Brambleblight

Two long vines covered in sharp thorns protrude from what appears to be a massive rotting bundle of barbs that's topped with a heap of berry-red eyes.

Brambleblight (CR 7)

Large Plant
Alignment: Neutral
Initiative: +7
Senses: Darkvision 60 feet, Low-Light Vision, plantsense 120 feet; Perception +10
Aura: blight (40 feet, DC 19)

Speed: 20 feet
Space: 10 feet

Defense

Armor Class: 20, touch 12, flat-footed 17 (+3 Dex, +8 natural, -1 size)
Hit Points: 85 (10d8+40)
Saving Throws: Fort +11, Ref +6, Will +5
thorny
Immunity: plant traits

Offense

Melee: 2 slams +13 (2d6+7)
Reach: 10 feet
Ranged: 4 thorns +10 (1d6+7)

Special Attacks: animate brambles, rain of thorns

Statistics

Str	Dex	Con	Int	Wis	Cha
25 (+7)	16 (+3)	18 (+4)	6 (-2)	14 (+2)	8 (-1)

Base Attack Bonus: +7
CMB +15
CMD 28 (can't be tripped)

Feats: Combat Reflexes, Improved Initiative, Stand Still, Weapon Focus (thorns)

Skills: Perception +10, Stealth +7 (+19 in forests)

• Racial Modifiers: +12 Stealth in forests

Languages: Sylvan

Special Qualities: bramble infestation, improved woodland stride

Special Abilities

Animate Brambles (Su)

As a standard action, a brambleblight can animate any of the dead, thorny brambles created by its bramble infestation ability. For 1 minute, the animated bramble (see page 85) then attacks as though it were a Large animated object. The animated bramble is under the control of the brambleblight, which can change the animated bramble's target as a move action. The brambleblight can instead cause the brambles to entwine around creatures as if by the entangle spell (the brambles are considered to be covered in thorns). This effect lasts for 1 hour.

Blight Aura (Su)

A brambleblight radiates a palpable aura of rot and decay in a 40-foot radius. Living creatures entering the aura must succeed at a DC 19 Fortitude save or be sickened for 1 round. A creature of the animal, fey, or plant type that fails its save is nauseated for 1 round and sickened for 1 minute thereafter. If a creature succeeds at this saving throw, it is immune to this effect for 24 hours. In addition, any plant creature entering this aura takes 1d6 points of damage each round it is within the area (Fortitude DC 19 half). Creatures that are immune to disease are immune to this aura, and the resist nature's lure class feature applies to the aura's effects. The save DC is Constitution-based.

Bramble Infestation (Su)

A brambleblight can devastate its surroundings, creating an area of dead, thorny brambles. To do so, the brambleblight must root itself in the ground and remain motionless for 24 hours. Over the next day, all plants that are not creatures in a 40-foot radius around the brambleblight sprout thorny brambles, then wither and die. This infestation of brambles persists and nothing grows in this area for as long as the brambleblight remains in the area. If the brambleblight leaves the area, normal growth returns after 1 week.

Improved Woodland Stride (Ex)

A brambleblight can move through any sort of undergrowth (such as natural thorns, briars, overgrown areas, and similar terrain) at its normal speed without taking damage or suffering other impairments. However, it can also move without harm or impediment through thorns, briars, and overgrown areas that are magically manipulated to impede motion.

Plantsense (Ex)

A brambleblight can automatically pinpoint the location of anything within 120 feet that is in contact with vegetation.

Rain of Thorns (Ex)

With a snap of its thorny vines, a brambleblight can loose a volley of four thorns as a standard action (make an attack roll for each thorn). This attack has a range of 120 feet with no range increment. All targets must be within 30 feet of each other. A brambleblight can launch up to 36 thorns in any 24-hour period.

Thorny (Ex)

A brambleblight's surface is covered in a host of thorns. A creature that strikes a brambleblight with a natural weapon, a melee weapon without reach, or an unarmed strike takes 1d6 points of piercing damage. Creatures that grapple a brambleblight automatically take 1d6 points of piercing damage each round they maintain the grapple.

Ecology

Environment: Temperate or Warm Forests or Underground
Organization: solitary
Treasure: incidental


A stain on the land it infests, a brambleblight slowly alters its environment, infecting the local vegetation with sickness through its blight aura. When the native vegetation dies, the area becomes choked with slashing plants tangled together much like a giant briar patch. It is within this prickly terrain that the brambleblight dwells. Where most would find themselves at the mercy of the hungry barbs found within this thorn-filled region, the brambleblight traverses this area with ease. A brambleblight is a deviant thing of decay, a tangle of rotting vegetation rising in a roughly pyramidal heap, crowned with an asymmetrical cluster of berry-red eyes. Its main body resembles a bundle of fetid mulch with several thorn-covered branches spilling forth like the intestines of a gutted pig. These branches provide the plant with locomotion akin to that of a slithering serpent.

A brambleblight typically covers an area about 10 feet in diameter. From the creature's base to its crown of crimson eyes, it piles upon itself to a height of no more than 10 feet. A brambleblight weighs about 500 pounds.

Ecology

Brambleblights are not native to Golarion. They're believed by some scholars to be a terrible amalgamation of elements from the First World whose sole purpose is to spread decay and rot. The brambleblight attacks with its two primary vines, both covered in thousands of pricking barbs that shred exposed flesh. While the creature prefers to savor the decay of those who close in and succumb to its blight aura, it does have the means to defeat enemies who keep a safe distance. Besides the ability to fling dagger-sized thorns, the plant can also control the many barbed branches that make up its briar patch. While the brambleblight can animate only one branch at a time, that branch attacks independently until either it is destroyed, the brambleblight is slain, or the brambleblight moves out of controlling range.

Thankfully, brambleblights are not long-lived creatures. Brambleblights tend to live no longer than 5 years; if they survive long enough to reach this age, they attempt to spread up to a dozen seeds in the hope that at least a few of them take root and grow to maturity. The last 6 months of a brambleblight's life are spent feeding on as much prey as possible in order to store up the energy needed to form seeds. These seeds grow along a specialized tendril that allows the brambleblight to fling its seeds hundreds of feet away in a manner similar to its rain of thorns special attack, though with a much greater range. A brambleblight dies shortly after releasing its seeds.

Habitat & Society

While brambleblights prosper in the mutable realm of the First World where they originated, they fare well in only a few environments on the Material Plane. They seem to shun brightly lit places and thrive in dim and dank locations such as deep forests, where the thick canopy shields the forest floor from the sun's rays. They also tend to lair near caves and other underground locations. They are rarely found in open plains or forests with thin canopies because these areas tend to spend long periods exposed to sunlight.

Brambleblights have no interest in others of their kind, and they must continually maintain their altered environments. They are thus reluctant to move to a new area unless their current location is completely depleted of prey. If a brambleblight uproots itself and moves on to another area, the region it blighted soon returns to its previous state. Likewise, when a brambleblight is killed, its tended patch withers and dies within days, eventually giving way once again to native vegetation.