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Zaydos
2015-09-29, 08:33 PM
Necrobotany

Welcome to this garden of mine. The point of this thread is to post a variety of necromantic plant creatures I have been planning for the past week or two. I will be posting these over the course of the next month, and I'm not sure how many there will end up being.

In the field of necromancy you get many things that deal with dead animals, dead sapients, their souls, their spirits, elementals, outsiders, body parts, viscera, even trash in a grave that has come alive, but you see little in the form of plants. I mean sure there is Yellow Musk Creepers and their Zombies but there could be so much more.

So I've decided to put down some roots and plant a few seeds, and give you the forumite the results.

NameDescription
Deadwood (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=19889162&postcount=2)Zombie-tree
Treant, Vampiric (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=19897349&postcount=3)A vampire treant which drains life from the forest.
Calrass Tree (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=19910152&postcount=10)A psychic tree which digests souls for 1000 years (actually closer to 100).

[td]Corpse FungusFungus which growing in a corpse animates it to kill and continue its life cycle
Dryad, WightA dryad whose tree was killed by necromancy and now lives as undead themself


Warning table may grow.

Zaydos
2015-09-29, 08:39 PM
Deadwood
Huge Undead
Hit Dice: 7d12 (45 hp)
Initiative: -2
Speed: 0 ft (0 squares)
Armor Class: 19 (-2 size, -2 Dexterity, +13 natural), touch 6, flat-footed 19
Base Attack/Grapple: +3/+18
Attack: Slam +9 melee (2d6+7)
Full Attack: 2 Slams +9 melee (2d6+7)
Space/Reach: 15 ft/15 ft
Special Attacks: -
Special Qualities: Damage Reduction 10/slashing, Darkvision 60 ft, Lifesense, Rooted, Undead traits, Vulnerability to Fire
Saves: Fort +3, Ref +1, Will +6
Abilities: Str 25, Dex 6, Con -, Int 1, Wis 10, Cha 1
Skills: Listen +5, Spot +5.
Feats: Cleave, Power Attack, Weapon Focus (Slam)
Environment: Any forest.
Organization: Solitary, pair, or grove (3-12)
Challenge Rating: 3
Treasure: None
Alignment: Always Neutral Evil
Advancement: 8-14 HD (Huge), 15-30 HD (Gargantuan), 31+ HD (Colossal)
Level Adjustment: –

The wind rustles through the lifeless limbs of the dead trees. The forest around you seems blighted as if by some dark magic, the trees overhanging the path sinister in the dying light. Suddenly one lashes out at you, its dead wood wrapping around you in a powerful grasp.

A deadwood is an undead tree. What animates a deadwood varies, it can be the intentional creation of a necromancer, blighter, or even druids, they can arise from trees killed by taintHoH growing in the area, result from the accidental crossfire of powerful magic, the presence of a vampiric treant, the burial of undead creatures in their root system or a high concentration of the undead in underground water reservoirs, or various other causes.

A deadwood tree is possessed of a rudimentary intelligence and a hatred of living things. It will instinctively lash out against living creatures that move into its reach, attempting to grasp them and choke the life out of them. It is extremely difficult to tell the difference between a deadwood tree and a dead tree when the deadwood is not moving. A DC 25 Spot check will reveal it is not moving properly in the wind (if any), a DC 20 Knowledge (Nature) or Knowledge (Religion) check will reveal a seemingly unmoving dead tree is a deadwood if one is looking for the signs.

Combat:

A deadwood tree is unable to move to find its foes, but instead lays in wait absolutely still as only the undead can be. When a living creature wanders into its reach it will lunge out and try to grapple the target trusting to its usually superior reach to prevent responsive attacks of opportunities and then hold a creature against it to keep them from retreating out of its reach. If they are fragile (3 or less hit points) it will simply attack.

Lifesense (Su): A deadwood notices and locates living creatures within 60 feet, just as if it possessed the blindsight ability. It also senses the strength of their life force automatically, as if it had cast deathwatch.

Rooted (Ex): A deadwood remains rooted into the ground unable to move. It cannot be forced to move from its space, and if it grapples another creature it pulls that creature into its space instead of entering the other creature’s space. A deadwood that loses this ability gains a land speed of 10 ft and has its CR increased by 1.

Create Deadwood
Necromancy [Evil]
Level: Clr 3, Sor/Wiz 3, Blighter 3, Thrall of Shub-Niggurath 3
Components: V, S, M
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Touch
Targets: One or more dead trees touched
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No

This spell turns one dead tree per 4 caster levels into a deadwood. The created deadwood remains under your control indefinitely. No matter how many times you use this spell, however, you can control only one deadwood per 2 caster levels. If you exceed this number, all the newly created deadwoods fall under your control, and any excess deadwoods from previous castings become uncontrolled. (You choose which creatures are released.) If you are a cleric, any deadwoods you might command by virtue of your power to command or rebuke undead do not count toward the limit.

Material Component: 100 GP worth of black onyx per deadwood created powdered and mixed into nightsoil.

Zaydos
2015-10-01, 12:45 PM
Treant, Vampiric
Huge Undead
Hit Dice: 12d12 (78 hp)
Initiative: +5
Speed: 30 ft (6 squares)
Armor Class: 26 (-2 size, +1 Dexterity, +17 natural), touch 9, flat-footed 25
Base Attack/Grapple: +6/+26
Attack: Slam +17 melee (2d6+12 and energy drain)
Full Attack: 2 Slams +17 melee (2d6+12 and energy drain)
Space/Reach: 15 ft/15 ft
Special Attacks: Create Spawn, Double Damage to Objects, Dread Vines, Energy Drain, Forest Stride, Free Deadwood, Rebuke Undead.
Special Qualities: Cold Immunity, Damage Reduction 10/slashing and magic and silver, Darkvision 60 ft, Electricity Resistance 10, Fast Healing 5, Lifesense, Undead traits, Turn Resistance +4, Vulnerabilities, Vulnerability to Fire
Saves: Fort +6, Ref +5, Will +12
Abilities: Str 35, Dex 12, Con -, Int 14, Wis 18, Cha 16
Skills: Bluff +7, Diplomacy +5, Hide +4*, Intimidate +13, Knowledge (nature) +12, Listen +16, Move Silently +10, Search +6, Sense Motive +12, Spot +16, Survival +9 (+11 aboveground)
Feats: AlertnesB, Cleave, Combat ReflexesB, Great FortitudeB, Improved InitiativeB, Power Attack, Weapon Focus (Slam)
Environment: Temperate forest.
Organization: Solitary, pair, or grove (3-6)
Challenge Rating: 9
Treasure: Standard
Alignment: Always Evil (any)
Advancement: 13-24 HD (Huge), 25-34 HD (Gargantuan)
Level Adjustment: –
The treant before you is surrounded by dead tree, its own leaves a snowy white. It moves with an unnatural fluidity, springing towards you.

The origin of Vampiric Treants is unknown. They perpetuate themselves much as vampires do, by killing members of their own species and causing them to revive sometime later as undead. A vampiric treant feeds primarily off trees, however, its roots puncturing into the roots of trees and draining nutrients from them until they wither and die. A vampiric treant will prey upon a forest blighting it and reducing it acre by acre into a desolate wastes populated only by the dead. If a vampiric treant manages to kill the forest it dwells in it will roam overland to another forest to repeat the deed.
On occasion vampiric treants will attack human towns that engage in logging or otherwise clearing the forest, seeing them as a threat to the treant’s own food supply. They are more likely, however, to come into conflict with druidic orders, fey, elves, and gnomes who will often attempt to rid a forest of the vampiric treant to preserve the forest.
A vampiric treant speaks the same languages as they did when a live treant.

Combat:

Create Spawn (Su): A treant slain by a vampiric treant’s energy drain rises as a vampiric treant at the next sunset. A humanoid slain by a vampiric treant’s energy drain rises as a wight at the next sunset. A tree killed by a vampiric treant feeding on it has a chance (roughly 1 in 10) of becoming a deadwood within 1d4 days.
Double Damage against Objects (Ex) A vampiric treant that makes a full attack against an object or structure deals double damage.
Dread Vines (Sp): Three times per day a vampiric treant may grant plants a limited amount of animation, and necrotic power. This functions as Entangle except that it is the equivalent of a 5th level Necromancy spell, kills all plants in the area and reanimates them, and any creature which is entangled by the vines must make a Fortitude save each round that it remains within the area or suffer 1 negative level. Save DC is 18.
Energy Drain (Su): Living creatures hit by a vampiric treant’s slam attack (or any other natural weapon they might possess) gain two negative levels. For each negative level bestowed, the vampiric treant gains 5 temporary hit points. A vampiric treant can use its energy drain ability once per round.
Forest Stride (Su): A vampiric treant is able to warp through the forest with ease. When within a forest a vampiric treant may teleport anywhere else in the same forest as a standard action at-will. Natural sunlight prevents a vampiric treant from using this ability, and they cannot use it to teleport to a place that straight line transit would cause them to cross running water, take them across a line of salt, or through the area of a consecrate or hallow spell.
Free Deadwood (Su): As a standard action a vampiric treant may remove the Rooted special quality from a deadwood within 60 ft. A deadwood released this way instinctively follows the commands offered them by a vampiric treant in sylvan understanding them on a level similar to that on which a zombie understands its master’s.
Lifesense (Su): A vampiric treant within a forest notices and locates living creatures within 180 feet, just as if it possessed the blindsight ability. It also senses the strength of their life force automatically, as if it had cast deathwatch. If a vampiric treant is not within a forest the range of this ability is reduced to 30 ft. A vampiric treant loses this ability in sunlight or while in the area of a consecrate or hallow spell; a line of salt or running water blocks this ability from extending across it.
Rebuke Undead (Su): A vampiric treant is able to Rebuke Undead as a 12th level cleric (5 times per day).
Vulnerabilities: A vampiric treant enters a torpor when in natural sunlight. Unless there is an immediate threat they will fall into a sleep like trance in which they are almost completely insensate. If damaged they awaken, and if currently threatened they can hold off this sleep state. Sunlight prevents a vampiric treant from using its Dread Vines, Forest Stride, Free Deadwood, Lifesense, or Rebuke Undead abilities.
A vampiric treant casts no reflection in a mirror, but otherwise suffers nothing from them.
A vampiric treant has difficulty crossing over lines of salt, moving over a square with one or more lines of salt in it costs an extra square of movement for the treant and deals 5d6 damage to it. Crossing running water is similarly difficult, a vampiric treant spending an extra square of movement for each square of movement through water it spends and taking 3d6 damage per square.
A strongly presented holy symbol annoys a vampiric treant and has no other effect, but a consecrate or hallow spell can render it difficult for them to teleport or sense others (as noted in Forest Stride and Lifesense respectively). In addition either such spell blocks Dread Vines; a vampiric treant within the area can still use the ability but the effect of Dread Vines is suppressed in any part of the area of the two effects which overlap.
A vampiric treant reforms 1d6 days later when slain unless its body is burned and its ashes scattered among the living and growing wood of a forest.
Skills: A vampiric treant gains a +4 racial bonus on Bluff, Hide, Listen, Move Silently, Search, Sense Motive, and Spot checks. A vampiric treant gains a +16 racial bonus on Hide checks made in forested areas (net +12 over listed).

Eldan
2015-10-01, 01:16 PM
Well, well. How about that. These are pretty sweet. I was working on a concept for something a bit like the corpse fungus. A fungus or worm (I wasn't quite sure yet), which burrows into corpses, reanimates them as zombies and uses them to spread. When the zombie is slain, it releases a cloud of spores, or more worms.

As for the deadwood, I'm really worried about how something stationary can really be. I mean, unless it surprises a party camping under it, how much of a threat is it really?

Zaydos
2015-10-01, 01:26 PM
Well, well. How about that. These are pretty sweet. I was working on a concept for something a bit like the corpse fungus. A fungus or worm (I wasn't quite sure yet), which burrows into corpses, reanimates them as zombies and uses them to spread. When the zombie is slain, it releases a cloud of spores, or more worms.

As for the deadwood, I'm really worried about how something stationary can really be. I mean, unless it surprises a party camping under it, how much of a threat is it really?

My assumption is that it'll play possum till they're in reach and then (try) to grab one. The first time they fight it a group won't necessarily realize it is stationary, and ultimately it functions as an interactive trap. The CR is based on the idea that it will remain motionless, looking just like a dead tree, until the players approach, meaning that unless they've invested into spot and Wisdom it's likely to get a surprise round, which is likely to allow for a grapple.

And yeah when I made a thread about, ultimately, whether Deadwood should be makeable by druids a lot of people suggested "fungus which wears a dead tree/corpse" so when I finally write the fluff for corpse fungus and go back to format it (made it first of all things on this thread but couldn't make myself finish it) I might try to figure out a good way to make a druid spell to make one. Worms are cool too. Mine is mostly the skeleton/zombie template with modifications (and not being undead), what take were you thinking about?

Eldan
2015-10-01, 03:05 PM
I was thinking of statting the actual worm, maybe like one of those living grafts in Eberron. It could graft itself to a zombie and give it a kind of spore cloud attack, maybe.

Eldan
2015-10-01, 06:22 PM
I had another idea, if you're taking any. Or I may stat this one myself.

A tree or fungus. Bit similar to the corpse fungus, but this one is immobile and has a central locus. It grows a mycelium (or roots) and when it finds a corpse, grows into that corpse to eat it from the inside. But it can also animate and puppeteer that corpse, as long as it is connected and uses those corpses to lure in new victims. Maybe some kind of ground effect (hindering terrain as mycelium grows over your feet) or tentacle-like arms, too.

Zaydos
2015-10-01, 06:33 PM
I'd say go fungus and look at prototaxites (https://www.google.com/search?q=prototaxites&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAWoVChMIm-qP_raiyAIVBOyACh3wpwFu&biw=1280&bih=641) for visual inspiration, but I say that about anything where I can possibly suggest prehistoric fungus.

Though this reminds me I left the Calrass Tree off the list (tree which telepathically compels people to come to it and commit suicide and then binds their souls to it as undead guardians for 1000 years; I should not be allowed to think about Star Wars).

Eldan
2015-10-01, 06:36 PM
Oooh! I love Prototaxites. That's a great idea.

Zaydos
2015-10-04, 04:18 PM
Tree, Calrass
Gargantuan Plant (Evil, Psionic)
Hit Dice: 12d8+300 (354 hp)
Initiative: -5
Speed: 0 ft (0 squares)
Armor Class: 8 (-4 size, -5 Dexterity, +7 natural), touch 1, flat-footed 8
Base Attack/Grapple: - /-
Attack: -
Full Attack: -
Space/Reach: 10 ft/-
Special Attacks: Call Prey, Desecrate Aura, Entangle, Psi-like abilities, Shatter Mind Blank, Soul Eating, Wisdom draining aura
Special Qualities: Blind, Blindsight, Damage Reduction 15/slashing, Inanimate, Lifesense, Plant traits, Telepathy 300 ft, Vulnerability to Fire
Saves: Fort +32, Ref -1, Will +16
Abilities: Str -, Dex -, Con 58, Int 31, Wis 30, Cha 21.
Skills: Bluff +20, Concentration +30, Diplomacy +26, Intimidate +20, Knowledge (arcana) +25, Knowledge (history) +25, Knowledge (local) +25, Knowledge (nature) +25, Knowledge (nobility and royalty) +19, Knowledge (religion) +25, Listen +25, Sense Motive +27, Spellcraft +27
Feats: Ability Focus (Call Prey), Ability Focus (Entangle), Improved Toughness, Iron Will, MindsightLoM
Environment: Cold and Temperate forests.
Organization: Solitary and protectors
Challenge Rating: 11???
Treasure: Incidental
Alignment: Always Neutral Evil
Advancement: 13-24 HD (gargantuan), 25+ HD (colossal)
Level Adjustment: –
The conifer before you towers overhead. Its bark is a dark, dark grey unusual for a pine, nearly black in its coloration, its needles an emerald green. You can feel its whispers in your mind, calling you towards it.
A Calrass Tree looks like a large pine tree strangely dark of color. The truth of these trees is something far more sinister than a darkly colored tree. A calrass tree is a powerful psychic entity capable of reaching out telepathically and luring prey to it where it strips them of their Will and compels them to end their own lives.
A calrass tree uses the bodies of those who fall prey to its control as fertilizer, but that is merely incidental to its true purpose. A calrass tree hungers for something more, something else, a calrass tree hungers for the souls of men. It draws a psychic nutrient from these souls, even as it digests them over decades binding them to it and forcing them to serve as its guardians even as it devours them.
The presence of a calrass tree is perhaps even worse than its hunger. Its very existence twists the forest around it, leaving it a perverted realm. In a game which uses taint a calrass tree typically is found in a tainted region, if only because a place where a calrass tree grows typically becomes tainted as if with a concentration of undead.
A calrass tree cannot speak, but can communicate telepathically and can understand Common, Sylvan, and 9 other languages.
Combat:
A calrass tree is inanimate making no movements during combat. It fights purely through its own psychic power and the wraiths created from those which have died in its surroundings.
Blind: A calrass tree is completely blind relying on Blindsight, Lifesight, and Mindsight.
Blindsight (Ex): A calrass tree does have highly sophisticated senses which are reliant upon fluctuations in electrical fields and air movement. They gain blindsight 30 ft.
Call Prey (Psi): A calrass tree is able to send out a psychic lure for the weak willed once per day. When it does so the nearest non-immune humanoid, giant, monstrous humanoid, or native outsider within 1000 ft must make a Will save (DC 23). If they fail their saving throw they are held within the sway of the tree being compelled to move closer by any means necessary until they are adjacent to the tree where they will remain. A creature under this effect may make an additional save every hour and the effect is broken if they move more than 1 mile from the calrass tree. If they succeed their saving throw then the next nearest applicable target must make a saving throw. Power Resistance applies to this effect and it is considered a 6th level psionic power. A creature under the sway of Call Prey will approach the tree in the most efficient way possible avoiding suicidal risks until within 30 ft of the calrass tree at which point it will move adjacent and wait taking no actions to defend itself. If a creature receives lethal damage equal to their character level in a single attack they are allowed a new save against this effect.
Once per year a calrass tree grows a single fruit. While it has the fruit it can use a modified version of this ability. When a creature under its effects is adjacent to the tree it can compel them to take the fruit and then send them away. This creature will act unwittingly under a compulsion effect which compels them to act normally except for a desire to protect the seed and avoid any effect which could break a compulsion (such as Dispel Magic) until they can find a suitable site to plant the fruit and then to end their life atop the site. They become the fledgling tree’s first meal and first wraith. It is in this means that a calrass tree propagates itself and why they do not grow in groves.
Desecrate Aura (Su): A calrass tree radiates an aura of desecration. This functions similarly to a desecrate spell cast on an altar of an evil god, but it extends out to 90 ft from th\e tree in all directions. As a supernatural ability it cannot be dispelled.
Entangle (Su): A calrass tree can cause fungus, plants, and dead plants within 60 ft to writhe and wriggle reaching out to grasp creatures within the range. This functions as an Entangle spell (DC 25). A calrass tree can suppress this ability or reactivate it at will as a free action. As a supernatural ability it cannot be dispelled and its saving throw DC is Charisma based (10 + ½ HD + Cha + 2 from Ability Focus).
Inanimate: A calrass tree is inanimate. It cannot move. It is rooted to the ground and extremely hard to move, and is immune to most effects which would move it. It is between 7 and 9 ft in diameter and the larger calrass trees take up the entirety of their square.
Lifesense (Su): A calrass tree notices and locates living creatures within 90 feet, just as if it possessed the blindsight ability. It also senses the strength of their life force automatically, as if it had cast deathwatch.
Psi-like Abilities: At-will: Ego Whip (DC 21), Intellect Fortress, Telekinetic Force, 3/day Mind Probe (DC 20), Psionic Modify Memory (DC 19), 1/day Psionic Divination, Psionic Legend Lore (this functions as the spell, despite being a psi-like ability this retains the spell’s casting time), Suggestion (DC 21). ML 12.
Shatter Mind Blank (Psi): A calrass tree can instantly dispel any and all mind blank effects on a target within medium range (100 ft + 10 ft per manifester level) if it can overcome the target’s power resistance. This requires a standard action and is equivalent to a 5th level psionic power. The manifester level for this effect is 12.
Soul Eating (Su): A calrass tree is able to consume the souls of humanoids, giants, monstrous humanoids, and native outsiders which die within 60 ft of it. These souls are the main portion of its psychic diet and are digested slowly over the course of years; tales stating 1000 years, but actual research indicating something closer to 50 to 100 years. While a creature’s soul is being digested the calrass tree can project it as a wraith, or on rare occasion a powerful soul manifests as a dread wraith, forcing the half digested soul out into the world to defend the wraith or kill its new victim. A wraith created this way can meld back into the tree as a full round action that requires them to be sharing a space; 1 minute within the tree allows the wraith to fully heal. Wraiths created this way are automatically created within the aura of descration around the calrass tree gaining the normal bonuses (+4 hp/HD). A wraith created by a calrass tree has its daylight powerlessness suppressed within 1000 ft of the calrass tree and serves it unswervingly; a calrass tree gains a +10 racial bonus to Charisma checks to control such wraiths.
Telepathy (Su): A calrass tree may communicate telepathically out to 300 ft with any creature that has a language.
Wisdom Draining Aura (Su): Any creature which begins or ends its turn adjacent to a calrass tree suffers 1 point of Wisdom drain.

Zaydos
2015-10-06, 05:07 PM
I can tell you of grave apples, worry not. Called soul fruit by dragons, named Ancestor’s Bell by the dwarves, and the elven name is difficult… it is a compound of the words for grave and magically engineered fruit, so biomantic grave fruit I guess is what you could call it in the common speech of men. It is perhaps the dwarven name that is most accurate even if it was the work of dragons and elves that saw it created.

The so-called grave apple is a black fruit closer in appearance to a plum than an apple which grows upon a short stubby shrub-like tree. The trees leaves are a blood red, save in autumn when they prepare to fall and turn black and brittle. The tree bears a flaky bark, brown of color, and provides but little shade.

While the tree can in theory take root anywhere it grows but poorly in any location that lacks the dead of thinking races. To be more precise it is rather wide in its range of acceptable light, preferring a heavier sun but finding shade not wholly intolerable, and can grow in most non-arid regions up to the alpine line. It thrives best in temperate rain forests, for such was the realm of the elves which aided in its engineering, but can be cultivated in warmer and chillier climes with difficulty.

Its root system is particularly extensive for a tree of its size and it is only when its roots extend near the bodies of the dead that it bears fruit. Without the dead its fruit would have no meaning. For you see the fruit is the ancestor’s bell, and when eaten calls their knowledge to the minds of the eater. The fruit has a bitter, mildly toxic flavor, and is dangerous if over indulged in as the voices of the dead will become incoherent and demanding. Even so when eaten in moderation it allows for one to gain knowledge from the dead, inquiring into their past and lives, learning of the settlement in which they dwelt.

It is for this reason that grave apples were cultivated. They were less effective than the elves had hoped, though to most of the dragons involved it was more of an intellectual curiosity. I should know I contributed quite a bit, the psyche distillation process through which the roots could absorb information from the dead was truly a difficult undertaking. Even so the grave apple was one of my earlier works when I still wore the flesh of life, and the elves did not yet use my name as a curse not to be spoken in polite company.

As for their cultivation as I said they can grow may places but a viable seed is a rarity and a cutting can often do poorly or harm the existing tree and should be taken with care.

Grave Apples:

When eaten a grave apple gives you knowledge from those buried around the tree’s roots. They must have been buried there for at least 5 years and the tree must have been growing there for at least 5 years. This allows you to ask three questions as if with Speak with Dead to any intelligent (Int 3+) creatures which were buried nearby; the corpse does not need to be intact as long as it has been within the last 5 years. Alternatively you may ask the question to the amalgamation of the dead which functions as a Gather Information, Bardic Knowledge, or Knowledge check with a bonus of +5 to +15 depending upon the size of the graveyard and erudition of those buried there.

A grave apple is toxic producing an ingested poison with a Fort save DC of 13 which inflicts 1d3 Str and Con damage as initial and secondary damage. If a creature eats 2 grave apples within a single week the voices of the dead become unruly inflicting 1d3 Wisdom damage, a 3rd causes further disruption and derangement, forcing a Will save DC 15 against confusion lasting 10 minutes and inflicting another 1d6 Wisdom damage; a creature under this confusion can continue acting with 0 Wisdom.

Price: A grave apple typically costs 10 GP when they are in season (early summer), but may cost more or less depending upon the quality of the graveyard. Other times they may be freely picked if they grow in the graveyard. A viable seed costs 60 GP if alchemicly verified, and a cutting requires a DC 20 Profession (Gardener) check to make safely (Knowledge Nature and Survival grant a synergy bonus to this check) failure by 5 or more means the cutting is not viable and the tree’s health has been damaged.

5e version

When eaten a grave apple gives you knowledge from those buried around the tree’s roots. They must have been buried there for at least 5 years and the tree must have been growing there for at least 5 years. This allows you to ask three questions as if with Speak with Dead to any intelligent (Int 3+) creatures which were buried nearby; the corpse does not need to be intact as long as it has been within the last 5 years. Alternatively you may ask the question to the amalgamation of the dead which functions as a Int check with a +3 to +10 bonus depending upon the size of the graveyard and erudition of those buried there.

A grave apple is toxic producing an ingested poison which requires a DC 13 Constitution save and inflicts 1d6 poison damage and the poisoned condition for 1 hour on a failed save. If a creature eats 2 grave apples within a single week the voices of the dead become unruly giving disadvantage on Wisdom checks for 1 hour. A 3rd causes further disruption forcing a Wisdom saving throw DC 15 or they are affected as if by a confusion spell for 10 minutes (they cannot save to end this effect) and suffer disadvantage on Wisdom checks and saves for 1 day.

Price: A grave apple typically costs 10 GP when they are in season (early summer), but may cost more or less depending upon the quality of the graveyard. Other times they may be freely picked if they grow in the graveyard. A viable seed costs 60 GP if alchemicly verified, and a cutting requires a DC 16 Int (Nature) check and failure by 3 or more means the cutting is not viable and the tree’s health has been damaged.

Zaydos
2015-10-13, 01:29 AM
Dryad Wight
Medium Undead
Hit Dice: 10d12 (65 hp)
Initiative: +6
Speed: 40 ft (8 squares)
Armor Class: 21 (+6 Dexterity, +5 natural), touch 16, flat-footed 15
Base Attack/Grapple: +5/+6
Attack: Slam +12 melee (1d4+1 and energy drain)
Full Attack: Slam +12 melee (1d4+1 and energy drain)
Space/Reach: 5 ft/5 ft
Special Attacks: Create Spawn, Death Creepers, Energy Drain, Spell-like Abilities
Special Qualities: Damage Reduction 5/cold iron and good, darkvision 60 ft, turn resistance +2, undead traits
Saves: Fort +3, Ref +9, Will +9
Abilities: Str 12, Dex 23, Con -, Int 14, Wis 15, Cha 20
Skills: Bluff +11, Escape Artist +11, Handle Animal +11, Hide +16, Knowledge (nature) +12, Knowledge (religion) +10, Listen +11, Move Silently +18, Ride +8, Spot +11, Survival +9, Use Rope +6 (+8 with bindings)
Feats: LifedrainLM, LifesenseLM, Weapon Finesse, Weapon Focus (Slam)
Environment: Temperate forests.
Organization: Solitary, or coven (4-7)
Challenge Rating: 6
Treasure: None
Alignment: Always Neutral Evil
Advancement: 8-14 HD (Huge), 15-30 HD (Gargantuan), 31+ HD (Colossal)
Level Adjustment: –

She stands before you, a pale and beautiful woman, skin beech white, hair the brown-red of an autumn leaf. Her movement is graceful like a dancers, or a cats. No, the fluidity of her movements carry something else, some menace like that of a poisonous viper, as if she intends to strike and slay you at the first sign of weakness.

It is very uncommon for a dryad to become an undead creature. Even so it does happen. When necromantic energies snuff out the life force of a dryad, or worse still her bonded tree, sometimes she and it will rise again as a variety of wight. A dryad wight that drains one of her sisters of life in so doing creates another dryad wight. A dryad whose tree is killed by a vampiric treant’s powers will return as a dryad wight as well.

A dryad wight has a significant advantage over a traditional wight in that they look more alive. They are pale, unearthly so, but their fey nature can disguise this at least for a time. Their transformation into a wight leaves them unbound from their tree, though it rises as well as a deadwood which obeys their commands absolutely.

Dryad wights speak the same languages they did when they were alive, usually Common, Elven, and Sylvan.

Combat:

A dryad wight engages in close combat much like any other wight. They will use their beauty to attempt to lure enemies within arm’s reach, often pointing to a sickly tree and claiming it is their home and that they need the aid of a noble adventurer, only to trick the mortal into their reach to drain them of life. They will use Charm Person and Suggestion to facilitate such attempts. Alternatively they will use their stealth to creep close to a foe unsuspecting in the night and strike from hiding. Entangle will sometimes be used to hold enemies in place, or the help of deadwoods.

Create Spawn (Su): Any humanoid slain by a dryad wight becomes a wight in 1d4 rounds. Any dryad slain by a dryad wight becomes a dryad wight in 1d4 rounds, their tree becoming a deadwood after 1d4 minutes. Spawn are under the command of the wight that created them and remain enslaved until its death. They do not possess any of the abilities they had in life.

Death Creepers (Su): As a swift action a dryad wight may extend a mass of spectral vines. The dryad wight makes a melee attack on each enemy within 5-ft at their highest attack bonus (as a natural weapon) which deals 1d6+1 (strength) damage and inflicts 1 negative level. The DC is 19 for the Fortitude save to remove a negative level. The save DC is Charisma-based. For each such negative level bestowed, the wight gains 10 temporary hit points (due to lifedrain).

Energy Drain (Su): Living creatures hit by a dryad wight’s slam attack gain one negative level. The DC is 19 for the Fortitude save to remove a negative level. The save DC is Charisma-based. For each such negative level bestowed, the wight gains 10 temporary hit points (due to lifedrain).

Spell-like Abilities: 5/day Command Undead (DC 17); 3/day Charm Person (DC 16), Entangle (DC 16), Speak with Plants, Tree Stride; 1/day Suggestion.

Skills: A dryad wight gains a +4 racial bonus to Move Silently checks.

Zaydos
2015-10-31, 09:21 PM
Corpse Fungus (Template)

Corpse Fungus is a corpse, either reduced to a skeleton or still fleshy, animated by semi-sentient fungus which has spread through its body and now uses it as a puppet slowly eating its way through the corpse until only the bones remain at which point it will gather fresh corpses and explode its spores into them.

"Corpse Fungus" is an acquired template that can be added to any corporeal non-aquatic creature that has a skeletal system and a fleshy body (referred to hereafter as the base creature).

Size and Type

The creature’s type changes to plant, although it looks undead in many ways the corpse is animated not by necromantic energies but by the presence of a fungal creature which moves it like a puppet. It retains the fire or cold subtype but loses any other it may have possessed.

Hit Dice

Drop any Hit Dice gained from class levels (to a minimum of 1) and replace remaining Hit Dice with d8s.

Speed

Winged corpse fungi that are "complete" can’t use their wings to fly. If the base creature flew magically, so can the corpse skeleton. Incomplete corpse fungi may fly normally.

Armor Class:
In the case of a comple corpse fungus natural armor changes to a number based upon its size, in the case of an incomplete corpse fungus natural armor changes to that number unless already higher.

Corpse Fungus SizeNatural Armor Bonus
Tiny or smaller+0
Small+1
Medium or Large+2
Huge+3
Gargantuan+6
Colossal+10


Attacks:

A corpse fungus retains all the natural weapons, although a complete corpse fungus loses attacks that will not work without flesh. A creature with hands gains one claw attack per hand if a complete corpse fungus or one slam attack per hand if incomplete and the creature did not possess claw or slam attacks already; the corpse fungus treats these as primary natural weapons unless the base creature already had primary natural weapons in which case they are secondary. A corpse fungus’s base attack bonus is equal to 3/4 its Hit Dice.

Corpse Fungus Size Claw/Slam Damage
Diminutive or Fine 1
Tiny 1d2
Small 1d3
Medium 1d4
Large 1d6
Huge 1d8
Gargantuan 2d6
Colossal 2d8



Damage

Natural weapons deal damage normally. A claw or slam attack deals damage depending on the corpse fungus’s size. (If the base creature already had claw or slam attacks with its hands, use the corpse fungus damage only if it’s better.)

Special Attacks

A corpse fungus retains all extraordinary special attacks of a creature except poison or others which specifically rely upon metabolic productions, a complete corpse fungus also loses any that require flesh. In addition a complete corpse fungus gains death throes.

Death Throes (Ex): When a corpse fungus dies it produces an explosive burst of spores. These spores root into any corpse within 10 ft growing into new corpse fungi within it. If a living creature is caught in the blast and dies within the next 2 weeks or getting a thorough cleaning (whichever is first) the spores will take root. It takes 2 days for a corpse fungus to infiltrate a corpse far enough to animate it.

Special Qualities

A corpse fungus retains any extraordinary damage reduction (usually overcome by a material or not at all), and energy resistance (or immunities) of the base creature, and any extraordinary special qualities that improve its melee or ranged attacks. It loses all other special qualities of the base creature. A corpse fungus gains the following special qualities.

Vulnerability to Cold (Ex)

Corpse fungus are native to tropical environments and is particularly weak to cold taking an extra 50% damage from it.

Damage Reduction (Ex)

A complete corpse fungus has damage deduction 5/bludgeoning and lack flesh or internal organs and its main form is held primarily within the former marrow of the corpse with hyphea only visible where they serve as artificial ligaments. An incomplete corpse fungus has damage reduction 5/slashing as the fleshy remains of the corpse it has infiltrated shelter the fungus.

No Natural Healing (Ex)

A corpse fungus does not heal naturally as the majority of its hit points represent the corpse not the fungus. Magical healing still functions as the hyphea distribute the positive energy into the body and stimulate it to regrowth.

Saves

Base save bonuses are Fort +1/2 HD + 2, Ref +1/3 HD, and Will +1/3 HD.

Abilities

A corpse fungus's Strength increases by +2, and if complete its Dexterity increases by +2, its Constitution is determined by its size (see table below), its Intelligence becomes 1, its Wisdom changes to 12, and its Charisma changes to 6.


Skills

A Corpse Fungus loses all skills gaining instead ranks in Spot and Listen equal to 1/2 (its HD+3) rounding up on Listen.

Feats

A Corpse Fungus loses all feats of the base creature and gains new ones equal to 1 + 1/3 hit dice, as well as Alertness as a bonus feat. Corpse Fungus typically selects feats that directly improve their offensive capabilities or which grant increased resilience such as Power Attack, Weapon Focus, Improved Toughness, and Improved Natural Weapon.

Environment

Warm and Temperate Forest and Underground; although native to tropical forests corpse fungus has crept into more temperate climes.

Organization

Solitary or circle (2-12).

Challenge Rating

Depends on Hit Dice.

Hit Dice Challenge Rating
<1 1/6
1 1/2
2-3 1
4-5 2
6-7 3
8-9 4
10-11 5
12-14 6
15-17 7
18-20 8


Treasure

None.

Alignment

Always true neutral.

Advancement

As base creature (or ? if the base creature advances by character class).

Level Adjustment

None.

Corpse Fungus Ecology:

Corpse fungus digs its hyphea through a corpse spreading throughout its body. As it does so it will break down pieces of the body using it to fuel its growth. Hollowing out the chest cavity first it will slowly grow a fruiting body (recognized in many species of fungus as the mushroom or toadstool) within it. When the flesh of the creature has all been removed and the fruiting body is fully mature a corpse fungus is said to be complete.

An incomplete corpse fungus sticks with its circle retreating into hiding as it grows. A complete corpse fungus emerges once more aggressively attack creatures in its path and killing them. It will surround itself with, usually about 5 but sometimes as many as a dozen, corpses and then explode in a burst of spores, dying in the process. These spores take root in the corpses animating them within a matter of days at which point they retreat to a sheltered area avoiding scavengers. Corpse fungus in this incomplete state is mostly harmless unless you startle it or threaten it, at which point it will attack as any threatened animal. Once the flesh has been consumed and the fruiting body is fully grown that is when the corpse fungus grows dangerous. The circle will go forth as a pack killing creatures until a member has enough corpses to spawn. They will slowly lose members this way until only one remains, but this does not mean the danger subsides. Where a pack will risk attacking large and powerful creature to create powerful spawn an individual corpse fungus is more likely to seek out creatures with few natural defenses, this means unskilled humanoids and with their low intelligence they often have trouble differentiating between unskilled humanoids and adventurers.