Begedhi, Parasite

Thorny vines wriggle from this green, egg-shaped plant. Tumescent boils cover its surface and occasionally burst creating a nauseating scent.

Begedhi, Parasite CR 2

XP 600
NE Small plant
Init +7; Senses low-light vision; Perception +8

DEFENSE

AC 16, touch 14, flat-footed 13 (+3 Dex, +2 natural, +1 size)
hp 19 (3d8+6)
Fort +5, Ref +4, Will +1; Immune acid, plant traits

OFFENSE

Speed 10 ft.
Melee 2 vines +2 (1d6 plus grab)
Special Attacks control host, create seedlings, infest

STATISTICS

Str 10, Dex 16, Con 15, Int 7, Wis 10, Cha 15
Base Atk +2; CMB +1 (+5 grapple); CMD 14 (can’t be tripped)
Feats Improved Initiative, Skill Focus (Perception)
Skills Bluff +11, Perception +8; Racial Modifiers +8 Bluff

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Control Host (Ex)

A begedhi parasite which has fully taken over a host gains access to the host’s abilities and memories.

Its recollection is not perfect, however, so it must succeed at Bluff checks to fool those familiar with the host. Anyone intimately familiar with the host gain a +4 circumstance bonus on their opposed Sense Motive check. While a parasite controls a host, the CR for the composite creature increases to the host creature’s CR+2.

Create Seedlings (Ex)

If a begedhi parasite survives its host’s death, it can harvest flesh from the host as a full-round action to produce 1d4 new begedhi seedlings. This process destroys the parasite, and the seedlings require a full week to mature.

Infest (Ex)

A begedhi parasite can enter the body of a helpless creature (or a mother plant can implant one, see below). Once inside, a parasite requires one week to gain full control of the host. During this time, remove disease (DC 16, which includes a +2 racial modifier) will kill the parasite. After integrating with the host, a parasite gains regeneration 2. At this point, it must be brought to fewer than 0 hp, and then remove disease can be used to destroy it.

Vines (Ex)

When a begedhi parasite attacks with its spiky vines while inside a host, it deals half damage to the host, regardless of whether it strikes its intended target.

ABOUT

Environment temperate
Organization solitary, planting (2-5), infestation (6-20)
Treasure none

Transplanted by the Hegemony from a riotous jungle planet where all flora is inimical to fleshy life, begedhi have appeared on a variety of worlds. The Hegemony believed they could control the parasitic creatures and use them to infiltrate enemy forces, but the begedhi proved unpredictable and attacked anything within reach. Rather than destroy the plants, the Hegemony dumped them on worlds allied with their enemies with the expectation they would eventually arrive as saviors to exterminate the pests and convert such worlds to their side of the conflict.

Begedhi have two growth stages: a seedling and a mother plant.

Seedlings are deceptively delicate plants, evolved that way to evoke a sense of protectiveness in other creatures. Their spores enforce this desire, which serves them well when multiple creatures work to remove them. Seedlings rarely defend themselves to give the illusion of helplessness so those left unmolested may eventually mature into a mother plant and further propagate.

This process takes five years, during which seedlings feed on rotten organic material or small creatures they overcome. As the years pass, seedling tendrils lengthen and become tentacles, and their cheerfully colored berries transform into sickly green lumps which gestate with more parasites.

Once seedlings become mother plants, complete with fully grown parasites, their demeanor changes. The spore cloud they release covers a larger area and compels living creatures to move closer to them. The plants’ tentacles then sprout wicked thorns to ensnare prey more effectively and infect them with parasites. These victims then travel to other locations where they slowly rot, perish, and sprout more seedlings.

Begedhi parasites exist as extensions of their mother plant, but still act as autonomous creatures with a tremendous ability to absorb knowledge and memories from their hosts to mimic them.

Since it requires a week for parasites to fully overcome their hosts, mother plants maintain a larder of infected victims in a secluded place and release them when a week has elapsed to spread their progeny. Mother plants cannot regrow parasites, so they die once they have release all their ‘children.’ Parasites can maintain a symbiotic relationship with their hosts for up to five years, allowing them to spread throughout the stars without having to draw undue attention to themselves. The only telltale sign of a begedhi-infected host is a small mote of green in one of its eyes.

Begedhi seedlings are about 1 foot in diameter and grow as tall as 3 feet. Mother plants are 10 feet in diameter and grow to a height of 15 feet.