Basilisk

Basilisks shift the hue of their scales to match the color of their subterranean lairs, and from the dark, their unblinking eyes glitter like polished gems. Venomous and thick-bodied, the reptile has a spiny crest along its back and jaws strong enough to crack stone (even the magical kind!), but its most fearsome ability is its gaze, which can permanently transmute living flesh into magical stone. The Basilisk eats its petrified victims, its gullet dripping with acidic fluids that dissolve the stone into nourishment. Whatever cursed alchemy may have created this breed of monster hides its victims’ salvation in its own body: for the same fluids in its gullet can be refined to produce a cure that reverses petrification, although chomped limbs return to the flesh in whatever state they were in while petrified. The Basilisk is driven by hunger rather than malice, having no place in the natural order except to grow and feed.

As a territorial ambush predator, the monster’s deadly gaze forces adventurers to think twice about engaging in open combat with it. The creature acts on instinct and is not otherwise more intelligent than a wild animal. It is capable of spitting acidic bile in a melee space as a breath weapon, which persists in the area of effect per the spell Grease, while its bite is laced with necrotic bacteria. Parties that face off against a Basilisk must do so blindly, otherwise they risk having to contend with its petrifying gaze. Erudite PCs may learn of the creature’s vulnerability to weasel musk (which acts as a deterrent against the Basilisk per the spell Circle of Protection) or the crow of a rooster, which stuns the creature upon hearing it (it is not entitled to a check to resist). It is said that a Basilisk cannot be tamed, although ambitious monster hunters send adventurers on dangerous quests for them anyway, in exchange for obscene sums of gold.