Fantasy Monster: Invader Tree

You can now support Shaper Of Worlds on Patreon.

Invader Tree

A young but robust tree moving closer on its roots.

CR 2; XP 600
N Medium Plant

Init +1; Senses low-light vision; Perception +6

Defense
AC 14, touch 11, flat-footed 13 (+1 Dex, +3 natural)
hp 22 (4d8+4)
Fort +5; Ref +2; Will +2

DR 2/slashing; Immune plant traits

Offense
Speed 20 ft.

Melee 2 slams +4 (1d6+1)

Statistics
Str 12, Dex 13, Con 12, Int 2, Wis 12, Cha 5
Base Atk +3; CMB +4; CMD 15 (20 vs. trip and forced move)

Feats Combat Reflexes, Nimble Moves

Skills Perception +6, Stealth +6 (+26 pretending to be an immobile tree)

SQ seeding

Ecology
Environment forest, plains
Organization solitary, pair, or grove (3–20)
Treasure standard

Special Abilities

Seeding (Ex) Resting invader tree tends to leave seeds or sprouts will quickly grow into saplings over the next few weeks. Within months it will grow to a Small size, and after a year it might grow into a Medium tree that might or might not pull its roots and become a new invader tree itself. Each year, an invader tree might produce 1d4 new invader trees (or more in particularly fertile or wild regions) and many times as much mundane trees. They drop their full load of seeds when they are felled, unless the area where they died is carefully sifted afterwards. They also seem to spread seeds of bushes, mosses, and other forest plants and fungi alongside the trees.

Invader trees are insidious enemies, vanguards of wilderness slowly encroaching over fields and grasslands, spreading forests wherever they go. As they grow older and larger, they become more active, turning from spreaders of forests to their defenders, consolidating and fortifying the presence of established woods.

Occasionally, invader trees show higher degree of sapience, but majority are no smarter than animals.

Large invader trees (CR 4) are at least 10 years old with 6 HD, AC 17, 45 hp, Fort +8, Ref +2, Will +3, and attack with 2 slams +6 (1d8+3). As they age they might grow to Huge size (CR 6), with 8 HD, AC 18, 76 hp, Fort +11, Ref +1, Will +3, and attack with 2 slams +10 (2d6+5).

Fantasy NPC: Princess Of Fangs And Fur

 You can now support Shaper Of Worlds on Patreon.

Princess Of Fangs And Fur

An enormous black she-wolf or a savage-looking woman, is she the one or the other? Both? Either way, her eyes reflect the current phase of the moon.

CR 10; 9,600 XP

N Large Magical Beast

Init +9; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision, scent; Perception +18

Defense
AC 24, touch 14, flat-footed 19 (+5 Dex, +10 natural, –1 size)

hp 126 (12d10+60); regeneration 5 (special)
Fort +13, Ref +13, Will +9

Defensive Abilities all-around vision; DR 10/specially blessed silver; Immune polymorphy

Offense
Speed 60 ft.

Melee 3 bites +18 (2d6+7)

Space 10 ft.; Reach 5 ft.

Special Attacks three-faced beast

Spell-Like Abilities (CL 12th; concentration +14)

Constant—speak with animals

1/day—commune with birds

Statistics
Str 24, Dex 20, Con 20, Int 15, Wis 17, Cha 15

Base Atk +12; CMB +20; CMD 35 (39 vs trip)
Feats Combat Reflexes, Diehard, Endurance, Improved Initiative, Iron Will, Nimble Moves

Skills Acrobatics +20, Diplomacy +5, Knowledge (local) +5, Knowledge (nature) +5, Knowledge (nobility) +5, Perception +18, Stealth +16

Language Sylvan, barely remembered smattering of Common, Duc, and Elven

SQ change shape (alter self; a savage and neglected version of her original self)

Regeneration (Ex) Princess Of Fangs And Fur is both blessed and cursed by her transformation. Her damage reduction can be pierced and her regeneration suppressed only with a silver weapon that was jointly blessed by priesthood of sun and moon divinities, a rather unlikely thing in the nearby lands, because of the history of feuds and conflicts between various solar and lunar cults.

Three-Faced Beast (Su) When engaged in combat, Princess Of Fangs And Fur seems to have two more blurry, spectral heads on both sides of her real one, allowing her to make multiple bite attacks and avoid attacks from behind. Her bites count as magic, cold iron, and silver, and deal full damage to incorporeal beings.

When her father was trying to mediate the feud between sun-revering druids and witch-cult of a moon goddess, the young maiden that much later became Princess Of Fangs And Fur though that she might help him by following her grandmother steps and reaching out to the witches. She listened to them and learned of their wisdom, and started to see how the druids pushed to get more and more to say in the lives of common people, and try to become sole spiritual and mystical authority of the land.

Over the time, she and her father drifted apart as he sided with the druids more and more, slowly succumbing to their yet poisoned words, flatteries, and fear-mongering against the moon cult. As their power in the realm was cemented, the meddling advisors decided to silence the remaining voice of opposition at the palace, and told her father to marry her off as they deemed her to be of suitable age. She argued against their request and angrily left the court.

She turned to her sisters and aunts in the cult—they were already growing desperate as the druids grew proud and arrogant already seeing themselves as the true power of the realm, and now they asked her to be the tool that will turn the tide of history and free the king and the kingdom. They invoked the power of their goddess and bound it into a spell of great potency. They asked the princess to return to her father and speak with him, and if he would not listen to the reason, to spill a bit of his blood on the amulet they gave her releasing the blessing of the goddess that would break the hold the druids had over the king, and as the king is one with his lands, the kingdom itself.

The princess rushed toward the capital, her hopes renewed, but she was too late. Somehow the druids learned of the witches plan and invoked their own magic to prevent the blessing of the goddess. By the time she arrived at the palace, the people were already transforming into trees, and other were running for their lives. By the time she approached her father, he was there, growing all over his old throne, green and brown, and covered in bark. To her horror, horror and relief, the bodies of high druids were strewn around, bludgeoned to death.

The sorrow overcame her, for she knew that is too late as her father-turned-tree had no blood to spill on the amulet. She cried when she broke the amulet, cutting herself, and spilling her own blood.

She didn't remember what happened next, or for the following few years, but she knows that the peace returned, but not in the way anyone expected, or wanted, for the kingdom became overgrown by woods overnight. A few people remained—many of those who didn't turn into trees fled the lands. The druids and witches that survived the first few years scattered. The wilderness prevailed.

Now the princess lives most of her time as a massive she-wolf roaming the forest, hunting animals and scarring of looters and intruders. At other times, she yearns for contact, seeking anyone she could speak with. Most of the trees ignore her, others are actually hostile to her—maybe the supporters of druids who recognize her, or maybe they just grow territorial and hate everyone.

Fantasy NPC: King Allfern

You can now support Shaper Of Worlds on Patreon.

King Allfern

A tall figure of bark, branches, leaves, moss, and regal presence.

CR 8; 4,800 XP

LN Large Plant

Init +6; Senses low-light vision; Perception +18

Defense
AC 21, touch 11, flat-footed 19 (+2 Dex, +10 natural, –1 size)

hp 102 (12d8+48); regeneration 5 (plant-killing magic)
Fort +12, Ref +8, Will +9

DR 10/slashing; Immune plant traits

Offense
Speed 40 ft.; woodland stride, trackless step

Melee 4 slams +14 (1d6+6)

Space 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft.

Special Attacks wrath of the forest

Spell-Like Abilities (CL 12th; concentration +14)

Constant—speak with plants

1/day—commune with nature, plant growth, transport via plants (only within his kingdom)

1/month—awaken (plant only)

Statistics
Str 22, Dex 14, Con 18, Int 17, Wis 17, Cha 15

Base Atk +9; CMB +16; CMD 28
Feats Combat Reflexes, Diehard, Endurance, Improved Initiative, Iron Will, Lightning Reflexes

Skills Diplomacy +14, Knowledge (local) +14, Knowledge (nature) +14, Knowledge (nobility) +14, Perception +18

Language Common, Giant, Goblin, Sylvan

Notable Gear a silver crown grown into his bark that might hold some old royal magic

Wrath Of The Forest (Su) As a standard action, king Allfern can command a living tree or other sturdy plant within 60 feet to lash and strike against a nearby target, with reach of 15 feet, +14 attack bonus, and dealing 2d6+9 points of bludgeoning damage on hit, or grapple a Medium or smaller creature without provoking attacks of opportunity (CMB +16, CMD 26, the tree continues to maintain hold on a grappled creature without additional commands until the target escapes). As a full-round action, he might similarly command a tree to make a single attack against each target within its reach, though he can't repeat such command for 1d4+1 rounds thereafter.

King Allfern sought to rule his forest kingdom peacefully and wisely, but it wasn't meant to be so. An ancient feud between a cult of a witch-goddess and a druidic sect flared again during his reign. While the esoteric background behind the struggle remained obtuse to common folk, its echoes impacted their lives; they relied at various times on aid and advice of both learned but haughty druids, and versatile but greedy witches. As his attempts of mediation failed, and the conflict escalated, with the sides resorting to flinging curses and sending first monsters after each other, the king was finally swayed by the words of his advisors and aligned himself with the druids against the witches.

Pushed to the brink, the witches called upon the power of their goddess, preparing dreadful ritual that would turn the tide of the conflict and change the kingdom forever... In a desperate bid to thwart the power unleashed by the witch-cult, the druidic circle invoked their magic, turning overnight the king and his kin, his retinue, his sworn vassals, and his subjects, into trees.

They failed to warn the king beforehand, though, and when he found himself turning into a tree, the sense of betrayal changed him into much-much more. Immediately, he lashed against his still human druid-advisors for perceived treason before they could explain to him they intended it merely as a protective and a temporary measure. The lesser druids who survived his wrath were forever banished from his presence, under the pain of death, his ears forever deaf to their words.

On the next sunrise, the king walked out of his now overgrown keep and found his realm changed. Majority of his subjects were turned into trees, bushes, and other growing plants. A few of them, retained sapience and mobility like the king himself, and even a smaller fraction were unchanged, mostly those who lived deeper in the forests, further from the capital, less caring about the kingdom and less tied into the community of its subjects.

Without the druids, the transformation could not be reversed, leaving the realm even wilder and forlorn than it was. King Allfern still cares for his lands and his subjects, sapient or not, now holding a grudge against both the traitorous druids and the meddling witches. With limited presence and merely a few subjects capable of following his rule, he reluctantly allowed some fey and other beings to settle in his woods, as long as they protect the people turned into trees from harm.

Fantasy Monster: Inventor's Devil

You can now support Shaper Of Worlds on Patreon.

Devil, Inventor's

A balding, black-haired, red-skinned gnome with few small horns adorning his head and membranous fly's wings on his back.

CR 4; XP 1,200
LE Small Outsider (devil, evil, extraplanar, lawful)

Init +8; Senses see in darkness; Perception +10

Defense
AC 17, touch 15, flat-footed 13 (+4 Dex, +2 natural, +1 size)
hp 39 (6d10+6); regeneration 3 (good or silver)
Fort +3; Ref +9; Will +6

DR 5/good or silver; Immune fire, poison; Resist acid 10, cold 10; SR 15

Offense
Speed 30 ft., fly 30 ft. (good)

Melee headbutt +7 (2d4) and 2 slams +7 (1d4)

Ranged scorching ray +11 touch (40 ft., 4d6 fire)

Spell-Like Abilities (CL 6th, concentration +9)

At Will—invisibility (self only), mage hand, prestidigitation, scorching ray

3/day—dimension door, infernal healing, make whole

Statistics
Str 10, Dex 18, Con 12, Int 13, Wis 13, Cha 17
Base Atk +6; CMB +5; CMD 19

Feats Diehard, Endurance, Improved Initiative

Skills Bluff +12, Craft or Profession (any one) +10, Fly +12, Knowledge (engineering) +10, Knowledge (nature) +10, Perception +10, Perform (oratory) +12, Stealth +17

Languages Celestial, Draconic, Infernal; telepathy 100 ft.

SQ coach speech, inspired craft

Ecology
Environment any (Hell)
Organization solitary or pair
Treasure standard

Special Abilities

Coach Speech (Su) An inventor's devil can telepathically direct someone how to speak smoothly, allowing one sapient creature to use the devil's Bluff and Perform (oratory) skill bonuses in place of their own. Obviously, the coached skills can't be used back on the devil. This is a mind-affecting ability that requires the inventor's devil.

Inspired Craft (Su) An inventor's devil can take his time observing a promising person for at least three days and bestow +5 profane bonus to Knowledge (engineering) and a single Craft or Profession skill (the same as the one the devil knows). The recipient of this ability also gains the use of either Craft Magic Arms And Armor or Craft Wondrous Items, as appropriate for the skill inspired, and can use them as if they had Master Craftsman feat—they are not immediately made aware of the fact unless instructed by the devil, though occasionally, inspired craftsman managed to create magic items with the help of those feats by accident. The devil can suppress or revoke the inspiration at any time. Protection from evil and similar effects suppress the benefits of this ability, and it ends if the devil is destroyed or banished. Only one person can benefit from inspired craft of the inventor's devil at any one time. This is an mind-affecting and evil effect.

Inventor's devils are a step up from imps, looking for promising minds—specific talents, blossoming geniuses, or pompous hacks—to inspire them into working for Hell's (and the inventor's devils) goals, wittingly or not. An inventor's devil might try to subtly tamper with the plans and works, manipulate the subject with telepathic whispers, or show himself and work as a secret partner or pretend to be a minion, depending on which of those approaches the devil will consider suitable for the target.

Inventor's devils help architects build magnificent cathedrals and palaces, smiths forge potent weapons and armors, jewelers made envy-worthy adornments, and so on—at the same time subtly manipulating designs and methods to cause misery and inspire cruelty, vanity, and jealousy. The end justifies the means is the mantra they repeat to their students.

While their true ingenuity is limited, they do love to inspire technological and magical progress, as long as it will serve ruthless order of the hell. In fact, they find genuine pride when their students create something truly new—mixed with frustration when the invention is used for good.

Occasionally, a pair of inventor's devils focus their attention on the same person. Invariably, their egos will clash, with each other trying to get more of their subject's attention and outdo the other with the suggestions.

If an inventor's devil is discorporated and bound into a set of tools, incrusted with silver, they will bestow the benefits of inspired craft on anyone using them, regardless of the bound devil's approval. The devil's sentience will be able to communicate telepathically with the craftsman, though, and will be able to use the coach speech ability according to its whims.