Psathyrellid
by Cab Davidson
| Stat | Psathyrellid |
| Armour Class: | 6 |
| Hit Dice: | 3* |
| Move: | 90’ (30’) |
| Attacks: | 1 fist |
| Damage: | 1d8+special |
| Number Appearing: | 1d8 (10d8) |
| Save As: | F3 |
| Morale: | 9 (12) |
| Treasure Type: | Zero (M) |
| Intelligence: | 9 |
| Alignment: | Neutral |
| XP Value: | 45 |
Psathyrellid myconids are native to the elemental plane of water, various planes dominated by the sphere of time and, almost uniquely, to elemental wormholes to or from the plane of water, where they thrive in the constant flow.
They are the only known aquatic myconids. Their myconoids grow under the river beds of great, fast flowing rivers (hence their capacity to thrive in wormholes to or from the plane of water), with nutrients being brought to them in the sediments and dissolved in the water themselves. The myconids themselves appear to be large, spindly beige mushrooms, around 2’ tall, with small caps, growing from the river bed, not obviously offensive in any way until they choose to lift their mostly buried body from the sediment. When they choose to do this they are around 5’ tall, with wiry, strong legs and feet that grip the mud, sand or rocks of the river bed.
They are slow to anger but can be provoked to violence if their aquatic home is threatened. They can move as freely on land as on the bed of the river, but rarely pursue aggressors out of the water, where they have a key advantage over any attackers. Each blow landed by a psathyrellid pushes any target up to the size of an ogre into the river bed, to a depth of 1’. The first such blow reduces the targets dexterity by 2 and prevents them moving until they or another creature succeeds an open doors roll (5-6 on 1d6 + strength bonus). A second hit on a creature already embedded pushes them down another foot, reducing their dexterity by another 2, and necessitating a second open doors roll to escape (each roll reducing the depth they are embedded by 1’). Once a creature is buried to a depth of 3’ or more their dexterity is reduced by 6, and all attacks are made with a -4 penalty. Psathyrellids are sufficiently intelligent to realise that rapidly burying foes is their best combat strategy, and invariably coordinate attacks to bury and drown their enemies.
Treasures are collected by psathyrellids, who understand that being able to buy off a potential enemy may often be a more effective policy than fighting. They keep their treasures buried deep under the river bed.
There are various fungi that are found in water, but only one that forms anything like a fruiting body (i.e. a mushroom). There are some weird and wacky lifecycles with some peculiar and weird terminologies to describe them, but none form the basis of a myconid. Other than this one. I present Psathyrella aquatica, the (as far as we know) entirely unique under-water mushroom. The aquatic gilled mushroom; Psathyrella aquatica