AC 15 (natural armor)
HP 123 (13d10 + 52; bloodied 61)
Speed 20 ft., swim 20 ft.
Proficiency +3; Maneuver DC 15
Skills Stealth +3
Damage Resistances cold, fire, piercing
Damage Immunities lightning
Condition Immunities blinded , deafened , fatigue
Senses blindsight 60 ft. (blind beyond this radius), passive Perception 11
Languages —
Lightning Absorption. When the shambling mound would be subjected to lightning damage, it instead regains hit points equal to the lightning damage dealt.
ACTIONS
Multiattack. The shambling mound takes two slam attacks. If both attacks hit one Medium or smaller creature, the target is grappled (escape DC 15), and the shambling mound uses Engulf against it.
Slam. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 13 (2d8 + 4) bludgeoning damage.
Engulf. The shambling mound absorbs a Medium or smaller grappled creature into its body. The engulfed creature is
blinded
,
restrained
,
can’t breathe
, and moves with the shambling mound. At the start of each of the shambling mound’s turns, the target takes 11 (2d6 + 4) bludgeoning damage.
Combat
The shambling mound can rarely catch fleeing enemies, so it tries to attack from hiding. It makes both its slam attacks against a single creature and then Engulfs that opponent. If reduced to 30 hit points or fewer, it wilts and pretends to be dead.
Legends and Lore
With an Arcana or Nature check, characters can learn the following:
DC 10 When lightning strikes a rare form of creeping vine, it may spontaneously animate as a shambling mound.
DC 15 A shambling mound constantly seeks to absorb organic matter—including living creatures—into its enormous mass.
DC 20 Not only are shambling mounds immune to lightning, they are healed by it.
Shambling mounds look (and smell) like ambulatory piles of rotting vegetation. As they lurch through forest and swamp, their leafy tendrils reach out to absorb organic matter in their path.
Trailblazers. As shambling mounds travel, they consume plants and insufficiently speedy animals alike. Behind them they leave an easily-traversed pathway. Adventurers who believe they are following a trail towards civilization may in fact be traveling deeper into the wilderness—and into the waiting maw of a shambling mound.
Stormy Origin. Shambling mounds are created when a lightning bolt strikes a rare variety of creeping vine. While natural storms are the most common cause of shambling mounds, will-o’-wisps may also give birth to them. The cunning undead creatures use their ability to generate lightning to create both a symbiote and an ally: as a shambling mound consumes a victim’s body, the wisp harvests its last breath.
1 Slowly shambling, leaving a bare pathway in its wake
2 Floating across a stream
3 Unmoving, resembles an overgrown hillock; attacks if approached
4 Absorbing a struggling animal, which it will abandon for larger prey
1 Birds and animals grow silent
2 A pathway stripped of plants, leaves, and underbrush
3 A rotting smell and a squelching sound
4 A brightly-colored rare vine. DC 20 Nature check: It’s called Shambler Root, and can animate when exposed to lightning.
Shambling mounds are found in forests, jungles, and swamps.
CR 5–10 shambling mound ; shambling mound with druid or 2 will-o’-wisps
Treasure rare herbs (act as 3 potions of superior healing ), berserker axe
Plant creatures are magical fungoid or plant-like creatures. Ordinary plants, such as trees, are not plant creatures. A treant is an intelligent plant creature that resembles a tree.