Saguaroi

Large plant, neutral

Armor Class 15 (spined skin)
Hit Points 157 (15d8 + 75)
Speed 40 ft.

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
20 (+5)	18 (+4)	20 (+5)	7 (–2)	15 (+2)	11 (+0)

Saving Throws Con +7
Skills Perception +5
Damage Vulnerabilities fire Condition Immunities charmed, exhaustion, frightened
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 15
Languages Sylvan
Challenge 6 (2,300 XP)

SPECIAL TRAITS

• Locate Water. A saguaroi can spend an hour to concentrate on the location of the nearest source of pure water measuring at least 10 gallons within a 5-mile radius. The saguaroi can find water hidden behind natural barriers regardless of thickness, but it cannot discover water within manufactured objects, including worked stone.
• Needle Hide. A saguaroi is covered with needles and spines. Any creature grappling a saguaroi or attacking it with an unarmed strike takes 3 (1d6) points of piercing damage. A creature grappling a saguaroi takes this damage each round of the grapple.
• Regenerate. The saguaroi regains 10 hit points at the start of its turn. If the saguaroi takes fire damage, this trait doesn’t function at the start of the saguaroi’s next turn. The saguaroi dies only if it starts its turn with 0 hit points and doesn’t regenerate.

ACTIONS

• Slam. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 21 (3d10 + 5) bludgeoning damage plus 21 (3d10 + 5) piercing damage. Produce Water. A saguaroi can cut itself (taking 1 point of damage) to produce 1 gallon of water. After producing 4 gallons, it gains a level of exhaustion. After producing 8 gallons, it gains another level of exhaustion and cannot produce more water until it completes a long rest.
• Needle Cone. The saguaroi expels a spew of needles in a 30-foot cone. Each creature in that area must make a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw, taking 11 (2d10) piercing damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one. Additionally, creatures that fail their saving throws have their speed cut in half. A creature with its speed reduced like this must succeed a DC 16 Constitution saving throw at the end of each of its turns in order to regain its natural speed.

ABOUT

Saguarois, also called cactusfolk by desert-dwelling humanoids, make their homes in rocky badlands, hot scrublands on the edge of vast deserts, and sandy dunes baked by the sun. They are generous but territorial, offering aid to travelers who brave the blistering deserts—often in the form of their own watery blood—but don’t tolerate guests who overstay their welcome. Civilization rarely attempts to push far into the deserts, leaving these creatures relatively isolated from other intelligent races. In cases where belligerent settlements threaten the way of life for tribes of saguarois, however, the cactusfolk respond with terrifying violence.

Cactus Nomads. Saguarois live in small nomadic tribes, traveling under the life-giving sun by day and rooting themselves each night in places where they can draw minerals from the pebbly and sandy soil and absorb water. Saguarois produce flowers once a year that go to seed and grow into young saguarois if the adult creatures properly care for them. If planted, a seed must be attended by one or more saguarois over the course of a year before the infant saguaroi sprouts. After sprouting, it takes 4 years before the infant saguaroi can uproot itself and move about, and decades more to reach maturity. Some saguarois have lived for hundreds of years, and these old cactusfolk often sprout additional limbs or strange twisting growths stretching out from their cylindrical torsos. Usually these additional limbs and growths are nonfunctional, but significantly advanced saguarois have been known to learn how to use them as if they were their primary arms and legs.