Mosslord

Huge plant, lawful evil

Armor Class 17 (natural armor)
Hit Points 270 (20d12 + 140)
Speed 40 ft.

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
24 (+7)	11 (+0)	24 (+7)	17 (+3)	17 (+3)	16 (+3)

Saves Str +13, Con +13, Wis +9
Skills Athletics +13, Insight +9, Survival +9
Damage Immunities fire
Damage Resistances lightning; bludgeoning, piercing
Condition Immunities charmed, frightened
Senses truesight 60 ft., passive Perception 13
Languages Aklo, Common, Sylvan; telepathy 100 ft.
Challenge 18 (20,000 XP)

SPECIAL TRAITS

• Innate Spellcasting. (Psionic). The mosslord’s innate spellcasting ability is Wisdom (save DC 17, +9 to hit with spell attacks). He can manifest the following spells-like powers, requiring no material components:
  • At will: command plants (as command, but affecting plants only), fear, psychic crush (as a 9th-level fireball but does psychic damage)
  • 3/day each: animate plants (as animate objects but targets can only be plants), blur
• Deadwood Curse. When a mosslord scores a critical hit with either his spell attack, log-maul or stomp attack, the victim must succeed at a DC 21 Constitution saving throw save or a horrid curse transforms one of its limbs into an immobile wooden branch. Roll 1d4 to deter mine which limb is affected (1—right arm, 2—left arm, 3—right leg, 4—left leg; adjust the die as necessary f or creatures with fewer or more limbs). The cursed limb hardens and becomes entirely immobile until the curse is lifted. If an arm is affected, 209 the victim’s Strength is reduced by 2 and it cannot wield weapons in that hand or use the hand in an y way. If a victim’s leg is affected, the victim’ s Dexterity is reduced by 2 and its Speed is reduced by 15 feet. Each time a creature is affected by this curse, a new limb is affected, and the effects stack. If a cursed limb is amputated and regrown via magic, the new limb regrows as deadwood as long as the curse persists . A remove curse spell only works if the caster beats the original DC 21. Alter natively, the creature may appeal to the mosslord to remov e the curse (which it can do at will) if an equivalent exchange is agreed upon (down to the GM’s discretion and PCs creativity)
• False Appearance. While the mosslord remains motionless, he is indistinguishable from a normal tree.
• Legendary Resistance (3/Day). If the moss lord fails a saving throw, he can choose to succeed instead.
• Perennial. When a mosslord dies, its body decomposes normally but regrows in 60 days. A dead mosslord cannot regrow during winter months or when there is frost or snow on the ground where it was slain; in such a condition, its regrowth is delayed until the thaw. If the region where the mosslord was slain is affected by a lasting winter (either via magic or as a result of natural conditions), its regrowth can be delayed indefinitely. Even completely destroying a mosslord’s body won’t stop its eventual regrowth. A blight spell (or similar anti-plant effect) applied to a mosslord’s remains can ensure its permanent death if the caster succeeds at a DC 30 caster check (use the caster’s spell attack bonus). A mosslord slain on any plane other than the Material Plane remains dead permanently. Obscure rituals can also aid in the permanent death of a mosslord, at the GM’s discretion.
• Siege Monster. The mosslord deals double damage to objects and structures.
• Speak with Plants. The mosslord can communicate with plants as if they shared a language.
• Trackless Step. While in forested terrain (or equivalent heavy plant area) the moss lord is under the constant effect of nondetection and pass without trace.
• Tree Stride. Once on her turn, the mosslord can use 10 feet of his movement to step magically into one living tree within his reach and emerge from a second living tree within 60 feet of the first tree, appearing in an unoccupied space within 5 feet of the second tree. Both trees must be Huge or bigger.

ACTIONS

• Multiattack. The mosslord can use Control Plants and Fungal Infestation (if available). He also makes two attacks: one with his log-maul and one with his stomp. He may alternatively replace one of these attacks with a spell or another available action.
• Log Maul. Melee Weapon Attack: +13 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 28 (6d6 + 7) bludgeoning damage plus deadwood curse. If the target is a creature, it must succeed on a DC 21 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone.
• Stomp. Melee Weapon Attack: +13 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 18 (2d10 + 7) bludgeoning damage plus deadwood curse.
• Rock. Ranged Weapon Attack: +13 to hit, range 30/120 ft., one target. Hit: 29 (4d10 + 7) bludgeoning damage.
• Control Plants (1/Day). The mosslord magically animates 1d4 + 1 trees he can see within 60 feet of him. These trees have the same statistics as a treant, except they have Intelligence and Charisma scores of 1, they can’t speak, and they have only the Slam action option. An animated tree acts as an ally of the moss lord. The tree remains animate for 1 day or until it dies; until the moss lord dies or is more than 1 mi le from the tree; or until the moss lord takes a bonus action to turn it back into an inanimate tree. The tree then takes root if possible.
• Fungal Infestation (3/Day). The moss lord targets one corpse of a humanoid, giant or a Large or smaller beast within 30 feet of him and releases spores at the corpse. At the start of the moss lord’s next turn, the corpse rises as a spore servant. The corpse stays animated for 1d4 + 1 weeks or until destroyed, and it can’t be animated again in this way.
• Sheets of Moss (Recharge 5-6). A mosslord can cover a 20-foot square area in a thick blanket of toxic moss at a range of up to 90 feet. Living creatures in the area are automatically restrained and poisoned and must succeed at a DC 21 Constitution save or take 1d4 points of Constitution damage per round until the moss dissipates or is destroyed. The moss has 25 Hit Points per 5-foot square but can only be damaged by cold or effects that specifically target plants (such as blight) or deal additional damage to plants (such as horrid wilting). Otherwise, the sheets of moss wither away automatically after 1 minute.
• Yellow Mold Blast. A mosslord can swiftly extrude a puffball and hurl it up to 60 feet. Upon impact, the puffball bursts into an unusually thick and potent cloud of yellow mold spores. This cloud of spores fills a 10-foot-radius area, obscuring vision as if it were a fog cloud and affecting all creatures within the area with yellow mold, except the Constitution saving throw to resist the mold’s poisonous effects is DC 30. The cloud of spores persists for 1 minutes, after which it automatically dissipates.

REACTIONS

• Microcosm. As a reaction to a creature being killed, the mosslord uses fungal infestation on a corpse which immediately animates and acts.

ABOUT

A mosslord’s body consists of a large skeletal frame that towers over 15 feet tall, fashioned from roughcut pieces of wood. A thick layer of moss encompasses this frame, creating the appearance of flesh. While a mosslord’s body appears constructed, the creature is fully sentient and highly intelligent.

Legends of Destruction. The Mosslord is described as the living incarnation of the forest’s vengeance against the encroachment of civilization, a fury given mind and focus toward the destruction of humanity. Some wonder whether only a single mosslord exists, regrowing itself each time it is destroyed. In truth, multiple mosslords exist, and wherever one surfaces, ruin inevitably follows as they mastermind elaborate campaigns against civilization. Among all humanoid forms of life, they despise humans and halflings in particular.

Doom Cults. Though the mosslord is no deity, it is a wholly supernatural being and the apocalyptic texts of over a dozen different religions depict its wrath. These texts often revile the mosslord and condemn those who would worship it or pay it reverence.

Despite ominous warnings, history reports a handful of occasions when doom cults praised, venerated, and pledged fealty to mosslords. Some even credit or blame such cults for the creation of the first mosslords, for it seems odd that plant creatures would naturally form upon the wooden frames that hold its fungal flesh in the form of a bipedal humanoid. Regardless, such efforts tend to be short lived; as soon as the cultists capture the mosslord’s attention, they find they have only attracted its relentless and utter destruction.