Assassin Vine

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Assassin Vine (CR 5)

Assassin Vines are huge vegetable menaces found in the deep forest, hilly or mountainous wilderness, and far too often, in ruins and gardens both above and below the surface. The assassin vine is a carnivorous plant that collects its own grisly fertilizer by smashing animals beneath its massive bulbo-tubers, or corms. These remarkable plants can detect movements in the earth and air and detect changes in light and heat through their broad leaves, giving them exceptional awareness of the area around them. Possessing no intelligence or agenda, they lash out at whatever living things pass nearby, regardless of the target's size, sentience, or potential deadliness.

Assassin Vines seen from the ground in dense forest look like a pair of trees close together, each with a massive woody buttress five feet across. If they are in open ground where they can be seen, it becomes apparent that the two 'tree trunks' are actually a single massive vine, easily a foot thick, which has two massive corms, one at each end. The central vine is fifty feet or so in length, and reaches up about twenty feet and loops over to connect both of the massive wooden bulbo-tubers together, the whole being surrounded by bushy vine/branches.

When an assassin vine detects movement or warmth, it will remain still until a victim is within its reach, and then will attack fearlessly, mindlessly, using Viney Smash.

GENERAL

CR 5 Hit Dice 7

XP 1,600

N, Huge, Plant

Init +3; Senses low-light 120 ft,, Tremorsense 60ft., Perception +8

DEFENSE

AC 21, touch 14, flat-footed 17 (+4 dex, +7 armor)

hp 65

Fort +8, Ref +4, Will +4

Aura: -

SR: -

Special Defenses: -

Immunities:

• all mind-affecting effects (charms, compulsions, morale effects, patterns, and phantasms) (a plant with an Int score loses this trait)
• poison
• sleep
• polymorph, paralysis, stunning

Weaknesses: -

OFFENSE

Speed none, but see Viney Smash

Space / Reach: 5 ft. / 5 ft. times two. NOTE: Instead of a single 3x3 space as most Huge creatures, this creature is represented as two five foot squares (one for each corm) with the massive vine looping above. Despite having two areas, it only has one pool of hit points and it takes AOE damage only once, as it is a single creature.

Single Melee Vine Lash +10 (1d8+6/x2)

Full Melee Viney Smash +10 (1d8+6/x2), plus see below for Viney Smash

Ranged none, but see Viney Smash

Special Attacks Viney Smash

Action Points 0

STATISTICS

Str 24, Dex 10, Con 16, Int —, Wis 13, Cha 9

Base Atk +5; CMB +11; CMD 22

Feats -

Skills -

Languages -

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Viney Smash

As a full attack action, the Assassin Vine pulls up one of its two corms and 'takes a step' with it, attacking all creatures in a 15 ft. x 15 ft. space (3x3 squares) adjacent to where the 'stepping' corm sets down. The 'stepping' corm must set down in an unoccupied space that is within 30 feet of the 'rooted' corm (the one that did not move). Every time it uses Viney Smash the Assassin Vine may choose which corm to move and which one to root. This is the only way an Assassin Vine can move around. When it uses Viney Smash, it rolls a separate to-hit roll for each creature in the affected area. Viney Smash is +10 to hit for 1d8+6/x2 points of damage to all creatures in the area of effect.

Note: Although technically the Assassin Vine has no move score, it is possible for it to provoke attacks of opportunity when it uses Viney Smash. When it lifts a corm to 'take a step' and Smash foes, the corm lifts off nearly vertically, and hammers back onto the field of battle nearly vertically. Creatures that are adjacent to the 'lift off' space or the 'set down' space of the moving corm may take attacks of opportunity, as the moving corm is considered to leave their threatened squares when it passes five feet in height, either ascending or descending. (This is based upon the three dimensional movement rules.)

TREASURE

sell value of approximately 1,375 gp

COMBAT TACTICS

Assassin Vines wait for prey to approach. As a full attack each round, it will wrench up one of its two corms (feet) and slam down a Viney Smash within thirty feet of the rooted corm. They are completely mindless and alien and will continue attacking until all foes are dead or they are destroyed. If it is unable to use Viney Smash for some reason, it will instead choose one corm which has a target within melee reach of it, and will use the animated vine/branches around that corm to make a Vine Lash attack as a standard action.

OUT OF COMBAT

A mature plant consists of a main vine, about 50 feet long and upwards of a foot thick; smaller vines/branches up to 5 feet long branch off from the main vine about every foot, and there are two massive corms, five feet across, at each end of the main vine. When rooted with its corms close together, an assassin vine can pass for a bushy tree and is easily missed.

The small branches/vines bear clusters of leaves, and in late summer they produce bunches of small fruits that resemble wild blackberries. The fruit is tender and has a hearty flavor, although some say the berries change in taste depending on what victims composted a given plant's roots. The most murderous assassin vines supposedly produce the sweetest berries, although it is hoped this is apocryphal.

An assassin vine can move about using Viney Smash, but usually stays put unless it needs to seek prey in a new vicinity. The plants use simple tactics, lying still until prey comes within reach and then attacking. Once an assassin vine is engaged, it pursues prey (albeit slowly) in order to catch and compost the creature. The plants prove tenacious, as long as their quarry remains within sight of their leaf-organs. Once a creature moves beyond the plant's ability to perceive it, the unthinking vine falls still and lies in wait for the next passerby.

Assassin vines lurk within dense forests and swamps, but some might encroach upon poorly tended fields and vineyards. The vine's seeds might be spread far by birds swift enough to pluck them and escape. Tales often tell of assassin vines appearing in flower beds or infiltrating greenhouses, murderous surprises planted by rivals and enemies or arbitrary doom dropped by unsuspecting wing.