D&D General Plants (and Fungi) that should be in your D&D Campaign!

[J.Quondam]

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(Photo credit: sciencenews.com)

E Muscae is a fungus that infects flies and always kills them at sundown. The infected fly climbs a high plant and glues its mouthparts to the stem. Then at sundown it opens its wings and dies.

There's a theory that the fungus always kills at sundown so that it can start producing spores at night and avoid the heat of the day.

In a D&D campaign, there could be a necrotic fungus that is dormant during the day, but at night turns people into ravenous zombies! The characters have to figure out how to avoid killing their infected friends and friendly NPCs and find a cure (or the source) of this fungus.

I love the idea of a town full of friendly folk who suddenly sprout mushrooms from their heads and go on killing rampages at night, then wake with no memories. "Huh, I wonder where those travelers went... They were so friendly (burrrp)."

In the Neverland setting by Andrew Kolb, there's a entry in the bestiary call "Infected" which riffs on this. It's an unknown fungus that compels a creature to climb to the top of a mountain where its head bursts to release a cloud of spores:

 

[BookTenTiger]

In the Neverland setting by Andrew Kolb, there's a entry in the bestiary call "Infected" which riffs on this. It's an unknown fungus that compels a creature to climb to the top of a mountain where its head bursts to release a cloud of spores:

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What I find fascinating about the most recent fungus I posted about is that it activates at sundown.

First off, it's just an amazing example of how cool nature is. But secondly the idea of a monstrous infection activating in the dark would make for a great D&D threat.

 

[J.Quondam]

What I find fascinating about the most recent fungus I posted about is that it activates at sundown.

First off, it's just an amazing example of how cool nature is. But secondly the idea of a monstrous infection activating in the dark would make for a great D&D threat.

It's definitely a nice way to add a "timer" aspect to a threat. Same could be said for something tied to seasons, migrations, tides or whatnot, that could introduce a similar sort of imminent doom, albeit on a slower scale.

 

[Necropolitan]

What I find fascinating about the most recent fungus I posted about is that it activates at sundown.

First off, it's just an amazing example of how cool nature is. But secondly the idea of a monstrous infection activating in the dark would make for a great D&D threat.

You could do something similar to the Quevari from Ravenloft. Every full moon the Quevari turn into murderous monstrous cannibals, but the rest of the time they're normal people who look totally human.

Just swap "full moon" to "night" and you've got a great one-shot.

It's extra scary if the players managed to escape or survive until the next day only to find everyone back to normal and denying anything happened the previous night.