Lotus Leshy

Family: Leshy

Small plant (leshy), neutral

Armor Class 15 (natural armor)
Hit Points 52 (7d6+28)
Speed 30 ft.

STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA
10 (+0) 15 (+2) 18 (+4) 15 (+2) 17 (+3) 14 (+2)

Skills Perception +5, Stealth +6
Damage Resistances lightning, thunder
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 15
Languages Druidic, Sylvan
Challenge 1 (200 XP)

SPECIAL TRAITS

  • Lily Pad Stride. The leshy can walk across the surface of water or any liquid that doesn’t destroy plants.
  • Lotus Speech. Lotus leshys can communicate with lotuses, asking them about events within the past day, gaining information about creatures that have passed, weather, and other circumstances, within a radius of 30 feet.
  • Pass Without Trace. In areas of natural vegetation, a leshy can’t be tracked except by magical means. The leshy leaves behind no tracks or other traces of its passage.
  • Verdant Burst. When slain, a leshy explodes in a burst of fertile energies. All plant creatures within 30 feet of the slain leshy regain 6 (1d8+2) Hit Points, and lotuses quickly infest the area. If the terrain can support the growth of lotuses, the undergrowth is dense enough to make the region into difficult terrain for 24 hours, after which the plant life diminishes to a normal level; otherwise, the plant life has no significant effect on movement and withers and dies within an hour.

ACTIONS

  • Slam. Melee Weapon Attack: +2 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 2 (1d4) bludgeoning damage.
  • Seed Spray. Ranged Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, range 30 ft., one to six targets. Hit: 2 (1d3) bludgeoning damage, and the target must save against Dream Pollen. The leshy fires up to 6 seeds, dividing the seeds as it chooses among targets in range; all the seeds directed at a single target use a single attack roll to hit and apply Dream Pollen once. If the leshy scores a critical hit, it rolls damage dice three times, instead of twice.
  • Aura of Tranquility. The lotus leshy exudes a calming aura. Each humanoid in a 20-foot-radius sphere centered on a point in the leshy’s square must make a DC 13 Charisma saving throw; a creature can choose to fail this saving throw if it wishes. If a creature fails its saving throw, the leshy chooses one of the following two effects. The leshy can suppress any effect causing a target to be charmed or frightened. After 1 minute, any suppressed effect resumes, provided that its duration has not expired in the meantime. Alternatively, the leshy can make a target indifferent about creatures of its choice that it is hostile toward. This indifference ends if the target is attacked or harmed by a spell or if it witnesses any of its friends being harmed. When the indifference ends, the creature becomes hostile again, unless the GM rules otherwise. A creature that succeeds at the save is immune to that leshy’s aura for 24 hours.
  • Change Shape. The leaf leshy can take the shape of a Small lotus plant or return to its normal form. In plant form it is not capable of any other actions but is aware of its surroundings. It is otherwise indistinguishable from ordinary plant life. Any items it carries fall to the ground when it becomes a plant.

ABOUT

Enigmatic lotus leshys are wise guardians of secluded ponds and lakes. They spend most of their time in meditation as lotus flowers, sometimes for decades at a time. Although lotus leshys spend most of their time floating in solitary reflection, they do not shun the company of other creatures, and take humanoid form whenever they wish to speak. They find discussions of religion and philosophy particularly fascinating, and delight in fresh perspectives. Although they study deities of self-perfection and contemplation extensively, they do not revere such beings. A typical lotus leshy stands 3 feet tall and weighs 15 pounds.

Cryptic Speech. Lotus leshys speak indirectly rather than providing specific answers. They maintain that contemplation and discussion are far more valuable than concrete answers, whose usefulness is limited to the question at hand. In addition, they believe those who receive direct answers are more likely to blindly accept the words of others rather than thinking for themselves. When confronted with impatience, lotus leshys return to their lotus form rather than engaging further. They avoid combat whenever possible, preferring to calm tempers with their tranquil auras or lull violent creatures to sleep with their soporific pollen.

Growing a Lotus Leshy. Lotus leshys grow best in warm ponds and lakes in quiet areas. To grow a lotus leshy, the maker must plant a lotus seed by the water’s edge and sit in quiet mediation by the seed until it sprouts. Creating it requires 3,000 gp of materials, a DC 15 Nature check, and casting call woodland beings, plant growth, and water walk.

Growing a Leshy

The process of growing a leshy has some similarities to making a construct. Typically, the creator of a leshy must be a powerful druid, but anyone capable of making the required Knowledge checks and casting the required spells may attempt the process.

Growing a leshy body takes 2 weeks per Hit Die, during which the nascent form must be well fertilized, watered as needed, and kept safe from harm. During this period of growth, certain rare nutrients and fertilizer must be used to prime the leshy’s transformation from a normal plant into a sentient one—the cost of these components varies according to the leshy but is never less than 1,000 gp. The cultivator must make a successful Nature check; the required DC varies according to the leshy. If the check fails, the plant withers and dies and the cultivator must begin anew.

If, on the other hand, the skill check is successful, the cultivator must then step in and perform a 24-hour ritual within a day of the leshy’s cultivation. During this ritual, the cultivator must cast a number of spells (see each individual leshy for a list). At the ritual’s climax, there’s a flat 50% chance that the attempt to create a leshy succeeds—if this final check fails, no appropriate spirit is close enough to answer the call. The plant body rots and the creator must begin anew with fresh materials if he wishes to try again. At the GM’s discretion, this final chance for success might increase to 75% or even 100% for particularly magical areas where leshy spirits are much more common than normal. Discovering such a rare and magical site should be the focus of its own adventure. If the ritual is successful, the leshy awakens fully formed and able to serve as a minion. A freshly created leshy is under no particular compulsion to obey its creator, but most regard their makers as friends and allies.

Plant creatures are particularly adept at growing leshys, gaining advantage on their Nature checks to create them and reducing the time required to grow the leshy by 50% and the cost by 25%. A plant creature is always successful in luring a spirit into the body, and need not make the final percentile roll for success. At the GM’s option, leshys with more Hit Dice than normal can be created. Each additional Hit Die adds 2,000 gp to the cost of creating the leshy, increases the DC of the Nature check by 2, and requires an additional 2 weeks of growth.

Attempts to create leshys larger than Small always fail—the strange spiritual energies that animate these creatures are only capable of doing so to a body no larger than that of a human child.

Cantankerous flytrap leshys represent the harsh and seemingly cruel aspects of the natural cycle that are ultimately needed for the greater well-being of all creatures. When necessary to protect their homes, flytrap leshys start controlled fires, relying on their fire resistance to wade through the flames. Unlike most of their kind, flytrap leshys eat flesh and are not picky about the kind of meat that they consume. They particularly savor insects, and one of the few ways to placate a flytrap leshy is to offer it a rare or unusual insect to consume. A typical flytrap leshy is 2 feet tall and weighs 20 pounds.

Ready to Fight. Most leshys are peaceful creatures that focus their efforts on tending the natural region around them. While flytrap leshys do not leave their homes to pick fights, they relish the opportunity to attack intruders. These carnivorous plants tend to attack before asking questions.

While they rarely work together with other creatures, the aggressive creatures eagerly collaborate with others of their kind. They fight best in teams, and coordinate with each other so seamlessly that a group of flytrap leshys is nearly indistinguishable from a single creature—an illusion that the similarity between a flytrap leshy’s head and hands only compounds. While a typical flytrap leshy has one head and two hands, more powerful flytrap leshys exist with greater numbers of heads and hands.

Growing a Flytrap Leshy. A flytrap leshy is usually grown in swampy or marshy terrain. A flytrap leshy will only emerge if it is given a small pile of freshly killed insects to eat. Creating it requires 3,000 gp of materials, a DC 14 Nature check, and casting call woodland beings, plant growth, and thorn whip.

Section 15: Copyright Notice

Faerie Bestiary (5E) © 2022, Legendary Games; Authors Matt Kimmel, Michael “solomani” Mifsud, Miguel Colon, Robert J. Grady, Jason Nelson, Jeff Ibach, Tim Hitchcock.

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