ZygomindThis enormous fungus looks like a cage, and a strange glow
emanates from within.Zygomind CR 18Source Bestiary 5 pg. 286
XP 153,600
N Colossal plant
Init +7; Senses blindsight 100 ft., low-light vision; Perception +7
Aura fascinating aura (300 ft., DC 36, 10 rounds), stench (100 ft.,
DC 29, 2d4 rounds)DefenseAC 24, touch 9, flat-footed 17 (+7 Dex, +15 natural, –8 size)
hp 266 (28d8+140); fast healing 20
Fort +21, Ref +16, Will +16
Defensive Abilities all-around vision; DR 20/magic and
slashing; Immune plant traits; SR 29OffenseSpeed 5 ft., climb 5 ft.
Melee 4 tentacles +23 (2d8+10 plus grab and soporific spores)
Space 30 ft., Reach 30 ft. (50 ft. with tentacles)
Special Attacks constrict (2d8+10), create undead, entrap
(DC 29 plus soporific spores, 1d10 rounds, hardness 5, hp 10),
seamless reality, soporific spores
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 18th; concentration +30)
At will—greater create mindscapeStatisticsStr 31, Dex 25, Con 20, Int —, Wis 24, Cha 35
Base Atk +21; CMB +39 (+43 grapple); CMD 56 (can’t be tripped)
Skills Climb +18
SQ spore explosionEcologyEnvironment any temperate
Organization solitary
Treasure none or incidentalSpecial AbilitiesCreate Undead (Su) A helpless body lying prone in a
zygomind’s space takes 1 point of Constitution drain each
day. A body that dies in this way rises as a mindless,
corporeal undead (typically a skeleton or a zombie). Undead
created by the zygomind wander forth from the plant,
carrying its insidious mindscape within them. Their slam,
claw, and bite attacks gain the zygomind’s soporific spores
ability, and any creature that falls prey to the mindscape
is compelled to walk toward the zygomind, regardless of
its distance away. Undead retain this connection as long
as they remain within 10 miles of the zygomind. Undead
beyond 10 miles of the zygomind become free-willed
undead, losing their connection to the mindscape and the
soporific spores ability.
Fascinating Aura (Su) Creatures within 300 feet of a zygomind
must succeed at a DC 36 Will save each round or become
fascinated by the plant’s soothing mental commands. Since
in most cases a known zygomind is an obvious threat (thus
breaking the fascinated effect), this ability mainly assists an
undetected zygomind, though even creatures who know of
the zygomind’s threat are still exposed to the zygomind’s
seamless reality ability if they fail the saving throw. The save
DC is Charisma-based.
Seamless Reality (Su) Any creature that enters a zygomind’s
space, fails its save against the zygomind’s fascinating aura,
or is subjected to the zygomind’s soporific spores must
succeed at a DC 29 Will save or be sucked into the zygomind’s
mindscape. The zygomind’s
mindscape is veiled and harmful, and time moves quickly for
creatures inside it. It otherwise acts in all ways as the plane
from which the affected creature entered the mindscape.
Unlike the bodies of creatures whose consciousnesses are
stuck in other mindscapes, the bodies of creatures whose
minds are stuck in a zygomind’s mindscape are able to move;
they invariably approach the zygomind at rate of 5 feet per
round. Once within the zygomind’s space, the victims lie
prone, allowing the zygomind to slowly absorb the bodies’
nutrients as their minds wander a false reality. A creature
caught in the zygomind’s fascinating aura must succeed at a
saving throw to avoid entering the mindscape each round it
remains fascinated. A creature is not aware that it has entered
the mindscape. The save DC is Constitution-based.
Soporific Spores (Ex) A creature that comes into physical
contact with a zygomind must succeed at a DC 29 Will save
or fall asleep for 1d4 days. Such creatures take a –5 penalty
on saves and checks to realize they are in the zygomind’s
mindscape. Creatures that succeed at their saves are immune
to the zygomind’s soporific spores for 24 hours. The save DC
is Constitution-based.
Spore Explosion (Su) When a zygomind is destroyed, it
explodes in a cloud of ethereal spores that typically find their
way back into space, sometimes floating along the solar
winds for thousands of years before gravitating back toward
a new bastion of intelligent life.DescriptionCivilizations across the Material Plane fear many
disasters—hurricanes, earthquakes, plagues, and more—
but few things spell doom for a settlement with such
insidious certainty as a flourishing zygomind. These
massive fungi float through space as ethereal spores,
spreading their cloying mycelia wherever creatures of
intelligence thrive. The presence of a young zygomind is
at first innocuous and difficult to detect, as animals and
other creatures of low intelligence begin to disappear.
Eventually, more intelligent creatures track their prey
to the site and become lost themselves, wandering back
toward civilization days or even weeks later as infected
undead, dominated with the instinct to bring ever-greater
intellects into the zygomind’s power. Over the
course of only a few months, a growing zygomind can
decimate a small city, rapidly accelerating its growth into
a 500-foot monstrosity.
By the time a zygomind becomes visible above the
treeline, it is likely too late for the intelligent life of the
region; the zygomind’s insidious psychic trap defeats any
resistance that most such creatures can mount. Frequently,
those investigating the zygomind slip seamlessly into
an alternate reality without realizing that they’ve fallen
under the power of the very thing they sought to destroy. A
zygomind’s mindscape only becomes more convincing as
it subtly enslaves more and more minds—the fungus can
reconstruct whole cities, even as the real-world inhabitants
of those settlements proceed somnambulistically into
the zygomind. Entire armies have marched upon mature
zygominds, intent on ridding the region of the scourge,
only to halt their assault mid-charge and plod calmly, rank
by rank, into the zygomind’s physical and psychic grasp.
The cruel irony of the plant’s trap is that these soldiers
likely live the rest of their lives believing themselves
victorious, forming memories of defeating the insidious
fungus, returning home to their loving families, and
eventually dying after a long and productive life, while
in the real world the zygomind’s mycelium sucks the
nutrients from their helpless bodies and transforms them
into undead minions.
The wide-ranging habits of a zygomind’s minions
make the fungi relatively easy to track for those who
know of the obscure creatures. Stories of zombies or
other virulent undead can sometimes point toward a
zygomind’s influence, especially if the undead’s victims
tend to wander off in a certain direction after infection.
A particularly dedicated adventurer could follow one of
these enthralled creatures for the entire journey back to
the fungus, though the pace the victim sets often proves
excruciatingly slow to all but the most patient individuals.
Subtler clues could hint at a zygomind’s influence as well,
such as a sudden rash of sleepwalking in a nearby town or
whispered rumors about a logging camp whose workers
all disappeared into the forest together without a word.
Those with the wherewithal to follow the clues to
the zygomind invariably encounter a horde of slowly
shuffling, mindscape-bound victims on their way to offer
themselves to the fungus. Attempting to shake these
victims out of their torpor produces no effect, and
forcibly restraining them is a temporary solution
at best. Occasionally, certain brave or foolhardy
adventurers submit themselves willingly to a
zygomind’s mindscape, hoping to free the minds
of those trapped within. This is a path fraught
with peril, though, for the adventurers’ bodies
approach the zygomind at the same rate, and the
adventurers’ consciousnesses face the monumental
challenge of trying to prove to a city of people that their
world is a false construction. Powerful psychic spellcasters
have had some luck helping victims escape by using spells
such as mindscape door, but such forcible egress from
the zygomind’s mindscape draws the attention of the
zygomind itself, and it lashes out instinctively at these
psychic invaders.
Depending on how long a zygomind has infested an
area, a creature who is able to avoid being trapped in the
mindscape could find a veritable hoard of weapons, armor,
and magic items within the cage of its body, discarded as
the bodies that brought them withered away, then rose
as undead. Of course, a canny adventurer must always
be aware that the discovery of such a trove within the
fungus could simply be one more illusion imposed by the
zygomind’s mindscape. Once a creature has had contact
with a zygomind, it can never again truly be certain that
the world it inhabits is the real one without the aid of
powerful psychic magic or of those familiar with the logic
and perils of mindscapes—yet even then, the zygomind
smoothly creates the illusions of such individuals and
abilities to reassure victims that they are indeed free.
When fully grown, a zygomind can reach a height of
500 feet, and its mycelium can stretch for 10 miles in all
directions, comprising hundreds of tons of biomass. The
main cage is usually 25–40 feet in diameter and weighs
around 40,000 pounds.
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