Burnflower

A burnflower bed looks like a sprawl of gray-green vines topped with closed, bulb-shaped blooms. Pry a flower open and its insides prove to be coated with clear, sticky sap that tastes bitter but is neither edible nor poisonous.

They grow in large fields, which are divided for game purposes into 10-foot-square patches; every attack, damage figure, defense, and experience award applies per patch. Each patch holds about 100 flowers, one per square foot. Every morning the flowers open and follow the sun across the sky, their mirrored petals catching the light and focusing it into heat rays. Any creature taller than two feet that strays inside 50 yards draws fire from every flower in range. A patch's aim is poor but its damage is serious and varies with range, and each patch in range fires at one eligible target. A target can save vs. death ray for half damage. Rock offers cover, and magical protection against fire or heat may help; the rays cannot get through the fire resistance of a fire drake's hide.

Gear suffers too. A target's belongings must each save vs. normal fire or be destroyed: magical armor saves normally, nonmagical armor at -2, and everything else at -4. An item that saves is scorched but intact, and each later save for it takes an additional -1. A failed save means the item catches fire and is being consumed; carried items must be dropped, and burning worn items deal another 1d3 burn damage to the wearer.

Shortly before dawn, pores in the stems push a little sap up into the closed petals. The sap's reflective film shields the plant from the harsh sun so well that it forms a kind of mirror. The heat it throws off helps the plant in several ways: it keeps the burnflower shaded and cool, and it kills most animals that try to graze on it, whose bodies then give the plant moisture.

Burnflowers have little practical value. A druid might plant them to guard a small area by day. Travelers hoping to borrow the reflective sap are out of luck: it dries out after one day in sunlight, so it cannot be used to coat clothing or gear.