Special Conversion Thread: Plants

[Cleon]

Good to go, then?

That was over far too quickly, can't we argue over it for a bit?

I miss the transient golem, that was a conversion you could really get your teeth into.

 

[Cleon]

It appears so!

Let's tackle a non-hazard...

Dirtwraith (Sargusian Fungus)

So it basically "possesses" and animates an ordinary plant?

It looks like a Plant with the Extraplanar subtype.

Should it be Evil or Chaotic as well, since it's native to the Abyss?

Start out Tiny and have it grow to Large?

Tiny (1-2 HD), Small (2-3 HD), Medium (4-7 HD), Large (8-12 HD).

Animates plants as an Animated Object one size larger than itself? (e.g. a Large Dirtwraith can animate a Huge tree). That way the animated object's HD = Dirtwraith's HD.

 

[Shade]

That all sounds about right.

Adjust violet fungi physical ability scores to Tiny?

Violet Fungus: Str 14, Dex 8, Con 16
"Tiny-fied": Str 6, Dex 12, Con 14

 

[Cleon]

That all sounds about right.

Dang it, that Tiny (1-2 HD) should be Tiny (1 HD).

Adjust violet fungi physical ability scores to Tiny?

Violet Fungus: Str 14, Dex 8, Con 16
"Tiny-fied": Str 6, Dex 12, Con 14

That's OK by me. Give it mental stats 1 or 2 points better than a Phantom Fungus's Int 2, Wis 11, Cha 9?

Dirtwraith: Str 6, Dex 12, Con 14, Int 3, Wis 13, Cha 11

No natural armour I guess.

Since they grow around root systems, they should have a burrow speed, and maybe be blind and have tremorsense or blindsight?

So, it'll be roughly like this:

Dirtwraith
Tiny Plant (Extraplanar)
Hit Dice: 1d8+2 (6 hp)
Initiative: +1
Speed: 5 ft. (1 squares), burrow 5 ft.
Armor Class: 12 (+2 size), touch 12, flat-footed 12
Base Attack/Grapple: +0/+3
Attack: —
Full Attack: —
Space/Reach: 2½ ft./0 ft.
Special Attacks: Animate plant, poison, spores
Special Qualities: Blind?, low-light vision, plant traits, tremorsense 60 ft.?
Saves: Fort +4, Ref +1, Will +1
Abilities: Str 6, Dex 12, Con 14, Int 3, Wis 13, Cha 11
Skills: 4
Feats: 1
Environment: Any land or underground?
Organization: Solitary
Challenge Rating: ?
Treasure: ?
Alignment: Always chaotic evil
Advancement: Small (2-3 HD), Medium (4-7 HD), Large (8-12 HD)
Level Adjustment: —

Animate Plant (Su): A dirtwraith can animate a plant one size larger than itself. The dirtwraith intertwines itself inside the plant's roots, a process which takes 1 minute, after which the plant gains the statistics of an Animated Object of the appropriate size, with hardness 5 and a speed of X ft. Any damage always affects the animated plant first, which must be destroyed before any harm can be done to the dirtwraith within it. A dirtwraith can only animate ordinary living plants, it can not animate dead plants or monsters with the Plant type.

Poison (Ex): Ingested, causes coma initial damage, death or Con secondary damage?

Spores (Ex): Cause some damage and sickened condition?

That'll do to begin with.

 

[freyar]

Since the dirtwraith seems to need to extract itself from the ground before moving to a new host, I don't think it should have a burrow speed.

Dust of sneezing and choking does Con damage, so maybe

Spores (Ex): Inhalation, Fortitude DC X, initial damage 1d2 Con and is sickened for X rounds, secondary damage 1d2 Con. The save DC is Constitution-based.

What do you think?

 

[Cleon]

Since the dirtwraith seems to need to extract itself from the ground before moving to a new host, I don't think it should have a burrow speed.

Well I see your point, but how does it get down to the roots? If it digs a hole, wouldn't it be obvious that the plant's been tampered with?

Some kind of burrowing still seems in order.

Dust of sneezing and choking does Con damage, so maybe

Spores (Ex): Inhalation, Fortitude DC X, initial damage 1d2 Con and is sickened for X rounds, secondary damage 1d2 Con. The save DC is Constitution-based.

What do you think?

That looks about right, it needs a duration. Shall we include the 1 spore attack per HD of the original?

 

[Shade]

Added to Homebrews.

I'm fine with the slow burrow speed.

The dirtwraith is immune to fire, mind-affecting magic, and blunt weapons.

That looks like damage reduction x/slashing or piercing and immunity to fire and mind-affecting spells and abilities.

Let's not make 'em blind, since none of the MM fungi are blind.

I'd prefer Con damage to death for the poison's secondary damage, and make it "unconsciousness" rather than "coma" for the primary.

 

[Cleon]

Added to Homebrews.

I'm fine with the slow burrow speed.

That looks like damage reduction x/slashing or piercing and immunity to fire and mind-affecting spells and abilities.

DR 10/slashing or piercing?

Let's not make 'em blind, since none of the MM fungi are blind.

Better give them low-light vision too, since that's a standard Plant SQ.

I'd prefer Con damage to death for the poison's secondary damage, and make it "unconsciousness" rather than "coma" for the primary.

So something like:

Poison (Ex): A dirtwraith's flesh is a deadly poison. Any creature that hits a dirtwraith with a bite attack is affected.

Dirtwraith flesh—Ingested; Fort DC X; primary damage unconsciousness for 2d6? days; secondary damage 2d6? Con. If a living creature dies from the effects of dirtwraith poison, one or more 1 HD dirtwraiths will sprout from the corpse 2d6? days later.

I also wondered about allowing the dirtwraith to force some of its body into an opponents mouth and thereby poison them — maybe with a grapple check?

 

[freyar]

With a burrow speed, I'm not sure if these ever have a motivation to leave the ground. I'd make the animate plants Su ability include some sort of meld into plant or meld into roots or something.

I like the rest of what we have, though I'm not fond of the grapple check to force the poison.

 

[Shade]

With a burrow speed, I'm not sure if these ever have a motivation to leave the ground. I'd make the animate plants Su ability include some sort of meld into plant or meld into roots or something.

OK, you've convinced me.

I like the rest of what we have, though I'm not fond of the grapple check to force the poison.

Nor I.