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Archives of Nethys

Archives of Nethys

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Fungus Tyrant

Hundreds of years ago, a cadre of powerful succubus assassins invaded the Abyssal realm of the demon lord of disease and fungus, Cyth-V'sug. These succubi sought to slay a powerful witch who had befouled a profane temple the assassins served. The succubi failed at their mission, but from their corpses grew the first fungus tyrants. Pleased with this development, the witch then seeded numerous worlds on the Material Plane with fungus tyrant spores, who have since grown and thrived in their new environments as rot thrives in a corpse. Today, hundreds of fungus tyrants inhabit the fouler locales of the Material Plane. They're particularly fond of large cave systems and ruined cities, but also can be found in corrupted woodlands where blighted fey rule or in the sewers of active cities that spew vast amounts of magical waste.
An encounter with a normally unintelligent plant monster acting with methodical intent can be evidence of a fungus tyrant's manipulations, but fungus tyrants are equally fond of keeping other types of creatures as pets and thralls—particularly attractive humanoids. Especially favored minions are given the gift of the fungus tyrant's embrace and are transformed into fungoid minions forever loyal to their pallid ruler. Yet most fungus tyrants realize that a diverse array of guardians is best, and they often choose to keep some non-fungus minions on hand to protect their lair.
Fungus tyrants are violently jealous. Any who attempt to lure away their dominated pets or cure those who have been infected by them earns their eternal ire. Yet it's succubi who enrage fungus tyrants the most. In these demons, the fungus tyrant sees a former glamour and power they no longer have access to, and only the brutal destruction of these mocking memories can salve a fungus tyrant's anger. A fungus tyrant faced with someone whom they suspect might be a succubus is terrible indeed, for in such battles, the fiendish fungal beings abandon their normal approach of subtle mental trickery and bring all of their power to bear in an attempt to rip the offending creature apart. Fungus tyrants also take great delight in transforming succubi into fungoid creatures under their control.
While their jealousy doesn't compel them to do battle with other fungus tyrants, they're always careful to maintain their own territories apart from any nearby kin, and they take great pains not to “poach” other tyrant's charmed and infested pets.
A fungus tyrant is 6 feet tall and weighs 150 pounds.

Recall Knowledge - Fiend (Religion): DC 31
Recall Knowledge - Fungus (Nature): DC 31
Unspecific Lore: DC 29
Specific Lore: DC 26

Elite | Normal | Weak
Proficiency without Level

Fungus TyrantCreature 9

Legacy Content

Rare CE Medium Fiend Fungus 
Source Pathfinder #200: Seven Dooms for Sandpoint pg. 190
Perception +10; darkvision
Languages Abyssal, Aklo, Common, Undercommon; fungaltongue, telepathy 100 feet, tongues
Skills Athletics +10, Deception +12, Diplomacy +10, Intimidation +10, Religion +10, Society +9, Stealth +10
Str +4, Dex +4, Con +4, Int +3, Wis +4, Cha +6
Fungaltongue A fungus tyrant can speak with all forms of fungus, be they fungal creatures or otherwise. Most normal fungi don't recognize details about creatures or know anything about the world beyond their immediate vicinity. A fungus tyrant gains a +3 circumstance bonus on all Deception, Diplomacy, or Intimidation checks made against fungus creatures.
AC 18; Fort +12, Ref +8, Will +10; +1 status to all saves vs. magic
HP 180; Resistances electricity 10; Weaknesses cold iron 10, good 10
Speed 20 feet
Melee [one-action] tentacle +10 [+5/+0] (magical, reach 10 feet), Damage 2d10+7 bludgeoning plus GrabMelee [one-action] claw +10 [+6/+2] (agile, magical), Damage 2d12+7 slashingDivine Innate Spells DC 19, attack +11; 5th hallucination, mind probe, veil; 4th charm, hallucinatory terrain, suggestion; 3rd mind reading, slow; Cantrips (5th) daze, detect magic; Constant (5th) tongues
Create Spawn (divine, necromancy) If a creature dies after being reduced to 0 HP by a fungus tyrant's Mind-Draining Kiss, the fungus tyrant can turn this victim into a spore thrall by donating some of their own fungal matter to the victim and leaving them to “ripen” within a patch of fungus for 24 hours. After this time, the creature is restored to life but gains the fungus trait and becomes a spore thrall. This prevents the creature's soul from continuing on to the afterlife in a similar manner to how undead are taken out of that cycle—as such, those who hold that cycle sacred (particularly worshipers of Pharasma) regard spore thralls as bad as the undead, despite them being living creatures. If the new spore thrall is a lower level than its creator, then it's under the creator's control. If a fungus tyrant controls too many spore thralls at once (as determined by the GM), strong-willed spore thralls can free themselves by succeeding at a DC 19 Will save. Typically, a fungus tyrant avoids creating spore thralls out of fallen foes who are too powerful to control, for they're only too aware of the compulsion for revenge such victims might harbor for those who wrenched them from the afterlife.Grow Sporepod [two-actions] (conjuration, divine) The fungus tyrant causes a human-sized pod of fungal material to burst out of the ground at any point they can see within 60 feet. Once created, a sporepod lasts for 1 minute, until the fungus tyrant moves more than 120 feet away from it, or until it's destroyed (AC 28, Hardness 10, 20 HP). The fungus tyrant cannot Grow a Sporepod again for 1d4 rounds, but apart from this and a sporepod's 1 minute life, there is no hard limit to the number of sporepods a single fungus tyrant can have active at any one time.Mind-Draining Kiss [one-action] (divine, emotion, enchantment, mental) Frequency once per round; Effect The fungus tyrant engages a creature they have grabbed in an act of passion in an attempt to drain its will and personality. The kiss makes the creature stupefied 1 or increases its stupefied condition by 1, to a maximum of 4. The creature takes 4d6 poison damage and must then succeed at a DC 19 Will save or be affected by a suggestion to remain immobile rather than trying to Escape.Sporestride [one-action] (conjuration, move, teleportation) The fungus tyrant Steps into an adjacent sporepod and instantly teleports to any other active sporepod they've created, bursting out of the target sporepod and destroying it in the process.Sporewarp [one-action] (attack) The fungus tyrant attempts a tentacle Strike but treats a sporepod of their choice within 120 feet that they can see as the point of origin of that tentacle Strike.

Sidebar - Advice and Rules Spore Trall

When a creature becomes a spore thrall, it rises from death with the same statistics it had in life, but gains the fungus trait, as well as immunity to death effects, disease, paralyzed, and poison, and its alignment switches to match that of the fungus tyrant who created them. When a spore thrall is slain, its soul finally travels to the Boneyard for judgment, but the fungus-encrusted physical remains often spawn new fungal creatures, such as myceloids, violet fungi, or drakauthixes. These fungal spawn are not controlled by the fungus tyrant but generally regard them as an ally or, more often, a divinity.

Sidebar - Additional Lore Tanglebriar's Tyrants

The festering reaches of Tanglebriar in southern Kyonin represent the region on Golarion where fungus tyrants are both the most common and most powerful. Many of Tanglebriar's fungus tyrants have potent druidic or sorcerous powers in addition to their innate divine spellcasting abilities and have developed unusual and violent variants of sporepods that give them even greater tactical options in battle.