Faolyn
(she/her)
Sorry; was feeling sick yesterday and totally forgot to post. I might switch to a Tues/Thurs schedule for a while since my health is being weird in this heat.
New issue, more Greyhawk monsters. This particular article I referenced before, when I did the skittermaw/skittermaw, and is about new monsters from the Barrier Peaks. I’ve never actually played Barrier Peaks, and while for the longest time I wanted a strict separation of my fantasy and sci-fi, I think I’d be more appreciative of the combination now. At the very least, I would love to have seen what D&D could have become if it went more science fantasy instead of sticking to faux-medieval fantasy.
I will, however, say that the Grand Duchy of Geoff just sounds silly.
(I am aware that there are real places with “goofier” names—heck, I spent my early childhood in Flushing, New York, and the toilet humor that came with it. I still feel like Nadja from What We Do In The Shadows when I say “Duchy of Geoff.”)
Anyway, none of the creatures from this article are actually from that adventure, as far as I can tell, so no LU-compatible wolves-in-sheep’s-clothing for you. Sorry ‘bout that.
The first of these creatures incredibly, wonderfully creepy and manages to feel almost realistic, in an “evolved on an alien planet” kind of way. Something out of Scavengers Reign, perhaps. This is the bonetree, a mangrove-like tree that drains the health out of its victims, then oozes a substance that hardens into actual bone that increases its AC for a time and that grows out of its vines in the form of razor-sharp, bony spikes. Look at that artwork—the bonetree is covered in these lumpy things that evoke both skulls and tumorous growths at the same time. I love it. And what’s cool is that it never stops growing, either. A mature bonetree is about 25 feet high, but they can live to be hundreds of years old and end up at being 100 feet tall.
In an interesting twist, the creatures described in this article all have radiation-based abilities and assumes that they’re only found in places with high levels of radiation in them. The article assures it it’s OK if you want them to just be magical instead. I get the impression that that’s supposed to be the boring approach, though.
So yeah, I’m taking that radiation into account.
Unfortunately, this tree is sessile and its attacks have a long, but still limited, reach. That means it’s pretty much destined to sit there while your archers and casters pepper it to death from afar, unless you’re lucky(?) enough to have players who are willing to flee. Have this thing attack from surprise. And that radiation? I’ve decided that creatures that die because of its vine attack and left near the tree for 24 hours rise as zombies. Atomic zombies, that is.
Also, remember a few entries ago I mentioned that the magazine’s avolakia was CR 10 but mine was CR 5? Well, my bonetree, adjusted for damage and all, is CR 13 and the magazine’s is CR 5. Weird.
Bonetree
Invaders of the Barrier Peaks, Dragon Magazine #280
Creature by James Jacobs; art by Ron Spencer
A particularly horrible carnivorous plant, the swamp-dwelling bonetree consumes the minerals that are found in bones. It resembles a particularly ugly mangrove tree, covered in bolls and knots, with dozens of thin, leafless branches growing from its peak and hanging down, like a naked weeping willow. They grow slowly but continuously, and an adult bonetree can be anywhere from 25 to 100 feet in height. It uses these branches to feed from living creatures that come near, drawing their desired nutrients straight out of their victim’s bones.
Some swamp-dwelling monsters, such as lizardfolk and greenhags, have managed to “tame” bonetrees, providing food for it in exchange for the tree not attacking it and for the bodies it leaves behind.
Magic-Eaters. In addition to feeding from living creatures, bonetrees consume background magic. While this “diet” is not uncommon among magical creatures, in bonetrees, this magic takes the form of a brilliant white-green light that sits within its trunk. Combined with the bonetree’s carnivorous nature and the deathly energies of their swampy homes, the magic becomes twisted and poisonous.
Armor of Bone. The bonetree’s sap is milky-white in color and is composed of much of the calcium leeched from the bones it devours, and shortly after it feeds, it begins to ooze the sap. The sap hardens almost immediately into a heavy, bony plate. The bone begins to slough off quickly, but until then, the tree is as protected as if it were wearing armor.
The Boneless. Bonetrees consume their target’s bones and marrow only, leaving behind a lump of flesh, muscle, and fat. When combined with the tree’s necromantic aura, these lumps often arise as undead.
Climate/Terrain: subtropical; swamp
Legends and Lore
With an Arcana or Nature check, the characters can learn the following:
DC 10. Bonetrees are carnivorous plants that consume bones, leaving behind the skin, muscle, and other soft bits of a body. They are said to come from another plane of existence.
DC 15. When it consumes a creature’s bones, the bonetree grows thick, bony plates all over its body.
DC 20. The bodies of those it feeds upon often animate into zombies that are curiously immune to being turned.
Monster Encounters
Challenge Rating 11-16 bonetree; bonetree with 8 boneless zombies; bonetree with boneless zombie knight; bonetree with green hag.
Treasure: 1,100 gp, 7 tourmalines (100 gp each), +1 crossbow bolts
Challenge Rating 17-22 bonetree with 1-2 boneless zombie hordes; bonetree with coven green hag; bonetree with young black dragon
Treasure: 6,000 gp, masterwork shield with the emblem of a particular order of knights, potions of superior healing and water breathing
Challenge Rating 23-30 elder bonetree with boneless zombie horde and boneless zombie knight; bonetree with 3 coven green hags
Treasure: 1,200 pp, 3,000 gp, ruby ring (7,500 gp), ghost metal axe
Signs
1. An unusual number of animated skeletons in the area
2. Everything is too quite
3. Strange scorch marks on nearby trees; with a DC 15 Arcana check, these marks were made by intense light, not fire
4. Flabby, boneless corpses, floating in the water. There is a 50% chance that it’s actually a boneless zombie.
Behavior
1-2. Motionless and sated; won’t attack unless approached
3-4. Hungry; attacks on sight
Bonetree
Huge plant (aberration); Challenge 13 (10,000 XP)
AC 15 (natural armor)
HP 148 (11d12+77; bloodied 74)
Speed 0 ft.
STR 21 (+5) DEX 9 (-1) CON 22 (+7)
INT 1 (-5) WIS 10 (+0) CHA 1 (-5)
Proficiency +5; Maneuver DC 18
Saving Throws Str +10, Con +12
Damage Resistances fire, radiant; bludgeoning, piercing
Damage Immunities
Condition Immunities blinded, charmed, deafened, fatigue, paralyzed, petrified, stunned
Senses blindsight 120 ft. (blind beyond this radius), passive Perception 10
Languages —
False Appearance. While it remains motionless and at its base AC, the bonetree is indistinguishable from a normal tree.
Actions
Multiattack. The bonetree makes six stinging vines attacks
Vine. Melee Weapon Attack: +10 to hit, reach 30 ft., one target. Hit: 15 (4d4+5) piercing damage, the vine attaches to the target, and the target must make a DC 16 Constitution saving throw vs. poison or be paralyzed for 1 minute. The creature may make a new saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on a success. At the beginning of each of its turns, the paralyzed creature takes 5 (1d10) necrotic damage, and its hit point maximum is reduced by that amount. The reduction lasts until the target finished a short or long rest. If the target’s hit point maximum is reduced to 0, it dies. A creature can use its action to make a DC 18 Athletics check to detach the vine from a target.
If a creature dies from this attack and its corpse is left within 30 feet of the tree for 24 hours, it rises as a boneless zombie.
Bonus Actions
Exude Bonesap. If the bonetree has inflicted necrotic damage to at least one creature on its turn, its AC increases by 1. This bonus to its AC is cumulative and lasts for 1 hour.
Reactions
Burning Flash. If the bonetree takes weapon damage, it releases a burst of blinding energy. Each creature within 30 feet of it must make a DC 15 Constitution saving throw or take 5 (1d10) radiant damage be blinded until the end of its next turn. If the creature critically fails, it also takes a level of fatigue.
Combat
Bonetrees begin attacking as soon as multiple creatures are within range of their vines. They can’t flee and will fight to the death.
Variant: Elder Bonetree
Bonetrees never stop growing, and after centuries, one can grow to a hundred feet in height. These trees dominate their swamps, which are often haunted with hundreds of skeletons.
The elder bonetree is an elite monster, equivalent to two CR 13 monsters (20,000 XP). It is Gargantuan and has 297 (22d12+154; bloodied 148) hit points, and the range of its blindsight, vine attacks, and burning flash are doubled. It has the following additional trait:
Elite Recovery. At the end of each of its turns while bloodied, the elder bonetree can end one negative effect currently affecting it. It can do so as long as it has at least 1 hit point, even while unconscious or incapacitated.
The elder bonetree has the following action, which it can use in place of a vine attack while bloodied:
Bolster Spawn. The bonetree targets an undead within 120 feet of it and attaches a vine to it. The undead immediately gains 30 temporary hit points and starts to glow, shedding bright light to 5 feet and dim light for a further 5 feet. It also gains resistance to radiant damage. A creature that ends its turn within 5 feet of the undead, touches it, or hits it with a melee attack while within 5 feet of it takes 5 (1d10) radiant damage.
Boneless Zombie
With most of the minerals pulled out of them, these zombies are floppy, rubbery things. If a corpse's bones are removed, a boneless zombie can be created with the animate dead spell (the removed bones can also be animated as a skeleton).
A boneless zombie has resistance damage from bludgeoning weapons, and also has the following traits:
Boneless. The boneless zombie can move through an opening big enough for a creature one size smaller than it without squeezing.
Rubbery Grapple. Creatures have disadvantage on saving throws made to avoid or escape a boneless zombie’s grapple. A creature that is grappled by a boneless zombie takes 1d4 ongoing bludgeoning damage.
A boneless zombie created by the bonetree has resistance to radiant damage and also has the following new actions:
Poisonous Light. The boneless zombie sheds dim light to 5 feet. A creature that ends its turn within 5 feet of the undead, touches it, or hits it with a melee attack while within 5 feet of it takes 5 (1d10) radiant damage and must make a DC 13 Constitution saving throw or be poisoned until the end of its next turn. If the zombie scores a critical hit on a creature with an unarmed attack, that creature takes 1 level of fatigue.
Turn Immunity. The boneless zombie automatically succeeds on attempts to turn it.
New issue, more Greyhawk monsters. This particular article I referenced before, when I did the skittermaw/skittermaw, and is about new monsters from the Barrier Peaks. I’ve never actually played Barrier Peaks, and while for the longest time I wanted a strict separation of my fantasy and sci-fi, I think I’d be more appreciative of the combination now. At the very least, I would love to have seen what D&D could have become if it went more science fantasy instead of sticking to faux-medieval fantasy.
I will, however, say that the Grand Duchy of Geoff just sounds silly.
(I am aware that there are real places with “goofier” names—heck, I spent my early childhood in Flushing, New York, and the toilet humor that came with it. I still feel like Nadja from What We Do In The Shadows when I say “Duchy of Geoff.”)
Anyway, none of the creatures from this article are actually from that adventure, as far as I can tell, so no LU-compatible wolves-in-sheep’s-clothing for you. Sorry ‘bout that.
The first of these creatures incredibly, wonderfully creepy and manages to feel almost realistic, in an “evolved on an alien planet” kind of way. Something out of Scavengers Reign, perhaps. This is the bonetree, a mangrove-like tree that drains the health out of its victims, then oozes a substance that hardens into actual bone that increases its AC for a time and that grows out of its vines in the form of razor-sharp, bony spikes. Look at that artwork—the bonetree is covered in these lumpy things that evoke both skulls and tumorous growths at the same time. I love it. And what’s cool is that it never stops growing, either. A mature bonetree is about 25 feet high, but they can live to be hundreds of years old and end up at being 100 feet tall.
In an interesting twist, the creatures described in this article all have radiation-based abilities and assumes that they’re only found in places with high levels of radiation in them. The article assures it it’s OK if you want them to just be magical instead. I get the impression that that’s supposed to be the boring approach, though.
So yeah, I’m taking that radiation into account.
Unfortunately, this tree is sessile and its attacks have a long, but still limited, reach. That means it’s pretty much destined to sit there while your archers and casters pepper it to death from afar, unless you’re lucky(?) enough to have players who are willing to flee. Have this thing attack from surprise. And that radiation? I’ve decided that creatures that die because of its vine attack and left near the tree for 24 hours rise as zombies. Atomic zombies, that is.
Also, remember a few entries ago I mentioned that the magazine’s avolakia was CR 10 but mine was CR 5? Well, my bonetree, adjusted for damage and all, is CR 13 and the magazine’s is CR 5. Weird.
Bonetree
Invaders of the Barrier Peaks, Dragon Magazine #280
Creature by James Jacobs; art by Ron Spencer
A particularly horrible carnivorous plant, the swamp-dwelling bonetree consumes the minerals that are found in bones. It resembles a particularly ugly mangrove tree, covered in bolls and knots, with dozens of thin, leafless branches growing from its peak and hanging down, like a naked weeping willow. They grow slowly but continuously, and an adult bonetree can be anywhere from 25 to 100 feet in height. It uses these branches to feed from living creatures that come near, drawing their desired nutrients straight out of their victim’s bones.
Some swamp-dwelling monsters, such as lizardfolk and greenhags, have managed to “tame” bonetrees, providing food for it in exchange for the tree not attacking it and for the bodies it leaves behind.
Magic-Eaters. In addition to feeding from living creatures, bonetrees consume background magic. While this “diet” is not uncommon among magical creatures, in bonetrees, this magic takes the form of a brilliant white-green light that sits within its trunk. Combined with the bonetree’s carnivorous nature and the deathly energies of their swampy homes, the magic becomes twisted and poisonous.
Armor of Bone. The bonetree’s sap is milky-white in color and is composed of much of the calcium leeched from the bones it devours, and shortly after it feeds, it begins to ooze the sap. The sap hardens almost immediately into a heavy, bony plate. The bone begins to slough off quickly, but until then, the tree is as protected as if it were wearing armor.
The Boneless. Bonetrees consume their target’s bones and marrow only, leaving behind a lump of flesh, muscle, and fat. When combined with the tree’s necromantic aura, these lumps often arise as undead.
Climate/Terrain: subtropical; swamp
Legends and Lore
With an Arcana or Nature check, the characters can learn the following:
DC 10. Bonetrees are carnivorous plants that consume bones, leaving behind the skin, muscle, and other soft bits of a body. They are said to come from another plane of existence.
DC 15. When it consumes a creature’s bones, the bonetree grows thick, bony plates all over its body.
DC 20. The bodies of those it feeds upon often animate into zombies that are curiously immune to being turned.
Monster Encounters
Challenge Rating 11-16 bonetree; bonetree with 8 boneless zombies; bonetree with boneless zombie knight; bonetree with green hag.
Treasure: 1,100 gp, 7 tourmalines (100 gp each), +1 crossbow bolts
Challenge Rating 17-22 bonetree with 1-2 boneless zombie hordes; bonetree with coven green hag; bonetree with young black dragon
Treasure: 6,000 gp, masterwork shield with the emblem of a particular order of knights, potions of superior healing and water breathing
Challenge Rating 23-30 elder bonetree with boneless zombie horde and boneless zombie knight; bonetree with 3 coven green hags
Treasure: 1,200 pp, 3,000 gp, ruby ring (7,500 gp), ghost metal axe
Signs
1. An unusual number of animated skeletons in the area
2. Everything is too quite
3. Strange scorch marks on nearby trees; with a DC 15 Arcana check, these marks were made by intense light, not fire
4. Flabby, boneless corpses, floating in the water. There is a 50% chance that it’s actually a boneless zombie.
Behavior
1-2. Motionless and sated; won’t attack unless approached
3-4. Hungry; attacks on sight
Bonetree
Huge plant (aberration); Challenge 13 (10,000 XP)
AC 15 (natural armor)
HP 148 (11d12+77; bloodied 74)
Speed 0 ft.
STR 21 (+5) DEX 9 (-1) CON 22 (+7)
INT 1 (-5) WIS 10 (+0) CHA 1 (-5)
Proficiency +5; Maneuver DC 18
Saving Throws Str +10, Con +12
Damage Resistances fire, radiant; bludgeoning, piercing
Damage Immunities
Condition Immunities blinded, charmed, deafened, fatigue, paralyzed, petrified, stunned
Senses blindsight 120 ft. (blind beyond this radius), passive Perception 10
Languages —
False Appearance. While it remains motionless and at its base AC, the bonetree is indistinguishable from a normal tree.
Actions
Multiattack. The bonetree makes six stinging vines attacks
Vine. Melee Weapon Attack: +10 to hit, reach 30 ft., one target. Hit: 15 (4d4+5) piercing damage, the vine attaches to the target, and the target must make a DC 16 Constitution saving throw vs. poison or be paralyzed for 1 minute. The creature may make a new saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on a success. At the beginning of each of its turns, the paralyzed creature takes 5 (1d10) necrotic damage, and its hit point maximum is reduced by that amount. The reduction lasts until the target finished a short or long rest. If the target’s hit point maximum is reduced to 0, it dies. A creature can use its action to make a DC 18 Athletics check to detach the vine from a target.
If a creature dies from this attack and its corpse is left within 30 feet of the tree for 24 hours, it rises as a boneless zombie.
Bonus Actions
Exude Bonesap. If the bonetree has inflicted necrotic damage to at least one creature on its turn, its AC increases by 1. This bonus to its AC is cumulative and lasts for 1 hour.
Reactions
Burning Flash. If the bonetree takes weapon damage, it releases a burst of blinding energy. Each creature within 30 feet of it must make a DC 15 Constitution saving throw or take 5 (1d10) radiant damage be blinded until the end of its next turn. If the creature critically fails, it also takes a level of fatigue.
Combat
Bonetrees begin attacking as soon as multiple creatures are within range of their vines. They can’t flee and will fight to the death.
Variant: Elder Bonetree
Bonetrees never stop growing, and after centuries, one can grow to a hundred feet in height. These trees dominate their swamps, which are often haunted with hundreds of skeletons.
The elder bonetree is an elite monster, equivalent to two CR 13 monsters (20,000 XP). It is Gargantuan and has 297 (22d12+154; bloodied 148) hit points, and the range of its blindsight, vine attacks, and burning flash are doubled. It has the following additional trait:
Elite Recovery. At the end of each of its turns while bloodied, the elder bonetree can end one negative effect currently affecting it. It can do so as long as it has at least 1 hit point, even while unconscious or incapacitated.
The elder bonetree has the following action, which it can use in place of a vine attack while bloodied:
Bolster Spawn. The bonetree targets an undead within 120 feet of it and attaches a vine to it. The undead immediately gains 30 temporary hit points and starts to glow, shedding bright light to 5 feet and dim light for a further 5 feet. It also gains resistance to radiant damage. A creature that ends its turn within 5 feet of the undead, touches it, or hits it with a melee attack while within 5 feet of it takes 5 (1d10) radiant damage.
Boneless Zombie
With most of the minerals pulled out of them, these zombies are floppy, rubbery things. If a corpse's bones are removed, a boneless zombie can be created with the animate dead spell (the removed bones can also be animated as a skeleton).
A boneless zombie has resistance damage from bludgeoning weapons, and also has the following traits:
Boneless. The boneless zombie can move through an opening big enough for a creature one size smaller than it without squeezing.
Rubbery Grapple. Creatures have disadvantage on saving throws made to avoid or escape a boneless zombie’s grapple. A creature that is grappled by a boneless zombie takes 1d4 ongoing bludgeoning damage.
A boneless zombie created by the bonetree has resistance to radiant damage and also has the following new actions:
Poisonous Light. The boneless zombie sheds dim light to 5 feet. A creature that ends its turn within 5 feet of the undead, touches it, or hits it with a melee attack while within 5 feet of it takes 5 (1d10) radiant damage and must make a DC 13 Constitution saving throw or be poisoned until the end of its next turn. If the zombie scores a critical hit on a creature with an unarmed attack, that creature takes 1 level of fatigue.
Turn Immunity. The boneless zombie automatically succeeds on attempts to turn it.
