UD Basilisk

[Storm Munin]

Yeah, my skellies get petrified a lot by the naughty basilisk. Nice statues though.
Hide and Move silently at 20 is actually better than invis since they sometimes spot the invisible.

As for the mushroom groove it was levelup haven for lowlevel solo archers, firebursting wizards (buy scrolls) and whatnot before the mushroom guys (and areas ) went in some years ago.
But even they are easy meat as long as you can reach ac 25-27 or whoop them quickly (fireburst usually do the trick).
My lv5 wizard would cashgrind there right now if it wasnt for the low xp and her limited carrying ability.

Back in the day we would do varalla's passage, then mushroom groove for lv2, lv3 at slaves and on to west of varallas. Most fighters can solo west of varallas at lv3.
Fire river was/is considered too hard alone, then again why be alone?
Now we have the sewers and tombs as well.
I believe it is called development and we love the builders for it.

[Aelcar]

Back in the day we would do varalla's passage, then mushroom groove for lv2, lv3 at slaves and on to west of varallas. Most fighters can solo west of varallas at lv3.

Ahh, good old days...<3

[Blackman D]

Another trick, I have not used yet, (because my palemaster is a mix of rogue and guild thief as well) but have thought about, is to summon your familiar, cast invisibility on it, then use it to cast stone to flesh on you if you are petrified.

wont work, familiars can only cast touch spells and flesh to stone has a medium range

[NeOmega]

A basilisk is a reptilian monster that petrifies living creatures with a mere gaze.

Undead Trait: Immunity to any effect that requires a Fortitude save (unless the effect also works on objects or is harmless).

So.. all undeads should be immune to basilisks gaze. Some time ago i told Luna this and he fixed PM Summons. Though recently I saw a Blackguard Skeleton turn to stone.

I thought they should not be petrifiable (for some reason), btu was shocked when my pale master's summon was.

[maseoo]

I didn't know they could spot invisible chars. I have done the quest many times on three chars (2 duergar and one drow warlock) and only using invisibility spells, and I don't think I've been spotted/petrified yet.

[Blackman D]

its random, tho there has been argument about if they should have it anyway bc basilisk see in infrared

[Considerate_]

As I understand it, Infrared/infravision belongs back in the days of AD&D, and was removed in 3.0, where it was replaced with Darkvision.

Darkvision doesn't give any of those ambiguities/bonuses, which is part of the reason why the change was made.



In my opinion, both the Basilisk and the Beholders in the Mind Flayer Hive should be toned down, if not removed entirely. The UD has a very limited selection of areas to hunt - and I don't recall ever having seen anyone hunt in those areas; and definitely not to the same extend as the Duergar Compound or Goblins.

I still recall counting somewhere between 11 and 14 beholders in one run through the Mind Flayer Hive thingy, which is just absurd for any hunting area On the surface there's one area to my knowledge, where one spawns - and it's out of the way and easily avoidable, it is however a boss so it gives loot. These... are just there to harass you

It's no skin of my nose if they're not removed, as I don't really play in the UD... But my thoughts back then were, that they're pretty rough. Being spammed by Save or Die spells, or having all your buff stripped and THEN be spammed by Save or Die spells seems.... as said, rough

[Nachti]

Nah, I have visited the hive serveral times with a party and iam looking forward to visit it again. Its one of the best areas out there.
If i recall correct they dont have save or die spells, just save or stun which the party has to take care of.

[Storm Munin]

The Illithid hive are some of the best maps on the server to actually roleplay a group through imho.
The strippings by the beholders making wards a rarer commodity, in itself a humbling experience for the classlevel starved gish.
On a sidenote this is even better in the Drider caverns, nothing like a beholder to spoil your day while fighting the cursed ones.
Meanwhile the rogues usually have it rough in the Hive because of the stun spells and whatnot.

All in all the present situation in the Hive and Drider caves create environments where well balanced groups do better, not a bad thing in my book.


Do we really want an Underdark where the solo grind is everything everywhere?

That said all the UD areas can be soloed by any class, it just takes planning to win through the day.
Want more action in the Hive?
The only thing needed is more monsters, since the average xp per minute is subpar to previously mentioned more easily traversed areas.

I fear we stray from the subject at hand however, go basilisks!

[Nachti]

I once led a drow priestress through the basilisk area... she was very confident in her skills and attacked the first basilisk... the basilisk just looked... and she rolled a 1.

A pitty that I had no teleport spell & rune ready. The school of necromancy would have placed her at the entrace hall with a sign attached.

"Undead can offer a second chance, but not for all - a treacherous priestress "

[Cubicle]

I removed petrify from the Tarpit basilisks. I'd like this area to be useable and would prefer if players weren't afraid to grind/RP there. Besides, only a certain breed of basilisk can petrify its prey. It's a CR 14 zone.

http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Basilisk

[Storm Munin]

Usually the basilisks used to petrify themselves more often then a pc running by them.
Same with the vampiric bats in the tombs who stunned themselves.