Monster Class - Medusa

This slender, attractive woman has strangely glowing eyes and a full head of hissing snakes for hair.

Medusas are human-like creatures with snakes instead of hair. At distances of 30 feet or more, a medusa can easily pass for a beautiful woman if she wears something to cover her serpentine locks—when wearing clothing that conceals her head and face, she can be mistaken for a human at even closer distances. Medusas use lies and disguises that conceal their faces to get close enough to opponents to use their petrifying gaze, though they like playing with their prey and may fire arrows from a distance to lead enemies into traps Used to concealing themselves, medusas in cities are usually rogues, while those in the wilderness often pass themselves off as rangers or trackers.

A medusa typically stands 5-1/2 feet tall and weighs 120 pounds.

Alignment: Medusas tend towards evil, as they are avaricious, lustful, and driven by the need for vengeance.

Medusa Racial Traits
• 	+2 Dexterity, +2 Intelligence: Medusas are nimble and cruelly calculating. Hit Die: d10. Starting Wealth: 2d6 × 10 gp (average 70 gp.) In addition, each character begins play with an outfit worth 10 gp or less.
 * Medium: Medusas are Medium creatures and have no bonuses or penalties due to their size.
 * Monstrous Humanoid: Medusas are monstrous humanoids.
 * Normal Speed: Medusas have a base speed of 30 feet.
 * Darkvision (Ex): Medusas can see perfectly in the dark up to 60 feet.
 * Keen Senses (Ex): Medusa gain a +2 racial bonus on Perception checks.
 * Languages: Medusas begin play speaking Common. Medusas with high Intelligence scores can choose from the following: Draconic, Dwarven, Giant, Goblin, Gnoll, and Orc.

CLASS SKILLS
The medusa’s class skills are Bluff (Cha), Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Disguise (Cha), Fly (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Perception (Wis), Ride (Dex), Stealth (Dex), Survival (Wis), and Swim (Str).

Skill Ranks per Level: 4 + Int modifier.

CLASS FEATURES
All the following are class features of the medusa monster class.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A medusa is proficient with all simple weapons, plus the longbow and shortbow. It is not proficient with any kind of armor or shields.

Ability Score Increases: As a medusa gains levels, its ability scores increase as noted on Table: Medusa. These increases stack and are gained as if through level advancement.

Snake Bite (Ex): Medusas can use the snakes she has in place of hair to bite her enemies. At 1st level, a medusa gains a snake bite attack. This is a primary attack that deals 1d4 points of damage plus 1-1/2 times the medusa’s Strength modifier. Although the medusa has many snakes, they always attack as a single unit; she cannot direct them to attack different enemies at the same time.

Natural Armor (Ex): At 2nd level, a medusa’s scales thicken, and it gains a +1 natural armor to its AC. This bonus increases by +1 at 5th level and again at 8th level.

All-Around Vision (Ex): Starting at 3rd level, a medusa can see through the eyes of her snakes, allowing her to avoid attacks she otherwise might not have even noticed. She gains a +4 racial bonus on Perception checks and cannot be flanked.

Poison (Ex): Starting at at 4th level, a medusa’s snake bite attack injects the target with a deadly venom.

Medusa Venom: Bite—injury; save Fort (DC 10 + 1/2 the medusa’s Hit Dice + the medusa’s Constitution modifier); frequency 1/round for 6 rounds; effect 1d3 Str; cure 2 consecutive saves.

Petrifying Gaze (Su): Starting at 6th level, a medusa begins to develop her race’s characteristic gaze attack, allowing her to turn others to stone with a glance. As a full-round action, she can lock eyes with a creature within 30 feet. This is treated as a gaze attack, although only a single target is affected. The target must succeed at a Fortitude save (DC 10 + 1/2 the medusa’s class level

+ the medusa’s Charisma modifier) or turn to stone permanently.

At 8th level, the medusa’s gaze attack improves. It now constantly affects all creatures within 30 feet, rather than requiring an action to direct. A medusa can wear a veil over her eyes to negate her gaze attack without penalty, as her snakes allow her to see normally.