Shrooms...! (Part Two)

FLUMPH MOTHER

FREQUENCY: Rare
 
NO. APPEARING: 1
 
ARMOR CLASS: 8

MOVE: 3"

HIT DICE: 4

% IN LAIR: Nil

TREASURE TYPE: Nil

NO. OF ATTACKS: 0

DAMAGE/ATTACK: Paralysis

SPECIAL ATTACKS: As above

SPECIAL DEFENSES: See below

MAGIC RESISTANCE: Standard

INTELLIGENCE: Non-

ALIGNMENT: Neutral

SIZE: L  (20' wide, 20' tall)

PSIONIC ABILITY: Nil

       Attack/Defense Modes: Nil

Flumph Mothers are so named because of their symbiotic relationship with flumphs (see the Fiend Folio, p.39). They are a large spherical fungus that contains numerous bladder-like chambers within which flumphs mate and deposit their young. After successfully breeding, the flumphs die and their bodies provide sustenance for the Mother. Despite their ungainly and bizarre appearance, seeing one is regarded as good luck by farmers, who welcome the deposits of fertilizing nutrients the Mother occasionally produces as it moves from place to place. At the same time, wilfully destroying one of them is seen as inviting bad luck, and will provoke the ire of the flumphs that reside with it.

 

The Mother has no means of attacking opponents but does have several ways of defending itself. Its skin and the numerous growths that festoon it will paralyse any creature that touches them (unless they make a successful save vs paralyzation). There is a 1-3 chance (on 1d6) that striking the Mother will create a small rupture from which noisome fluids will spurt forth out to a range of 1". These fluids create an appalling stink that lasts for 1-3 hours and any victim struck by them must be shunned by their companions out to a distance of 50 feet. This stink will also attract wandering monsters who feed on carrion or waste. 

 

The Mother will always be accompanied by a swarm of 2-8+2 flumphs, who will normally not attack unless provoked or if the Mother itself is attacked. 2-16 flumphs will reside within the Mother and will only venture outside to defend it if their host loses more than 50% of its hit points. If the Mother is destroyed, it will burst into large pieces that quickly become a vivid green and release great quantities of the liquids described above (with the same chance of being struck it them). Any creatures within 3" also have a 1-2 chance (on 1d6) of being struck by a caustic form of the liquid, which inflicts 1-3 points of damage for 1-6 turns unless it is negated by magical means. Flumphs are unaffected by this fluid. The destruction of the Mother will also attract wandering monsters (as described above) and pollute the ground below it for 2-8 years.

 

Flumph Mothers have a limited form of mobility, being mostly carried by the direction of strong breezes or draughts. Gasses contained within them (created by rotting matter) provide some buoyancy and they possess wing-like appendages that provide a limited form of propulsion when needed. These creatures are usually encountered in foothills and similar places close to mountains, and it's thought that this is where they might originally spore and grow. However, no-one has ever seen examples of this nascent form. One theory posits that flumphs themselves have the ability to create the Mothers by affecting mundane forms of fungus in some way. Flumph Mothers will only be encountered in dungeons possessing very spacious rooms and corridors, and even then only those connected to large and voluminous cave systems where they may have become trapped. If one of these creatures is encountered near a settled place, it will have been blown there. As it is so large, the flumphs that accompany it have no ability to steer it in any way.

 

Description: Flumph Mothers are yellowish white in colour and have random semi-opaque patches, within which indistinct shapes can be seen. Flumphs access the interior via a large tube-like growth close to its topmost part. The creature's body is resistant to both mundane and magical cold and fire attacks but is affected normally by those that are lightning-based. Flumph Mothers seem to have a lifespan of 10-20 years and their remains at the end of its life become bright red. These are highly prized by farmers as an additive to fertilizers and mulches, and they will pay up to 2000 gps for each hit dice-worth of remains they wish to acquire.    

Shrooms...! (Part One)

The first in a series about fungoid critters for D&D. This week's creature is the...

RAGWING

FREQUENCY: Uncommon
 
NO. APPEARING: 2-8
 
ARMOR CLASS: 7

MOVE: 6/10"

HIT DICE: 2

% IN LAIR: Nil

TREASURE TYPE: Nil

NO. OF ATTACKS: 1

DAMAGE/ATTACK: 1-6

SPECIAL ATTACKS: See below

SPECIAL DEFENSES: Nil

MAGIC RESISTANCE: Standard

INTELLIGENCE: Non-

ALIGNMENT: Neutral

SIZE: S

PSIONIC ABILITY: Nil

       Attack/Defense Modes: Nil

Ragwings are colonies of spore-like organisms that have somehow developed the ability to fly. They can sense the heat generated by living creatures (out to a distance of 120') and derive sustenance from their blood. They also use the body of their victims as a host within which their spores can sprout. They possess a long needle-sharp proboscis and it is through this that they feed and pass spores into their victims.

In combat, if the creature inflicts more than 5 points of damage in a single attack it's target has been implanted with spores, and must save vs poison to prevent those spores taking hold. Should this fail, the wound will itch and appear to fester over the course of one day, after which the victim will become paralysed and will die within three days. If a limb was struck by such an attack, removing that limb within three days will rid the victim of the spores. Cure Serious Wounds will also negate the spores effect on any part of the body. The spores will otherwise consume the victim and after 10 days 2-6 Ragwings possessing 1HD will sprout from the remains. A single example will sprout in the same time from any amputated limb that has not been destroyed.

Alternatively, the Ragwing will remain attached to its victim if it inflicts more than 3 points of damage in a single attack. It will then drain blood at the rate of 1 hit point per melee round unless destroyed. Once it has consumed blood equivalent to 8 hit points, it will detach itself and attempt to escape.

Should the creature lose all of its hit points from a single attack, its body will shatter and scatter spores over a 10' wide area. Anyone within this cloud must save vs poison or become incapacitated for 1-4 melee rounds.

Ragwings inhabit a variety of environments but seem to prefer those with high points from which they can dive on their victims.

Description: These creatures vary in colour depending on their environment: greenish-yellow in woodland and swamps, greyish blue in mountains, brownish-black in caves. When full of blood they take on a distinct reddish hue. Their bodies are a tangled mass of fibres surmounted by a 'head' that is full of spores. The wings are tattered and seem to shed small pieces when the creature moves. They are not particularly graceful in the air as their flight appears uncoordinated and ungainly, and when moving along any surface their wings seem to haphazardly drag the creature around. However, this can make their movement in combat somewhat difficult to predict.