Basilisk Eggs

[308HTR]

A while back, my players recently survived a run in with a nesting basilisk. The elf ranger with a Snow White complex decided it would be a cool idea to try and hatch a basilisk egg. In game, three months have passed since and the character has been taking care of the egg...

Other than a having him make a wild empathy check to determine its attitude and let him have a pet (his previous animal companion was really a wildshaped druid playing a prank) what could I do?

Also, are there rules for reducing creatures in size?

[The Tygre]

The Pathfinder Bestiary has rules for 'Weaker' monsters, which can represent juveniles. If you want to go hardcore, BESM d20 has rules for advancing monsters through stages of life a la Magical Pet genre. I'm more interested in how to actually take care of the beastie. The first thought that comes to mind is some kind of blinders or hood, like a falcon's. Basilisks are predators, but sluggish, so he'll need a steady supply of food.

Now if you -really- want to spice things up, it's not a basilisk. It's a dracolisk.


A diagram of a basilisk, including a hatchling.


A dracolisk. Exactly what it says on the can. Somewhere along the line, a dragon and a basilisk decided to make a baby.

[taltamir]

that would be sheer awesomeness The Tygre. Nice pictures too.

you could have your PC "imprint" if its the first thing it sees as it hatches.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imprinting_(psychology)

[Kaiyanwang]

Handle animal. IIRC, the Basilisk int makes it trainable at -5.

It's just a little deal not be cast in stone, but once you get rid ot it, it makes it a beautiful mount.

[Deth Muncher]

Handle animal. IIRC, the Basilisk int makes it trainable at -5.

It's just a little deal not be cast in stone, but once you get rid ot it, it makes it a beautiful mount.

Is the Bassy's gaze able to be turned off? Or targeted? Because that way you could train it to not stone the party.

[Kaiyanwang]

Is the Bassy's gaze able to be turned off? Or targeted? Because that way you could train it to not stone the party.

SRD says:

Unless specified otherwise, a creature with a gaze attack can control its gaze attack and "turn it off" when so desired.

So, if DM agrees that basiliks can be trained in that sense...

[Leon]

Now if you -really- want to spice things up, it's not a basilisk. It's a dracolisk.

Or a hydralisk

[Starscream]

Here's a cool but silly idea. Use an illusion to make the basilisk look like something much more formidable, like a dragon. Use a low level wand or something, so the will save DC is low. You and your party members intentionally make no attempt to disbelieve it, so that's how you see him. As such, you can't be affected by his gaze attack.

When your enemies attempt to attack the "dragon", they interact with it and end up disbelieving and seeing the bask as it really is. Then they are subject to the gaze attack, and get petrified.

I should mention that I have absolutely no idea how well this works by RAW. Can gaze attacks work if you can't see the basilisk? How much of the illusion is what you actually see, and how much is in your head? Can you not disbelieve an illusion that you know is fake?

Still, if it works it'll be a hoot.

[Kol Korran]

i think that by the rule of Cool, you must allow it to be possible. i don't have enough of a grasp on petrification rules to know if it could be trained to "turn it off", but it sounds reasonable. (the training process however might cost many chickens/ mice/ other test animals).

as a suggestion, you could rule that it takes time for young basilisk to fully develop their power. maybe at first the DC to save is lower, or there is a reduced effect (some ideas could be: turn to stone for a few minutes only, or paralysys, or dexterity damage- "reduced stony effect")

i think it would take time for bassy to becoem formidable enough, but it could be fun to have him along anyway. (it's not as if Ranger's companions are that effective)

[Darrin]

Other than a having him make a wild empathy check to determine its attitude and let him have a pet (his previous animal companion was really a wildshaped druid playing a prank) what could I do?

While the basilisk may not be available as an animal companion, the ranger could take it as a cohort with the Leadership feat. There may be a few other ways to do that... Beast Heart Adept in Dungeonscape might work, but I can't recall if basilisk is one of the available beasts.

I think there's a rule somewhere that allows you to train magical beasts with a -5 penalty. The basilisk has an Int of 2, so you could probably use Handle Animal for that, and since the ranger is hand-raising it from birth, I would probably give the ranger a +2 or +4 circumstance bonus to offset the magical beast penalty. (Usually you would use Diplomacy to train/negotiate with magical beasts, but with an Int of 2, I think Handle Animal would be more appropriate.)

Also, are there rules for reducing creatures in size?

There is a "Dungeonbred" template in Dungeonscape if you want to breed the basilisk as a smaller size. However, I think you're just asking what size a basilisk under 6HD would be... and I don't think you really need a rule for that, it's easy enough to eyeball. Just say 1-5HD = small size, or 1-2HD = tiny, 3-5HD = small.

For balance reasons, I'd also say until the basilisk reaches full size (6HD), it hasn't developed its gaze attack yet. The DMG has rules on using monsters as cohorts, with suggested ECLs. I can recall if basilisk is in there, but I'd probably delay calling the thing full-grown until someone in the party can reliably cast break enchantment.

[Kaiyanwang]

While the basilisk may not be available as an animal companion, the ranger could take it as a cohort with the Leadership feat. There may be a few other ways to do that... Beast Heart Adept in Dungeonscape might work, but I can't recall if basilisk is one of the available beasts.

I think there's a rule somewhere that allows you to train magical beasts with a -4 penalty... although I may be confusing that with the Savage Empathy feat.

SRD has one.

Special

You can use this skill on a creature with an Intelligence score of 1 or 2 that is not an animal, but the DC of any such check increases by 5. Such creatures have the same limit on tricks known as animals do.

[Lysander]

Actually, a trainer can protect themselves from a basilisk's gaze pretty easily. Just design some kind of periscope googles to wear when handling the basilisk so there's no risk of seeing it directly. Make sure to keep it in a secure room with no windows, and have a double door system so people don't accidentally peek in. It might also be a good idea to develop some kind of secure blindfold to put on the basilisk until its trained, kind of like a hawk's hood.

This will still be difficult and take a while though. Rearing a infant magical beast takes one year and has a Handle Animal DC of 30 + the animal's HD. Teaching it tricks requires a DC40 + HD check. You could always Rule of Cool the DC lower though, or maybe they can find a master training willing to help them.

[jiriku]

Is he going to name it "Bassie"?

[Slayn82]

Or you could train your Basilisk with a blindfold, just like a hunting bird.

[Coplantor]

Or a hydralisk

Let's make it a hydracolisk and see what happens.

[Lysander]

Go full out and make it a tarrashydracolisk.

[Coplantor]

Go full out and make it a tarrashydracolisk.

Now we are just being silly, are'nt we?

I love sillyness! As a DM, I would love this
As a player though
But as both I can see the hydracolisk working...

[Fishy]

Everything I know about Basilisk eggs I learned from Nethack.

Wear gloves. Avoid stairs.

[Lysander]

I think you're actually probably best making it a normal basilisk though. What, a magic lizard that turns things to stone isn't magical enough by itself? Instead of making it memorable by adding some heads, why not play the basilisk as a memorable npc? It might be a dumb animal but have it be playful and surprisingly friendly.

[Kaiyanwang]

This will still be difficult and take a while though. Rearing a infant magical beast takes one year and has a Handle Animal DC of 30 + the animal's HD. Teaching it tricks requires a DC40 + HD check. You could always Rule of Cool the DC lower though, or maybe they can find a master training willing to help them.

Aren't those the rules from ELH? I mean, I think you should apply those if the magical beast is not in the category of "normally trainable" (int 1 or 2).

Say, you want to rise a Phoenix or a Thunderbird..

[Deth Muncher]

Is he going to name it "Bassie"?

If that's the idea, you should raise it someplace where it can become nobility and be promoted to the rank of Count. :D Also, give it levels in bard.

[Vizzerdrix]

Hmm... I remember seeing in a dragon Mag, feats for taking monsters as animal companions. Don't forget to train it for war :)

[Fitz10019]

you could train it to not stone the party.

Without it's momma, how do you train the basilisk to use it's power to begin with? This excuse can be used to delay the use of the power until it's appropriate for the level of the Ranger.

[I'm picturing that Elseworld where the Kryptonian boy adopted by the Waynes has his first heat-vision experience vaporizing his foster-parents' killer.]

[Eldariel]

Without it's momma, how do you train the basilisk to use it's power to begin with? This excuse can be used to delay the use of the power until it's appropriate for the level of the Ranger.

Isn't it pretty easy to mimic the ability with magic? Just Polymorph into one with Assume Supernatural Ability and make it repeat. Or use Flesh-to-Stone or some other trick to make your point :P

[Yucca]

Without it's momma, how do you train the basilisk to use it's power to begin with?

Pay a wizard to research a spell "speak with basilisk". Assuming it's sufficiently low-level, pay the same wizard to make an at-will item of the spell.

Pretty much "a wizard does it"

[308HTR]

After reviewing this thread I've decided that I'll house rule that magical beasts and aberrations with INT of 1 or 2 can be trained like animals. It'll have 2HD and tiny size at hatching, then I'll advance it to small and 4HD after the PC gets another level and then advance it again to 6HD and full (medium) size when the player gains two additional levels from now. apart from that, it will be unchanged. also, the Hydracolisk is a brilliant idea. Thanks all.

[Yuki Akuma]

After reviewing this thread I've decided that I'll house rule that magical beasts and aberrations with INT of 1 or 2 can be trained like animals.

That's... that's not a house rule. They can.

[308HTR]

That's... that's not a house rule. They can.

By the same set of rules found under the handle animal skill in the PHB, not the rules for the epic use of the skill.

[holywhippet]

Pay a wizard to research a spell "speak with basilisk". Assuming it's sufficiently low-level, pay the same wizard to make an at-will item of the spell.

Pretty much "a wizard does it"

Not sure if you could do that. The tongues spell doesn't let you talk to anything that isn't intelligent so I'd expect any other spell to have to same problem - you can't talk to anything that isn't smart enough to talk.

On the other hand, monks get an ability that lets them talk to any living creature with no such restriction.

[thornn]

This is reminiscent of a medusa I made once that had a basilisk as a pet. She named it Pebbles.