False body. When the bone-hoarder weed runs out of hit points, its skeletal body is destroyed, exposing the weed. The plant itself has 5 hit points and a walking speed of 5 feet, and can only use its vine whip attacks. When it loses its skeletal frame, it gains a vulnerability to slashing damage and loses its vulnerability to bludgeoning damage.
Strangler. The bone-hoarder weed can grapple up to three creatures size medium or smaller without penalty.
Multiattack. The bone-hoarder weed makes two attacks, one with its shortsword and one with its vines.
Shortsword. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 5 (1d6 + 2) piercing damage.
Vine Whip. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 5 (1d6 + 2) bludgeoning damage. Additionally, the target must make a DC 13 Strength saving throw or be grappled by the bone-hoarder weed.
Description
Bone-hoarder weeds are born from large patches of strangler vines that grow in areas rich in dark magic. They common in areas controlled by creatures such as blights, or in areas where necromantic energies are strong enough to the point that common undead spontaneously come to life. Their birth may also be the side effect of casting an extremely powerful necromantic spell in an area rich with strangler vines. Due to this, they ignored by the undead as well as by creatures such as the blights, and the weeds ignore them in turn.
Hideous Collectors. Bone-hoarder weeds seek out corpses, often preferably that of humanoids. They then latch onto the corpse, their roots digging into the body, extracting water and nutrients as it carves out the bones. The surprisingly strong vines then make small cracks in the bones, the roots digging in to form attachment points and to feed off of the marrow. Once the weed obtains enough bones, it forms itself into a roughly humaniod shape and sprouts strange, glowing flowers that react to the sight of humaniod shapes, shambling forward in a mockery of the creature it seeks to emulate, hungry for flesh to feed on and for bones to add to its collection.
Bone-Hoarder Hulks. As a bone-hoarder weed grows, it adds more and more bones to its body to support its mass. Eventually, in order to help hold its frame together, it forces smaller and weaker weeds to join its body, the creatures fusing into one larger organism. As it does, it begins to seek out the bones of larger and larger humaniods, eventually specifically going after the bones of creatures like ogres and minotaurs. Eventually, it reaches a point were it can no longer add to its mass without its body collapsing. At that point, it loses interest in adding new bones to its body, and becomes more aggressive in seeking out more food in order to feed its enormous body. These bloated horrors are referred to as bone-hoarder hulks.
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