Garbage monster?

[teaman]

Can folks help me write up a garbage monster? I envision a sorta-plant like critter that lives in a dark pit. The troll who lives in the cave throws it some bones and scraps from time to time.

I'm envisioned something about 3 HD. Maybe instead of attacks, the PC's have to make saves? Or is there an existing monster I can hack that may work?

Thanks in advance

[Solomoriah]

Sounds like a shambling mound.

dandwiki.com has the SRD text here: http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/SRD:Shambling_Mound

You asked for 3 hit dice. A normal Shambling Mound in the SRD has 5, so we'll call ours a "Lesser" Shambling Mound. The SRD gives an AC of 20; I'll soften this monster up a bit, though... 19 seems good enough for a lesser version. The full-sized monster has two attacks per round doing 2d6+5 each, but SRD monsters are overpowered in this area, so we'll drop that to 2d4 points of damage per attack. This is a slow-moving monster, so we'll give it 20' (half an unarmored human). Number appearing I'll just make up, and we'll apply the standard saving throws. Morale isn't given, so we'll just throw in a reasonable number. Treasure type C is a smaller type with a low value... seems appropriate to a monster living in garbage.

The SRD descriptive text isn't all that bad, so I'll just borrow it wholesale, and then we'll adapt the special abilities. Here's my final version:

Shambling Mound, Lesser
Armor Class: 19
Hit Dice: 3**
No. of Attacks: 2
Damage: 2d4/2d4
Movement: 20'
No. Appearing: 1d4
Save As: Fighter: 3
Morale: 9
Treasure Type: C
XP: 205

Shambling mounds, also called shamblers, appear to be heaps of rotting vegetation. They are actually intelligent, carnivorous plants. A shambler’s brain and sensory organs are located in its upper body. A shambler’s body is about 6 feet tall when the creature stands erect. It weighs about 500 pounds.

Shamblers are immune to lightning, and in fact gain a hit die each time they are attacked by lightning, up to a maximum 3 additional hit dice; these hit dice are lost at a rate of one per hour, while hit points granted in this way are used first when the monster is attacked. Further, they are resistant to both cold and fire, suffering no damage on a successful saving throw, or half damage if the save fails.

If a Shambler hits with both its attacks against the same creature, that creature is engulfed by the monster. The victim can no longer attack or cast spells, and suffers 1d6 points of damage each round due to suffocation. A shambler can only engulf creatures of man-size or smaller, and may only engulf one such creature at a time; the shambler will expel any such creature from its body 1d4 rounds after the victim dies. Attacks against a shambler which has engulfed a victim require a saving throw vs. Death Ray for the victim each time the monster is hit; if the save fails, the victim suffers half (rounded down) of the damage done to the monster (which still takes full damage). The victim does benefit from the monster's resistance to fire or cold, but takes full damage from lightning attacks.

[teaman]

Thanks Solo! Nice adjustment of the Shambling Mound. I copied and pasted so I can make any other tweaks I need.

[dymondy2k]

I'm seeing Luke Skywalker yelling at R2 to shut down all the garbage mashers on the detention level...

[teaman]

I am too, but maybe on a smaller scale.

"Shut them all down!"

[LordHawk]

I just remembered something from my AD&D days, something called a Mud man. Running water eroded magical structures, the water dissolves some of the magic, the water forms a pool, the water evaporates leaving concentrated magic mud, that forms a mud man, maybe a garbage monster can form the same way?

[Solomoriah]

Heh. The monster that arises in the midden of the alchemist (where he throws away waste materials, failed experiments, etc.)

I've done that one before, but not recently... may be time to revisit.

[teaman]

I like the idea of the mudmen or something similar. I have the boogen already for tonight, but can definitely use a mudman type sometime in the VERY near future.

The witch has been dumping her stuff out back, good foreshadowing and a fun monster to fight.