Greater Basilisk is a stronger variant of a Lesser Basilisk. Greater basilisks are exceptionally dangerous, eight-legged reptilian creatures. They are ruddy brown in appearance, unlike the lesser one which is a pale greenish-yellow. Both types have dark bands around the tail.
They kill their enemies with their petrifying gaze, making Potions of Mirrored Eyes a necessity when fighting them, as a single basilisk can easily wipe out even a mid- to high-level party very quickly. Scrolls of Protection From Petrification can also be purchased and memorized by mages or bards. If the worst does happen, scrolls of Stone to Flesh can be bought to restore petrified party members provided the party member was not shattered.
Effective means to protect the party from the petrifying gaze include:
- Potions of Mirrored Eyes
- Protection From Petrification
- Using Undead summons, as undead are immune to petrification
- Korax, the temporary Ghoul (undead) companion in the Mutamin's Garden area
- A mage familiar that is immune to petrification
- Prevent them from using their gaze by stunning / disabling them, e.g. Command, Blindness...
When killed they drop one item of rich random treasure.
All three of the Greater Basilisk's attacks (two melee and ranged petrification) have a speed factor of 3. That means a party coming out of hiding/invisibility and using low speed factor weapons (eg +2 daggers with speed factor 0) should be able to get one attack in before the Basilisk is able to make an attack itself. But keep in mind the Greater Basilisk can attack 3 times per round, no matter which "weapon" it uses, so further attacks will probably have at least one Basilisk attack in-between them, even with low speed factor.
Moreover, considering the fact they start with their ranged "weapon" equipped, that means melee attackers will get both a -4 THAC0 and +4 damage bonus against the Basilisk until the creature decides to switch to their melee "weapon". As such, a properly-equipped party with access to invisibility and/or hide-in-shadows (available not just for Thieves, but also Monks and Rangers) could take down an isolated Basilisk even without access to any form of protection against petrification. And that's especially the case if there are any backstabbers involved, as that +4 damage bonus against the Basilisk is factored into backstabs. Though it's certainly harder to do compared to a Lesser Basilisk due to the aforementioned 3 attacks per round and their much larger hp pool.
Their ranged petrification attack comes with a massive 32767 bonus to hit, meaning it effectively cannot be avoided unless the Basilisk rolls a 1. So targeted characters are almost guaranteed to have to roll a save vs petrification (that carries a hefty -4 penalty).
Finally, unlike Lesser Basilisks, Greater Basilisks also have a third attack: a melee one that inflicts a 1 damage per second poison for 10 seconds on a failed save vs poison (with a fortunate +4 bonus to save against it).
Notes[]
- About experience, gained from killing a greater basilisk (except summoned types):
Baldur's Gate: Tales of the Sword Coast (1999)
This icon indicates content from the original Baldur's Gate: Tales of the Sword Coast campaign. After installation of the original expansion Tales of the Sword Coast on top of the original Baldur's Gate – and still valid for all "complete" editions, such as Baldur's Gate: The Original Saga –, the experience for the commonly found greater basilisk is reduced from 7,000 to 4,000. This does not count for Mutamin's personal pet and the one in South Baldur's Gate. This change would have carried over into Baldur's Gate II, would greater basilisks have had appearances there.
Baldur's Gate (1998)
This icon indicates content from the original Baldur's Gate campaign.
Baldur's Gate:
Enhanced Edition (2012)
This icon indicates content from the Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition campaign.
Baldur's Gate:
Siege of Dragonspear (2016)
This icon indicates content from the Siege of Dragonspear campaign of the Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition. The Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition reverts this change, and all greater basilisks now yield 7,000 XP again. This is carried over into the Siege of Dragonspear. Summoned types, however, and the creature file from the The Black Pits are handled differently. Also, the one still present in the Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition game files isn't changed back to 7,000, but this one does not appear in the game.
See also[]
External links[]
- Basilisk on the Forgotten Realms Wiki, a wiki for the Dungeons & Dragons campaign setting Forgotten Realms.