The Tavern

With the recent changes to petrification, I've begun coding up some petrifying clouds... but we need monsters to breathe them! I've selected the catoblepas, a yak-type monster that will happily turn you to stone as you meander through Lair, but a tile is needed for our tile-loving friends. If you're interested, you can click the Wikipedia link for historical info and drawings, and here's my current in-game description:



Thanks!

doesnt basilisks going to reside in lair too?

Have fun turning to stone, is all I have to say. Both monsters are pretty rare, though.

Keep in mind these aren't the only creatures with petrification. Some enemy wizards can cast the spell, as per basilisks, and there are plans to possibly give petrifying breath to grey draconians.

Pretty nice image of the catoblepas here http://www.theoi.com/Thaumasios/Katoblepones.html

Request fulfilled! See here the lovely new catoblepas tile, courtesy of Denzi: https://crawl.develz.org/mantis/file_do ... 5&type=bug

This thread had me thinking about monsters that petrify; and I realised there's no Medusa in Crawl. Considering there's a ton of Crawl content already based on Greek mythology and the like, it seems like something that would fit perfectly.

Some thoughts that arise from this;

- Medusa can petrify all in LOS. Serpentine creatures (excluding Naga) are immune.
- She could breath petrifying clouds. And have summon snake / sticks-to-snakes.
- Her hair is made of snakes. So she gets a lot of melee attacks, like hydra. Each attack is reasonably low damage but they can add up. Also clearly poisonous.
- This would be a great themed branch end for the Snake Pits. There could be a hall of statues leading up to the Hydra who is by herself, having somewhat accidentally petrified all her Naga cohorts. A whole load of snakes are then released or summoned as soon as she sees you.
- It could make an interesting labyrinth alternative, having a maze of statues leading to Medusa in the middle
- There could be a new Gorgon monster type, with Medusa simply being a tough unique of that race
- Alternately the snake hair could be implemented with tentacle code - could be very cool!

The medusa is an iconic Nethack monster. We already have enough references to NH, so no medusa for me, thank you very much.

Nethack....
THIS IS GREEK MYTHOLOGY YOU PLEBEIAN!
Also, if you're really afraid of 'referencing' nethack then just it a gorgon. In the original myths gorgon was the species, Medusa was an individual.

At least a year ago.

Specifically Monday, 27th June 2011, 13:32