B/X Monsters A to Z: Gorgon

 And for its next trick, B/X Dungeons & Dragons will split one monster into two!

In Greek mythology, Medusa was the name of a specific, unique being, one of the three Gorgon sisters (the others being Stheno and Euryale). In D&D, though, medusa and gorgon are separate and very different creature types, united by the common theme of petrification attacks. The D&D medusa is based on the mythical Gorgon, Medusa, while the D&D gorgon is based on... livestock.

The gorgon is described as a magical, bull-like monster covered in iron scales. (Random digression: What happens when a gorgon and a rust monster fight? Inquiring minds want to know!) It has large horns, with which it gores opponents, and has the ability to charge for double damage. Gorgons are usually found in small numbers (1-4 appearing) in foothills and grasslands.

Befitting its hide of iron scales, the gorgon has a very solid AC of 2, and 8 Hit Dice, making it nearly as robust as an elephant but even harder to take down due to its armor plating. Its horns do 2-12 points of damage on a successful normal attack, or half what a giant crab can inflict. (Will I ever stop harping on the terribly designed giant crab? No, I don't think so.) Its most fearsome attack is a cloud of petrifying breath 60' long and 10' wide; anyone caught within it must save or be turned to stone. That's a dangerous enough attack out in the open, but imagine encountering an angry gorgon in a 10' wide dungeon corridor. (Actually, that might make an interesting dungeon feature... a whole party of statues marching single-file down a hallway, with a gorgon lair somewhere ahead.) They're immune to their own breath weapon, so a group of gorgons can use this attack freely, with no risk of petrifying each other. How often a gorgon can use its breath attack is not stated, but I'd probably limit it either to three times a day like a dragon, or possibly every five rounds or so. Making it unlimited seems just a tad overpowered.

Gorgons move at the speed of an unencumbered human. Their morale is a very respectable but not overly tenacious 8. Treasure Type E makes for a fairly good haul, but perhaps not the best return for the risk of fighting a creature able to petrify multiple opponents at a time.

Not much else is said about the gorgon in the description. It's "magical" but what that might mean is wide open to interpretation. Was the species created by a mad wizard hybridizing cattle with medusae? Is it a magical fluke, born of herd animals exposed to tainted water or magical radiation? Was it conjured from another plane or dimension? (The Mentzer Companion Set states that it is native to the Elemental Plane of Earth, but that's not necessarily canon in B/X.) Do gorgons reproduce -- is there ever a possibility of encountering a gorgon with calves? Or is there a limited number of gorgons, and when they're gone, they're gone? It seems likely they are grazing beasts, given their preferred habitat, though they can be found in dungeons too. What they might eat there, I couldn't fathom. At least they don't have the conundrum of petrifying everything they touch as the basilisk does. 

I imagine the gorgon to be rather bad-tempered and aggressive, like the bull whose form it takes, and I imagine its breath weapon being snorted out through flared nostrils, not exhaled through the mouth dragon-style. Besides being encountered on their own, gorgons would make very appropriate pets or mounts for medusae, and might also be encountered as charmed guardians of powerful magic-users. 

Despite the monster's very dubious pedigree, it's interesting, evocative, and pretty well-designed mechanically. I'd have no qualms about using them in my game in the right situations, and there's nothing I'd feel compelled to change about them either. 


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