Creature Feature (Starfinder): Green Stump

Green Stump CR 15

Corrupted sap drips from the bark of this vast blackened stump as thorny roots claw out of the soil.

CN Huge plant
Initiative -3; Senses low-light vision; Perception +26
Aura aggressive growth (50 ft., DC 23)

DEFENSE HP 235

EAC 28; KAC 29
Fort +15; Ref +13; Will +18
DR 10/slashing and magic
Immunities plant immunities
Vulnerabilities fire
Defensive Abilities ironwood

OFFENSE

Speed 5 ft.
Melee slam +24 (5d8+20 Bl, critical stun)
Multiattack 4 root tendrils +22 (3d10+10 Sl)
Ranged sap +24 (6d6+15 Bl, range 150 ft., critical slow for 1 round)
Space 15 ft.; Reach 15 ft. 
Offensive Abilities outgrowth, green caller
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 15th)

Constantcommune with nature
At-willclairaudience/clairvoyance, suggestion, summon creature 3
3/day—control atmosphere, hold monster, summon creature 4, discern lies
1/day summon creature 5, dominate person (DC 20)

STATISTICS

Str +5; Dex -3; Con +2; Int +7; Wis +9; Cha +1
Skills Life Science +31, Sense Motive +26, Survival +31
Languages Sylvan (cannot speak)
Other Abilities reclamation

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Aggressive Growth Aura (Su)

A green stump’s presence magnifies the growth of plants in a large area, but the effect is supercharged in its immediate vicinity, causing thorny vines and roots to grow over living creatures. While within 50 feet of a green stump, any creature touching the ground at the beginning of the green stump’s turn must make a DC 23 Reflex save. On a failure, a creature takes 2d6 slashing damage, has its movement speed halved, and cannot leave the ground such as through flight or jumping. A creature that passes this save takes half damage and suffers none of the other effects.

Green Caller (Su)

A green stump can summon various creatures tied to its woody domain, though their forms may vary. When a green stump summons a creature or creatures using its summon monster spell-like abilities the summoned creatures always have the plant-like trait added to their stats.

Ironwood (Ex)

A green stump is incredibly resilient despite its nearly immobile nature. When saving against any effect meant specifically to harm plants, such as chemical herbicides or plant-blighting spells, a green stump may roll twice and take the better of its two rolls.

Outgrowth (Su)

Though a green stump must remain immobile in order to best carry out its work, it is capable of exerting its influence through nodes grown from a subterranean root network. A green stump can take a full round action to create an outgrowth node anywhere within the range of its reclamation ability. This node takes the appearance of a tree of a kind that would naturally appear in the area save that it has black bark. This tree is Large, has a KAC of 24, an EAC of 23, and 75 hit points. A green stump can perceive through an outgrowth node using all of its senses and use it as an origin point for any of its attacks or spells. A green stump may only have one outgrowth node of every 3 of its CR (5 for a normal green stump). After an outgrowth node has been in place for at least 24 hours the green stump may destroy it as a reaction in order to create a new outgrowth node at a different location.

Reclamation (Su)

The land around a green stump is supernaturally fertile. In a five-mile radius around a green stump all plants grow twice as fast and in a one-mile radius, all plant-filled terrain becomes difficult terrain. A green stump must not move for 24 hours in order to root itself and apply this effect. If the stump moves from this position the effect will fade after 48 hours unless it reroots itself in the same area. Every year a green stump remains rooted in the outer radius of its reclamation expands by one mile. After every fifth year, the green stump increases its CR by 1 with the according statistic and ability increases, with the range of its difficult terrain radius increasing by 1 mile and the duration of its reclamation after its movement increasing by 24 hours. These increases to the size of its reclamation may stack indefinitely, but its CR may not increase higher than 20 unless under the influence of outside forces. Should the green stump move after this point it loses the bonuses to the size of its reclamation ability but maintains its CR increase. It may keep the bonuses to its reclamation size if it reroots within the area before the effect fades.

ECOLOGY

Environment any wooded
Organization single

Colonization and expansion are a necessary part of developing civilizations. Acres of forests are felled and mountains ground down to make way for the cities and fields that nations need to function. Most of the time such actions are carried out entirely without repercussion, and those who do offend the spirits of nature typically rouse anything that can’t be taken care of with enough bullets. However, when massive forests are wiped out in short order by those who seek to expand civilization into the now-empty land, something known as a green stump may appear.

Green stumps are personifications of the vengeance of forests. They appear as the stumps of massive trees, fifteen foot in diameter and five feet high. They appear as if they belonged to a particularly large type of tree found in the region, save that their bark and wood appear pitch black. Their thick bark is marred by sympathetic markings that mirror injuries dealt to trees within the region that created the green stump, usually the marks of axes and chainsaws but also things like carved graffiti and burn scars.

Green stumps are incredibly resilient beings as they contain within themselves the power of entire forests worth of trees. Herbicides and blighting magic do little to them, but sufficiently enchanted blades may carve through their wood as easily as an ordinary tree and they remain as flammable as any plant. Despite this durability, or perhaps because of their easily exploited weaknesses, green stumps do not appear themselves to carry out their work. Instead, they take root far enough away from a settlement that their reclamation barely reaches the end and wait. Their incredible lifespans mean they can afford to wait long periods of time for their reclamation aura to simply expand over and engulf the entire settlement. The supernatural plant growth would simply be annoying, or perhaps even profitable, if not for the fact that plant creatures and natural animals of the region find themselves irresistibly drawn to the area. What may once have seemed like a boon of rapidly growing crops soon gives way to swarms of pests and regular attacks by predators. Green stumps actively combat attempts to fight off these incursions, using their summon creature spells to create their own minions and their charm spells to turn opponents or more effectively guide the natural predators. Defenders and hunters soon find themselves at the mercy of coordinated and intelligent attacks that harry, distract, and misdirect, preying on the weakest elements to break apart plans before ruthlessly taking advantage of any new weaknesses. Its outgrowth proves invaluable for these efforts, allowing it to keep account of much larger areas of wilderness than it otherwise would. Oftentimes when its opponents are proving too competent, it will prevent one such outgrowth to act as a scapegoat, then cease its attacks after the dummy’s destruction for a time so as to trick others into believing they have dealt with the threat. If a population cannot root out a green stump before its influence grows too vast, they are often left no choice but to abandon the settlement. Attempts to resettle failed colonies are often dissuaded due to such stories, as a green stump that drove off a settlement will only be more powerful when it comes time to fight off new invaders.

Green stumps are merciless creatures, though not sadistic ones. They perceive all life within civilization to be an enemy, regardless of gender, age, or species, which means that everyone is a viable target for its aggression. It is still aware of the values of “meatfolk” however and will take advantage of this to threaten children if it believes such an action would convince its enemies to back off. Other times it will instead present itself as a benevolent nature being that is merely trying to protect its realm. Regardless of whether it acts like a lesser nature god, a loving guardian, or a cruel avenger, a green stump is a ruthlessly intelligent being that will do anything it takes to evict the scourge of civilization from its lands. 



About nwright

A freelance writer for the Open Gaming website who looks forward to building plots out of monster entries for you to enjoy as a player or DM.

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