Living Topiary Template

While druidic lore tells of naturally occurring topiary creatures springing full-grown and alive from the depths of wild forests, places infused by strange magic, or portals to fey realms, these creatures can also be created in a fashion similar to most constructs. Rather than being cultivated by wizards and other arcane spellcasters, though, they are most often created by druids and servants of nature deities who summon spirits of the natural world to infuse their lovingly sculpted topiary shapes with life. Aside from requiring the creator to craft a topiary in a suitably lifelike shape, a variety of exotic herbs, salves, fertilizers, and rare earths are required to bring the plant to life, making the process a costly endeavor.

A beast, aberration, or monstrosity of Challenge 4 or lower can become a living topiary. When a creature becomes a living topiary, it retains all its statistics except as noted below.

Type. The living topiary becomes a plant

Vulnerabilities. The living topiary becomes vulnerable to fire.

Languages. The creature can understand but not speak Sylvan

New Traits and Actions. The living topiary gains the following new abilities:

Assimilate. As an action, a living topiary can consume undergrowth or bushy plant matter it’s currently touching and incorporate that material into its form. It can do this at a rate of 5 cubic feet per round, healing 1d8 points of damage each time. If the topiary is at maximum Hit Points, this ability has no effect.

Hedge Stride. Once on her turn, the living topiary can use 10 feet of its movement to step magically into one hedge within its reach and emerge from a second hedge within 1,500 feet of the first hedge, appearing in an unoccupied space within 5 feet of the second hedge.

Move through Hedges. A living topiary may move through any mass of brambles or other dense plant growth without penalty. It must begin and end its turn outside of the mass.

Sculpt Shape. As a bonus action, a living topiary can alter itself to take on the basic form of any creature. The change would create a new creature which you would then apply this template to.