Terralip Tree

Huge undead, neutral evil

Armor Class 13 (Natural armor)
Hit Points 102 (12d12+24)
Speed 0

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
21 (+5)	1 (-5)	15 (+2)	3 (-4)	12 (+1)	5 (-3)

Saving Throws Con +4, Wis +3
Damage Immunities poison, Necrotic Condition Immunities: poisoned, prone
Damage Resistances bludgeoning and piercing
Senses passive Perception 11
Challenge 3 (700 XP)

SPECIAL TRAITS

• Summon Undead. At will, the Terralip can call forth the bodies buried in its roots. It will have 2-16 skeletons and 2-16 zombies in its root network. These undead have maximum hit points.
• Turn Resistance. The Terralip has advantage on saves to avoid turning. If the terralip makes its save against turning, all zombies and skeletons under its control also have advantage on their saves. If it fails its save, then all of its skeletons and zombies have disadvantage on their saves.

ACTIONS

• Poisonous Cloud. The terralip releases a cloud of odorless, colorless gas in a 20-foot radius around itself. Any creature that spends at least 2 turns must make a Constitution save (DC 15). On a failed, save, they lose 1-4 points of strength. For each turn the creature ends a turn in the cloud, they must make the save again, losing an additional 1-4 strength on a failed save. A creature reduced to 0 strength is rendered unconscious. The strength loss remains until the creature receives a full rest or a greater restoration spell. If the tree senses that there are creatures nearby, it increases its production of the gas, increasing the radius by 10 feet per turn to a maximum radius of 80 feet. The gas can only be detected by using magic such as detect poison and disease.

ABOUT

The terralip tree appears as any old, dead tree, leafless, with only the bare-knuckled stem branches remaining. Its trunk, as often as not, is hollow and always brown or gray, the bark gnarled and rough. It stands alone with little or no vegetation around it but for wild roses whose roots dig deep in the rotten earth at the tree’s feet and whose briars compliment the terralip’s foul disposition.

Angry Remnants. In the old dead husk of many a tree lingers the echo of its spirit. The spirit burns with some malevolence that it bore in life or that was given to it by others or that it suffered in death. These are twisted spirits, born crooked and they die angry. They are forbidden to return to the earth and oblivion as is the want of all trees, so they remain in bark, bole, and branches, there to poison the ground, the very air, that once gave it life. The roses that mark them are almost always red, but on occasion white bloom in their midst. The thorns that accompany them are long and cruel.

All Environments. The terralip is found where any deciduous forest once grew or grows. They can be of any breed of hardwood, from the hard barked cherry tree to the tall, thin aspen. They can exist in any climate and as high as the tree line in the mountains. They are found in swamps and deserts, towns and valleys, wherever trees grow.

Mindless Killers. Terralip trees do not consciously do anything. They do not devour prey, nor hunt, they do not seek to trap or harm creatures, living or dead. They simply remain a poisoned blot on the landscape. The air and ground around it are poisonous and those who fall victim to it, simply die, absorbed by the earth, and left to feed the wild roses that grow at its feet. Their true danger is to the unwary that approach them, for the flowers that grow wild at their feet. But others, druids and the like, use them as guardians, for powerful druids can bind a tree’s spirit to the bole and keep it there until released or turned.

Destruction of Body or Spirit. The tree itself can be destroyed which drives off the spirit, or alternatively, the spirit can be banished by being turned. If turned and the tree is not destroyed the spirit returns after a week’s time. When the tree is destroyed and driven off, the dead at its feet pass over to whatever realms they are destined for and do not rise again.