My party has discovered the crystals in Rockblight that can ostensibly be used to defend against the Medusa. They’ve left Rockblight and next session are going to see if these can be made into visors before possibly confronting the Medusa. They are going to check in the Caves of Clatter.
I’m thinking that, since the module says they have to hold them up with one hand, if and what sort of negatives I should give (or even if they can be made at all) besides the Disadvantage on attacks already given by them.
Some thoughts I had were:
Shoddy workmanship; chance of them slipping down or off while in combat.
Halving movement while wearing due to vision being impaired.
The best way for characters to protect against a medusa’s Petrifying Gaze is to cast darkness.
If the Medusa can’t see you then they can’t use the gaze attack.
If you are a warlock with devils sight then you get advantage on attacks (target can’t see you) against the Medusa and the Medusa has disadvantage (can’t see target).
For everyone else in the party, the disadvantage from not seeing your target is cancelled by the advantage from them not seeing you so everyone has a straight roll. The only thing the darkness really impacts is casting spells and using abilities that require you to see the target.
This works very well against Medusas and basilisks.
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As for the original question, I am not sure I understand, the players can hold a crystal in one hand to see the Medusa but then suffer disadvantage on their attack. Why would they do this when they can just avert their gaze (not look at the Medusa .. it is in the stat block for the Medusa) and have the same disadvantage but both hands free.
Crystals seem pretty useless if they can’t be used to eliminate the disadvantage from attacking while not looking at the Medusa.
If the character could hold a crystal to attack without disadvantage then it becomes a trade off. If the characters can make a visor from the gems then you could either reward thinking of it by just allowing it which would allow attacks without disadvantage.
Alternatively you could impose a -1 or -2 to hit since the visor might partly block vision or if they really are very makeshift then give them a breakage DC for each round of combat so the characters may get some use out if them for a few attacks but when they break they won’t be reparable in combat.
For everyone else in the party, the disadvantage from not seeing your target is cancelled by the advantage from them not seeing you so everyone has a straight roll.
That is not how Darkness works. Darkness causes the Blinded condition to those inside it. It also imposes the Blinded condition to anyone trying to perceive or interact with anything inside the Darkness. An attack against a blinded creature only gets advantage from Darkness if the attacker is not also blinded, or otherwise unable to perceive the target with their senses. The blind leading the blind does not equate to normal sight.
This means that there are a few possible scenarios for your situation:
Enemy + Ally both in Darkness w/o special senses
You're both blind.
Both have disadvantage on their attack rolls; nothing cancels out.
This is also not necessarily a bad thing considering your situation.
Enemy in Darkness + Ally out of Darkness (both w/o special senses)
Enemy is blind for all purposes (Disadvantage to all attacks).
Ally is effectively blind for any attack rolls against the enemy in Darkness (Disadvantage to attacks on targets in Darkness; normal against everything outside).
You can't see into the Darkness, so you don't know where they actually are within it.
Enemy in Darkness + Ally with special senses (ally either in or out of Darkness)
Enemy is blind for all purposes (Disadvantage to all attacks).
Ally has advantage on all attack rolls against the enemy in Darkness (Provided enemy is within the range of their special sense).
You don't know what fear is until you've witnessed a drunk bird divebombing you while carrying a screaming Kobold throwing fire anywhere and everywhere.
My party has discovered the crystals in Rockblight that can ostensibly be used to defend against the Medusa. They’ve left Rockblight and next session are going to see if these can be made into visors before possibly confronting the Medusa. They are going to check in the Caves of Clatter.
I’m thinking that, since the module says they have to hold them up with one hand, if and what sort of negatives I should give (or even if they can be made at all) besides the Disadvantage on attacks already given by them.
Some thoughts I had were:
Shoddy workmanship; chance of them slipping down or off while in combat.
Halving movement while wearing due to vision being impaired.
Any and all thoughts appreciated.
The best way for characters to protect against a medusa’s Petrifying Gaze is to cast darkness.
If the Medusa can’t see you then they can’t use the gaze attack.
If you are a warlock with devils sight then you get advantage on attacks (target can’t see you) against the Medusa and the Medusa has disadvantage (can’t see target).
For everyone else in the party, the disadvantage from not seeing your target is cancelled by the advantage from them not seeing you so everyone has a straight roll. The only thing the darkness really impacts is casting spells and using abilities that require you to see the target.
This works very well against Medusas and basilisks.
——
As for the original question, I am not sure I understand, the players can hold a crystal in one hand to see the Medusa but then suffer disadvantage on their attack. Why would they do this when they can just avert their gaze (not look at the Medusa .. it is in the stat block for the Medusa) and have the same disadvantage but both hands free.
Crystals seem pretty useless if they can’t be used to eliminate the disadvantage from attacking while not looking at the Medusa.
If the character could hold a crystal to attack without disadvantage then it becomes a trade off. If the characters can make a visor from the gems then you could either reward thinking of it by just allowing it which would allow attacks without disadvantage.
Alternatively you could impose a -1 or -2 to hit since the visor might partly block vision or if they really are very makeshift then give them a breakage DC for each round of combat so the characters may get some use out if them for a few attacks but when they break they won’t be reparable in combat.
That is not how Darkness works. Darkness causes the Blinded condition to those inside it. It also imposes the Blinded condition to anyone trying to perceive or interact with anything inside the Darkness. An attack against a blinded creature only gets advantage from Darkness if the attacker is not also blinded, or otherwise unable to perceive the target with their senses. The blind leading the blind does not equate to normal sight.
This means that there are a few possible scenarios for your situation:
You don't know what fear is until you've witnessed a drunk bird divebombing you while carrying a screaming Kobold throwing fire anywhere and everywhere.
While the PCs don’t know this, using the crystal gives a secondary benefit (Advantage on the Con Save versus the Gaze.)