Strangleweed

Strangleweed is a long, clinging vine usually found in caves. Its black stems bristle with short, fine spines, while its thorns and three-cornered leaves usually shine black and have edges like razors. The spines snag on skin, fur, and cloth. They do no damage, but anything touching the vine, even just brushing by, has a 50% chance of picking up embedded spines on bare skin; fur, armor, or clothing keeps them off.

Embedded spines carry a 25% chance of an itchy red rash. Removing them is tricky, since each is no thicker than a hair, but once out the rash fades steadily over 24 hours. If they cannot be removed, cure disease clears every effect; cure wounds spells do nothing for it.

Like many carnivorous plants, strangleweed reads motion as a sign of food. Wind does not set it off; only solid contact does. When something brushes it, the vine ripples into its neighbors to pass along the alarm, and on the following round it begins winding around limbs and throat to hold the prey, then tightens to choke the victim unconscious and finally dead.

Anyone more than two feet inside a patch is grappled automatically. A character with under two feet of growth around him on all sides (tunnel walls do not count) who tries to jump clear gets a Dexterity check on the first round to avoid being caught. After that, escape is possible only by cutting a path free or being dragged out by friends, who face the same attacks as the victim.

As it wraps, the leaves slice at skin and clothing. They cannot harm metal, including armor, and barely scratch wood or leather. Fur, worn or natural, absorbs the first 10 points of leaf damage, and normal clothing absorbs 6 before it is shredded and bare skin is exposed. Once leaves and thorns reach skin, they deal 1-8 per round, which the DM may adjust for clothing. When a victim stops moving, the weed lets it drop within 1-6 rounds, saving it to eat later.

Entangled victims must pass a Dexterity check to keep hold of anything in their hands, cannot cast spells, and attack at -4, including against the weed. Blunt weapons have no effect on it. Edged weapons hit at -3 because of the vine's swaying but deal normal damage. A single vine is AC 9 with 1 HD, parting when its hit points run out, after which it stops attacking; severed pieces eventually root again and keep growing.

All magic affects it normally. It takes 1-6 rounds to catch fire unless lit by a fireball or soaked first with oil or another flammable liquid. Burning strangleweed gives off a harsh, stinging smoke that drives characters back at least 100 feet and settles after 1-3 turns.

It owns nothing but what its victims drop, and adventurers always find skeletons and assorted gear scattered beneath a patch.

The weed will grow nearly anywhere damp. It needs no light and has no chlorophyll, so sages argue hotly over whether it is a plant or a fungus.