Corpse Lotus

Planted in soil fertilized with corpses, this giant, blood-red flower writhes with prickly vines.

Corpse Lotus (CR 13)

Huge Plant
Alignment: Neutral
Initiative: +2
Senses: Darkvision 60 feet, Low-Light Vision, Tremorsense 30 feet; Perception +21
Aura: preserving mists (30 feet)

Speed: 0 feet
Space: 15 feet

Defense

Armor Class: 25, touch 10, flat-footed 23 (+2 Dex, +15 natural, -2 size)
Hit Points: 178 (17d8+102)
Saving Throws: Fort +16, Ref +7, Will +6
All-Around Vision
Damage Reduction: 10/slashing
Immunity: plant traits
Energy Resistance: acid 10, electricity 10

Offense

Melee: 4 vines +20 (1d8+10 plus Grab)
Reach: 25 feet

Special Attacks: Swallow Whole (4d6 acid damage, AC 17, 17 hp)

Statistics

Str	Dex	Con	Int	Wis	Cha
30 (+10)	15 (+2)	23 (+6)	2 (-4)	13 (+1)	14 (+2)

Base Attack Bonus: +12
CMB +24 (+26 Bull Rush)
CMD 36 (38 vs. Bull Rush, can't be tripped)

Feats: Awesome Blow, Blind-Fight, Cleave, Combat Reflexes, Great Cleave, Powerful Maneuvers, Improved Vital Strike, Vital Strike

Skills: Perception +21

Languages:

Special Qualities: camouflage, digest corpse, preserving mists

Special Abilities

Camouflage (Ex)

A corpse lotus can blend in exceptionally well with vegetated areas when not taking any actions. A creature must make a successful DC 20 Perception check to recognize a corpse lotus for what it is before the corpse lotus attacks the first time.

Digest Corpse (Su)

A corpse lotus can consume a corpse to quickly heal damage it has taken. As a standard action, a corpse lotus can swallow any corpse (but not a skeleton) within reach to grant itself fast healing 5 for 1 minute. Any creature killed by a corpse lotus's swallow whole ability automatically triggers this ability. A corpse lotus must wait until 1 minute after its fast healing has ended before it can use this ability again.

Preserving Mists (Su)

Corpse lotuses emanate a fine mist that spreads across the ground to a range of 30 feet. Any corpse within this area is affected as if by gentle repose.

Vines (Ex)

A corpse lotus's vines are primary natural attacks with the grab ability. A corpse lotus doesn't gain the grappled condition when grappling enemies with its vines

Ecology

Environment: Temperate Forests or Marshes
Organization: solitary
Treasure: incidental


A corpse lotus begins life as a small flowering plant that blooms near carrion, but given enough time, it can grow into an incredibly large and dangerous monstrosity. This terrifying plant possesses grasping vines capable of pummeling opponents before dragging them toward its beaklike maw. Always found where prey or corpses are abundant, corpse lotuses have been known to grow in dungeons, ruins, and battlefields in addition to more typical wooded locales. Every corpse lotus has a single bulbous flower in its center, similar in shape to a lotus flower. The blossom's dark petals are streaked with blood-red pigment, and hide an acidic maw in their center. Corpse lotuses in different regions tend to resemble the dominant plant species in the surrounding area (with the exception of its distinct petals), thus granting the plants natural camouflage and enabling them to hide among the foliage. Their vines are thick and convulse violently when grasping at potential prey. Corpse lotuses gain their name from the garden of dead bodies that frequently surrounds the plant—typically animals or humanoids that strayed too close to the lotus. At rest, a corpse lotus can reach 8 feet in height and splay its leaves nearly 15 feet around.

Ecology Despite being rooted in the ground, corpse lotuses are dangerous predators. While they derive sustenance from sunlight and water, their favored food is fresh meat, which provides enough nutrition for these plants to reach behemoth proportions. Any creature that wanders too near a corpse lotus risks being dragged in by the plant's vines toward its hungry center. The lotus's enormous, exotically patterned petals guard the flower's gaping maw, which is coated in a thick layer of acidic mucus to prevent prey from escaping. This mucus exudes a sweet, fruity aroma that attracts many kinds of animals toward the lotus.

While the corpses that gradually pile up around a corpse lotus would normally eventually block out the plant's sweet odor, corpse lotuses emit a fine, supernatural mist that rolls along the ground around them and preserves their slain bounty. The mist has no color or aroma, and indeed can go completely unnoticed without the aid of magical detection. The anti-aging properties of this mist magically halt the process of decay on the collected corpses, leaving them in much the same state in which they died. Botanists and scholars have attempted to harness the powers of a corpse lotus's preserving mist for restorative elixirs and life-prolonging potions, but the strange vapors have proven useful only for embalming those already deceased.

The preserved corpses surrounding a corpse lotus also help to attract carrion feeders such as vultures, owls, and beetles to the hungry plant. Rather than decimating these flying scavengers, however, corpse lotuses have evolved to let aerial feeders pass, so that they may inadvertently consume corpse lotus seeds and redistribute them near and far. This is the corpse lotuses' primary means of reproduction. The fact that corpse lotuses of any kind—including the more mundane, miniature variety—can be used to pollinate corpse lotus seeds makes this form of reseeding particularly effective.

A corpse lotus's single, large flower sprouts from a tangled mess of vines and roots near the center of the plant. The flower's petals are surprisingly thick and resilient, guarding the plant both from the elements and from anything that may struggle to escape its grasp. Its vast root system extends for almost 50 feet into the soil, making the plant extremely difficult to uproot, but thankfully also ensuring that the plant is immobile, other than its vines. While most of the vines that sprout from a corpse lotus are harmless and are merely used to transmit information about the plant's surroundings to the center blossom, four larger, much stronger vines extend from the flower and allow the lotus to manipulate corpses, snatch prey, and defend from attacks. These fibrous vines are roughly 10 inches thick, 25 feet long, and incredibly difficult to sever.

Habitat & Society Corpse lotuses can be found in forests, jungles, and marshes the world over, though they thrive in wooded areas that are heavily populated or at least close to humanoid settlements. A corpse lotus's seeds are carried in the preserving mist that seeps from the plant's base. These seeds cling to any creatures that venture too near a corpse lotus, and given enough time create a fine film around fallen prey. Practiced adventurers can recognize this film as a telltale sign of a nearby corpse lotus.

Depending on the amount of available meat nearby, a corpse lotus may never grow into the deadly goliath presented here; many remain small, unintelligent flowers. It is possible for a newly sprouted corpse lotus to reach its full maturity in a matter of months if it has access to an ample food supply. In less desirable situations, it can take up to 6 years for one to reach full size.

Upon reaching maturity, a corpse lotus develops a modicum of intelligence on par with clever beasts. This intelligence allows the lotus to distinguish carrion feeders from prey and to ration its food stores during lean times. A corpse lotus deprived of meat may eventually dwindle back down to a mindless small flower. Corpse lotuses don't attack other plants, oozes, or constructs unless they are attacked first.

Corpse lotuses are not often hunted, but must occasionally be removed from heavily trafficked areas. In some cases, bold entrepreneurs or daring herbalists cultivate corpse lotuses as personal guardians or as symbols of strength. Particularly heinous cultivators may replant corpse lotuses in bare dungeon chambers, outfitting the chambers' ceilings with trapdoors that drop unsuspecting intruders straight onto these hungry plants.