Optunian
by Cab Davidson
My take on a creature based in part on the photo, but also on scrumping (delicious) invasive prickly pears from cacti around the Med (they seem to be naturalised and indeed invasive in so many places).
| Stat | Optunian |
| AC: | 5 |
| HD: | 1* to 10* |
| Movement Rate: | 120’ (40’) |
| Attacks: | 1 fist or 1 fruit |
| Damage: | 1d3 per HD +special |
| Number Appearing: | 0 (5d10) |
| Save As: | F1-F10 |
| Treasure Type: | D |
| Intelligence: | 6 |
| Alignment: | Chaotic |
| XP Value: | 18-1750 |
A curious race of plant like humanoids appearing, at rest, as segmented cacti 1’ tall per HD. While they spend much of their time rooted in place and can grow and spread as an invasive cactus species in hot, semi-arid regions, when their numbers become too great a population will uproot and seek out a new home.
They typically try to attack and displace or kill a village of humans, demi-humans or humanoids and take the associated farmlands for their own use. Initially they will try to attack foes at range, each being in possession of a number of soft, spiny fruit equal to their HD, which they can thrown to a range of 60’ for 1d3 damage per HD. After exhausting their fruit supply, each optunian will close to melee, striking with a finely spiked fist for 1d3 damage per HD. Fine spines on optunian fists or fruit stick to their victims, making movement difficult. Each blow reduces the movement rate of a victim by 10’ (for example, a fighter wearing plate mail armour having been struck three times no longer has a movement rate of 90’ (30’) but instead moves at 60’ (20’)). Any character thus slowed must spend an entire turn removing the spikes. A character reduced to 0’ per round cannot move until they have spent a turn removing spines, but can continue to fight.
While not actively evil, optunians operate on a completely alien morality. They view humans the way humans may view weeds, seeing them as tolerable, even having a certain wild beauty in their place, but believing that they should be eradicated if growing in the wrong place. The notion that animal life may have ‘feelings’ is lost on an optunian.
Most optunians are small, 80% having 1-3HD, but in any group a larger individual with 7-10HD can be expected. This larger individual may be more imposing, but they are not a ‘leader’ in any identifiable way. Indeed the means by which decisions are made and leadership decided in groups of optunians is completely unknown.