“It’s the only dry patch of ground we’ve seen in hours that we can all stand on, let alone stretch out on and get the horses out of the muck.”
Allianora slid from her saddle, and stretched. “I’ll ward the area from the restless dead.”
Feris collected the few semi-dry bits of wood and dead grass in the area for a fire.
“This is a bad idea…” Nimble said with a sigh.
As the sun set Feris’ small fire crackled, boiling up a stew. Allianora snored softly, propped against her saddle, while Nimble twitched at every bird call, frog croak, and splash in the water. “I think we’re being watched.” He pointed off into the distance. “See that clump of grass? It wasn’t there before.”
“You’re imagining things Feris. We haven’t seen anything bigger than a rabbit all day.” Rathgar yawned. “Or yesterday, for that matter.”
Behind them, the ground beneath the grave-markers heaved upwards.
Marsh-Thing
Armor Class: 1
Hit Dice: 8+2* (L)
Move: 90’ (30’)
Attacks: 1 slam
Damage: 2d8 + Special
No. Appearing: 0 (1)
Save As: F8
Morale: 11
Treasure Type: E
Intelligence: 7
Alignment: Neutral
XP Value: 1,400
Monster Type: Plant (Enchanted)
The Marsh-Thing is a large humanoid-ish mound of ambulatory plant matter. It is very territorial, and will attempt to drive off any being which damages their territory (cutting down trees, lighting fires, etc.). The will surprise their opponents on a roll of 1-5 on a d6 within their own marsh. Any natural attack roll of 19 or 20 that succeeds in hitting will allow the Marsh-Thing to grapple their target and automatically cause 2d6+6 every round.
Due to their soggy plant nature, they are immune to electrical damage, and take half damage from fire (save to ignore).
The 30 Day Challenge today is my favorite plant/elemental. My favorite doesn’t actually appear in the Rules Cyclopedia, so thats why you can see my version of the shambling mound above. The setting of the little scene is actually based on an adventure by Dyson Logos, but it shows the ways that you can mess with players’ expectations.
Another plant that I’m a big fan of are the twig blights from the first 3.0 adventure The Sunless Citadel. They’re like evil little plant goblins.
As for elementals… Well, they’re kinda boring as they’re traditionally shown. This is another thing that I think 4e got right. Rather than have lumps of earth and mini-tornadoes, and living waves, they made elemental creatures blends of the elements, and gave them much more interesting descriptions.
What book's are the text parts at the top from. I have all way's wanted to know?
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