Horticulture as a contact sport

[phiwum]

Suppose that you want some protective plants. Pit Trap plants are easy to deal with, though digging up a mature specimen is time consuming and I'd make an IQ roll to see if the naturalist transplanted it properly.

Vampire roses (Old School Monsters, OSM) aren't a serious threat, though trimming them would still be a chore.

But what about a (terribly named) am bush? I mean, even when your garden is deadly, you want it to look good, but 100 shots is pretty dangerous to withstand just to trim it.

You could, I suppose, use up a slew of illusions, but I'm hoping for a non-magical solution. I'd buy that a smaller dose of plant poison or a half-and-half plant and sleep poison mixture might make it dormant for a while, but getting within throwing range isn't that easy. Perhaps you could hold your breath long enough to deliver the dose, since the weapon is a poison gas.

Those seem like the best plants for defense. An Archer Bush (OSM) is mobile so would be a pain in the butt unless you tie it down, which I guess you could do. Armor would serve you well to approach it, though the narcotic effect would be a nuisance. A tri-flower frond (OSM) might be okay, though I picture them as a warmer clime flower than my locale, which is based on my local weather in Boston. Madragoras (OSM) are too mobile and unpredictable for defense.

Am I missing any defensive lawn care tips? What would your expert naturalist do?

[Shostak]

Gralls from Hexagram #6.

[phiwum]

That's a good article. A grall is a bit specialized for my needs, but it's a well-developed concept.

The home being protected is owned by a wizard, but he's more city boy than nature lover. He employs an expert naturalist for purposes of finding bits of nature that can be exploited. (The wizard is primarily a ruthless businessman and does not advertise his spellcasting abilities.)

Well, to be fair, maybe it's my needs that are specialized even more than the grall.

Thanks for the pointer, Shostak.

[DeadParrot]

IRL - Poison Ivy and Poison Oak can be bushes or vines. Re-image one to be a bush with long vines hanging down around the outside of the bush. If a critter touches the vines, they react fairly quickly, similar to a Venus Flytrap, and attempt to wrap around the critter. The vines deliver a poison that depending on variant, either #1 attempts to kill/put to sleep the victim or #2 causes an intense itching.

#1 If the victim fails a save, they fall asleep/die and the plant begins digesting the victim for food. Probably should allow a period of time for the victim to be rescued before the digestion reaches the point of no return.

#2 If the victim fails a save, the poison causes an immediate intense itching resulting in IQ - 4 due to distraction and DX - 4 due to having to scratch. Adjust penalties to suit. While armor offers some bonus to saves, most armors have gaps and places where a thin vine can enter.

For an alarm system, a version of the Shrieker might work. (AD&D MM pg 87). For outdoor use, instead of a mushroom, make it a cactus or other plant suitable for the local climate.

[phiwum]

Thanks, Dead Parrot. I'll think about that as well.

[phiwum]

I was thinking about the Gralls that Shostak suggested. This is a bit of a digression, but I really like some of the new magical monsters folks are coming up with. Specifically, I like how the background of the creator is quite specialized.

A grall requires Telepathy, Create/Destroy Elemental and Expert Naturalist and a minimum IQ of 16. A wizard or a hero would spend 10 talent/spell points to have that combination of spells and talents.

A golem from Book of Unlife requires Create/Destroy Elemental and Theologian, so 6 points for a hero and 7 points for a wizard.

A talos (BOU) requires Create/Destroy Elemental and Mechanician, so just 5 points for a hero or wizard.

Each of these require rather a lot of ST to create a strong figure. It would be a rare player who would pursue this route, which is good, because creating a golem to do your task for you would be a dull adventure. Instead, these are spells suited to quite specialized NPCs, which adds a lot of flavor to the adventure.

(I'll add that the fungus druids that Jean McGuire has introduced follow this same pattern of interesting, specialized monsters and their specialized keepers.)

[amenditman]

A few years ago I had people cutting thru my back neighbor's yard and thru my yard to shorten a trip. He put up chainlink fence and they still came thru.

I planted bougainvillea bushes along the entire back property line. Even when they were small this stopped all shortcuts thru the yards.

[phiwum]

Related question: Has the am bush evolved so that it can tell the difference between a stone beetle and a real target?

The stone beetle is a pest as far as the am bush is concerned. He steals the kill and drags it back to his hole, which is presumably far enough that the bush gets little sustenance from the remains, so this isn't a symbiotic relationship unless the beetle produces enough kills so that whatever bits left near the bush are a net gain.

But pest or not, wasting ammo on an immune beetle would make a bad situation worse, so if stone beetles are commonly found near am bushes, it would benefit the am bush to identify them and hold its fire.