Frost Fir

The faint scent of pine sap accompanies this vaguely tree-shaped creature, which stands on two towering trunklike legs. Its arms resemble the branches of a snow-laden conifer.

Frost Fir (CR 1)

Medium Plant (Cold)
Alignment: Neutral Evil
Initiative: +0
Senses: Low-Light Vision; Perception +5

Speed: 30 feet
Space: 5 feet

Defense

Armor Class: 13, touch 10, flat-footed 13 (+3 natural)
Hit Points: 15 (2d8+6)
Saving Throws: Fort +6, Ref +0, Will +1
Damage Reduction: 2/slashing
Immunity: cold, plant traits
Weaknesses: vulnerability to fire

Offense

Melee: slam +3 (1d6+3 plus sticky resin)
Reach: 5 feet

Special Attacks: sticky resin

Statistics

Str	Dex	Con	Int	Wis	Cha
15 (+2)	10 (+0)	16 (+3)	11 (+0)	12 (+1)	9 (-1)

Base Attack Bonus: +1
CMB +3 (+5 Disarm, Grapple and Steal)
CMD 13

Feats: Skill Focus (Intimidate)

Skills: Intimidate +4, Perception +5, Stealth +6 (+12 in forests)

• Racial Modifiers: +2 Stealth (+6 in forests)

Languages: Sylvan, Treant

Special Qualities: Freeze

Special Abilities

Sticky Resin (Ex)

A frost fir's bark constantly exudes a sticky resin that aids its combat maneuvers and natural attacks. The resin grants a frost fir a +2 circumstance bonus on all disarm, grapple, and steal combat maneuvers, as well as on saving throws against effects that cause it to drop something it is holding. Any creature that is damaged by a frost fir's slam attack, deals damage to a frost fir with a natural weapon or unarmed attack, or otherwise touches a frost fir (including with a grapple maneuver), must succeed at a DC 13 Reflex save or be coated with the frost fir's sticky resin. A creature affected by this resin takes a -2 penalty on all attack rolls and concentration checks (penalties from multiple contacts do not stack). Any enemy grappled by a frost fir takes a -2 penalty on attempts to break the grapple and to escape using the Escape Artist skill. Strong alcohol, universal solvent, or any amount of fire damage dealt to a creature coated in resin removes the resin. The save DC is Constitution-based.

Ecology

Environment: Cold or Temperate Forests
Organization: solitary, pair, stand (3-6), or grove (7-12)
Treasure: standard


Little known outside the colder climes and higher elevations of the world, the malevolent tree creatures known as frost firs keep to themselves and disdain any who intrude upon their forested realms. Prevailing theories among scholars suggest the species descended from treants long ago, a derivative offshoot with an exclusive affinity for evergreen trees. But despite sharing a common language, frost firs actually disdain treants, citing philosophical differences. This revelation has caused others to posit that frost firs originated as an entirely separate species, born of the enigmatic First World where plants walk and speak as freely as other creatures.

The grim-minded frost firs are as cold and impassive as the windswept ice and rocks they call home. They care little for other creatures or societies, keeping their distance at all times and actively driving away any who dare to approach their groves during a reproductive cycle. Frost firs also have an especial hatred for those who create or rely upon open flames for warmth. Northern travelers often tell tales of frost fir attacks on their caravans, usually initiated with a smothering, snowy assault on any campfires. These attacks always come at night, and the frost firs never relent until such interlopers completely withdraw from their lands.

Frost firs make staunch combatants, specializing in stealthy forms of guerrilla warfare. They often utilize pit traps to capture the unwary, or draw their victims into ambushes facilitated by their ability to appear as normal trees. After grappling and pinning opponents, frost firs often take them prisoner and escort them back to a frost fir grove to be butchered and used to fertilize the soil for frost fir young. Frost firs craft any remaining bones into crude trophies and gruesome signposts marking their territory and warning away others. As a result, few species treat with frost firs, and any act of Diplomacy with them automatically faces a starting attitude of unfriendly.

Ecology

Frost firs have no individual gender and reproduce asexually, developing both male and female cones that grow along their inner limbs near their thin torsos. The male cones produce pollen for the female cones, which close and gestate for a full year before the seeds are ready to sprout. To facilitate this process, frost firs often stand together on high outcroppings or in windswept passes during an especially reverent period they call Highwind. This allows a maximized sharing of pollen between multiple members of a grove, though a single frost fir can create its own offspring. Indeed, many groves have sprung from a lone frost fir capable of creating as many as six seed cones in a single reproductive cycle. Such progenitors often earn the title of Elder Fir among their own kind, which carries a significant status when representing the grove in external matters (see below).

Once a frost fir's fertilized cones fully mature, it clears an area of sacred ground, removing any residual snow or ice so it can plant its seedlings. Groves often band together to share in the responsibility of protecting these offspring, and aggressively defend such plots from intruders. Frost fir seedlings grow much like sprouting evergreen trees for their first two years, incapable of moving and sustained primarily by nourishment derived from the soil and sun. Caretakers of these seedlings refer to this time as the Loaming, and they often place carrion or other organic detritus around the grove to better fertilize the frigid soil and encourage more rapid growth. Some even hunt living creatures to ensure a supply of carcasses for this effort.

Following 2 years of sustained growth, a young frost fir finally becomes ambulatory enough to join the rest of the grove as a contributing member. Its lifespan extends about 50 years thereafter, and it can bear offspring for only about half that time. Occasionally, a frost fir's development remains stunted during the Loaming process and it fails to uproot itself. Such a child continues to grow as a regular evergreen tree, but never gains sentience. The frost firs often revisit sites where these trees grow to mourn their loss.

Habitat & Society

Frost firs form communal groves of no more than 12 members at a time, banding together until their numbers grow large enough for a group to separate and establish a new grove. They always make their homes in colder climes where other creatures are less plentiful, choosing the most inhospitable conditions in an effort to further deter intruders. Most frost firs prefer to keep their groves small to attract less attention, and purposefully separate into multiple groves to maximize the survival chances of their species. Only in times of great conflict do multiple groves join forces. Such gatherings have given rise to legends of entire forests disappearing or growing up from an empty field overnight-usually followed by great devastation visited upon whatever stirred up the frost firs' ire.

Within frost fir society, Elder Firs carry a high degree of respect between groves, serving as representatives not only among their own kind, but also to the outside world. They coordinate reproductive cycles with other frost firs to replenish any losses a grove endures, and guide the decision-making regarding the establishment of new groves. Sometimes they grow larger than the other members of the grove, gaining the giant template while taking class levels in druid. Such leaders always select the Plant domain for their nature bond. Elder Firs who obtain the thousand faces class ability use the guises of Medium humanoids to spy upon and interact with nearby settlements to ensure no one encroaches on their lands.