Blood LilyHundreds of long but thin blood-red petals form a spherical shape atop the central stem of this plant monster. A pair of stout vine-like appendages sprout from either side of its central mass.Blood Lily CR 10Source Pathfinder #124: City in the Deep pg. 84
XP 9,600
N Large plant (aquatic)
Init +4; Senses low-light vision, tremorsense 60 ft.; Perception +8DefenseAC 25, touch 13, flat-footed 21 (+4 Dex, +12 natural, –1 size)
hp 120 (16d8+48)
Fort +13, Ref +9, Will +3
Defensive Abilities camouflage; Immune plant traitsOffenseSpeed 30 ft., swim 30 ft.
Melee 2 slams +16 (2d6+4 plus poison and trip)
Ranged 4 petal spikes +16 (1d8/19–20 plus bleed)
Space 10 ft., Reach 10 ft. (20 ft. with slam)
Special Attacks bleed (1d8), petal spikes, poison, tripStatisticsStr 18, Dex 19, Con 16, Int 2, Wis 7, Cha 9
Base Atk +12; CMB +17; CMD 31
Feats Ability Focus (poison), Combat Reflexes, Improved Critical (petal spike), Point-Blank Shot, Power Attack, Precise Shot, Weapon Focus (petal spike), Weapon Focus (slam)
Skills Perception +8, Stealth +12 (+20 when among vegetation), Swim +12; Racial Modifiers +8 Stealth when among vegetation
SQ amphibiousEcologyEnvironment warm coastlines or underwater
Organization solitary or pod (2-5)
Treasure incidentalSpecial AbilitiesCamouflage (Ex) A blood lily can contract its distinctive scarlet spikes into a small bundle. By hiding the bundle within its vines, the blood lily can easily pass as an ordinary plant. This ability grants the blood lily a +8 racial bonus on Stealth checks when among vegetation.
Petal Spikes (Ex) A blood lily’s petals are razor sharp, and as a standard action, the plant can launch up to four petals as a ranged attack (with a separate attack roll for each petal). This attack has a range of 180 feet with no range increment; the range is halved underwater. All targets must be within 30 feet of each other. The blood lily can launch only 16 spikes in any 24-hour period.
Poison (Ex) Slam—injury; save Fort DC 23; frequency 1/round for 6 rounds; effect 1d4 Con damage and sickened; cure 2 consecutive saves. A blood lily’s poison causes the victim to bleed copiously from its pores. Each time the victim fails its save against the blood lily’s poison, it becomes sickened as blood coats its entire body and trickles into its mouth. The save DC is Constitution-based.DescriptionMany an unsuspecting victim has been lured to a blood lily by its large radiant blossom—a ball of scarlet spikes reminiscent of a sea urchin. Those who live near blood lilies know to be wary of the plants, but as nonanimate blood lilies also grow in such areas, it can be difficult to tell the dangerous plants from the inert ones. To complicate matters, blood lilies have learned to hide their scarlet petals when hunting. A favorite trick of these plants is to disguise themselves next to ordinary blood lilies, using their harmless kin as a distraction. When travelers pass by, the predatory blood lilies then attack from concealment.
Blood lilies commonly grow in tropical areas near coastlines, where they hunt both in and out of the water. Fish and other aquatic creatures are drawn to the blood lily’s brilliant petals, sometimes mistaking them for colorful tropical fish. Blood lilies can slaughter and consume dozens of small fish in under a minute if a school draws close enough. Though blood lilies devour such prey whole, the masticating action of the edges of a blood lily’s digestive orifice leaves clouds of blood in the water. Their blossoms also attract giant insects, which can be dangerous and damaging to the plant creatures. Blood lilies can easily defend against most of these vermin, but they almost never eat insects, preferring warm-blooded prey above all others.
Blood lilies have an animalistic cunning and can use surprisingly sophisticated tactics for plants. Blood lilies that grow near the settlements of intelligent creatures (such as humans on land or merfolk underwater) keep their petals hidden and hide among other plants to better ambush their prey. When they grow in remote areas far from any settlements, they keep their petals exposed to draw in animals. Blood lilies remember the location of fertile hunting grounds and adapt their tactics based on the prey they seek. Surprisingly mobile, they sometimes travel long distances to hunt and feed at these fertile locations. A few naturalists have recorded rare blood lilies that never remain in the same area for long, roaming far and wide until they mature enough to enter a transformative hibernation.
A blood lily is composed of a thick trunk plated with extremely tough but flexible green bark. An orifice lined with large thorns splits the trunk about halfway up its length. The blood lily uses this opening to devour its prey. Potent acids inside the creature’s trunk dissolve fleshy organic matter quickly, allowing the lily to eat much more than would seem possible given its size.
A lily’s vines are covered in the same hard bark as its trunk, and the vines are lined with tiny thorns that seep poison. The blood lily gets its name not only from their vivid coloring but also from the disturbing effects of their toxin. Creatures affected by a blood lily’s poison bleed from their pores, coating their skin in a light sheen of crimson. The blood lily focuses its attacks on bleeding victims, assuming they have been weakened by its toxin. However, a blood lily cannot distinguish between a creature bleeding from the blood lily’s poison and one bleeding from a wound. Individuals traveling in areas where blood lilies are common sometimes carry bladders of animal blood to splash nearby during combat, confusing any blood lilies as they attack.
Though most blood lilies live and hunt alone, they occasionally come together to form small pods. In particularly rich hunting grounds where the lilies don’t have to compete for prey, they work together in pods to bring down victims. Pods are adept at felling large creatures or groups of smaller creatures by working in tandem. Though a pod’s tactics are simple, it can take on even dangerous creatures. The blood lilies in a pod spread out and conceal their petals until their target is in range, and then they all unleash their petal barrages at once. The nearest lily then moves to attack with its vine lash while the other lilies continue to fire petal spikes until they deplete their reserves. All lilies then move in to finish off their victim with vine lashes.
Blood lilies reproduce asexually. Once a lily matures, it begins to grow a small bulb-like structure called a bulbil near the base of its stem, protected by its foliage. The bulbil takes 12 to 18 months to mature, at which point it drops off the parent plant and grows into a mature blood lily within a year. If released on land, a bulbil takes root in the soil, from which it draws sustenance; if released underwater, it drifts with the currents, drawing sustenance from the water as it grows. Blood lilies don’t protect their released bulbils; many are consumed by predators, and in areas where hunting is poor, adult blood lilies might even consume their own immature sprouts. If a sprout reaches maturity, it gains the ability to move under its own power and begins to hunt.
Mature blood lilies can live for decades if hunting remains good and they aren’t killed by other predators. A blood lily that survives for at least 10 years sometimes enters a hibernation phase during which its petals fall off and its vines wrap around its trunk, forming a cocoon-like structure. After a season of dormancy, the blood lily sprouts larger, darker petals that carry the same toxin as the thorns in its vines. The blood lily’s vines undergo a growth spurt, gaining an extra 5 feet in length. These blood lilies are hardier than their lesser kin and can challenge even the deadliest predators. They have the advanced creature simple template, they add their poison to attacks with their petal spikes, and their reach with slam attacks increases by 5 feet.
|