Iron Gods, The Ninth World, Homebrew
Cerebric Tsaalgrend (Jacksam) CR: 3 (700 XP)
Medium plant (aberration) , neutral
Armor Class: 13 (weak psionic shielding)
Hit Points: 90 (10d8 + 10)
Speed:
10 ft
, fly: 0 ft
, burrow: 0 ft
, swim: 0 ft
, climb: 0 ft
, can hover
Skills: Perception +4, Stealth +6
Damage Immunities: Lightning
Condition Immunities: Blinded, Prone
Senses: Blindsight 60 ft. (blind beyond this radius), Passive Perception 14
Languages: Gothic; Telepathy, can speak to any creature with a language
Challenge Rating: 3 (700 XP)
Red Water. Any creature grappled by the cerebric tsaalgrend takes 2d4+2 necrotic damage at the start of its turn. This otherwise acts as the Feed Me! reaction.
Actions
Multiattack. The cereberic tsaalgrend makes two attacks with its tentacles.
Tentacles. Melee Weapon Attack: 1d20+4 to hit, reach 10 ft., one creature. Hit: 7 ( 1d10+2 ) psychic damage, and the target must succeed on a DC 11 Constitution saving throw or be poisoned for 1 minute. The poisoned target is paralyzed, and it can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on a success. The target is also grappled (escape DC 15). If the target is Medium or smaller, it is also restrained until this grapple ends. While grappling the target, the cereberic fungus has advantage on attack rolls against it and can’t use this attack against other targets. When the cereberic fungus moves, any Medium or smaller target it is grappling moves with it.
Blood Drain. Melee Weapon Attack: 1d20+4 to hit, reach 10 ft., one willing creature, or a creature that is grappled by the cereberic tsaalgrend, incapacitated, or restrained. Hit: 6 ( 1d6+2 ) piercing damage plus 7 ( 2d6 ) necrotic damage. The target's hit point maximum is reduced by an amount equal to the necrotic damage taken, and the cereberic fungus regains hit points equal to that amount. The reduction lasts until the target finishes a long rest. The target dies if this effect reduces its hit point maximum to 0. For every 8 hit points so drained the cereberic fungus gains 1 HD permanently and grows one size category each time it doubles its HD. Once it becomes Huge size it finds a dark place to hibernate turning into a color-out-of-space over the next six months.
Spore Cloud (Recharge 5-6). A 10-foot radius of spores extends from the cereberic tsaalgrend. Each creature within the spore cloud must succeed on a DC 11 Intelligence saving throw or be poisoned. While poisoned, the creatures are stunned. All affected creatures can repeat their saves at the end of their turns.
Star Shriek (1/Day). A cerebric tsaalgrend can unleash a shrill scream of madness. All creatures (except other cerebric tsaalgrend) within 30 feet must make a DC 15 Wisdom save or be nauseated for 1 minute. The target may repeat the saving throw at the end of its turn.
Nauseated. Creatures with the nauseated condition experience stomach distress. Nauseated creatures are unable to attack, cast spells, concentrate on spells, or do anything else requiring attention. The only action such a character can take is to move up to its speed per turn.
Reactions
Feed Me! As a reaction, the cerebric fungus may feed on a target that is paralysed or otherwise incapacitated. It automatically does 2d4+2 necrotic damage to the paralysed target and heals for that much. This feeding can also provide the fungus with temporary hit points. It grows proportionally when this happens.
Strange, translucent gas bladders carry this tangle of thorny, purple vines and clumps of mold through the air. This particular one was discovered as a newborn by a party of adventurers and called "Jacksam".
A tsaalgrend is a predatory creature resembling a tangle of sturdy vines with jagged purple thorns. Its coloration is mottled with brown, green, and yellow mold patches that flake and fall as the creature writhes through the air.
The tsaalgrend’s vines barely conceal two translucent, gas-filled sacks that act as balloons, enabling it to float along above the ground. Two longer vines stretch from the creature’s center, allowing the tsaalgrend to snare its prey. An opening filled with rows of spiky thorns, positioned on the creature’s underside, serves as the creature’s mouth. This orifice constantly emits a wet, rancid stench and a wheezing sigh as warm gas escapes from its floatation chambers.
Tsaalgrends are complex, ambulatory fungi, but also symbiotically support a multitude of other molds, fungi, mosses, and epiphytes. The most powerful mold growing within tsaalgrends produces potent, hallucinogenic black spores. Tsaalgrends mainly use these fine spores for hunting, and they are capable of ejecting spores in a wide area to stun prey. Any creature that breathes in the spores is immediately subject to an overwhelming terror response as its mind floods with primal, animalistic fears. The victim’s breathing becomes quick and shallow, its heart rate rises dramatically, and nearby sounds become dull over the rush of blood in its ears. The creature’s mind begs to flee, but its muscles simply seize tight. Most victims find this experience maddening enough that their frustration and panic heighten the actual chemical effects of the tsaalgrends’ spores.
Daring alchemists occasionally hunt and trap tsaalgrends with the intention of harvesting the black spores from living specimens and using them to fabricate new and potent inhaled poisons. Securing a living tsaalgrend is important to the process, for the spores lose potency soon after they are released, making storage for later use impractical. Such alchemists often run afoul of fungus-focused druids, who commune with and protect these unusual plants.
Tsaalgrends display a limited intelligence—easily on par with apes— and can overcome simple puzzles and challenges.
They communicate basic concepts with each other through the deliberate transfer of spores. These bouts of communication involve bursts of various colors and scents, granting tsaalgrends with large and more varied symbiotic colonies something akin to leadership roles. Most often, tsaalgrends “speak” to each other to coordinate hunting efforts. The plants also respond to some spoken language, though they lack a well-developed sense of hearing and show difficulty differentiating any but the simplest words and phrases.
Several distinct patches of stubby 1- or 2-inch growths track light and movement, essentially serving as eyes.
A tsaalgrend typically grows to be over 3 feet long, and weighs about 40 pounds.
Suggested Environments
alien, technological ruins, any underground
