Back in the day, White Dwarf magazine was the British answer to the Dragon, and its regular “Fiend Factory” column was a source of many monsters for early D&D games. In fact, the first edition Fiend Folio (1981) was largely a collection of monsters submitted to WD. This 3e conversion is part of an ongoing project to resurrect some interesting WD monsters that, for one reason or another, fell by the wayside.

The acrophid was a submission of John Gordon and appeared in White Dwarf 46 (Oct 1983) as part of the article “Fiend Factory: Death in Green.” Acrophids are clearly based on the triffid from John Wyndham’s classic novel Day of the Triffids. This 3.5 conversion is based in turn on the outstanding 3.0 conversion done by the kindly netizen “cildarith.”

This man-sized plant has a small bole topped by a long, swaying stem that ends in a sickly, pale and fleshy flower.

Acrophid CR 1

"A botanical drawing of a Triffid"

Triffid illustration from Creative Bristol. Used without permission.

Always N Medium plant

Init +2; Senses blindsense 30 ft., low-light vision; Listen +2, Spot +2

AC 17, touch 12, flat-footed 15
(+2 Dex, +5 natural)

hp 11 (2 HD)

Immune plant traits

Fort +4, Ref +2, Will +0

Spd 10 ft. (2 squares)

Melee sting +3 (1d4+1 plus poison)

Space 5 ft.; Reach 10 ft.

Base Atk +1; Grp +2

Abilities Str 12, Dex 14, Con 12, Int 2, Wis 11, Cha 10

Feats Weapon Finesse

Skills Listen +2, Hide +11, Spot +2

Environment temperate plains, forests, or hills

Organization solitary or pod (2–20)

Treasure none

Advancement 3–4 HD (Large), 5–8 HD (Huge)

Poison (Ex) Injury, Fortitude DC 12. The sting has a limited supply of venom and inflicts a gradually diminishing amount of initial damage on a failed save and inflicts no secondary damage. The first hit does 2d8 hp initial poison damage on a failed save, the second hit 1d8 hp, the third 1d4 hp, and the fourth 1d2 hp, after which the poison sac is empty. It takes 1 week for the acrophid to recharge its poison sac. The save DC is Constitution-based.

Skills Acophids have a +8 racial bonus to Hide checks.

These carnivorous plants have a 10-foot long lash tipped with a poisonous sting concealed in the flower. Attached to the tough bole are several small sticks that rattle, allowing the plants to transmit rudimentary messages to each other (e.g., “food”, “danger”, etc.). They can move slowly on their tough fibrous roots but dislike moving across stone or wooden surfaces.

Strategy and Tactics

Acrophids feed on decaying flesh, picking morsels off with their sting and dropping them into the flower to be digested. The sting leaves an ugly red weal on its victims. They kill to keep up the supply, usually by lurking unseen in the undergrowth by paths and tracks, attacking anything man-sized or smaller that comes into the range of the 10-foot sting.

Ecology

Acrophids occasionally wipe out small hamlets if there are sufficient numbers to do so. They reproduce both vegetatively and by wind pollination, although 90% of the seeds are sterile.