Vampire Moss

[BOZ]

ok, since the other ones are starting to wind to a close, i thought i'd get another one started. this creature didn't do particularly well in the plant creature polls, but the paizo staff skipped over a lot of ones that did do well to pick this fella.


Vampire Moss
AC: 9
HD: 1/2 (1-4 hp)
Move: Nil
Att: 1 (special)
Dmg: 1 hp per round
No. App: 1-6 (1-6)
Save as: Wizard 1
Morale: 9
Treasure Type: Nil
Int: 0
Align: Neutral
XP Value: 7

Monster Type: Lowlife (Rare).

Vampire moss hangs from trees and branches in marshy or tropical environments. It is normally pale green in color, and from 1' - 4' in length. The moss grows in a netlike mass but is not as thick as rock-dwelling moss.

Vampire moss lives off the life energy of other creatures, although it prefers mammals. The moss is an "air feeder", requiring no contact with the creatures that it draws energy from. However, victims must be within 10 yards of the moss. A vampire moss feeds on the life energies of nearby trees only if it is starving to death.

When vampire moss attempts to feed on a PC, the victim feels a prickling sensation at the back of the neck and must make a Constitution check. If the check succeeds, the moss continues to try to magically attach itself until the intended victim leaves its area of effect. If the victim fails the Constitution check, the moss has "latched on" to the PC and begins feeding at the rate of 1 hp per round until the victim dies or leaves the area. When the moss has consumed four times its own hit points in energy, it is sated and releases its victim.

When a victim is reduced to half the maximum number of hit points, he must make another Constitution check or fall unconscious. The victim must continue to make checks each round until the draining stops or the victim falls unconscious. The victim dies when reduced to 0 hp.

As the moss feeds, it turns a brighter and brighter shade of green. A fully sated moss is a vivid emerald green.

The only ways to kill vampire moss are by ripping it into tiny shreds or burning it. The moss regenerate all other damage at a rate of 2 hp per week.

Terrain: Swamp, Woods (tropical).

From Dungeon #41, "A Way With Words", Teeuwynn Woodruff and Tim Beach. May/June 1993.



from MCA1:

Plant, Vampire Moss
CLIMATE/TERRAIN: Swamp, woods
FREQUENCY: Rare
ORGANIZATION: Colony
ACTIVITY CYCLE: Any
DIET: Life energy (hit points)
INTELLIGENCE: Non (0)
TREASURE: Nil
ALIGNMENT: Neutral
NO. APPEARING: 1d6
ARMOR CLASS: 9
MOVEMENT: 0
HIT DICE: 1/2 (4 hp)
THAC0: Special
NO. OF ATTACKS: 1 (special)
DAMAGE/ATTACK: 1 hp per round
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Nil
SPECIAL DEFENCES: Nil
MAGIC RESISTANCE: Nil
SIZE: T-S (1'-4' long)
MORALE: Average (8-10)
XP VALUE: 7

Vampire moss hangs from trees and branches in marshy or tropical environments, waiting for other creatures to wander past so that it can feed upon them.

This plant is normally pale green in color, and it grows to a length of 1 to 4 feet. The moss grows in a netlike mass, but it is not as thick as that which grows upon rocks.

Combat: Vampire moss lives upon the life energy of other creatures, but it prefers mammals - especially intelligent ones, possibly because their living essence tends to be more vibrant. The moss is an "air feeder," meaning it requires no contact with other creatures in order to draw life energy from them. A victim need only pass within 10 yards of the moss in order to be "attacked."

When a vampire moss attempts to feed on a person, he feels a prickling sensation at the back of the neck; at that point, the character must make a Constitution check (by rolling his Constitution score or lower on 1d20). If the check succeeds, the moss is unable to establish a feeding link, but it will continue to try to magically attach itself until the intended victim leaves its area of effect, requiring subsequent Constitution checks each round until that happens. If and when the victim fails a check, the moss is able to "latch on," and it immediately begins feeding at a rate of 1 hp per round until the victim dies, until he leaves the area, or until the moss has consumed four times its own hit-point total in life energy (16 hit points), at which time it is sated and releases its victim. If several vampire mosses attack a single character, the damage can mount quickly; these creatures always attempt to establish feeding contact with the nearest being.

If a victim is reduced to half his or her maximum number of hit points as a result of the vampire moss's feeding, he must make another successful Constition check or fall unconscious. Even if the victim makes a successful check, he must continue to make checks each round until the draining stops or unconsciousness. (Of course, the Dungeon Master should not at any time inform the character why the checks are necessary or what the results of failing them are until they occur. Nor should the DM identify the source of the energy drain.) The victim dies when reduced to 0 hp.

Meanwhile, as the moss feeds, it turns a brighter and brighter shade of green. A fully sated moss is a vivid emerald green.

The only ways to kill vampire moss are by ripping it into tiny shreds or by burning it. The moss regenerates all other damage at a rate of 2 hp per week.

Ecology: Vampire moss severs no particular purpose in the ecology of the swamp or forest: it's more of a parasite than anything else. Unfortunately, it does not die if deprived of higher life forms upon which to feed - the moss can even feed upon the life energies of nearby trees, but it only does so if on the verge of starvation.

Vampire moss may be used as a component of energy draining magic such as cursed potions of harm (reverse of healing) or rings of weariness.

 

[BOZ]

some quick thoughts:

judging from the Dungeon magazine stats, it looks like this critter was originally from an OD&D adventure, for what it's worth.

i think the draining ability can be made out of a combination of the bleeding wounds and energy drain attacks, and initiated by forming some sort of telepathic link almost.

 

[demiurge1138]

Sounds plausible - perhaps if they get their full meal out of a target, the target gains one negative level, Fort save 24 hours later, as normal?

And yes, this does seem like more of a spiritual link than a tangible one.

Should we increase the fast healing to something more substantial than 2/week? Or even give it regeneration (as it is vulnerable to fire)?

Demiurge out.

 

[Kafkonia]

Thought I might join in the conversion fun.

i think the draining ability can be made out of a combination of the bleeding wounds and energy drain attacks...

That seems a bit convoluted. Would a modified version of the blood drain possessed by stirges and vampires work? Just add in that its usable at range, and replace the standard grapple/pin with a Constitution check. Like this:

Life Drain (Su): Vampire moss can drain the life energy from any creature within 30 feet of it. On a failed Constitution save (DC xx), the target suffers 1d4 points of Constitution damage per round until the moss stops feeding, or until the target leaves the area or dies. The vampire moss will continue to feed until it has drained (4 times its HP) in Constitution, at which point it is sated. The save DC is Constitution(?)-based.

 

[dhaga]

I think Kafkonia's proposed Life Drain ability looks good.

Regeneration is a good idea, too; maybe Regeneration 2?

 

[BOZ]

actually, i did mean "blood drain" rather than "energy drain" - not sure why i goofed that up.

the reason i suggested mixing the idea with bleeding wounds is because the loss of 1d4 Con per round seems like a bit much for such a week creature. if it instead drained 1 or 2 hp per round, that might seem to work better (especially when we have a group of these mosses attacking a single creature) for its CR.

 

[Conaill]

We have to make it 100% clear whether or not this thing will actually physically attach itself to its victim. Especially the first version is somewhat ambiguous on the topic: "magically attach itself", "latched on", "releases its victim"...

The extra verbage in the MCA1 version makes it reasonably clear the moss never actually makes physical contact: "the Dungeon Master should not at any time inform the character why the checks are necessary [...] or should the DM identify the source of the energy drain"

Should we be more specific about the nature of the link between the moss and its victim? Maybe they're a visible link on the Astral or Ethereal?

Either way, we should change some of the wording above. Maybe something like this:

"If the check succeeds, the moss will continue to try to establish a link until the intended victim leaves its area of effect, requiring subsequent Constitution checks each round until that happens. If and when the victim fails a check, the moss is able to establish an ethereal feeding link, and it immediately begins feeding at a rate of 1 hp per round until the victim dies, until he leaves the area, or until the moss has consumed four times its own hit-point total in life energy (16 hit points), at which time it is sated and severs the link with its victim."

This version does make the feeding link visible through See Invisibility and True Seeing - a very plausible choice of spells if the party suddenly starts losing hp to some invisible foe...

 

[Kafkonia]

the reason i suggested mixing the idea with bleeding wounds is because the loss of 1d4 Con per round seems like a bit much for such a week creature. if it instead drained 1 or 2 hp per round, that might seem to work better (especially when we have a group of these mosses attacking a single creature) for its CR.

That's true. Perhaps we should go by effect-on-PCs rather than trying to mimic its exact numbers. How many HP did a typical PC have when this badboy was around? I don't have my books with me.

A quick guideline to keep in mind is that 4 times the moss's hit points will be exactly the same as two full hit dice (since avg hit die = half hit die) so we might want to consider that too -- how many HD will this have? Will we still go with 1/2?

 

[Shade]

I tried posting this earlier today, right about the time the site went offline. :\

We've got some usable ideas, and I'd add the vampiric touch spell to the mix:

"You must succeed on a melee touch attack. Your touch deals 1d6 points of damage per
two caster levels (maximum 10d6). You gain temporary hit points equal to the damage
you deal. However, you can’t gain more than the subject’s current hit points +10, which is enough to kill the subject. The temporary hit points disappear 1 hour later."

We might also be able to borrow from this ability:

"Anesthetize (Ex): A creature bitten by a giant leech must succeed on a Spot check (opposed by the giant leech's Hide check) to notice the attack if both the leech and
its target are in murky water at least 2 feet deep. Each round of blood drain entitles the creature to another Spot check to notice the leech, with a cumulative +2 bonus on the check per round after the first. Characters attacked in clear water, or who have some means of detecting the leech without seeing it, notice the attack immediately."

What we know:

• The vampire moss doesn't need to actually touch the creature to feed
• The target must be within 30 feet
• The vampire moss can switch to other targets as it desires
• The vampire moss always attempts to target the nearest being
• The victim gets a save to resist the initial attack
• The moss feeds on 1 hp/round
• Once the victim drops to half its max hit point total, it must make another save or fall unconscious
• The target doesn't necessarily notice the loss of hit points
• The vampire moss is sated once it has stolen 4 x its hp total

Based on all that, here's a rought draft attempt:

"Vampiric Link" (Su): A vampire moss can drain the life from any creature within 30
feet. To do so, it must be aware of the creature and take a standard action to attempt to establish a link. The target creature must make a DC X Fortitude save.

On a successful save, the link fails to establish, and the vampire moss may attempt again on its next turn. A failed save indicates that a supernatural link has been established, and the victim begins losing 1 hit point per round. Once a victim loses one-half its normal maximum hit point total to the vampire moss, it must succeed on a DC X Fortitude save or fall unconscious.

After a vampire moss has drained a number of hit points equal to 4 times its own maximum hit point total (X points for a typical vampire moss), it is sated and severs the vampiric link. If its victim dies before the moss's appetite has been sated, the moss seeks a new target. If the victim moves more than 30 feet away from the feeding moss, or if the feeding moss is slain, the link is severed. The save DCs are Constitution-based.

Unanswered Questions:

• Should the vampire moss gain temporary hit points equal to those drained? (I'd say yes)
• Should this be a negative energy effect?
• How should we handle the awareness mechanic? I suppose we could use a Spot check
  to notice the moss changing colors.

 

[Mortis]

Should the vampire moss gain temporary hit points equal to those drained? (I'd say yes)

I'd say so. It keeps it in line with similar effects and makes the moss slightly more resilient.

Should this be a negative energy effect?

Again I'd say so.

How should we handle the awareness mechanic? I suppose we could use a Spot check to notice the moss changing colors.

Not sure how obvious is the colour change?

Regards
Mortis