Creature Name and Suggestions Please

[Dreaddisease]

In the clearing of the forest a large bush sits. 8 ft tall and a 10 ft radius. Its long stems seem to be catching the sun but this plant does not feed using the sun. When an unfortunate creature steps within 30 ft of the bush its stems 'react' to the intruder and throw these hooks which have a heavy duty silk attached to them, wrapping the unlucky creature. With every thread that successfully wraps the individual the chance of escape gets harder. If unable to escape the bush drags the creature back to its stems. Then with great effort the stems gather the creature up and force it to the center which happens to be a gapping maw. The first chamber of the stomach Slowly works on the creature, but quickly move it onto the second stomach which digests the nutrients and disposes of the rest out through its large root system.

The reaction to the intruder happens because the roots near the surface are "squished" by heavy creatures and the nervous system of the plant like creature then reacts by throwing the hooks. These hooks do minor damage. The second stomach of the plant like creature can only contain one medium sized creature a month. If the plant-thing captures another creature it will forcefully eject the carcass after 3 rounds. It has to eject the carcass far enough from its maw so that it doesn't accidentally hit its root system and trigger another capture.

Large Plant

HD - ? I'm thinking of 8d8+40 (76 hp)
Initiative - +2
Speed - 0
AC - 13( +3 Natural Armor)
Attacks - 18 hooks ranged +8 each, Only within 30 ft.
Damage - 1d2-2 hooks, Stomach does 1d6+2 acid damage/round
Face/Reach - 10 ft x 10 ft/30 ft.
Special Qualities - Increasing grapple, Forceful Eject, ?, Plant qualities, Cover Bonus 9/10, Tremorsense
Saves -
Abilities - Str 14, Dex 14, Con 20, Int 1, Wis 1, Cha 1
Skills - none

Climate/Terrain: Temperate and warm forest
Organization: Solitary, other
CR : 5?
Treasure: Half coins; Half goods (only metallic)
Alignment: Always neutral
Advancement: 9-12(Large); 13-20(Huge)

See above for tactics. The plant-thing may have a pack of wild animals that drive their prey into the bush so that they can feed on the ejected carcass later.

Combat

Increasing Grapple: Each silken thread that hits with a touch attack increases the grapple check for the round by 1. The base grapple check is 5

Forceful Eject: When the second stomach is full the occupant(s) of the first stomach are ejected 40 feet into the air and 40 feet from the base of the creature in a random direction. This causes normal falling damage.

Plant: Immune to mind-influencing effects, poison, sleep, paralysis, stunning, and polymorphing. Not subject to critical hits.

Cover Bonus: Trying to attack the main creature creates problems asits stems/reeds provide 9/10ths cover. Attacking the reeds is like attacking an object with a hardness of 3 and 2 HP.

Tremorsense: The roots of the creature extend out 60 feet giving it the ability to sense any creature in contact with the ground at that range. It still will not react until creatures are within 30 ft.



This is my first attempt at a detailed creature.

 

[DnDChick]

First of all, the name.

Since it throws out silken threads to entrap prey, why no call it a Spider Tree or Web Hedge or something like that?

Large Plant

HD - ? I'm thinking of 8d8+40 (76 hp)
Initiative - +2
Speed - 0
AC - 13( +3 Natural Armor)

You didn't include its Dex bonus or Size penalty to AC. Its size penalty is -1 forbeing Large.

I see that it has no Speed -- look at the example of the Shrieker, another plant with no Speed. It has no Dex score at all, and since it has no Dex, it has no penalty. Since none of this plant's abilities rely on its Dex, this might be the way to go for it as well. Just something to consider.

Attacks - 18 hooks ranged +8 each, Only within 30 ft.

18 attacks in a round? Wow ... that's nasty!

The bonus should be +7 (the -1 size penalty applies to attacks as well).

I would handle its attacks differently, though. Instead of requiring that a DM make 18 attack rolls each round (not something I would want to do as dm!), why not have Strands as a special attack? Like this:

Strands (Ex): When a [whatever the name is] detects living prey within 30 feet, it reacts by ejecting dozens of silk-like filaments tipped with tiny hooks. Any creature within range must make a Reflex save (DC 16) or be struck by 1 strand for every two points by which they fail the roll.*

(*By stating how many strands hit the prey, you can set the Increasing Grapple check. )

You should also look at the example of the Roper to see how to handle a creature that can "reel in" snared opponents.

Damage - 1d2-2 hooks, Stomach does 1d6+2 acid damage/round

Just a nitpick, and has no real bearing on rule or anything, but stomach acid usually does a set amount of damage (i.e. 8 points per round, etc.). Again, no biggie.

Face/Reach - 10 ft x 10 ft/30 ft.
Special Qualities - Increasing grapple, Forceful Eject, ?, Plant qualities, Cover Bonus 9/10, Tremorsense

The Increasing Grapple and Forcecu Eject should be Special Attacks, but that's just a formatting issue and isn't that important unless you are looking to submit this to a publisher.

Since the thing does have a big tummy and likes to eat things, you might consider giving it the Swallow Whole special attack. From your description, it sounds like it has that anyway.

Saves -

The good save for a Plant is Fortitutde (see the Monster Manual). Turning to page 22 of the Player's Handbook, we see that the low value for saves for an 8HD creature is +2, and the high value is +6. Based on the stats you gave it, the saves are:

Fort: +6 base + 2 con = +8
Ref: +2 base +2 Dex = +4 (this would go down to only +2 if you decide to go with no Dex score)
Will: +2 base -5 Wis = -3

Abilities - Str 14, Dex 14, Con 20, Int 1, Wis 1, Cha 1
Skills - none

Climate/Terrain: Temperate and warm forest
Organization: Solitary, other
CR : 5?

CR5 is about right ... this thing has a lot of attacks and a lot of hit points. However, its only real ability to do damage lies with its stomach and its forceful eject. I envision a lot of PCs hopelessly ensnared while they watch one of their buddies slowly eaten. lol

Treasure: Half coins; Half goods (only metallic)
Alignment: Always neutral
Advancement: 9-12(Large); 13-20(Huge)

--- 8< --- snipped the description --- >8 ---

Increasing Grapple: Each silken thread that hits with a touch attack increases the grapple check for the round by 1. The base grapple check is 5

A grapple check is always equal to the creature's BAB plus its strength bonus. In this case, the grapple bonus is +8.

For this attack you might also want to include what it takes to escape the snare. What are the hardness and hit points of the strands if someone wants to try to cut themselves free? Can someone use Escape Artist or Strength checks to get free?

Forceful Eject: When the second stomach is full the occupant(s) of the first stomach are ejected 40 feet into the air and 40 feet from the base of the creature in a random direction. This causes normal falling damage.

Hee hee ... I like this.

Spitooee! <splat>

Plant: Immune to mind-influencing effects, poison, sleep, paralysis, stunning, and polymorphing. Not subject to critical hits.

Cover Bonus: Trying to attack the main creature creates problems asits stems/reeds provide 9/10ths cover. Attacking the reeds is like attacking an object with a hardness of 3 and 2 HP.

Tremorsense: The roots of the creature extend out 60 feet giving it the ability to sense any creature in contact with the ground at that range. It still will not react until creatures are within 30 ft.

This is my first attempt at a detailed creature.

A great idea for a first attempt. Ya done good!

 

[Geocorona]

silk fisher
silk caster

 

[Krishnath]

...silk shooter...

 

[Dreaddisease]

Thank you thank you DnDChick.

Web Hedge was the best name out of the list.

Also I wanted to make the strands really tough because I want it to contain some value, much like silk was of great value to europeans.

I also went with the Reflex DC of 15. But instead of having an increasing grapple I just have them hit by 12 strands. Then they can make a Str or Escape Artist check (DC = number of strands attached to them) to escape. And they must make the reflex every round they are within 30 ft of the Hedge. Stands do 1 point of damage still. So this may increase the CR of the creature. I will run it and figure it out. It may be one of those things where the PC will be able to avoid it completely or on the other hand be hopelessly watching as their friend dies.
I gave the strands a hardness of 1 and 2 hp though that maybe too much.

Anyways... THANKS.