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Basilisks Are Your Friends

By Jamie "Skyle" Clark

Their gaze can bring down those 500 hp monsters while barely breaking a sweat and yet the monsters insist on attacking your party members. Your fighters feel like putting up a token fight while the mages repeatedly Simulacrum Basilisks to stone the hostile monsters.
They can gaze at your party members repeatedly and still the members resist or can luck out. Even then you likely have a member who can cast the priest spell Destone. Thus your character can be back in action within two rounds — after getting his/her items and equipping them (except for armor). Of course the spell casting members can get their items after the fight.
In Ben Frank’s A Warning About Basilisks a solution proposed was to make them immune to magic. The major problem with this is that the Basilisks can’t be Slowed and are immune to all spells save Wound and Shockwave. A better alternative is to make them — at least the Ur-Basilisk — Important monsters (my 20 Intelligence 49th level Mages couldn’t Soul Capture a 5th level Important monster with no special abilities after 4 tries).
In any case, their levels should be increased yet more to account for their Stoning gaze (also adjust their Health, Skill, and Armor amounts). They will be more deadly, but will be more resistant to being Soul Captured and more costly to Simulacrum. The Capture Soul/Simulacrum process will demand more spell points as the level determines Simulacrum spell point cost.

Current Proposed
LevelHealthSkillArmorLevelHealthSkillArmor
Basilisk1050551540108
Ur-Basilisk25120912351002015

[Using Tarl Kudrick’s formula of LEVEL = 0.081 _ HEALTH + 0.204 _ SKILL + 0.261 _ ARMOR + (special powers) + (mage spell levels). The current monsters had 4/10 as added levels due to their powers.]

Why not use them? Hostile spell casters with a mage level of at least 4 can also Simulacrum Basilisks via Place a Monster special spells. Using Stareye’s model of Special AP spells, just do this:

1 Stuff Done Equal? 1:9, 1A= 1 goto 1B= 5
Play a Sound, 1A= 25 (cast mage spell)
Display Small Message, “XXXX casts Simulacrum”, “ Basilisk summoned.” or “ Ur-Basilisk summoned.”
Random Number, if < 1A=“50” goto 2, else jump to 3

2 Random Number, if>< 1A=“50” goto 2a, else jump to 2b
2a Place a Monster, 1A=“X1, “ 1B=“Y1, “ 2A=“103” or 104, 2B=“1” force, jump to 4
2b Place a Monster, 1A=“X2, “ 1B=“Y2, “ 2A=“103” or 104, 2B=“1” force, jump to 4

3 Random Number, if>< 1A=“50” goto 3a, else jump to 3b
3a Place a Monster, 1A=“X3, “ 1B=“Y3, “ 2A=“103” or 104, 2B=“1” force, jump to 4
3b Place a Monster, 1A=“X4, “ 1B=“Y4, “ 2A=“103” or 104, 2B=“1” force, jump to 4

4 Start General Timer, 1A=“4” moves, goto 1B=“1, “ –1

5 Start General Timer, 1A=“4” moves, goto 1B=“6, “ –1

6 Destroy Monster, 1A=“103” or 104>
[Caster’s life SDF is 1, 9 (0 alive, 1 dead), Select 4 X, Y coordinates to place the monster — keep it within 4 spaces of the caster’s likely location, 103 is a Basilisk and 104 is an Ur-Basilisk]. Note: Unless the party is trapped in that room, you’ll want to insert a cut-off Stuff Done Equal? to call special node 5 (above) so the caster both stops summoning monsters and the summoned ones disappear.
Thus, as long at that caster is alive, every 4 rounds a Basilisk or Ur-Basilisk will appear in one of 4 equally random locations. Once the caster is dead, then all Basilisks or Ur-Basilisks (including the party’s) are destroyed after 4 rounds (i.e. they disappear as any summoned monster does). Basilisks are a very effective combat tactic. Make it available to the hostile spell casters too.
Note, if the Basilisk and Ur-Basilisk are Important monsters in your scenario then you can’t justify having a hostile spell caster Simulacrum them.

Besides making them Important monsters you have three other options to reduce their presence in towns and dungeons:
  1. A node sequence to remove Basilisks and Ur-Basilisks from that town/dungeon. The drawback by using Destroy Monster with 1A set to 103 or 104 is that it removes hostile ones as well. Of course you can use Place Monster (103 or 104) nodes to put them back in.
  2. A node sequence to remove friendly monsters (Simulacrums). The drawback by using Destroy All Monsters with 1A set to 1 is that your friendly NPCs will be removed as well. Thus you’ll need some One-time Place Town Encounter specials to later place these friendly NPCs.
  3. Just before the major encounter have monsters that drain spell energy (Gazers) or a special that Affect Party — Lower Spell Points. You’ll need to justify the Affect Party special, but less spell energy lowers the chance that the party’s spell casters will have the spell energy to Simulacrum Basilisks.

Note: The first two node sequences must be used with general timers to “sweep” the town/dungeon.
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