![[Fantastical Plants]](../images/hero/fanplant.jpg){kind=small}
Copyright © 2001 by Robert J. Hall
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Contents
Introduction
Most plants are harmless to an adventurer, and some even provide a useful source of food for characters with the Survival skill. Many plants have defenses, such as toxins, tough bark, and thorns, that reduce their usefulness to the traveller and can make them lethal for the ignorant. Some very rare varieties have evolved, or been magically altered beyond even these basic defenses until they become downright predatory.
Such hunting plants usually rely on stealth and an innocuous appearance to capture their prey. They will usually consume animals to gain scarce minerals not found in the soil. Some, however, use animal prey to carry their seeds to a distant location.
Fantastical plants can come from a variety of sources. Some were created as the results of a wizard's experiments. Others may be accidently carried to this world as seeds by a dimensional traveller. Some of these plants have even evolved to fill a niche in nature. Identifying these plants as hazards requires a successful roll versus KS: Identify Flora or SS: Botany. A Survival roll with a heavy modifier may also suffice.
The list below shows some typical abilities of these types of plants:
- Cannot be Stunned (Automaton)
- Does Not Bleed (Automaton)
- Immune to Creature Toxins and Diseases
- Clinging
- 25% Resistant Physical Damage Reduction
- 25% Resistant Energy Damage Reduction, Not versus fire (-1/4)
- Mental Defense - reflex actions only
- Extra Limbs - branches
- Knockback Resistance - rooted
- Life Support: No need to excrete, Breathes CO2
- Stretching
- Tactile PER, Targeting Sense
Here are the typical limitations:
- Completely Immobile (All the time, fully impairing)
- No hearing
- Sight is not ranged
- Dependence: 1d6/day, Requires sunlight and water (Very Common)
- x2 BODY from flame (Uncommon)
- x1.5 BODY from desication (Uncommon)
- Reputation 8-
Berry Vines
To the untrained eye this plant closely resembles a sprawling, verdant patch of vines. The leaves are almost the same shape, with streaks of light and dark green radiating from the stem. Growing in small bundles near the center of the patch, however, are clusters of a spherical purple flower that is almost indistinguishable from ripe grapes. These provide an almost inresistable lure for large, berry eating creatures.
Animals that make the mistake of trying to consume the berry flowers are quickly grabbed and entangled by the branches of the vines. These wrap themselves around the body and limbs of the victim until it is completely immobilized. The vines are very tough and difficult to cut or break.
Capture of a creature by this means is the first stage in the reproductive cycle of the Berry Vines. The leaves search around until they find the mouth opening, then a seed pod is inserted down the throat and into the stomach. (The GM can allow the character to make a STR check each phase to hold their mouth shut.) Once the seed pod is successfully planted, the creature is released and allowed to run free.
A few days later the seed pot is ready to erupt and begins digging its way out of the creature through the stomach wall. This is an extremely painful process that will often leave the victim unconscious and is usually fatal. The seed, having been carried many kilometers from its parent, proceeds to plant itself in the earth and grow a new Berry Vine.
Berry Vines favor moist, rich soil with plenty of shade. They are most often found deep in the forest.
Val Char Cost Val Char Cost OCV: 4; DCV: 4; ECV: 0;
Modifiers: +0; Phases: 6, 12 |
Iron Thorn Bush
This plant is only found in a few sparse locations where the conditions are conducive to its growth. Where it occurs, however, it grows in great profusion. They are usually to be found in long, damp gullies that are periodically deluged in rainfall.
The Iron Thorn Bush forms deep barriers of curly, interlocking branches, each of which is as tough as oak. At the end of branches grow clusters of seven oar-shaped leaves. What makes this bush all but impassible, however, are the 1cm long shiny black thorns which grow out in all directions. These tough spines are what gives the bush its name.
The Iron Thorn Bush can form barriers standing many meters in height and stretch for hundreds and even thousands of meters. Small, seemingly natural openings can form along the base, roughly one meter in width and a half meter in height. These look just large enough to crawl through, and indeed many animals are enticed to enter in search of a nesting ground. Entering the openings is inevitably fatal, however, as the bush closes down on the intruder with its lethal spines. The plant feeds from the blood of its animal victims, gaining the necessary minerals which it can not obtain from the earth.
Val Char Cost Val Char Cost OCV: 4; DCV: -8; ECV: 0;
Modifiers: +0; Phases: 6, 12 |
Mold, Limpet
This unusual mold is normally found in poorly lit locations of old ruins or mines. Normally this rust-colored mold will grow small, fuzzy colonies of less than a half meter in diameter. When touched, this mold will erupt in a cloud of spores that will stick to any exposed surfaces. However, sometimes great colonies of Limpet Mold will form and these can be dangerous when contacted. The large cloud of spores created can create nausea and sickness lasting for several days. This mold emits no heat, so it can be hazardous to anybody relying on infrared vision.
Val Char Cost Val Char Cost OCV: 0; DCV: -2; ECV: 0;
Modifiers: +0; Phases: 12 |
Ouole
This underground fungus is a mutated form of the Giant Toadstool. It attacks by shooting a spray of sticky spores around its base. These spores grow into the body of any nearby animals until they kill the prey. One or more of the spores then grows into new Ouole by consuming the rotting corpse. A KS: Identify Fauna, SS: Botany, or equivalent skill roll is required to distinguish an Ouole from a normal Giant Toadstool.
Val Char Cost Val Char Cost OCV: 0; DCV: -2; ECV: 0; Modifiers:
+0; Phases: 12. |
Tangler Tree
This carnivorous tree is usually found on the fringes of forest meadows, where it can capture game that wanders off the normal trails. The tree is covered by a dense growth of spine-covered branches that end in a tempting, fruit-like growths. When a creature attempts to grasp one of the fruits from a higher branch, the tree envelops the target and drags it inside the barrier of spines. Once inside, the victim is killed by the spines and slowly absorbed into the body of the tree by the smaller, inner branches.
Val Char Cost Val Char Cost OCV: 4; DCV: 2; ECV: 2; Modifiers: +2;
Phases: 4, 8, 12 |