast the illusions in any case, so the option's probably there.) I do really like those ideas, though! Certainly having fake ones about, that's genius. :D

[MaxWilson]

Have the Lamia Disguise Self herself as a Medusa or an Umber Hulk (whichever one you as the DM think is more compatible with the way you want her Disguise Self to work) so that player characters will "cleverly" avert their gaze from her, blinding themselves.

Use Major Image to create the illusion of a floor where there isn't one, or an enemy that can cause PCs to deploy the wrong countermeasures or divide their forces, or waste attacks/spells. An insubstantial foe like a Wraith or a Banshee is ideal because even if they "hit", they won't be surprised if the weapon goes through the enemy; she can cause it to look damaged so they keep attacking it, but it will never actually die.