Adherer

At a glance an adherer looks like a mummy, its off-white skin hanging in folds like grimy wrappings. Its sour, gluey smell gives it away: the skin constantly sweats a sticky resin from its pores.

An adherer hides and waits, usually coated in leaves and twigs stuck to its body, imposing -4 on victims' surprise rolls. Because it depends on ambush, it flees 40% of the time if spotted before it can pounce. Otherwise it leaps onto the nearest target, glues itself on, and punches, kicks and, when it can, smothers its prey. If the victim's friends attack, it twists to use the victim as a shield.

Edged and blunt weapons stick to it and do only half damage. Piercing weapons do full damage but take the following round to pull free. Breaking loose requires Strength 22, though fire, boiling liquid or the adherer's own fluids weaken the bond. Boiling liquid lowers the requirement to Strength 12 for a single round before the resin recovers.

The resin is flammable, so normal fire always deals full damage, and magical fire calls for a save vs. spells: success means normal damage, failure double. It is not undead and cannot be turned. First-level spells and normal missiles have no effect on it.

Territorial adherers lair in shallow caves, alone or in small leaderless groups, each following its own instincts. Often a large spider shares the den; adherers seem to talk with arachnids telepathically, hunt alongside them, love using webs as camouflage, and never attack spiders. Lairs stay clean because everything but stone sticks to the creature, though it can drop held items by secreting a solvent. Treasure is hidden in rotting plant debris in or near the lair.

Adherers do not breed like animals; sages think one simply divides in two when there is enough prey to feed both. They live about 35 years. Every attempt to use their secretions for potions, glue or anything else has failed, as the fluid goes inert within 12 hours after the creature dies and no known method slows the decay.