Basilisks are large, eight-legged reptiles with the terrifying ability to poison or petrify their prey. Though not malicious, basilisks are indisputably dangerous.
Basilisks possess a single row of bony spines that line their backs and, according to some reports, some have a curved horn atop their noses. Basilisk eyes are, however, the most notable feature, glowing with a pale green or blue light. Adult basilisks can grow to be about 6 feet in length, not counting the tail, which can reach another 5 to 7 feet. They typically weigh around 300 pounds.
Basilisks have a very slow metabolism, making their movements sluggish and clumsy. As a result, basilisks rely upon their powerful magical characteristics for hunting and are unprepared for a hard pursuit. As a result, prey that flees usually gets away unharmed. To prevent this, basilisks typically lair in hidden dens, waiting for any prey unfortunate enough to wander in, even if it is extremely small. Basilisks have a very robust digestive system, however, and can digest even stone. When not hunting, basilisks sleep off their meals in their lairs.
Basilisks are lazy and cowardly creatures, but evilly cunning. They are easy to anger, though they never fight to the death if it can be helped. They have been observed to be irrational and possibly insane half the time but shrewd hunters the other half. When hunting, they pounce from hiding and attacked with their petrifying gaze and vicious bite. They only need to eat one large meal (the size of a deer or a humanoid) a month, owing to their slow metabolisms, though will apparently gorge themselves to death if provided with enough meat.
Basilisks spend much of their time asleep basking, either in the heat of the sun, or, if that is too harsh, in the heat of some other source, such as a volcanic vent, or even a campfire. If the basilisk is unable to warm itself for more than a day, it will become sluggish, ultimately dying of hypothermia after a further three days. In the case of the one found within Ma'ar's stronghold, magical traces indicate it was kept in some kind of cold, preserving storage so as to function as a trap for unwary visitors.
Basilisks are known for their ability to petrify their prey, causing a chemical change in the body that turns victims into a porous stone statue. Researchers theorize that the creature's eyes emitted some kind of radiation that is absorbed by the eyes of their victim, but ultimately, the precise method of how their power worked is very poorly understood. Items carried or worn by their prey are not turned to stone, only the body itself. However, protective magic items still worn by the statue would continue to affect it as they would if the victim was still flesh and blood. Creatures petrified by a basilisk are not dead, but placed into a form of permanent suspended animation some called "stone sleep". While petrified, the statue can be damaged, just as natural stone could be.
