Cordycep Spore Cloud | New Monster for Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition

Coming up at the end of February, I’ll be launching two cool books for Patrons. These books will be available here on the site as well as FREE in their blog format as usual.

The first book will be an adventure set in the Patron-created world of Wandrossa. While it’s still in the works (and doesn’t have a title yet), it’s a mystery involving fey and aberrations in the Ninth Kingdom of Enombath. I expect this book to have between 15-20 pages.

The second book will be a medium-sized creature code titled Creaturepedia I: Monsters of the Ninth Kingdom Vol 1. This collection will include a number of original monsters created for the setting. I’m projecting that this one will be a bit larger with 30-40 pages.

What monsters will be in the Creaturepedia?

So far, here are the monsters that you can expect. Note that many of the names are placeholders:

  • Ethereal Haunter
  • Blood Beasts
  • Sanguine Apes
  • Cutlery Golem
  • Phoenix Dragon
  • Sentient Fungus Cloud
  • The Eternal Guard of Enombath
  • Blackleaf Will-o’-Wisp
  • Medusa NPCs and Variants
  • Animated Stone Statues
  • Blackleaf Trees
  • Killer Rabbit
  • Giant Ant Lions
  • Dimensional Shifter
  • Deer/Moose Humanoids
  • Bug People (uses pheromones to seduce humanoids)
  • Elemental Breathing Pack Dogs
  • Gem Elementals
  • Harbinger Monster

I’ll be statting up these monsters over the course of the next week or so. So far, these are only CR 0 – 4 creatures. But I’ll probably add in another round of higher CR monsters, too.

Creaturepedia Request

Here is a monster request from Patron Romain:

Sentient cloud of fungus that has to “possess” a being to be able to speak, through its lungs and mouth. May be any alignment.

Yesterday, I created cordies, which are a race of fungal zombies. This sounds very similar to that. So maybe this is a cloud of cordy fungus blossoms that can create new cordies?

Cordycep Spore Cloud

Medium plant, unaligned


Armor Class 11

Hit Points 30 (4d8 + 12)

Speed 0 ft., fly 20 ft. (hover)


Abilities Str 6 (-2), Dex 13 (+1), Con 17 (+3), Int 10 (+0), Wis 12 (+1), Cha 6 (-2)


Damage Vulnerabilities fire

Damage Resistances bludgeoning, piercing, slashing

Damage Immunities poison

Condition Immunities blinded, charmed, deafened, frightened, grappled, paralyzed, petrified, poisoned, prone, restrained

Senses blindsight 60 ft. (blind beyond this radius), passive Perception 11

Languages

Challenge 1/4 (50 XP)


Cloud Form. The cloud can enter a hostile creature’s space and stop there. It can move through a space as narrow as 1-inch wide without squeezing.


Actions

Touch. Melee Weapon Attack: +3 to hit, reach 0 ft., one creature in the same space as the cloud. Hit: 2 (1d4) poison damage, and the target must succeed on a DC 13 Constitution saving throw or become poisoned.

Possession (Recharge 6). One beast, giant, humanoid, or monstrosity that shares the same space as the cloud must succeed on a DC 13 Constitution saving throw or be possessed by the cloud; the cloud then disappears and the target is incapacitated and loses control of its body. The cloud now controls the body but doesn’t deprive the target of awareness. The cloud can’t be targeted by any attack, spell, or other effects, but can be removed if a lesser restoration spell or similar magic is cast upon the target. While possessing the target, the cloud retains its alignment, Intelligence, Wisdom, Charisma, and immunity to being charmed and frightened. It otherwise uses the possessed target’s statistics but doesn’t gain access to the target’s knowledge, class features, or proficiencies.

Every hour that the cloud possesses the target, the target takes 1d4 poison damage. The target’s hit point maximum is reduced by an amount equal to the poison damage taken. The reduction lasts as long as the possession lasts. The target dies if this effect reduces its hit point maximum to 0. A humanoid slain in this way returns in 24 hours as a cordycep zombie.

The possession lasts until the body drops to 0 hit points, the cloud ends it as a bonus action, or the cloud is forced out. When the possession ends, the cloud reappears in an unoccupied space within 5 feet of the body. The target is immune to this cloud’s Possession for 24 hours after succeeding on the saving throw or after the possession ends.

Is there a monster you’d like to see made?

This is just one of many monsters to be made this month that will be a part of Creaturepedia: Monsters of the Ninth Kingdom Vol 1.

If you would like to suggest a creature for the Creaturepedia, be sure to head over to my Patron page. It’s $3 to join and not only do you get to become a world-builder and help create Wandrossa, but you also get requests and the majority of the monthly PDFs that come through the site.

Become a DMDave patron, today!

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