Hi, I'm fairly new to d&d I've only played twice but was toying with an idea that I thought would be interesting for rp especially if the rest of the party were unaware of the true nature of the creature.
I am not sure how to make it work stats wise. I'm calling it a strigan (from the witchweed striga bilabiata). The core concept is a plant that burrows into living things and takes control of their cognitive functions, then begins consuming them growing as it does so.
In appearance think of a leach with roots coming out of it. It replaces any body parts consumed, with new growth to appear similar to the creature its inhabiting. Once complete it finds a new host shedding its new growth and returning to the main root as it can not survive without a host.
It's something of a cross between actual plants and parasites. I want to be able to play this character so I'm placing restrictions on it, I'm not sure if it should gain any bonuses or negatives for different hosts.
I think it's going to have to be something of a cross between a druid and monk as it may not always be in a host capable of wielding weapons.
I'm thinking it moves to a new host with a stem that will protrude from host, typically within the mouth, and reproduction would happen from barbs that will protrude from its new growth limbs or small flowers that would drop seedlings to lie in wait for a host though they would have to find one soon for survival allowing the species to spread but thats more for npc.
I thought about using a doppleganger for a base, but even though it changes its appearance the strigan can't mimic its host perfectly I like the idea of it being able to but i thought i should restrict that for playable race and make its appearance imperfect. I'm not sure about language or speach at all at least not above an odd parroting, though initially I did want it to have some ability for infiltration.
Im not sure if it would be viable to gain any knowledge from it's host perhaps only temporarily losing any knowledge gained when the current host has deteriorated too far or it moves to a knew host, also if for any reason it leaves a host before they are deceased then they will regain cognitive awareness.
Their body while infected with strigan would show signs much like ringworm so if someone knows what to look for then they could spot it and try forcing the strigan from the host, though I'm honestly not sure at the moment how, the plant itself is small but can grow to the size of anything its consuming so I'm not sure what the actual size for the creature would be.
I think it should have any basic resistance that a plant in d&d would have, and since its a natural cycle of life creature I figure neutral alignment. I'm not sure how to setup racial traits or features I was thinkng certain spells perhaps that would be more natural like tangle or something that creates water or light as I think it should have the same requirements a regular plant would have for survivability.
I think armor would be natural? Any thoughts or suggestions would be deeply appreciated thank you
Hi, I'm fairly new to d&d I've only played twice but was toying with an idea that I thought would be interesting for rp especially if the rest of the party were unaware of the true nature of the creature.
I am not sure how to make it work stats wise. I'm calling it a strigan (from the witchweed striga bilabiata). The core concept is a plant that burrows into living things and takes control of their cognitive functions, then begins consuming them growing as it does so.
In appearance think of a leach with roots coming out of it. It replaces any body parts consumed, with new growth to appear similar to the creature its inhabiting. Once complete it finds a new host shedding its new growth and returning to the main root as it can not survive without a host.
It's something of a cross between actual plants and parasites. I want to be able to play this character so I'm placing restrictions on it, I'm not sure if it should gain any bonuses or negatives for different hosts.
I think it's going to have to be something of a cross between a druid and monk as it may not always be in a host capable of wielding weapons.
I'm thinking it moves to a new host with a stem that will protrude from host, typically within the mouth, and reproduction would happen from barbs that will protrude from its new growth limbs or small flowers that would drop seedlings to lie in wait for a host though they would have to find one soon for survival allowing the species to spread but thats more for npc.
I thought about using a doppleganger for a base, but even though it changes its appearance the strigan can't mimic its host perfectly I like the idea of it being able to but i thought i should restrict that for playable race and make its appearance imperfect. I'm not sure about language or speach at all at least not above an odd parroting, though initially I did want it to have some ability for infiltration.
Im not sure if it would be viable to gain any knowledge from it's host perhaps only temporarily losing any knowledge gained when the current host has deteriorated too far or it moves to a knew host, also if for any reason it leaves a host before they are deceased then they will regain cognitive awareness.
Their body while infected with strigan would show signs much like ringworm so if someone knows what to look for then they could spot it and try forcing the strigan from the host, though I'm honestly not sure at the moment how, the plant itself is small but can grow to the size of anything its consuming so I'm not sure what the actual size for the creature would be.
I think it should have any basic resistance that a plant in d&d would have, and since its a natural cycle of life creature I figure neutral alignment. I'm not sure how to setup racial traits or features I was thinkng certain spells perhaps that would be more natural like tangle or something that creates water or light as I think it should have the same requirements a regular plant would have for survivability.
I think armor would be natural? Any thoughts or suggestions would be deeply appreciated thank you