Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Fruggar: A Minor Servitor Fungi for Petty Gods

Fruggar
Minor Servitor Fungi
No. Enc.: 2d4* (1d100+100)
Alignment: Chaotic Evil
Movement: 60' (20')
Armor Class: 3
Hit Dice: 1+2
Attacks: 1 (weapon)
Damage: As weapon
Save: F1
Morale: 8
Hoard Class: Random Low-End Loot
XP: 12

2-3' tall bipedal mockeries of humanoids, Fruggar are mindless fungal foot-soldiers in service to any number of Petty Gods of Fungi and related things. Blind, bulbous and boneless, they are immune to Charm, Fear, Illusions, Sleep and most life-draining attacks. They Move Silently and Hide in Shadows as if they were 4th level Thieves, an ability that they use frequently and often to ambush likely looking victims in the deep dark places.

One or two Fruggar are of little consequence and can usually be ignored, especially while still close to the surface (1-4 levels below the ground). When Fruggar are first encountered only one or two are likely to be seen, but there almost always are more near-by. Unless these scouts are destroyed or run off, the Fruggar will follow any adventuring party that appears to be lost, weak or vulnerable.

Fruggar are entirely incapable of speech and go into battle quietly and calmly. They wield whatever random, often broken weapons and armor they have been able to recover from their past victims.

Upon being slain a Fruggar collapse into a 3' diameter pool of frothy ooze that remains pungently active for 1d4 hours, during which time anyone coming into contact with the wet frothy ooze must Save or have their skin become horribly mottled and break out with 1d4 colonies of tiny fungal masses that can only be removed by use of a Cure Disease or Remove Curse spell, but otherwise are mostly harmless. The dried powder made from these secondary growth can be consumed in order to experience a Commune With Fungal Gods effect (treat as Cleric Spell Commune, but with triple chances of insanity).

It is believed that every purplish patch left behind by a slain Fruggar somehow extends the vile reach of their masters into the world.

Goblinoid shamans are known to gather-up or otherwise extract the purplish froth (often called 'bruise broth') from captive Fruggars and use it to remove the flesh from carcasses in order to get at the bones they then shape into various magical implements. Some suspect that they also use this horrid froth in the brewing of their most noxious potions and distillations, but that is a tightly-kept secret few will share outside of their immediate kin.


* Every subsequent check for wandering monsters, there is a 30% chance of an additional 1D4 reinforcements have been successfully called-in by the Fruggar tracking the party. They tend to wait until the odds are more than 6-to-1 in their favor. They also are more likely to let a well-equipped party to pass and lie in wait for them as the party attempt to return to the surface.



4 comments:

  1. What a wonderfully disgusting hoard. Just nasty, good job.

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    Replies
    1. Hi Whitney, thanks...these are nasty little critters. Players in the past have ignored the Fruggar and written them off as 'little fungal kobold-level thingies,' only to find out that they are not such push-overs when a swarm of the things comes at them in total silence. Very creepy. Even parties that might well have destroyed the whole swarm have broken and run screaming for the surface. Of course, now the players will have read this and I'll need some new monsters...

      Have you considered doing an entry for the Petty Gods project?

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  2. You were right, this fits. Very cool, indeed! Thanks for the link!

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    Replies
    1. Glad you liked the Fruggar. Your King Shroom seemed like just the sort of Petty God that would use these guys as servitors...

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