Monster: Stone Roses

Stone Roses
Armour Class: 2
Hit Dice: 3+3*
Move: Nil
Attacks: 4
Damage: 1-4/1-4/1-4/1-4 + special
No. Appearing: 1-6
Save As: F3
Morale: 12
Treasure Type: Special
Alignment: Neutral
XP Value: 75

With stems of granite, thorns of obsidian, and blossoms of grey crystal and shining marble, a stone rose is no more nor less than its name suggests -- a bush, or rarely a vine, of living stone. Stone roses are dimly intelligent creatures of the plane of Earth, and though they cannot move they know when they have potential prey within reach.

Stone roses are surrounded by an emotional field generated by the plantlike elemental. Any living being approaching within 20' of a stone rose must save vs. spell or be overcome by a steadily-growing tide of gentle sadness; this growing lassitude causes a cumulative -1-per-round penalty to initiative, to-hit and damage rolls, and saving throws as long as the subject remains within range. If a save vs. charm is also failed, the victim will remain lingering within the aura of sorrow until dragged away or injury allows another save to throw off the dull-mindedness.

Against all targets -- affected or no -- a stone rose lashes out with thorned coils, inflicting 1-4 hit points of damage with each of four coils and absorbing the spilled blood as readily as it does sorrow.

The oversized, greystone hips of a stone rose sometimes produce 1-4 snowcrosses instead of seed.