Armor Class 13 (natural armor)
Hit Points 36 (8d4 + 16; bloodied 16)
Speed 25 ft., burrow 15 ft., climb 20 ft.
Proficiency +2; Maneuver DC 9
Saving Throws Int +3, Chat +2
Skills Athletics +1, Nature +3, Performance +2 (+1d8), Persuasion +3 (+1d6), Religion +3, Survival +4
Damage Resistances necrotic, poison, psychic
Senses darkvision 120 ft., passive Perception 12
Languages Common, Squash
ACTIONS
Slam. Melee Weapon Attack: +1 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 1 (1d4 – 1) 1 bludgeoning damage.
Seed Shot (Recharge 3-6). Ranged Spell Attack: +4 to hit, range 50/200 ft., one target. Hit: 5 (2d4) necrotic damage plus 5 (2d4) psychic damage. A creature that takes 12 or more damage is rattled until the end of its next turn.
BONUS ACTIONS
Charming Aspect (2/Day). A creature within 30 feet that the squashling can see makes a DC 12 Wisdom saving throw or becomes charmed for 1 hour. At the end of each minute and whenever it takes damage the charmed creature repeats the saving throw, ending the effect on itself on a success.
REACTIONS
Fell Sustenance. When the squashling takes necrotic or psychic damage it recharges the use of Seed Shot.
Legends and Lore
With a History, Nature, or Religion check, characters can learn the following:
DC 10 As a wrathful god from ancient times that demands considerable sacrifice, to defy the Gourd Empress is madness.
DC 15 Squashlings are heralds of the Gourd Empress. Though they appear benign and even friendly, they can warp the mind to force people to help them in their often grisly tasks; sometimes they are accompanied by much larger plants that do as they command.
DC 20 The Gourd Empress is not a god, only an extremely dangerous spirit. Once defeated she departs to find new victims next year, but settlements that give in to her dire demands begin a horrible cycle of suffering.
Always the first of her underlings to be seen, squashlings are in charge of preparing for the arrival of the Gourd Empress. They often charm local humanoids to help with their work, leaving them to toil alongside gourdlings and unaware of the terrible importance of the task.
1–2 Squashlings or gourdlings gathering and stockpiling the corpses and bones of slain humanoids.
3–4 Minions of the Gourd Empress building gruesome effigies of their mistress that are part corpse and part plant.
5–6 Gourdlings mashing corpses into ground cover to create a macabre, verdant carpet.
1 Strange and indecipherable patterns of flattened stalks in unharvested fields.
2 Trails of blood that disappear into the wilderness, sometimes replaced by the tracks of very small vined-feet.
3 Leaves falling early after turning a dark and troubling shade of purple.
4 A green and purple mist briefly appears for an hour around midnight
It’s hard to say where the Gourd Empress will put down her horrid roots next, but she has been known to appear in forests, grasslands, hills, jungles, mountains, ruins, and swamps
CR 0–2 squashling ; 2 squashlings
Treasure coins totaling 100 gp or gallow hand
CR 3–4 3 squashlings ; gourdling ; squashling and gourdling
Treasure coins totaling 160 gp and dust of sneezing and choking
CR 5–10 2 squashlings and gourdling ; 2 gourdlings ; 4 squashlings and gourdling ; 2 squashlings and 2 ourdlings ; 3 gourdlings ; 4 squashlings and 2 gourdlings
Treasure coins totaling 250 gp, pumpkin bomb
CR 11–16 Gourd Empress or 5 squashlings and 2 gourdlings ; Gourd Empress and squashling or 4 gourdlings ; Gourd Empress and gourdling ; Gourd Empress , 2 squashlings , and gourdling
Treasure coins totaling 1,080 gp, 4 amber (worth 100 gp each), death’s essence pendant , pearl of power , potion of growth , skull liqueur
CR 17–22 Gourd Empress and 2 gourdlings ; Gourd Empress , 3 squashlings , and 2 gourdlings ; Gourd Empress , 2 squashlings , and 3 gourdlings
Treasure e coins totaling 2,000 gp, 3 sapphires (worth 1,000 gold each), +3 hide, necklace of prayer beads
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.