Fantasy Monster: Caprifungus

You can support Shaper Of Worlds on Patreon.

Caprifungus

Body of this goat is covered with bulbous growths, stalks, and mold. Its fur, on closer inspection, seems more like filaments of a creeping fungus than animal hair. Its head lacks eyes, being tightly covered in hardened tumors that extend into a mass of horn-like structures. Wiggling tendrils extend from its mouth, searching around for vegetation to consume.

CR 7; XP 3,200
N Small Plant

Init +8; Senses blindsight 60 ft., scent; Perception +11

Defense
AC 20, touch 16, flat-footed 15 (+4 Dex, +1 dodge, +4 natural, +1 size)
hp 85 (10d8+40)
Fort +11; Ref +7; Will +6

Immune plant traits

Offense
Speed 40 ft.

Melee gore +12 (2d4+4 plus spore headbutt), 2 hooves +12 (1d4+4)

Special Attacks spore headbutt (sickened for 1d4+1 rounds, Fort DC 19 for 1 round)

Statistics
Str 18, Dex 18, Con 18, Int 2, Wis 17, Cha 11
Base Atk +7; CMB +10; CMD 25 (29 vs trip)

Feats Acrobatic Steps, Combat Reflexes, Improved Initiative, Nimble Moves, Run

Skills Acrobatics +14, Perception +11, Stealth +11; Racial Modifiers +10 Acrobatics

SQ spread spores

Ecology
Environment plains and forests
Organization solitary, pair, or herd (5–16)
Treasure incidental

Special Abilities

Spore Headbutt (Ex) Creature hit with caprifungus gore attack is spread with chocking spores and becomes sickened for 1d4+1 rounds. A successful Fortitudes saving throw (DC 19) reduces duration of this effect to a single round. The saving throw DC of this poison effect is Constitution-based.

Spread Spores (Ex) Caprifungi consume prodigious amounts of vegetable matter and convert it to fungal spores and, well, fertilizer. It takes a caprifungi 1 minute to clear one 5-ft square of light foliage or reduce heavy foliage to light. It will turn into a patch of fungal vegetation over the next 2d4 hours, with 25% chance of growing over the following 2d6 hours into a hampering obstacle in the form of a fungal structure. After consuming approximately fourteen hundred 5-ft. squares of vegetation, a caprifungus spawns a cyst that grows into another caprifungus over the next 24 hours.

Caprifungi are mobile goat-shaped growths of fungus that eat plants and spread more fungus everywhere. Their hunger seems endless, and they generally pay little attention to their surroundings—predatory animals and beasts seem to find them unappealing at best—but they fight fiercely when attacked or blocked from eating. It's likely they originally were actual goats, infected with some sort of strange fungus, though some more conspiracy-minded individuals point fingers at druids of darker sects dedicated to the cycle of death and renewal through decay. And there is always a possibility they are results of a discarded experiment of some careless wizard.

A single caprifungus approaching a farm field is a cause for concern as they spawn quickly, and a group of them can wreak havoc to vast areas of farmland and wildlands alike.