Monster Monday: Planticore, a Leafy Beast

The goat was a problem, so he let it go.  It must have sensed its fate.  Broussilos would just have to hope that the wine would be enough of an offering.  He adjusted the thick straps that held the amphora on his back and continued his arduous trek up the mountain.  The Spring of Laersippos was hidden near the peak, guarded by a fierce manticore.  Local legend said the beast could be placated with the right gift, but no one was quite sure what that gift was.  A short bronze blade beat against Broussilos' thigh with every step: purely a measure of last resort.  The wine sloshed rhythmically in its container, like waves against the side of a ship at anchor.  If it wouldn't buy him passage to the spring, it might at least be enough to buy his safe retreat from the mountain.  

The brush grew thicker, wild vines choking out all else.  They pulled at his sandals, slashed at his linen greaves, and even caught on the amphora as if they, too, thirsted for wine.  Broussilos pushed through a plait of hanging tree branches and came face to face with the manticore.  It was upside-down, its huge man-like face purple and bloated, spiky beard matted with week-old blood.  Its wings were splayed out on the ground, pinned in place with serrated thorns as long as a man's arm.  Probing creepers grew into every nook and gash in its hide, twining about its bare ribs, hungry for decaying flesh.  

All in all, it was a very dead manticore.  

Broussilos could hear the burbling of the spring muffled by a mat of dense vegetation.  He took two steps toward it.  A great rustling of leaves marked the emergence of another great beast.  It was a cruel mockery of a manticore, its face all of knotted wood, its wings of veiny leaves.  Its leonine torso was woven of twisting brambles, and its swishing tail bristled with javelin-like thorns very much resembling those which peppered the corpse of the real manticore.  It growled, its voice like a thick cedar straining against a gale, and its amber eyes fixed on the intruder.

"I don't suppose you'll be wanting this wine," Broussilos began, unslinging the heavy amphora.  The beast's reply was an angry rattle of branches.  Then the vines all around snaked toward him, rearing up to grab at his limbs.  Bursts of nettles spattered his skin with burning poison.  "Very well then."  Broussilos cracked open the amphora's beeswax seal with the pommel of his sword and dumped the wine into his face, swallowing as much as possible and letting the rest spill over his body.  He tossed the half-empty container to the side, gripped his sword, thews tensing, and threw himself at the leafy monster.

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Today's Monster Monday is the planticore, which - as you might imagine - is a manticore made out of plants.  My wife threw the name out as a joke, and I took it and ran with it.  Planticores bristle with thorns, and they can even swallow people whole and crush them in the wicker cage of brambles that is their belly.  They can bend nearby plants to their will, unleashing plant-based magic against their foes while hovering safely above the action, bombarding the area with a barrage of thorns.

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

Looking like a thorny topiary of a manticore, this creature beats into the sky on leafy wings

Planticore   CR 5

XP 1,600

NE Large plant

Init +2; Senses low-light vision, greensight; Perception +10

DEFENSE

AC 18, touch 11, flat-footed 16 (+2 Dex, +7 natural, -1 size)

hp 52 (7d8+21)

Fort +8, Ref +6, Will +4

DR 10/slashing; Immune plant traits

Defensive Abilities body of thorns (DC 16 Reflex, 1d6 piercing)

Vulnerability fire

OFFENSE

Speed 30 ft., fly 50 ft. (clumsy)

Melee bite +8 (1d8+4 plus grab), 2 claws +8 (2d4+4)

Space 10 ft.; Reach 5 ft.

Ranged 4 spikes +7 (1d6+4) 180ft.

Special Attacks body of thorns (DC 16 Reflex, 1d6 piercing), swallow whole (4d6 piercing damage, AC 13, 5 hp)

Spell-Like Abilities (CL 7^th)

   1/day – burst of nettles, plant growth, spike growth

   3/day – entangle, tripvine, warp wood

   constant – greensight

STATISTICS

Str 18, Dex 15, Con 17, Int 6, Wis 14, Cha 10

Base Atk +5; CMB +10; CMD 22 (26 vs. trip)

Feats Flyby Attack, Hover, Lightning Reflexes, Weapon Focus (spikes)

Skills Fly -5, Perception +10, Stealth +4; Racial Modifiers +4 Perception

Languages Sylvan

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Body of Thorns (Ex)

The body of the planticore bristles with sharp thorns.  Any creature striking the planticore with natural attacks or unarmed strikes must make a DC 15 Reflex save or take 1d6 points of piercing damage.  Any creature attempting a bull rush, grapple, or overrun combat maneuver against the planticore automatically takes 1d6 points of piercing damage.  The planticore automatically deals an additional 1d6 points of piercing damage to any creature it successfully bull rushes, grapples, or overruns.  The save DC is Dexterity-based.

Spikes (Ex)

Much like a manticore, a planticore can fire a barrage of four spikes from its tail as a standard action (make an attack roll for each spike).  This attack has a range of 180 feet with no range increment.  All targets must be within 30 feet of each other.  The creature can only launch 24 spikes in any 24-hour period. 

ECOLOGY

Environment warm hills, forests, and marshes

Organization solitary, pair, or grove (3-6)

Treasure standard

A planticore is a mass of thorny growth in the shape of a manticore: its lionlike torso is an interwoven cage of brambles; its head, with glowing green eyes and a maw of wooden teeth, is surrounded by a mane of vines; its wings are a huge leaf-like membranes spread between gnarled wooden digits; its tail is a cactus-like mass of deadly thorns. 

   Their origins are unknown, but whether they came from a plant creature intentionally mimicking the manticore, or from the experiments of a mad druid, they have now established themselves in the wilds – often in similar ranges to true manticores.  Planticores kill for fun, having no need to eat flesh to survive, although they do often bring the corpses of their prey back to their lairs to fertilize the plant growth there.  In battle, they not only employ their own formidable array of thorns, but also an innate magical connection to, and control over, plant life.  For this reason, they especially like to hunt in overgrown areas where there are more plants they can twist against their prey.  

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-your foliferous d20 despot