Chaotic Features for Plants
by Eric Rowe
When a plant possesses a chaotic feature, roll 1d6: on a 1-4, roll 1d100 below. Otherwise, roll the feature on the Beneficial (5) or Detrimental (6) Chaotic Feature tables provided on pp 24-25 of Lords of Terror. Note that, because most plants have no active defenses (as animals and humanoids do), detrimental mutations are usually deadly. Thus, most living plants encountered will have basically beneficial features.
Appearance Change
01-02
Appears dangerous (thorns, tentacles, teeth, acid, all growths w/in 3m dead, roots resemble bones, etc.)
03
Looks like a different plant
04-07
Strange smell (dung/urine, rotting eggs, fish, local pred-ator, good food, no odor, etc.)
08
Flourescent/glows in the dark
09-12
Unusual coloring (bright neon color, stripes, spots, rain-bow swirls, albino/colorless, transparent, etc.)
13
Camouflaged: blends into background
Size Change
14-19
Gigantism: entire plant +2d6 SIZ
20-22
Part of plant enlarged (roots, trunk/stems, leaves, fruit, flowers, random parts, etc.)
23-28
Dwarfism: entire plant -2d6 SIZ
29-31
Part of plant (roots, trunk/stems, leaves, flowers, fruit, random parts, etc.) reduced in size
Unusual Body Parts
32-33
Sensory Organs (trunk covered in eyes/ears, stamens end in eyes, leaves have ears, leaves are fingers, flowers have tongues, flowers send out sonar signals, etc.)
34
Mouth (trunk has a mouth opening, flowers have teeth, face on trunk, etc.)
35
Possesses legs instead of/in addition to roots (Move 3)
36-37
1d6 Tentacles (STR 2d6 + 6)
Roots
38
Above ground: plant collects nutrients from air
39
Roots absorb anything: plant can survive in any envir-onment or soil
40-41
Roots can act as tentacles (STR 2d6+6)
42
Extensive root system acts as sensory network within 100 meters
Trunk/Stems
43
Made of metal (1 in 6 to be valuable)
44
Hollow trunk
45-46
Secretes obnoxious/dangerous substance (foul-smelling musk, poison, oil (-40% climb), glue, poison, wax, etc.)
47
Can stretch trunk 3d6 meters, bends in any direction
48
Can move stems at will
Sap
49-50
Sap is blood: bleeds if cut (follow normal rules)
51-52
Sap is acid (POT 2d6): sprays acid within 3m if cut
53
Gummy sap: spurts glue of STR 3d6 within 3m if cut
54
Has poison gas instead of sap: 2d6 meter cloud of POT 1d6 released if cut
Leaves/Flowers
55-56
Valuable (made of/coated with precious metal, healing properties, restore MPs, restore FPs, studded with gems, can be brewed into a magic potion, etc.)
57
Very fragile (crystalline, papery, skeletal, rotting, burst with sap when touched, wither in specific circumstance)
58-59
Razor-edged: brushing against leaves causes 1d3 damage
60-61
Covered in dangerous substance (acid, contact poison, glue, suckers, spikes, drain MPs, etc.)
Fruit
62
Explosive (when picked or bitten, exploding seeds, plant explodes if uprooted/chopped down, etc.)
63-64
Poisonous (2d6 POT)
65
Causes random disease (POW 3d6)
66-67
Defended (hard shell, prickly, can't open until ripe, in-credibly thick skin, nauseating smell, slimy, etc.)
68-70
Unusual taste (bitter, fishy, moldy, extremely sweet, salty, meaty, etc.)
Growth
71
Exposure to specific substance is damaging (sunlight, water, soil, wind, fertilizer, noise, etc.)
72-74
Extremely rapid growth rate: experiences 1 season's growth each day
75
Grows only under certain conditions (at night, in winter, when damaged, when burned, when immersed in water, when exposed to magic, etc.)
76
Special nutritional need (must have meat weekly, must have rare mineral, can only grow in water, etc.)
Movement
77-78
Can walk on roots at move 1d3
79
Mobile: Plant tumbles in wind, floats freely in current
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