Page 150 - Lords of Madness: The Book of Aberrations

Skills: Disguise –5 (+15 imitating beholders), Search +4, Infestation (Ex): Any living nonplant creature that is
Spot +4 damaged by a gas spore’s slam attack or its death throes must
Feats: — immediately succeed on a DC 12 Fortitude save or become
Environment: Cold hills infested with spores. An infested creature takes 1d4 points
Organization: Solitary, pair, or cluster (3–6) of Constitution damage upon becoming infested and an
Challenge Rating: 3 additional 1d4 points of Constitution damage every hour that

Treasure: Spores; see text follows as the spores rapidly grow and consume flesh. The save
Alignment: Always neutral DC is Constitution-based.
Advancement: — These spores are similar to poison, and anything
Level Adjustment: — that delays, neutralizes, or prevents poisoning
has a similar effect on the spores. Creatures
A bulbous body fl oats toward you. It has a central, immune to extra damage from critical hits MONSTERS CHAPTER 8
unblinking eye, and a large maw fi lled or immune to poison are NEW
with daggerlike teeth. Smaller eyes, immune to a gas spore’s
attached to wriggling stalks, infestation.
sprout from the top of the orb- When the victim’s Con-
like body. stitution is reduced to 0,
it dies. Its body immediately
The gas spore is a highly dissolves into a formless mush
specialized form of plant that transforms into 1d4 Small
life originally created by gas spores over the course
ancient beholder mages. Since of 1 minute. Each Small gas
then, these prolific creatures spore has 1 Hit Die. These gas spores

have spread far and wide. grow rapidly, gaining 1 Hit Die per
While a gas spore minute until they reach their
resembles a beholder maximum size (10 Hit Dice).
in appearance, it is Beholders, beholderkin, and Illus. by D. Crabapple
in fact a form creatures with beholder grafts
of fungus. are immune to gas spore infesta-
The creature tion, and gas spores know

is hollow, filled with a intrinsically to ignore
large volume of spores such creatures.

under terrific pressure. All-Around
A gas spore is typically about 8 feet Vision (Ex): A gas spore
across but weighs only 50 pounds. Gas spore can see in all directions at once.
Because of this, it gains a +4 racial bonus
COMBAT on Search and Spot checks, and it cannot be flanked.

Gas spores are mindless, but far from harmless. When they Beholder Camouflage (Ex): A gas spore’s appearance is so
sense a nearby creature, they immediately approach and clever that it gains a +20 racial bonus on Disguise checks to
attempt to infest the creature with spores. A gas spore attacks appear as a beholder.
by slamming into a creature with its body. Upon contacting a Flight (Ex): A gas spore’s body is naturally buoyant. This

target, thousands of tiny filaments lash at the creature’s flesh buoyancy allows it to fly at a speed of 20 feet. This buoyancy
and infest it with spores. As mindless creatures, gas spores also grants it a permanent feather fall effect (as the spell) with
pursue their selected target relentlessly until slain or until personal range.
the target escapes beyond their range of sight. Even then, a
gas spore continues to drift lazily in the direction it last saw HARVESTING GAS SPORES
its target. A typical gas spore yields 1d4 doses of usable gas spore powder
Death Throes (Ex): A gas spore reduced to 0 or fewer hit with a DC 20 Craft (alchemy) check; failure by 5 or more
points immediately explodes in a powerful burst of spores and results in the gas spore’s explosion and the destruction of its
foul-smelling gas. This blast affects all creatures in a 10-foot supply of spores (and possible infestation of the harvester).
radius, dealing them 6d6 points of sonic damage and exposing Gas spore powder is a dangerous poison that costs 500 gp per
them to the spores (see Infestation, below). A DC 10 Reflex save dose. Anyone who dies of this poison quickly deteriorates into

halves the damage. The save DC is Constitution-based. The 1d4 Small gas spores as detailed above under the creature’s
spores are dispersed in this explosion and cannot be harvested infestation attack.
thereafter. Poison (Ex): Contact, Fortitude DC 12, initial and secondary
damage 1d4 Con.
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