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Hungry Little Monsters -- Harrowing Elder and Keening Maw
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Harrowing Elder By Geoff Nelson and Tom Lommel Gargantuan Plant [Plant archetype] HD: 16d8+112 (184 hp) Initiative: +1 Speed: 0 ft. Armor Class: 23 (-4 size, -3 Dex, +20 natural) Base Attack/Grapple: +12/+32 Attack: Root stab +16 melee (3d6+8) Full Attack: 3 root stabs +16 melee (3d6+8) Space/Reach: 20 ft./40 ft. Special Attacks: Hidden roots Special Qualities: Sovereign sap, plant telepathy, blindsight (60 ft.), DR 5/--, SR 21, plant traits, Saves: Fort +17, Ref +2, Will +9 Abilities: Str 27, Dex 5, Con 25, Int 8, Wis 18, Cha 13 Skills: Intimidate +6, Knowledge (nature) +7, Listen +10, Sense Motive +6, Spot +6, Feats: Ability Focus (limb drop), Alertness, Cleave, Improved Initiative, Improved Natural Attack (root stab), Improved TripB, Power Attack Climate/Terrain: Any forest or marsh Organization: Solitary, pair, or stand (2-5) Challenge Rating: 11 Treasure: No coins or goods, standard items (weapons only) Alignment: Chaotic Neutral Advancement: 17-32 HD (Gargantuan); 33-54 HD (Colossal) |
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This large old tree looks no different from any other, but it has an air of malevolence and its limbs seem to sway with something other than just the wind.
The ravages of men and the whispers of fiends have filled these ancient trees with implacable hatred for all who go on two legs. Apart from the abandoned weapons bristling from their trunks, they are indistinguishable from normal trees; only their subtly shifting branches might give them away. Creatures must make a Spot check (DC 25) to distinguish peaceful harrowing elders from ordinary trees. Creatures with Nature Sense gain a +2 bonus to this check.
Combat
Harrowing Elders wait for prey to come well within their reach to attack. They use their roots to trip and impale their foes, reserving their limb drop for grouped or slow opponents. Recognizing their limits, harrowing elders often ally themselves with fey, assassin vines, or other creatures that can assist them in combat.
Hidden Roots (Ex): Because harrowing elders attack with their roots by thrusting them up from the earth, they gain a +2 bonus to attack rolls (not included in the above totals) and negate their opponents' Dexterity bonuses to AC as if they were invisible. Creatures with tremorsense or who can see through solid matter are immune to these effects. After a root attacks, it retracts into the ground (not an action for the elder), and cannot be attacked in return.
Limb Drop (Ex): Once per day as a standard action a harrowing elder can drop one of its massive living limbs into any three adjacent squares within its reach; this deals 20 points of damage to the harrowing elder. Creatures occupying these squares take 6d6 damage, or half damage if they make a Reflex save (DC 17). Creatures that fail their Reflex saves must make a second Reflex save (DC 15) or be trapped by the limb. Trapped characters are knocked prone. They cannot move or stand up from prone until they use a full-round action to make an Escape Artist check (DC 28) or a Strength check (DC 20). The limb weighs 1,500 lbs and can be lifted or moved normally by creatures or effects capable of moving that weight. Additionally, trapped characters lose their Dex bonus to their AC. Casting spells while trapped by the limb requires a Concentration check (DC 15 + spell level.)
Once dropped, the limb is an object with a hardness of 5 and 120 hit points. If the limb is destroyed, anyone underneath it is freed. Characters whose attacks get through the limb’s hardness encounter Sovereign Sap (see below.)
Plant Telepathy (Su): A harrowing elder can communicate telepathically with any ordinary plant or plant creature within a 5 mile radius of itself. Additionally, harrowing elders understand Sylvan and Druidic.
Plant: Harrowing elders are immune to mind-influencing effects, poison, sleep, paralysis, stunning, and polymorphing. They are not subject to critical hits.
Sovereign Sap (Ex): Whenever a creature's attacks deal enough damage to harm the elder despite its damage reduction (such as a melee attack that deals 6 points of damage), sticky ichor oozes from the wound, trapping the creature's weapon (or limb, if attacking with an unarmed strike or natural attack). On the round the attack occurs, the attacker can make a Strength check (DC 12) to free the weapon, but if this check fails the weapon is firmly stuck and more difficult to remove later, requiring a DC 20 Strength check (creatures stuck with unarmed strikes or natural attacks take 1d4 points of damage yanking themselves free from the hardened sap). Once the weapon or limb is freed from the sap, the wound's sap crystallizes and can no longer trap opponents.
The sap dissolves instantly with universal solvent. A creature can also take ten minutes to make a Craft (alchemy) or Knowledge (nature) check (DC 25) in order to create or find an alchemical or natural counter to the adhesive, freeing one stuck object or creature.
Treasure: A harrowing elder's treasure is the abandoned weaponry protruding from its trunk, all stuck fast with sovereign sap.
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Keening Maw By Geoff Nelson and Tom Lommel Huge Plant [Plant archetype] HD: 10d8+50 (95 hp) Initiative: +1 Speed: 0 ft. Armor Class: 22 (-1 size, -3 Dex, +16 natural) Base Attack/Grapple: +7/+18 Attack: -- Full Attack: -- Space/Reach: 15 ft./20 ft. Special Attacks: Earth churn, ghost sound, keening wail, sap belch Special Qualities: Blindsense (40 ft.), plant telepathy, plant traits, SR 19 Saves: Fort +12, Ref +0, Will +9 Abilities: Str 24, Dex 5, Con 21, Int 8, Wis 19, Cha 13 Skills: Listen +13, Spot +12, Feats: Ability Focus (keening wail), Alertness, Improved Initiative, Iron Will, Climate/Terrain: Any Forest and Marsh Organization: Solitary Challenge Rating: 8 Treasure: Standard Alignment: Neutral Advancement: 10-11 HD (Huge), 12-23 HD (Gargantuan) |
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A very large stump encrusted with rust-colored bark sits amid a patch of short weeds. A faint yelp echoes briefly through the air.
The keening maw is formed from the collapsed husk of a harrowing elder. The most visible feature of the keening maw looks like a hollow tree stump about five feet tall. The hollow itself is typically five feet across and leads down to a ten foot deep pit coated in a yellow, tarry substance. The pit faintly stinks of carrion and it's not unusual to find small animals trapped inside.
Soft, loamy earth surrounds the keening maw to a radius of 20 feet. Only short grasses and weeds grow in this area, so keening maws are usually at the center of small clearings in the woods.
Combat
Older and weaker than a harrowing elder, the keening maw still makes a formidable adversary. It uses its ghost sound ability to lure unsuspecting victims to the hollow of its stump. When a creature approaches within five feet, it belches forth a rain of sticky sap on all directly adjacent to the stump.
Earth Churn (Ex): By stirring the surrounding soil with its wiry roots while simultaneously pumping the stored blood of former victims into the soft earth, the keening maw can quickly create a slurry of gore to entrap creatures. This writhing field of mud is ten feet deep and hampers movement within a 20 foot radius of the maw as if under the effects of a transmute rock to mud spell. The mud dries in eight hours.
Ghost Sound (Su): The keening maw uses this ability to lure unsuspecting creatures closer. This ability has a caster level of 10 and is usable at will. (DC 16).
Keening Wail (Su): Once per day the maw can generate a keening wail, targeting all within 15 feet. This duplicates the effect of a confusion spell (Will save DC 18, caster level 10).
Plant: Keening Maws are immune to mind-influencing effects, poison, sleep, paralysis, stunning, and polymorphing. They are not subject to critical hits.
Plant Telepathy (Su): A keening maw can communicate telepathically with any ordinary plant or plant creature within a 5 mile radius of itself. Additionally, keening maws understand Sylvan and Druidic.
Sap Belch (Ex): Three times per day the Keening Maw can belch forth a gout of sovereign sap, entangling all within 10 feet of its stump as if struck by a tanglefoot bag (Reflex DC 20 to avoid being stuck to the ground, otherwise normal tanglefoot bag effects). Universal solvent dissolves the sap immediately. A creature can also take ten minutes to make a Craft (alchemy) or Knowledge (nature) check (DC 25) in order to create or find an alchemical or natural counter to the adhesive, freeing one stuck object or creature.
This content is produced under version 1.0a and/or draft versions of the Open Game License and the System Reference Document by permission of Wizards of the Coast.
Designation of Product Identity: The following items are hereby designated as Product Identity in accordance with Section 1(e) of the Open Game License, version 1.0a: The illustrations of the harrowing elder and keening maw.
Designation of Open Game Content: Subject to the Designation of Product Identity above, the entirety of "Hungry Little Monsters: Harrowing Elder and Keening Maw" is Open Game Content. "Hungry Little Monsters: Harrowing Elder and Keening Maw" ©2004 Geoff Nelson and Tom Lommel. All rights reserved.
Open Game License