Editing Medusa (section)

== Dungeons & Dragons ==
Medusa was a person, not a species (she is a Gorgon), but that didn't stop the writers of [[Dungeons & Dragons]] from naming a whole race after her. "Medusae" vary a fair amount depending on which edition you look at.

2e: Medusae look like elven women with snakes for hair and white eyes. They tend to rely on mating with human men to have more medusa daughters, since actual men of their race (called "maedar") are rare as fuck (to the point that most in-universe experts have never heard of them) and the bizarre-ass nature of their reproduction keeps them that way... what? You want to know the details? Alright, it works like this: human man plus medusa equals 2-6 eggs, all of which hatch into medusa daughters. Maedar + medusa, on the other hand, equals 2-6 eggs, of which 25% will hatch into boys. Of those boys, ONE PERCENT are maedar in turn; the other boys, and all the girls, are humans (who, unfortunately, are not immune to their mother's gaze). Medusa and maedar are extremely sexually dimorphic; medusae have snake hair and petrifying gazes, maedar are bald and can turn stone to flesh with a touch. There's also greater medusae, who have snake-bodies instead of legs (like a [[Lamia]]-- thank Ray Harryhausen for his popular depiction of a snake-bodied Medusa in ''Clash of the Titans'') and super-poisonous blood, and glyptars, which are undead maedar whose souls possess crystals, which can be attached to statues (to make golems) or swords (to make intelligent magical weapons).

3e: Medusae are covered in scales and, in most official artwork, tend to look rather ugly. There's no mention of maedar existing in any official sourcebook, but they were updated to 3.5 in the article "Creature Catalog" in [[Dragon Magazine]] #355.

4e: As in 3e, medusaea are all scaly, though not actually that ugly. Male medusae have returned, but don't have their own name, are just as scaly and don't turn stone to flesh anymore; instead, they can poison anyone they look at. In the "Monster Vault", the Essentials rewrite of the first 4e Monster Manual with expanded fluff, it was stated that although there are roughly equal numbers of males and females, they're still a matriarchal species, and this is because only a minority of males are actually immune to the petrifying gaze of the females. They're also reputed to be tied to either [[Zehir]] or to the [[Serpentfolk|Yuan-ti]], with one story claiming they were created by [[yuan-ti]] crossbreeding with [[basilisk]]s.

5e: Medusae can be male or female now. New origins as humans who made pact with demonlords or archdevils for eternal beauty, which they got, for a time, before they were turned into snake-haired monsters. Petrifying gaze is the norm for both sexes, but they gotta avoid polished surfaces and bright light, as their own reflections can petrify them as well. In melee, they can bite with their snakes or use weapons, typically shortswords and longbows.

PF: Medusas are back to being 2e-style beautiful women with snake hair who mate with human men to procreate. There's also a related monster in the Eurayle, a mythically powerful analogue to 2e's Greater Medusa who has far nastier powers, not least of which is that she's an 18th level [[Oracle]].

In the [[Odyssey of the Dragonlords]] setting, medusae have the standard 5e lore - in fact, the first medusa was a woman ''named'' Medusa, who came to Thylea from "the land of the Gorgons" seeking material wealth, only to be cursed by the Fates for her insistence on pursuing it. Aside from explicitly being able to pass on their condition by having children, the only real change for Thylean medusae is that they are a playable race for some reason, with the following stats:
::Ability Score Modifiers: +2 Dexterity, +1 Intelligence
::Size: Medium
::Speed: 30 feet
::Vision: Darkvision 60 feet
::Unaging: Medusae do not have a known lifespan; they live until they are killed.
::Cursed: You are considered to have undergone the complete ''Curse of the Medusa'', and as such cannot be subjected to another transformative curse. You can only be cured by means of a Wish spell, and will revert to your original race if this happens.
::Snake Blood: You have Advantage on saves against spells and abilities that inflict the Poisoned condition.
::Snake Hair: You can attack with your snake hair. This is a melee weapon attack with an attack bonus equal to your proficiency modifier + your Dexterity modifier. It does 1d6 piercing damage on a hit, and your target must make a DC 12 Constitution saving throw or else they are poisoned until the beginning of your next turn.
::Petrifying Gaze: Starting at 5th level, you can use your action to force a creature within 30 feet that can see your eyes to make a DC 8 Constitution saving throw. On a failure, the creature is paralyzed until the end of its next turn. On your turn, you can use your bonus action to force the same creature to repeat this saving throw with disadvantage. Each time it fails, it is paralyzed again until the end of its next turn. When a creature is paralyzed in this way for the third time in a span of 10 minutes, it is instantly petrified. Starting at 10th level, the DC for this saving throw increases to 10. At 15th level, the DC increases to 12. At 20th level, the DC increases to 14.

===Gallery===
<gallery>
Medusa ODD2.png|Original D&D
Medusa 1e.jpg|1e
Medusa MotP 1e.jpg|''Manual of the Planes''
Medusa MCV1.jpg|''Monstrous Compendium Vol. 1''
Medusa MM 2e.png|2e's ''Monstrous Manual''.
Maedar MM 2e.png|2e Maedar.
Maedar MC3.jpg
Medusa maedar A Hero's Tale.png|Both sexes. From the 2e module ''A Hero's Tale''.
Medusa tRoSP.png|''The Rod of Seven Parts''
Medusa MCR2.jpg|''Monstrous Compendium Ravenloft Appendix 2''
Medusa 3e.jpg|3e Medusa.
Maedar 3e.png|3e Maedar, from Dragon #355.
Medusas of 4e.PNG|A combined pic showing both male and female 4e Medusae.
Medusa 5e.jpg|The latest D&D Medusa.
Medusa B1.png|Medusa from Pathfinder.
PF Euryale.jpg|Euryale from Pathfinder.
Medusa Knight Riding Gorgon.jpg|A Medusa and a [[Gorgon]] from 3e.
</gallery>