Quickwood (3pp)

This creature resembles an oak tree with a human-like visage in its trunk. Its bark is darkened and withered with age. A great maw filled with jagged teeth opens in its trunk.

Quickwood CR 8

XP 4,800
N Huge plant
Init +3; Senses darkvision 120 ft., low-light vision, remote sensing, tremorsense 60 ft.; Perception +26; Aura fear aura (10-90 ft., DC 20)

DEFENSE

AC 17, touch 7, flat-footed 17 (-1 Dex, +10 natural, -2 size)
hp 104 (11d8+55)
Fort +12, Ref +4, Will +7
Immune electricity, fire, plant traits

OFFENSE

Speed 10 ft.
Melee 9 roots melee touch +16 (grab) and bite +15 (2d6+13)
Space 15 ft.; Reach 15 ft. (60 ft. with roots)
Special Attacks grasping roots

TACTICS

Quickwoods use their remote sensing ability to keep tabs on their surroundings. If trespassers are detected, the creature simply waits until one or more come within range of its roots before lashing out and striking. A grabbed opponent is pulled in close to the creature’s maw and bitten.

A typical quickwood (11 HD) has 9 roots it uses to grab foes. For every 2 HD above 11, a quickwood has one additional root it can use in combat (thus, a 13 HD quickwood has 10 roots and a 15 HD quickwood has 11 roots).

STATISTICS

Str 29, Dex 9, Con 21, Int 12, Wis 15, Cha 12
Base Atk +8; CMB +19 (+23 grapple); CMD 28 (can’t be tripped)
Feats Alertness, Improved Initiative, Iron Will, Lightning Reflexes, Skill Focus (Perception), Weapon Focus (root)
Skills Perception +26, Sense Motive +17, Stealth +5 (+21 forested area); Racial Modifiers +16 Stealth in forested area
Languages Common, Sylvan

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Fear Aura (Su)

If a quickwood is targeted by a spell (excluding area spells) and it makes its save against the spell’s effects, it takes no damage and absorbs some of the spell’s energy and releases it as a fear effect (as a free action) in a 10-foot radius per level of the spell. Affected creatures must succeed on a DC 20 Will save or be affected as by a fear spell (caster level 11th). The save DC is Charisma-based and includes a +4 racial bonus.

Grasping Roots (Ex)

If a quickwood hits with a root attack, it can attempt to start a grapple as a free action without provoking an attack of opportunity. If it wins the grapple check, it establishes a hold and drags the foe 30 feet closer each subsequent round (provoking no attack of opportunity). A quickwood can draw in a creature within 15 feet of itself and bite with a +4 attack bonus in the same round. A root has hardness 2 and 10 hit points and can be attacked by making a successful sunder attempt. However, attacking a quickwood’s root does not provoke an attack of opportunity. If the root is currently grappling a target, the quickwood takes a -4 penalty on its CMD to resist the sunder attempt. Severing a root deals no damage to a quickwood.

Immunity to Fire (Ex)

A quickwood can perspire as a free action; this grants it immunity to fire for one hour. Afterwards, it must wait one minute before using this ability again.

Remote Sensing (Su)

As a standard action, a quickwood can use a normal oak tree within 360 feet as a magical sensor to view its surroundings. This ability is similar to a clairaudience/clairvoyance spell and allows a quickwood to see (including with darkvision) and hear through a sensor. A quickwood does not need line of sight to establish a sensor. A quickwood can establish a new magical sensor in another tree within range as a free action, though it can never have more sensors at one time than its Hit Dice. A quickwood with multiple sensors can switch between them as a free action.

An oak tree utilized as a magical sensor takes on a human-like visage (similar to a quickwood). A successful DC 20 Perception check allows a character to notice the tree’s visage.

ECOLOGY

Environment temperate forests, hills, and mountains
Organization standard
Treasure none

Quickwoods appear as nothing more than common oak trees and are indistinguishable from them at distances greater than 30 feet. Closer inspection (at a distance of 10 feet or less) reveals a human-like visage embedded in the trunk. They are carnivores and prefer the taste of human or elven flesh above all others.

A quickwood’s body is brown and textured like bark, and many strong, rigid branches protrude from its trunk. Each branch has many smaller branches that sport leaves of a deep, rich green color. Quickwoods usually root themselves to a particular location and rarely move. When they do move, they pull themselves slowly along with their roots.

A typical quickwood stands 16 feet tall.

Section 15: Copyright Notice

Quickwood from the Tome of Horrors Complete, Copyright 2011, Necromancer Games, Inc., published and distributed by Frog God Games; Author Scott Greene, based on original material by Gary Gygax.

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