Mold I

Molds are furry, spore-bearing fungi of rotting food and warm, damp places. Most are harmless; at least three are lethal.

This light to golden brown cave growth feeds on heat, even body heat, so its surroundings feel chilly. Any warm-blooded creature that comes within 5 feet loses 4d8 points of damage to heat drain each round; a ring of warmth blocks this completely.

Fire only feeds it. A torch nearby doubles the patch, flaming oil quadruples it, and a fireball or similar spell makes it eight times larger. Cold light such as light or faerie fire does not nourish it. Magic barely touches it: disintegrate destroys it, plant-affecting spells work, and cold spells hurt it. Ice storm or wall of ice sends it dormant for 5d6 turns, while cone of cold, a wand of cold or a white dragon's breath kills it. Sunlight or ultraviolet light also kills it. It cannot harm cold-loving beings like ice toads, winter wolves or white dragons.

Golden brown to rusty red, russet mold is lumpy like cold oatmeal, with short upright hairs that sway as if in a breeze. Beyond 30 feet it looks like rust, with a 70% chance of being mistaken for it. Weapons and nearly all spells are useless against it; only salt, acid and alcohol kill it, though cure disease or continual light also destroys it.

It constantly sheds a spore cloud 3 feet in radius. Anyone inside takes 5d4 damage per round and must save vs. poison or contract spore sickness, which paralyzes instantly and kills in 5d4 minutes unless cure disease is cast. The dead then sprout russet growths and, fully covered after 1d4+20 hours, rise as a mold man. Hold plant pauses the growth while it lasts, and cure disease kills it within one hour of death; after that, only a wish will do.

Pale yellow to golden orange, yellow mold has a 50% chance to burst out a cloud of spores 10 feet in radius whenever it is handled roughly. Those in the cloud must save vs. poison or die, and reviving them requires both cure disease and resurrection within 24 hours. Any fire destroys it; continual light makes it dormant for 2d6 turns.

Colonies larger than 300 square feet have a 1 in 6 chance of being sentient. These sense creatures up to 60 feet away and can launch spores across that distance. Twice a day they can cast suggestion on someone in that range; the target must save and also pass an Intelligence check or permanently lose 1 point of Intelligence, which the mold consumes.

Psionics: only sentient colonies have psionic powers, gaining the telepathic devotions mind wipe and id insinuation and the metapsionic devotion psionic sense (range 1d100+20 feet, no cost). They are also immune to psionic attack unless the attacker is helped by someone who can talk with plants.