30 Day D&D challenge. Day 19

Favorite Elemental/Plant/Construct

   Right up front... NO WARFORGED! Keep yer friggin androids out of my fantasy game. I use them as bad guys, but no player will ever be able to play one as a PC in any of my games. I detest warforged just as much as I detest kender.

There, I'm calm again.

    I really want to rant about warforged and kender... But I won't bore you. GAAHHHHH!!!! I hate those two races with heat of a supernova!

OK, this time I really am calm. I promise.

   Myconids, Brown Mold, the fungus amongus. Never truffle with a humongous fungus. :-) Sorry, I had to do it. If I hadn't someone else would have.
   You may not think much of fungus, but a few minor flavor tweaks can make your players pause. Or even run screaming from imaginary monsters. I personally have always wanted to try Fungal Undead. Imagine exploring an old crypt, you turn the corner and find a dozen skeletons. When the skeletons begin to rise, the Cleric steps up, brandishes a holy symbol, rolls for a fantastic turn undead, and.... Nothing happens! That's when you begin to notice the tiny mushroom growing all over the bones of the skeletons. Their eyes don't glow with arcane fury, they just start marching toward you. After dispatching the puzzling encounter, you come to room containing what looks like a huge pile of rotting vegetation. You might have ignored it, if you hadn't noticed it breathing....
   How about a volcano lair filled with brown mold covered Earth elementals? (I think I'm gonna use that in something, don't know what yet) Another one I want to use in something one day: A Myconid vs. Treant war. Myconids should be really scary to Treants, Dryads, just about every plant based monster. If a Ranger was under Druidic tutelage, he might be able to take fungus as one of his favored enemies. Maybe a Dwarf Ranger has a Myconid as an animal companion. I could be convinced to allow the myconid to lean to create spores that would be beneficial to the Ranger.
   Remember the dungeon with the house sized spider? The courtyards of that castle ruin I filled with all manner of mushrooms and Beholderkin Eyeballs. . I never got a chance to spring the surprise on the players, they didn't take the bait. They weren't brave enough to go down into the courtyards. Had they grown a pair, they would have been dropped down a sinkhole to face a giant Myconid Lycanthrope. Mushroom Wereshark! When you're done with the preliminary round of WTF spouting. It was D&D, I was looking for something the metagamers and rules lawyers had never seen. That promised to be a fun encounter. Alas, it was not destined to happen. COWARDS! Hey, at least I got turn the Zombie Jester loose on the player that had run the character before he died... :-)
   As for constructs. Hmmm. I have to go with the Clockwork empire I created for my most recent homebrew world. Down in the southern reaches of the main continent is an impassable mountain range. On the other side of that range is and entire land filled with clockwork creatures. At the heart of it all resides a Dracolich. The difference between this one and a normal one is that this one has constructed and now inhabits a clockwork body. I was going to stage a Borg-like invasion of the kingdom when the players were of high enough level. I had clockwork beholders that would assimilate the living creatures they came in contact with. I don't have it all fleshed out yet. It's a work in progress.
   I hope I've given someone some ideas, or at the very least made you think "He's crazy" Until next time...

Happy Gaming!