Needleman

Needlemen are thinking woodland plants that resemble zombies yet are neither animals nor undead. Ruddy green, mottled red and brown in autumn, they go deep brown in winter (rootless, they cannot go dormant) and green again in spring. They have coal-dark eyes and needle-covered skin, and snarl in a choking tongue no one else understands.

They look like gaunt males but are cross-pollinating hermaphrodites. A few wear white wool robes, perhaps ceremonial, but most prefer a snug yellow loincloth that does not hamper fighting or hiding.

The usual attack is a slap for 1d4, tripled by the needles to 3d4 impaling damage; large thick-skinned creatures take only 2d4. A needleman can also fire 1d6 needles up to 20 feet, each dealing 1-2 points (1 point to anything bigger than man-sized), and its supply never runs out.

Direct magical attacks deal triple damage, though it still gets its save; a magic missile of 1d4+1 becomes 3d4+3. Only the magic itself triples: an enlarged warrior with a sword +2 deals +6 from the enchantment, but the base damage and Strength bonus stay normal. Non-damaging spells such as charm plants are also triply potent, and being intelligent it is subject (at triple strength) to mind-affecting magic, though as a plant it is immune to some spells.

In dense brush or conifers it is 75% hidden from searchers (40% against elves and thieves) and imposes -5 on opponents' surprise rolls (-2 for elves and thieves). Meeting one outside such terrain is extremely rare.

Too dim for real society, needlemen roam their forests collecting shiny trinkets, a few of them valuable, and moaning mournfully to each other. Their fierce hatred of elves hints at their origin: they can smell elves a quarter mile off and attack in a frenzy. One theory says they were humans who stumbled on a wild elf settlement, called on supernatural help when the elves turned on them, and were reshaped by a cruel trickster god of misfortune into forest beings fit to fight elves.

They live mostly on sunlight plus water and nutrients, killing squirrels and other small game, though elf is their favorite meal.