One thing thats kind of forgotten in classic D&D is just how European centric it is. And specifically just how many of the monsters come from British myths and legends. Thats fine, there's nothing wrong than that, but I sometimes think that the range of monsters we're most familiar with is based on what the folk at TSR in the early days were most familiar with. And global folklore offers us so much more.
This is a Japanese myth, a sort of vampire tree. How great is that? Its definitely something you can use in game. Note also the link to battlefields, and compare with the valravn. Just because one is Scandinavian and the other Japanese, that doesn't mean you can't use them both in game...
Jubokko
by Cab Davidson
From the Journal of Averyx
When I first learned of Mystara, as a world that existed far across the Universe from the homeworld of my people, I was stunned by the savagery of the wars that had waged there in its ancient days. And when I first visited and observed the world closer up, I was saddened at how little things had changed. Its not just the loss of life and the damage to civilisations that I dislike, but also the strange, unintended consequences of such actions.
Death is an unfortunate necessity for the process of life, but if enough souls should pass in the same place at the same time that puts a tremendous strain on the fabric of the multiverse. Life is natural, death is natural, but there is nothing natural about the wholesale slaughter of sentient beings. We observe this in all of the great disasters that have befallen Mystara, all had unintended consequences. Whether that takes the form of dangerous radiance energies being trapped in a range of notorious artefacts, the creation of magical locations, or even the wholesale cursing of lands for all time, the impact of such events is surely apparent to any and all scholars of the history of Mystara.
Great battles attract many dark forces, including vampires, nosferatu and other haemovores. Their presence at a time of extreme metaphysical disturbance can affect the nature of the land around them, and their excessive feeding causing leeching of virus into the land itself, combine to produce some of the oddest, rarest and most dangerous offshoots of vampirism.
The Jubokko is the most frightening of them. They are, thankfully, rare, being most common on Ochalea (where a nest of vampires with a tradition of particularly messy feeding frequented battlefields for centuries) and the Isle of Dawn (where the history of warfare between the great empires is so intense that it has created many strange phenomena). The Jubokko is a great tree that has absorbed a huge volume of spilled blood infused with the vampiric virus through its roots, the metaphysical aspect of the virus allows it to infect the tree but only when such slaughter has occurred. The tree gains a certain amount of malign intelligence in addition to a perverted version of the vampiric skillset, and takes stewardship over the cursed site of the battlefield. Many strange plant like monsters typically follow.
| Stat | Jubokko* |
| AC: | 2 |
| HD: | 9*** |
| Movement Rate: | 60’ (20’) |
| Attacks: | 1 branch |
| Damage: | 2d6+Energy Drain |
| Number Appearing: | 0 (1) |
| Save As: | Fighter 9 |
| Morale: | 10 |
| Treasure Type: | F |
| Intelligence: | 10 |
| Alignment: | Chaotic |
| XP Value: | 3000 |
A mighty tree that has been on the site of a battle and become infused in the energies of destruction and blood of the fallen, the jubokko most resembles a beautiful, leafy tree while being in temperament and behaviour most akin to a vampire.
During the day the jubokko turns into liquid, blood like form, and dissipates its essence into the earth. At night it rises again, as a tree, and stalks the fields and woodlands for a perfect place to lie in ambush. It most favours roadsides and pasture where victims are likely to be heading home from a hard days work, or may be leaving to tend herds or flocks before dawn.
Jubokko have multiple means of attack. They can form an mesmeric pattern among their leaves for the attention of a single victim within range (60’), who must make a saving throw vs. spells or be charmed and attracted to approach the tree more closely. Closer targets can be attacked with a modified branch, with a hollow tube, sharpened at the end. Any victim struck takes 3d6 damage and suffers a single level of energy drain. If the jubokkos hit roll is a 16-20 then the vctim is skewered (see the rules for tridents) and in addition to normal damage will suffer a single level of energy drain per round until dead. While the jubookko can only attack with a single branch per round, if a victim is skewered they may use another branch, being able to skewer up to 6 targets at once. After they have fed their lush green leaves take on an autumnal red shade.
Jubokko frequently tend their hunting grounds for the growth of other dangerous plant like monsters, which will (if they can) assist the jubokko. Only creatures already be in the area around the jubokko can answer the call.
| Creature | Number | Creature | Number |
| Amber Lotus Flowers | 1d8 | Strangle Vine | 1d10 |
| Archer Bush | 1d8 | Whipweed | 1d10 |
| Killer Tree | 1 | Vampire Roses | 1d8 |
Victims of jubokko are absorbed into the tree, and their faces can be seen in knots in the bark when in moonlight. The faces of elves or dryads killed by the jubokko remain animated, and those entering melee with a jubokko that has consumed such a creature must make a save vs. spells or fall to the ground in fits of tears at the sight of their soundlessly screaming faces, being unable to do anything else for 1 turn or until the jubokko has attacked them.
Jubokko can only be struck by magic weapons, and are immune to sleep, charm, hold, all forms of cold and all mind affecting magic. They have none of the typical weaknesses of vampires, being immune to garlic, unrepelled by holy symbols and having no hearts to stake. They do however take double damage from fire based attacks, which they fear. They can be turned as vampires.