I think those abilities work pretty well. However, for 3HD, we need 3 tendrils already.
He's right. It should say something like this:
Base Attack/Grapple: +2/+8
Attack: 3 tendrils +8 melee (1d6+3)
Full Attack: 3 tendrils +8 melee (1d6+3)
I also think the combat section needs to copy
some, but not all, of the things from the hydra:
Hydra said:
Combat
Hydras can attack with all their heads at no penalty, even if they move or charge during the round.
A hydra can be killed either by severing all its heads or by slaying its body. To sever a head, an opponent must make a successful sunder attempt with a slashing weapon. (The player should declare where the attack is aimed before making the attack roll.) Making a sunder attempt provokes an attack of opportunity unless the foe has the Improved Sunder feat. An opponent can strike at a hydra’s heads from any position in which he could strike at the hydra itself, because the hydra’s head writhe and whip about in combat. An opponent can ready an action to attempt to sunder a hydra’s head when the creature bites at him. Each of a hydra’s heads has hit points equal to the creature’s full normal hit point total, divided by its original number of heads. Losing a head deals damage to the body equal to half the head’s full normal hit points. A natural reflex seals the neck shut to prevent further blood loss. A hydra can no longer attack with a severed head but takes no other penalties.
Each time a head is severed, two new heads spring from the stump in 1d4 rounds. A hydra can never have more than twice its original number of heads at any one time, and any extra heads it gains beyond its original number wither and die within a day. To prevent a severed head from growing back into two heads, at least 5 points of fire or acid damage must be dealt to the stump (a touch attack to hit) before the new heads appear. A flaming weapon (or similar effect) deals its energy damage to the stump in the same blow in which a head is severed. Fire or acid damage from an area effect may burn multiple stumps in addition to dealing damage to the hydra’s body. A hydra does not die from losing its heads until all its heads have been cut off and the stumps seared by fire or acid.
A hydra’s body can be slain just like any other creature’s, but hydras possess fast healing (see below) and are difficult to defeat in this fashion. Any attack that is not (or cannot be) an attempt to sunder a head affects the body.
Targeted magical effects cannot sever a hydra’s heads (and thus must be directed at the body) unless they deal slashing damage and could be used to make sunder attempts.
The first sentence/paragraph seems to work OK:
Arid bloodthorns can attack with all their tendrils at no penalty, even if they move or charge during the round.
Do we want to allow people to sunder the tendrils? That would give us something a bit like this:
An arid bloodthorn can be killed either by severing all its tendrils or by slaying its body. To sever a tendrils, an opponent must make a successful sunder attempt with a slashing weapon. (The player should declare where the attack is aimed before making the attack roll.) Making a sunder attempt provokes an attack of opportunity unless the foe has the Improved Sunder feat. An opponent can strike at an arid bloodthorn’s tendrils from any position in which he could strike at the arid bloodthorn itself, because the arid bloodthorn’s tendrils writhe and whip about in combat. An opponent can ready an action to attempt to sunder a arid bloodthorn’s tendril when the creature lashes out at him. Each of a arid bloodthorn’s tendrils has hit points equal to the creature’s full normal hit point total, divided by its original number of tendrils. Losing a tendril deals damage to the body equal to half the tendril’s full normal hit points. A natural reflex seals the vine shut to prevent further sap loss. A arid bloodthorn can no longer attack with a severed tendrils but takes no other penalties.
That second to last sentence might work better as: "A natural reflex seals the vine shut."
The stuff about growing new heads is not appropriate, but if a hydra looses "bonus" heads over time an arid bloodthorn should regain lost tendrils over time. I'd suggest something like this:
Each time a tendril is severed, a new tendril springs from the stump in 1d4 days. To prevent a severed head from growing back, at least 5 points of fire or acid damage must be dealt to the stump (a touch attack to hit) before the new tendril appears. A flaming weapon (or similar effect) deals its energy damage to the stump in the same blow in which a tendril is severed. Fire or acid damage from an area effect may burn multiple stumps in addition to dealing damage to the arid bloodthorn’s body. An arid bloodthorn does not die from losing its tendrils until all its tendrils have been cut off and the stumps seared by fire or acid.
The stuff about fast healing is not appropriate, but if you can sunder the tendrils you need part of the next paragraph:
An arid bloodthorn’s body can be slain just like any other creature’s. Any attack that is not (or cannot be) an attempt to sunder a tendril affects the body.
The last paragraph is almost totally as is:
Targeted magical effects cannot sever a arid bloodthorn’s tendrils (and thus must be directed at the body) unless they deal slashing damage and could be used to make sunder attempts.
I think that is mostly all you need for these creatures, but you need some sort of ability that makes them automatically grapple on a criticle hit: ("If any vine hits by 4 or more over the attack number needed to hit, it wraps around its prey and embeds its thorns in the victim's flesh.")
You also need to make amputated tendrils continue to grapple and inflict damage until removed: ("The thorns of a severed vine still drain blood until the whole vine is carefully detached from a victim - a process that requires one full round.")
The original creature had two ACs. That doesn't seem to fit into 3rd edition so well. Does anyone know of some sort of parry ability that would allow it to protect its body but not its tendrils?