In my most recent video on the predatory fungus species called the Ascomoid, I had some interest in other giant and predatory fungus species one can find in the Forgotten Realms; well, there are quite a few, including varieties that tend to be found on all kinds of fantasy worlds, spontaneously evolving the same form and function to suit a particular environment and prey type.
I have been greatly assisted in this task by a single remarkable tome of invaluable knowledge, and the good news is that it is currently available to you on Earth (of all places). If you head to the DM'S Guild online, type 'Frendi Frokthu's Big Book of Fungus' and look for this cover image.
Is it the complete and perfect guide to fungi and the realms? Not entirely, but it's a damn site better than 'Grot's Guide to Rot Plants' or 'Fuller's Manuscript of Subterranean Flora', neither of which can be found in the DM's Guild anyway.
Frendi packs a lot into the book that is not much of concern to me, such as new player character options, new spells and such. But I am far more interested in the fungal creatures and their ecological information without further preamble.
First up, the Basidirond, some call them stilt caps or swamp chokers, love to hide among the swamp trees that grow many long roots close to the surface, where the Basidirond can blend in almost perfectly. They can also be found in very humid jungles, dark subtropical forests, and wet underground environments, where they continuously adapt to hide in plain sight, remaining completely motionless until it is time to strike.
Basidironds are multi-stemmed fungoid monsters with woody, leathery bodies of orange color and upper portions looking much like reversed umbrellas whose interior is sooty black. In combat, the fungoid monsters lash forward with their cone-shaped caps. A successful hit inflicts a bludgeoning hit and starts to choke a victim who can't avoid inhaling, resulting in spores clogging the respiratory tract. A victim will smother from these growths eventually unless a cure disease spell or effect is applied to them. When standing around doing nothing, the Basidironds fill a 30-foot (9 m) area with their hallucinatory spores. These spores form an invisible cloud 30 feet around the fungus and can inflict hallucinations. If a character fails to avoid the spores, roll an eight-sided die. If you roll a One, they will believe they are in a swamp and will strip off their armor to avoid sinking. On a two they believe spiders are attacking them and will flail at imaginary spiders on the floor all around them; on a three, they believe they have shrunk down in size to tiny proportions and they will scream at their allies to help them, on a four they believe objects they are holding are randomly turning into deadly vipers, on a five they will firmly believe they are suffocating, causing them to run around and panic, on a six they will believe everyone else is horribly diseased and will try to run away from them, on a seven they will feel like their body is melting and will simply clutch at themselves and scream, trying to hold it together and on a roll of eight, they will believe they have a giant, bloated leech attached to their back, draining their blood unless they get it off. All of these were part of the original monster description of the Basidirond, written by Gary Gygax for Dragon Magazine number 68. The Fungus has a simple follow-up move if it detects that any creature around it has succumbed to the hallucinatory spores; it moves adjacent to the victim and beats the bloody hell out of them with its heavy, woody leg stalks until the victim stops twitching entirely and becomes another pile of nutrients adding to the general stench of a Fungus grotto.
As a plant-like creature type, the majority of fungus creatures can never be mind controlled, frightened, poisoned, knocked unconscious, or blinded; it's rare that they have a true sense of sight; they typically sense their environment through vibrations; we call this Blindsight in Dungeons and Dragons.
Basidironds are also joined by the Phycomid, These creatures, with their alga-like appearance, present a stark contrast to the more familiar fungal forms one might expect in the dark corners of the Forgotten Realms. Imagine coming across what appears to be a mere pile of decomposing, milky-colored matter. It seems harmless, perhaps even pitiable, in its inert state. But within this seemingly innocuous mass lies a deadly predator.
The Phycomids are not your typical fungoid monsters. They possess an unusual method of attack that involves the extrusion of a tube, through which they discharge a highly alkaline fluid. This substance is not merely corrosive; it is a harbinger of a much more gruesome fate. The globules of alkaline fluid, capable of being projected to distances of 7-12 feet, are not only dangerous due to their caustic nature but also because they can infect a victim, turning them into a breeding ground for new Phycomids.
These creatures are equipped with specialized sensory organs clustered around their form, allowing them to detect heat, sound, and vibrations. This sensory adaptation makes them formidable hunters, capable of sensing and attacking prey even in the absence of conventional sight.
When a Phycomid's attack connects, the immediate danger is the alkaline damage, which is formidable in its own right. However, the true horror begins if the victim fails to resist the poison. Within mere moments, the site of the attack sprouts mushroom-like growths, a chilling visual marker of the impending doom. These growths are not slow in their proliferation; within 5-8 rounds, they inflict significant damage, and the process of transformation accelerates. The victim's body becomes a fertile ground for these growths, which rapidly spread, consuming the host from within. In less than an hour, what was once a living creature becomes a new Phycomid, a stark reminder of the circle of life and death that governs the fungal kingdom.
In terms of defenses, Phycomids share some characteristics with their fungal kin. They are impervious to mental control, and they are also resistant to fire and save against all fire-based attacks with advantage, which can mean that they are one of the few fungal creatures that remain in cases where Underground groves or rotted out forests have been deliberately immolated by other races. It's a desperate measure, though, as fungal forests are so rich in resources in so many other ways.
There are species, such as barrelstalk and ripplebark that can be used as wood or food, some are good for writing materials and some better suited for making clothing or rope, fungus provides the bulk of Underground medicines and let's not forget, the mushrooms and such are basically their flowers, they can be very decorative, exotic things of beauty to be kept for their artistic value alone.
Fungus as a template can be added to other monstrous plant and animal species, where the fungus has completely taken over the original organism, for example, you can have Shambling mounds that are now infested with Brown, Russet, or Yellow Mold, gaining the special qualities of those types of mold. To make it even more confusing, myconids, the Underdark's most common Fungus people, can also be infested with another type of predatory fungus and start wandering around without a brain, just a mobile spore factory. Then you have the Vegepygmies and the Thornies, which are fungus, plant hybrid creatures with a life cycle built around Russet Mold.
Fetid Fungus is a particularly gross critter, its festering blob of lichen growing over a mound of decomposition that uses the chemical breakdown to produce gas and it directs jets of the gas to fling itself onto victims to engulf them and start to break them down with potent acid. Just slashing or beating the thing will splash acid all over the place and shooting them with arrows seems to do nothing, but they do burn pretty quickly and can't move very fast or very far, the stench of them travels further than the fetid fungus ever will.
Some fungus uses gas not just to flop around and hopefully grab somebody, the Gas Spore fills a round cavity and floats through the air, looking to most wary dungeon delvers like the infamous Beholder monster, with its many eye stalks capable of firing beams of magical energy. Gas Spores are harmless unless they burst, spreading diseased spores over a 20 foot area.
I have talked about Myconids before, just be warned that some colonies of the ordinarily peaceful fungus people can turn into very dangerous cults of the Queen of Rot and a sure sign is erratic and agitated movements in the myconids, particularly the huge sovereign who will seem to be jiggling and dancing a twisted, kind of freaky belly dance, while it's giant cap is tilted sideways like its listening to something singing an irresistible song... they are spooky, stay away from them or you will end up as fertilizer for it's thousands of babies.
At least the myconids and all the other fungus I have mentioned so far are more or less normal, terrestrial kind of forms of life, well except the vegepygmies, which came from a crash landed spaceship, but they came from some other world in a normal universe, the following few fungus predators do not.
First, the Rukarazyll. This entity, hailing from the enigmatic and chaotic depths of the Elemental Plane of Earth, is a specialist in deception and subterfuge. A master of masquerade and manipulation, the Rukarazyll utilizes its uncanny ability to adopt the forms of charismatic individuals, weaving complex webs of deceit among the unsuspecting denizens of the Material Plane. It excels in the insidious craft of cult formation, luring individuals into the worship of fabricated deities, only to twist these nascent beliefs towards the veneration of malevolent forces.
Already you can see how this habit alone would be massively alluring to fiendish creatures, having a cult all set up, ready made, just waiting for them to step in, take control and use for their schemes? It's perfect.
But the Rukarazyll's guile is not limited to the beliefs of the gullible. It peddles cursed artifacts, cloaked in the guise of beneficence, and poses as a healer only to inflict grievous maladies upon those who seek its aid. Through these underhanded tactics, the Rukarazyll sows discord and despair at various levels at whatever society it finds itself in, delighting in the downfall of those it deceives. It is a creature of Rot, after all, it just has a much more refined and evolved appreciation for the rot of culture, society, personal conduct, as well as a nice meal of decaying flesh.
The smiling leader, the esteemed hero, the wise and charismatic figure, under it all lurks a monster in plain sight.
In its true visage, the Rukarazyll is a creature of nightmares, a grotesque amalgamation of fungal horror and malevolent intelligence. Its form is a bulbous, fungoid mass, from which sprout numerous tendrils studded with cruel hooks. These tendrils serve the dual purpose of locomotion and manipulation, allowing the Rukarazyll to interact with its environment in a disturbing parody of humanoid functionality. Atop this monstrous body sits a head, reminiscent of a ram's skull, complete with horns and a maw filled with fangs dripping with acidic saliva. The creature's eyes, filled with writhing fungal filaments, and the random growths that adorn its form, only add to its eldritch appearance. This thing is a fungus demon of some kind, an alien and predatory form of life that is driven by an unholy energy. In combat, the monster will reveal itself to unleash a frenzy of claws and fanged bites, taking maximum advantage of how horrific it appears and the stunning effect that can have on those unprepared for it. It gets as many attacks as it can land in the first rounds of combat and will back off, going into a defensive posture or seeking out other victims as the secondary threat of its attacks sprout in the body and take hold of the victims, a spreading fungal growth will course through their body and swell the flesh, bursting into plumes of fungal growth that slows down, eventually immobilizes the victim and then slowly devours them alive.
The Rukarazyll's arsenal of abilities is further augmented by its spell-like capabilities, allowing it to manipulate its environment and adversaries with a sinister finesse. From altering its form to casting shadows of darkness, entangling roots, or mirroring images, the Rukarazyll wields these powers with the intent to disorient and dominate.
But wait, there's more!
Often monsters like the Rukarazyll suffer from being solitary, making them easier for groups of adventurers to take down, but the Rukarazyll has the ability to expel oozes, using them as living weapons that adhere to and consume its foes. This, coupled with its powers of evasion and slowly building threat of its fungus infection makes any fight with it a harrowing experience. As with all intelligent predators, expect the unexpected and never doubt that they are a threat, no matter how much they smile and reassure you.
You can find the original listing for the Rukarazyll in the core monster manual for 3.5 edition D&D.
Finally, another alien fungus for you today, the Phantom fungus.
The Phantom Fungus is another sneaky master of stealth and subterfuge, its presence often betrayed only by the soft, squelching sounds of its movement and an unmistakable, musty odor. Should one manage to render this creature visible, they would behold a sight most peculiar: a mass of fungal matter, colored in shades of brown or greenish-brown, perched atop four stumpy legs. Atop its body sits a cluster of nodules, and its gaping maw, lined with rows of serrated teeth, very ready to prepare your flesh for some rapid decomposition.
What sets the Phantom Fungus apart from its kin is its innate and perpetual cloak of invisibility, akin to the effects of a greater invisibility spell. This trait allows it to stalk its prey unseen, attacking with the element of surprise firmly on its side. These fungi are creatures of solitude, roaming the subterranean depths in search of sustenance.
Despite their simplicity, Phantom Fungi possess a low-light vision, with their sensory nodules enabling them to navigate the Underdark. They are opportunistic hunters, preferring to ambush solitary travelers or, when facing groups, to engage in more open spaces where they can utilize their mobility and invisibility to confound and wear down their prey.
Variants of the Phantom Fungus exist in the Lowerdark, serving the druidic Circle of the Depths in the Underdark city of Fluvenilstra. Also known as the Garden City of Great Bhaerynden, quite a remarkable place with the greatest abundance of Underdark Flora, its like a massive tropical rainforest of fungus with a city built into it. Moreover, the Plane of Shadow hosts its own version, the Shadow Phantom Fungi, while the demonic realms, particularly Shedaklah—the domain of Zuggtmoy, the Demon Queen of Fungi—harbor fiendish and half-fiend variants. In these infernal planes, Phantom Fungi serve as favored minions, thriving in the warm, damp conditions and partaking in the eternal struggle against the oozes of Juiblex's realm.
There are many more predatory fungi, the Violet fungus, the Shrieker, the Hedgehog shriekers of the Storm Horn Caverns, to name a couple, these are just a few notable varieties from my journals and explorations, my name is AJ Pickett, thanks for listening and as always, I will be back with more for you, very soon.
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