HYPERBOREA / Gorgon's Gaze Attack

**Posted by Spider of Leng** 8/08/2020 11:57 am

Okay, so this came up in our Labyrinth Lord game in Tegel Manor. The party got surprised by a medusa and the lead character, a paladin henchman, failed his save and should thus be turned to stone. The catch is that this particular henchman is a clockwork construction they rescued in HighFell. Reading the Labyrinth Lord rules, says all characters are petrified. It doesn't specify flesh characters only, though I assume that's implied. In AS&SH it says humans and humanoids. So there's this metal to stone plus the issue of how it sees, which is magical. But in discussions of its abilities, immunity to gaze attacks is not listed. It is already immune to poison, disease, mind, and cold effects.

Anyhow, I ruled that he was petrified. But the clever players have a portable hole,so they pushed him into that, as he obviously doesn't need oxygen. Then they intend to take him to a big city and pay a mage to turn the stone to flesh, restoring him to his original human state, which I said I will allow if he survives the trauma survival test.

Curious as to how others would have ruled this?

P.S.--I plan on posting a review of the Tegel Manor reboot here later today.

**Posted by Caveman** 8/10/2020 3:50 am

Personally I would have not allowed the change to stone, but as you state there is no rule but your own; so you did what you thought was the right thing, but here is some thoughts...

In films, when medusas turn folks to stone, does this include their clothing and weapons armour, I think some do, but not sure if I seen a film where the flesh turned, leaving armour and clothing to disintegrate in time and clothing turn to rags?

So, it is a choice, the spell, flesh to stone, includes possessions, so if medusa's ability is spell-like, it would turn metal to stone also? So if spell-like the tin-man is in danger...

Last edited by Caveman (8/11/2020 4:03 am)

**Posted by Spider of Leng** 8/10/2020 7:50 am

Yeah, I went back and forth on it, but in the end it worked out pretty cool for the character arc because he survived the trauma of being turned back to flesh and is now a living human being again. And the spell description in LL for Stone to Flesh indicates that all possessions are restored as well, regardless on their original material. When I read that, it suggested that the gaze attack could be interpreted to affect things other than flesh.

**Posted by Caveman** 8/11/2020 4:17 am

Yes, story plot is the first thing to consider, I enjoy a good story...

Yes, some hint in the spell description of steel (or other metals) weaponry or armour being transformed by monster's gaze. So cloth (concept of hair fibre), leather (considering skin), bone (which is important).

So, also presuming any gaze attack includes possessions for the three major stone creators: medusa (gorgon), cockatrice and basilisk.

Sorted!