Monster Monday: Manchineel Treant, A Cruel and Poisonous Plant

Today's Monster Monday is the manchineel treant, a poisonous plant creature that delights in causing pain.  The manchineel is the deadliest tree known to man, with poisonous sap that can cause blisters and excruciating pain on contact and poisonous fruits that can cause your throat to swell up and close over.  If you take shelter from the rain under a manchineel tree, the raindrops will pick up sap from the leaves and burn you.  If you burn it, the smoke will blind you.

A manchineel tree, via Wikimedia

That's a tree that's just begging to be turned into a monster.  Even fire, an adventuring party's first recourse against plant monsters, just makes it more dangerous.

The following text in gold is available as Open Game Content under the OGL. Open Game Content is ©2016 Jonah Bomgaars.

Treant, Manchineel        CR 7

XP 3,200

NE Huge plant

Init -1; Senses low-light vision; Perception +16

DEFENSE

AC 20, touch 7, flat-footed 20 (-1 Dex, +13 natural, -2 size)

hp 95 (10d8+50)

Fort +12, Ref +2, Will +8

DR 10/slashing

Defensive Abilities blinding smoke, plant traits, poison (manchineel sap)

Weaknesses vulnerability to fire

OFFENSE

Speed 30 ft.

Melee 2 slams +13 (2d6+8 plus poison)

Space 15 ft.; Reach 15 ft.

Ranged rock +4 (2d6+12) 180ft.

Special Attacks poison (manchineel sap), rock throwing (180 ft.), trample (2d6+12, DC 23)

STATISTICS

Str 27, Dex 9, Con 20, Int 12, Wis 16, Cha 14

Base Atk +7; CMB +17; CMD 26

Feats Alertness, Improved Critical (slam), Improved Sunder, Iron Will, Power Attack

Skills Intimidate +9, Knowledge (nature) +8, Perception +16, Sense Motive +5, Stealth +2 (+18 in forests); Racial Modifiers +16 Stealth in forests

Languages Common, Sylvan, Treant

SQ animate manchineel trees, double damage against objects, treespeech

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Animate Manchineel Trees (Sp)

A manchineel treant can animate any manchineel trees within 180 feet at will, controlling up to two trees at a time.  It takes 1 full round for a tree to uproot itself, after which it moves at a speed of 10 feet and fights as a manchineel treat (although it only has one slam attack an lacks the animation and rock-throwing abilities), gaining the manchineel treat’s vulnerability to fire and all other defensive abilities.  If the treant that animated it terminates the animation, moves out of range, or is incapacitated, the tree immediately takes root wherever it is and returns to a normal state. 

Double Damage Against Objects (Ex)

A treant or animated tree that makes a full attack against an object or structure deals double damage. 

Treespeech (Ex)

A treant has the ability to converse with plants as if subject to a continual speak with plants spell, and most plants greet them with an attitude of friendly or helpful. 

Poison (Ex)

The milky sap of the manchineel causes blisters and intense pain, with prolonged exposure leading to death.  Touching the bark or leaves, cutting into the trunk, eating the fruit, or even standing under the leaves during rain is enough to expose a creature to manchineel sap. 

   Any creature that successfully strikes the manchineel treant with a natural attack or unarmed strike, or that is struck by the manchineel treant’s slam attack, is subject to manchineel sap poison. 

Manchineel sap – contact, injestion, or injury; save Fort DC 17; frequency 1/round; effect 1d2 Con damage and nauseated until cured; cure 1 save

Blinding Smoke (Ex)

If the manchineel treant takes 10 or more points of fire damage in a single round, or any amount of ongoing fire damage, toxic smoke billows out from the treant in a 30 ft. radius.  All within the smoke must make a DC 17 Fortitude save or be blinded for 2d4 rounds.  The save DC is Charisma-based

ECOLOGY

Environment warm forest, warm swamp, warm coast

Organization solitary or grove (2-7)

Treasure standard

Manchineel treants are known for taking delight in cruelty and torture.  Although they are less physically powerful than a typical treant, nearly every part of them can cause intense pain in their victims.  Even when they are burnt, acrid smoke billows from their wounds and blinds all who encounter it.  Manchineel treants live in coastal tropical forests where natural manchineel trees can also be found.  Although normally hostile to humanoids and animals alike, some manchineel treants are known to befriend tribes whose cruelty and malice are a match for the treat’s.  These tribes tie prisoners to the manchineel’s trunk, causing a slow and painful death, and in return the treant allows them to use its sap to poison their arrows. 

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This monster was first posted on my Patreon back in March.

-your blistering d20 despot