General Rules: Monsters - Fungal Mound, Common

Fungal Mound, Common (from Blackdirge's Dungeon Denizens)
Medium Plant

Hit Dice: 1d8+1 (5 hit points)
Initiative: +1
Speed: 20 feet, climb 10 feet
Armor Class: 13 (+1 Dexterity, +2 natural); touch 11, flat-footed 12
BAB/Grapple: +0/-2
Attack: Tentacle +1 melee (1d6+2 plus poison, bludgeoning, 20 x2)

Full Attack: Tentacle +1 melee (1d6+2 plus poison, bludgeoning, 20 x2)

Space/Reach: 5 feet by 5 feet/5 feet
Special Attacks: Constrict 1d6+2 plus poiton, improved grab, poison
Special Qualities: Low-light vision, plant traits
Saves: Fortitude +3, Reflex +1, Will +0
Abilities: Str 7, Int -, Wis 10, Dex 13, Con 12, Cha 2

Skills: Climb +6, Hide +1 (+5 in swamps or heavy undergrowth)

Feats: Weapon Finesse
Environment: Any forest, swamp, or underground
Organization: Solitary
Challenge Rating: 1
Treasure: Standard
Alignment: Always neutral
Advancement: 2 - 3 HD (Medium)

This creature is a squirming, sentient mass of fetid plant matter, composed of mushrooms, molds, and other fungi. It constantly exudes a foul-smelling and sticky slime. Tentacles dripping this foul mucous lash about like twitching roots.

Fungal mounds roll and slither through fetid swamps. gloomy forests, or dark caverns in search of sustenance, leaving a track of slime in their wake. They can consume any creature they manage to kill, and have no obvious preferences. Feeding is simply a matter of slithering over the carcass and then slowly over a period of weeks, digesting the creature's bodily fluids. The mucous excreted by the fungal mount slowly breaks down organic matter into fluids that can similarly be consumed. When the creature is finished feeding upon its prey, nothing is left but a skeleton coated with glistening slime.

A typical fungal mound is 5 feet long and weighs 100 pounds.

Combat
A fungal mound usually clings to ceilings or trees, or hides in clefts within rock faces. It lashes out with its tentacles, and if it hits it attempts to grab hold of that foe and reel it in. A victim that is killed will be slowly melded into the creature's mass and then slowly digested.

Constrict (Ex): A fungal mound inflicts automatic tentacle damage with a successful grapple check. In addition, a constricted creature must make a Fortitude save to resist the fungal mound's poison each round the grapple is maintained.

Improved Grab (Ex): To use this ability, a fungal mound must his with its tentacle attack. It can then attempt to start a grapple as a free action without provoking an attack of opportunity. If it wins the grapple check, it establishes a hold and can constrict.

Poison (Ex): The poison of a fungal mound causes a victim's breathing to become thick and phlegmy as fungal parasites rapidly work their way through the bloodstreamto infect the lungs. A failed DC 11 Fortitude save has no immediate effect on the first round, but the creature must continue to make Fortitude saving throws eon each subsequent round for 3 rounds. If the creature makes all the subsequent saving throws, they suffer no ill effects beyond a minor cough for the next few days. If any of the subsequent saving throws are failed, the creature begins to suffocate. (See the Dungeon Master's Guide, Chapter 8, The Environment). The poison can be neutralized with a successful DC 15 Heal check or the application of a neutralize poison or remove disease spell. The save DC is Constitution-based.

Plant: Immune to poison, sleep, paralysis, polymorphing, and stunning. Not subject to critical hits. Not subject to mind-influencing effects (charms, compulsions, phantasms, patterns, and morale effects).

Skills: A fungal mound receives a +4 racial bonus on Hide checks in swamps or areas with heavy undergrowth. A fungal mound has a +8 racial bonus on Climb checks and can always choose to take 10 on a Climb check, even if rushed or threatened.

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