dungeonstrugglers
patreon
Suckling Mandrake
🕑 Added 2021-01-21 00:58:17 +0000 UTCSpawned by the mad archdruid Mingorius Plesk, the suckling mandrake is a baby-like plantoid parasite that requires a living host to survive.
Spawned of Phlagellos. Plesk has an obsession with exploring the adaptive potential of nature and conducting gruesome experiments on any poor creature that piques his interest. The nursery where Plesk does his work has become known as the Garden of Abominations. Those who visit this hidden grove witness the beauty of nature twisted into horrid new forms.
In this garden, Plesk crossbred rare wild mandrakes with a species of carnivorous creeping vine. From this fusion, sprouted the wicked vine he named phlagellos. Inside the vine’s serrated seed pod a new breed of mandrake formed. Phlagellos lacked the motility of its ancestors, but that didn’t stop Plesk, who fashioned the vine into a whip that could be wielded to deliver his new mandrake seeds into nurturing flesh.
Parasitic Existence. Suckling Mandrakes follow the creature they were implanted into, known as the host. A suckling mandrake is connected to the wound it erupted from by a thin umbilical cord that drains the host’s vitality. This empathic link causes the suckling mandrake tremendous agony and from the second it is birthed it emits a tortured scream that sickens all who hear it. Suckling mandrakes are pitiful creatures, with the sole desire to remain tethered to their host. They only attack out of self-defense if cornered, lashing out with their tiny teeth. If a suckling mandrake’s umbilical cord is severed, it continues to follow its host until it withers away. If its host dies while a suckling mandrake is tethered, the mandrake begins building a cocoon for itself near the body. After an hour of transformation, the suckling mandrake enters hibernation for one week as it drains nutrients from the corpse. At the end of the week, if the cocoon and body are undisturbed, a fully grown mandrake emerges.
Links to Phlagellos Art & Card
Errata 12/11/21- Lowered Con from 10 to 9, Removed damage immunities, damage vulnerabilities, and condition immunities, reworded Sickening Wail and lore.
Errata- Lowered AC from 14 to 13, lowered HP from 10 to 2, reduced speed from 30 ft. to 20 ft., reduced Constitution from 12 to 10, lowered the AC of the tether from 14 to 10, added necrotic damage to the damage types that can destroy the tether, reduced damage inflicted by the tether to the host from 2d8 to 1d6, the host no longer has disadvantage to resist Sickening Wail, Bite no longer causes paralysis.
