Cladosporid
by Cab Davidson
| Stat | Cladosporid |
| Armour Class: | 5 |
| Hit Dice: | 1** |
| Move: | 120’ (40’) |
| Attacks: | Special |
| Damage: | By weapon or special |
| Number Appearing: | 1d10 (10d10) |
| Save As: | F12 |
| Morale: | 9 (12) |
| Treasure Type: | Zero (M) |
| Intelligence: | 13 |
| Alignment: | Chaotic |
| XP Value: | 12 |
Cladosporids are a race of myconid native to the elemental plane of fire and various other dangerous energy planes. They are genial in appearance, being short, skinny creatures with spindly bodies and fluffy round heads made up of chains of dusty, greyish blue spores. They are chaotic rather than evil, enjoying acts of exploration or experimentation above all things.
The parent myconoid of a cladosporid is one of the most resilient life forms in the universe, with a strange capacity to absorb almost any kind of energy and feed from it. This includes heat, electricity, vibration or even radiance, all of which are absorbed their adapted mycelial network. This in itself is not a whole feed for them, they must also gather other nutrients to grow, which (alongside defending the myconoid, gathering more energy and spreading spores) is the role of their myconids.
Cladosporids are immune to normal fire, heat, and radiance, and can absorb such forces at the rate of 1hp of normal damage potential per turn. When attacked with any form of magical energy, from the force energy of magic missiles, the electrical of lightning bolt all the way to the fire energy of fireballs, cladosporid myconoids may make a saving throw (already as a 12th level fighter) with a +4 bonus to the roll. If they pass, they take no damage, and absorb the full amount of energy faced. Each can absorb up to 60hp of damage before fully charged, taking on progressively more of a glow based upon the amount and type of energy absorbed (red for fire, white for electricity, orange for force, and violet for radiance). Once fully charged a cladosporid becomes immune to energy of all types, and will typically try to return to its parent myconoid to deliver its load. But if faced with an enemy they can dispense this energy by touch, releasing any number of the points of damage they have absorbed upon any victim touched (although a save is allowed for half).
It is quite difficult to get into a fight with a cladosporid, they prefer to explore, investigate and essentially just enjoy themselves, but if this does occur they will freely use any energy they have already absorbed in defence before running away as fast as their legs will carry them. At a push they can reabsorb energy from their home myconoid, which will typically have a store of 2d1000 HP to spare, but this is a desperate measure that they prefer to avoid because this reveals precisely where the myconoid is.
Being able to absorb all sorts of energy, especially radiance, makes them of keen interest to wizards who may seek to exploit this. Understandably, the cladosporids themselves resent this and resist any such attempts to trap or use them in this way tends to provoke spectacular and murderous revenge. Others choose to contact them for the in depth knowledge of the inner workings of obscure forces of energy, but this itself is understanding that they rarely share for fear that it may be used against them.
Cladosporids are rarely found on the prime plane, but they are known to grow in caverns close to immense sources of radiance energy and occasionally in the subterranean tunnels around hot springs and volcanos.