Unicorn RampantClaw / Claw / Bite magazine & Tabletop Role-Playing Games

Aug 11th Drop Vine

This undead plant grows over common dungeon passages and gaps in the forest.

These wandering vines wrap themselves around trees and survive on moonlight through a process called lunasynthesis. They slowly draw nutrients from the soil and their unwilling hosts, invading dimly-lit natural groves, mausoleums and other such locales where they can acquire better sustenance from the fluids of corpses.

Underground, these plants’ roots and tendrils will often stick through the soft soil ceilings of natural caverns, which drop down upon their tender prey.

Drop Vine CR 5
Undead plant
Neutral Evil Medium plant
Init: +2 Senses: Blindsight 45 ft. Listen +1, Spot +1
Aura: Fatiguing Radiance 30 ft.
Languages: none

AC: 16 (+5 Natural, +1 Dex) touch 11, flatfooted 15
HP: 70 (HD 8d12)
Immune: Unholy
Fort: +5 Ref: +2 Will: +3
Weakness: Holy

MV: 10 ft.
Attack: +3 vine 1d6+3
Full Attack: 2 attacks with +3 vine 1d6+3
Attack Options: improved grab
Space / Reach: 10 ft. / 10 ft.
Base Attack: +6 Grapple: +17

Abilities Str 16 Dex 13 Con – Int 3 Wis 12 Cha 13
SQ: undead and plant traits
SA: improved grab, blood drain
Feats: Improved Grapple, Weapon Focus Tendril
Skills: +8 Move Silently

Possessions: whatever was left by previous victims: standard treasure.

Improved Grab (Ex): Upon a successful melee attack, drop vines can attempt to start a grapple with their enemies. Upon a successful grapple, they will draw their victims in toward their central body. If they are successful, they get another attack.

Blood Drain (Ex): At the start of its round, each living creature caught in a grapple with a drop vine will take 1d4 points of constitution damage.

Blindsight (Ex): Drop Vines have no visual organs but can ascertain all foes within 45 feet using sound, scent, and vibration.

Anyone with ranks in Survival or Knowledge (nature) can use one of those skills instead of Spot to notice the plant. Dwarves can use stonecunning to notice the subterranean version.

Undead and Plant Traits:

– Immunity to all mind-affecting effects (charms, compulsions, phantasms, patterns, and morale effects).
– Not subject to critical hits, nonlethal damage, ability drain, or energy drain.
– Immune to damage to its physical ability scores (Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution), as well as to fatigue and exhaustion effects.
– Immunity to poison, sleep effects, paralysis, polymorph, stunning, disease, and death effects.
– Immunity to any effect that requires a Fortitude save (unless the effect also works on objects or is harmless).
– Not at risk of death from massive damage, but when reduced to 0 hit points or less, it is immediately destroyed.

Jul 3rd Root of All Evil

A hybrid of plant, corpse and demon grown in the soils of the abyss, these root-covered bipeds thrive on the roots of other plants. They often travel in subterranean caverns and deep forests, sucking the nutrients out in a matter of minutes of the natural roots through a series of hollow thorny spikes that they stick into their plant prey. They are also known to attack animals, especially when they have them outclassed.

Intelligent enough to comprehend many languages, these malign plants tend to contemptuously refuse to communicate with anything not evil and powerful enough to speak the dark speech.

The root of all evil is covered in many all-seeing eyes which gleam like rough gemstones.

To maintain the element of surprise or to escape battle, roots of all evil can burrow into the ground and merge with plants.

Root of All Evil CR 16
Undead plant
Chaotic Evil Huge plant
Init: +7 Senses: Blindsight 45 ft. Listen +1, Spot +6
Aura: Fatiguing Radiance 30 ft.
Languages: dark speech (something evil)

AC: 30 (+20 Natural, +2 Dex, -2 Size) touch 10, flatfooted 19
HP: 150 (HD 17d12)
Immune: Unholy
Fort: +18 Ref: +6 Will: +14
Weakness: Holy

MV: 20 ft., burrow 20 ft.
Attack: +17 vine 1d8+8, spells
Full Attack: 8 attacks with +15 vine 1d8+8
Attack Options: improved grab, swallow whole
Space / Reach: 20 ft. / 20 ft.
Base Attack: +16 Grapple: +27

Abilities Str 26 Dex 15 Con – Int 18 Wis 12 Cha 17
SQ: undead and plant traits
SA: improved grab, blood drain, meld into plant, Swallow Whole,
Feats: Improved Grapple, Combat Reflexes, Weapon Focus Vine, Sunder,
Skills: (160 points) +22 Hide, +22 Move Silently, +8 Search, +29 Spot, +21 Listen,

Possessions: Deep in the maw of the Root of all Evil is “something beyond your wildest dreams.” A table of items held within the root is below. Their hundreds of eyes are actually gems, so they too count as treasure.

Meld into Plant (Su): This ability functions identically to the spell meld into stone except that it allows the Root of all Evil to merge with plants instead of stone. The plant melded with must be as large of larger than the Root of all Evil.

Improved Grab (Ex): Upon a successful melee attack, roots of all evil can attempt to start a grapple with their enemies. Upon a successful grapple, they will draw their victims in toward their gaping maws, where they swallow them whole.

Swallow Whole (Ex): Once swallowed by a root of all evil, characters begin taking 1d4 points of wisdom damage and 2d6+8 points of bludgeoning damage per round. A DC 21 Will save is required to avoid the wisdom damage.

Blood Drain (Ex): At the start of its round, any living creature caught in a grapple with a root of all evil will take 2d4 points of constitution damage.

Spell-like Abilities (Su): 3/day control plants (undead plants only), diminish plants

Blindsight (Ex): Roots of all evil can see all foes within 45 feet using it’s many eyes, sound, scent, and vibration.

Fatiguing Radiance (Su): Any living creature within 30′ of a root of all evil must succeed on a DC 21 fortitude save or become fatigued for as long as they remain in proximity to the undead plant and for 2d6 rounds after they leave it’s aura. The Fortitude save is Charisma based.

Roots of all evil recieve a +8 racial bonus to Spot and Search checks due to their many eyes.

Undead and Plant Traits:

– Immunity to all mind-affecting effects (charms, compulsions, phantasms, patterns, and morale effects).
– Not subject to critical hits, nonlethal damage, ability drain, or energy drain.
– Immune to damage to its physical ability scores (Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution), as well as to fatigue and exhaustion effects.
– Immunity to poison, sleep effects, paralysis, polymorph, stunning, disease, and death effects.
– Immunity to any effect that requires a Fortitude save (unless the effect also works on objects or is harmless).
– Not at risk of death from massive damage, but when reduced to 0 hit points or less, it is immediately destroyed.

Apr 22nd Death Root

These haunting roots thrive on the roots of other plants, sucking the nutrients out through a series of hollow thorny spikes that they slowly grow into their plant prey until these hosts die, at which time they move on to another plant host. When they discover animal prey nearby, they have the ability to spring into action, curling their thorny rooted selves around their opponents, grappling them and sucking out their life energies.

These roots usually hang out over cavern floors and around existing root systems, where they await juicier prey.

Death Root CR 9
Undead plant (subterranean, solitary)
Neutral Evil Large plant
Init: +4 Senses: Blindsight 45 ft. Listen +1, Spot +1
Aura: Fatiguing Radiance 30 ft.
Languages: none

AC: 20 (+10 Natural, +1 Dex, -1 Size) touch 10, flatfooted 19
HP: 80 (HD 9d12)
Immune: Unholy
Fort: +11 Ref: +4 Will: +7
Weakness: Holy, Natural Light

MV: 10 ft.
Attack: +7 vine 1d6+7
Full Attack: 4 attacks with +8 vine 1d6+8
Attack Options: improved grab
Space / Reach: 10 ft. / 10 ft.
Base Attack: +7 Grapple: +19

Abilities Str 25 Dex 13 Con – Int 3 Wis 12 Cha 13
SQ: undead and plant traits
SA: improved grab, blood drain
Feats: Improved Grapple, Combat Reflexes, Weapon Focus Tendril
Skills: +14 Move Silently

Possessions: whatever was left by previous victims: standard treasure.

Improved Grab (Ex): Upon a successful melee attack, death roots can attempt to start a grapple with their enemies. Upon a successful grapple, they will draw their victims in toward their central body, where, at the start of the next round, the roots begin sucking their blood through tiny hollow needles.

Blood Drain (Ex): At the start of its round, each living creature caught in a grapple with a death root will take 1d4 points of constitution damage.

Blindsight (Ex): Death roots have no visual organs but can ascertain all foes within 45 feet using sound, scent, and vibration.

Fatiguing Radiance (Su): Any living creature within 30′ of a death root must succeed on a DC 15 fortitude save or become fatigued for as long as they remain in proximity to the undead plant and for 2d6 rounds after they leave its aura. The Fortitude save is Charisma based.

Camouflage (Ex): Since a death root looks like a normal plant root system when at rest, it takes a DC 20 Spot check to notice it before it attacks.

Anyone with ranks in Survival or Knowledge (nature) can use one of those skills instead of Spot to notice the plant. Dwarves can use stonecunning to notice the subterranean version.

Undead and Plant Traits:

– Immunity to all mind-affecting effects (charms, compulsions, phantasms, patterns, and morale effects).
– Not subject to critical hits, nonlethal damage, ability drain, or energy drain.
– Immune to damage to its physical ability scores (Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution), as well as to fatigue and exhaustion effects.
– Immunity to poison, sleep effects, paralysis, polymorph, stunning, disease, and death effects.
– Immunity to any effect that requires a Fortitude save (unless the effect also works on objects or is harmless).
– Not at risk of death from massive damage, but when reduced to 0 hit points or less, it is immediately destroyed.

Labels: CR 9, creature, undead

Apr 12th Creeping Vine

These haunting vines live on moonlight through a process called lunasynthesis. They quickly draw nutrients from the soil, invading dimly-lit natural groves, mausoleums and other such locales where they will suck sustenance from the fluids of corpses.

Underground, these plant’s roots and tendrils will often stick through the soft soil ceilings of natural caverns, from which they will grab and draw up their prey.

Creeping Vine CR 7
Undead plant
Neutral Evil Large plant
Init: +2 Senses: Blindsight 45 ft. Listen +1, Spot +1
Aura: Fatiguing Radiance 30 ft.
Languages: none

AC: 20 (+10 Natural, +1 Dex, -1 Size) touch 10, flatfooted 19
HP: 70 (HD 8d12)
Immune: Unholy
Fort: +10 Ref: +3 Will: +7
Weakness: Holy

MV: 10 ft.
Attack: +7 vine 1d6+7
Full Attack: 4 attacks with +7 vine 1d6+7
Attack Options: improved grab
Space / Reach: 10 ft. / 10 ft.
Base Attack: +6 Grapple: +17

Abilities Str 24 Dex 13 Con – Int 3 Wis 12 Cha 13
SQ: undead and plant traits
SA: improved grab, blood drain
Feats: Improved Grapple, Combat Reflexes, Weapon Focus Tendril
Skills: +12 Move Silently

Possessions: whatever was left by previous victims: standard treasure.

Improved Grab (Ex): Upon a successful melee attack, creeping vines can attempt to start a grapple with their enemies. Upon a successful grapple, they will draw their victims in toward their central body, where, at the start of the next round, the roots begin sucking their blood through tiny hollow needles.

Blood Drain (Ex): At the start of it’s round, each living creature caught in a grapple with a creeping vine will take 1d4 points of constitution damage.

Blindsight (Ex): Creeping Vines have no visual organs but can ascertain all foes within 45 feet using sound, scent, and vibration.

Fatiguing Radiance (Su): Any living creature within 30′ of a creeping vine must succeed on a DC 15 fortitude save or become fatigued for as long as they remain in proximity to the undead plant and for 2d6 rounds after they leave it’s aura. The Fortitude save is Charisma based.

Camouflage (Ex): Since a creeping vine looks like a normal plant when at rest, it takes a DC 20 Spot check to notice it before it attacks.

Anyone with ranks in Survival or Knowledge (nature) can use one of those skills instead of Spot to notice the plant. Dwarves can use stonecunning to notice the subterranean version.

Undead and Plant Traits:

– Immunity to all mind-affecting effects (charms, compulsions, phantasms, patterns, and morale effects).
– Not subject to critical hits, nonlethal damage, ability drain, or energy drain.
– Immune to damage to its physical ability scores (Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution), as well as to fatigue and exhaustion effects.
– Immunity to poison, sleep effects, paralysis, polymorph, stunning, disease, and death effects.
– Immunity to any effect that requires a Fortitude save (unless the effect also works on objects or is harmless).
– Not at risk of death from massive damage, but when reduced to 0 hit points or less, it is immediately destroyed.