Sand Cactus

Everything but the needles lies hidden underground. The body is a sickly white bulb 5 to 8 feet wide and about 4 feet thick, tethered to many barbed needles by long, thin white fibers. The needles match the color of the local sand almost perfectly.

Each needle pokes just an inch above the surface. There is a 10% chance of noticing them, 20% if actively searching. A cactus has HD x5 + 1d10 needles (26 to 50) spread around a ring measuring 3 feet of circumference per Hit Die, and anyone walking across has a 25% chance to step on one. The cactus then rolls to hit against an Armor Class that ignores Dexterity and any magic not covering the entire body; a ring of protection counts, but enchanted hide armor does not, and a mantis warrior uses its natural AC 5 unless magically protected. A hit drives the pin-thin needle about half an inch in, and its barbs spring open to an inch across.

That first hit deals 1d3 and snags the limb; each round afterward the plant drains 1d3 more until the victim dies. The fibers are almost impossible to snap by pulling. Yanking the needle out takes an Open Doors roll and deals 1d6, and because the barbs grip nerves, the victim must pass a system shock roll or faint for 1d6+4 rounds. A fiber can be cut by dealing 1 point against AC 2, but the needle stays lodged; it must be dried out with cure disease or cut free for 1d6 damage, or it festers into blood poisoning that kills in 1d6+1 days, after which a new cactus sprouts from the corpse.

A snagged biped who fails a Dexterity check topples among the needles, facing 1d6-1 further attacks. Once the drain reaches half its hit points, a victim makes a system shock roll every round or blacks out. Rescued victims recover normally but suffer -2 on attacks, defense, and proficiencies for 2d4 days of rest, each level of healing magic cutting a day (so a single cure serious wounds, or four castings of cure light wounds, removes four days).

The body lies 1d6+4 feet down. Once exposed it dies easily, but anyone digging without magic faces 1d6-1 needle attacks each round.

Sand cacti grow alone wherever sand drifts.

This patient trapper takes whatever comes by, except that it cannot digest pack insect blood and lets go of a snagged pack insect after a single round of feeding.