Monster Lab: D&D 5e Carnivorous Plant

Last week I wrote about Monsters & Traps for a D&D 5e Jungle Adventure. An interesting bit of feedback I received on Facebook was that I missed Carnivorous Plant. To update Carnivorous Plant for D&D 5e, I could just use Vine Blight, Roper or Shambling Mound, but I wanted something that was relatively stationary with a challenge rating around 2. The D&D 5th edition Monster Manual does not have such a creature, so I had to look around for ideas and build my own. One Carnivorous Plant presents a tough challenge at low levels or a challenging trap like encounter for higher level PCs with a group of these plants surprising them.
Carnivorous Plant
Challenge Rating: 2 | Homebrew
The Carnivorous Plant is a type of living foliage that look like a giant plant. Its head resembles a giant Venus Fly Trap with teeth, but is reddish-purple in color and it has 2 long, arm-like tendrils. This deadly plant remains motionless until it detects a creature within range using its Tremorsense or Blindsight.
CARNIVOROUS PLANTLarge plant, unaligned |
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Armor Class 13 (natural armor) Hit Points 65 (10d8+24) Speed 10 ft. |
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STR | DEX | CON | INT | WIS | CHA |
15 (+2) | 13 (+1) | 14 (+2) | 1 (-5) | 12 (+1) | 2 (-4) |
Skills Perception +3, Stealth +3 (+8 if it is motionless and surrounded by thick foliage) Condition Immunities blinded, deafened Senses Blindsight 30 ft (blind beyond this radius), Tremorsense 60 ft, Passive Perception 11 Languages none Challenge 2 (450 XP) |
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Actions:
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The Carnivorous Plant above can be made harder by adding more tendrils, more hit dice, acidic touch or converting it into a gargantuan plant.
Some other plant monsters I found were Assassin Vine, Bloodsipper, Hunting Cactus, Violet Fungus and Shriekers, Topiary Bushes, Tendriculos, the psionic Udoroot and Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing. There is also a race of playable plant people called the Stranglethorns.
Looking for more monsters? Check out my series of Monsters by environment.
Aquatic | Arctic | Cave or Underground | Desert | Forest | Jungle | Mountain | Swamp