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Phycomid

Phycomid CR 4

This tangle of purple-capped mushrooms growing out of a nasty green sludge shudders and writhes, wafting tendrils of smoke.

XP 1,200
N Small plant
Init +0; Senses blindsight (vibration) 30 ft.; Perception +10

DEFENSE HP 55

EAC 16; KAC 18
Fort +8, Ref +6, Will +3
Immunities acid, plant immunities

OFFENSE

Speed 10 ft.
Ranged acid pellet +12 (1d4+4 A plus spores)F

STATISTICS

Str +3, Dex +0, Con +5, Int —, Wis +1, Cha +0
Skills Athletics +10, Stealth +15
Other Abilities mindless

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Acid Pellet (Ex)

A phycomid attacks by firing a glob of acid from one of its several mushroomlike stalks. This attack has a range increment of 10 feet and targets its foe’s EAC. A phycomid can fire up to six acid pellets per minute—during rounds in which the fungus has no acid pellets, it has no method of attacking at all and must wait until its acid stores replenish in 4 rounds before continuing a battle.

Spores (Ex)

Any creature that takes damage from a phycomid’s acid pellet (or consumes even a small portion of the fungus) becomes exposed to the fungus’s spores. These spores grow quickly in living creatures. This affliction is a disease effect, although its course runs much faster than most diseases and is more poison-like in its speed, and like a poison, the spores “burn out” after a short period.

Phycomid Spores

Type disease (ingested or injury); Save Fortitude DC 13; Track physical; Frequency 1/round for 6 rounds; Effect At the dead state, the victim’s body bursts open in 1d4 rounds as a fully grown new phycomid emerges.

Cure 1 save

ECOLOGY

Environment any underground
Organization solitary or infestation (2–8)

Typically found in damp bogs, subterranean fungus caves, and compost heaps, phycomids are dangerous fungoid creatures that grow in small, steaming patches among decomposing organic matter. The phycomid’s main body is a mass of green-brown mold that can slither and move when necessary to seek out new carrion to feed upon. Numerous mushrooms sprout from the main body—vile green stalks topped with purple or red caps that seem to steam with rank-smelling smoke. This smoke is in fact vapor escaping from the numerous globs of acid the plant produces as a method of both self-defense and reproduction.

This acidic substance is expelled from the phycomid whenever it senses movement nearby, and seasoned adventurers can often trick a phycomid into giving away its true nature by simulating movement within range of the fungus.

Less fortunate encounters are typically marked by large infestations of phycomids growing among a scattered collection of dead bodies.

Section 15: Copyright Notice

Alien Bestiary (Starfinder) © 2018, Legendary Games; Lead Designer: Jason Nelson. Authors: Anthony Adam, Kate Baker, John Bennet, Eytan Bernstein, Robert Brookes, Russ Brown, Duan Byrd, Jeff Dahl, Robyn Fields, Joel Flank, Matt Goodall, Robert J. Grady, Jim Groves, Steven T. Helt, Thurston Hillman, Tim Hitchcock, Nick Hite, Daniel Hunt, Mike Kimmel Marshall, Isabelle Lee, Jeff Lee, Lyz Liddell, Jason Nelson, Richard Pett, Tom Phillips, Alistair J. Rigg, Alex Riggs, Wendall Roy, Mike Shel, Neil Spicer, Todd Stewart, Russ Taylor, Rachel Ventura, Mike Welham, George Loki Williams, Scott Young.