Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Another Petty God: King Shroom - Cannibal Godspawn of Mushrooms, Devourer General of the Lizardwars, Patron of Shroomeaters

So here is another contribution for Gorgonmilk's Petty Gods Revival (now with Michael Moorcock and other famous people getting involved and ALL the contributions from the original project!). Constructive comments will be shown in the Redbeard Edit (here is an example). And now for the Petty God of Mushrooms:

Name: King Shroom
Symbol: Different from cult to cult, mushroom circles being very popular
Alignment: Lawful (Weird)
Movement: Special
Armor Class: 0
Hit Points (Hit Dice): 23 to 184 hp (23 HD, roll anew for every spawn)
Attacks: Special
Damage: Special
Save: M23
Morale: 12
Hoard Class: IV, VII, XXII
XP: 23.000

King Shroom, Cannibal Godspawn of Mushrooms, Devourer General of the Lizardwars and Patron of Shroomeaters is a lesser god of the mushroom kingdom and worshipped by those that seek enlightenment by digesting mushrooms with psychedelic properties. Wherever they grow (1 in 8 chance per region), there will be a cult worshipping him (1,2 in public, 3,4 accepted, but hidden 5,6 hunted by the law 7,8 hunted by a church 9,10 involved in sinister witchcraft; even and uneven numbers being respectively human or non-human communities). There is, of course, a strong and alien connection between fungi and magic, only known by those wizards adept in The Way of the Shroom.

No sober intelligence is able to grasp the cryptic reasoning for him appearing, the bizarre interacting with his surroundings or why the mushroom kingdom is at war with all lizards (yes, that includes dragons...). It is rare to encounter him by accident. Given the fact that fungi are nearly everywhere, some scholars concluded that Lord Shroom is very informed and very aware of what's happening in the World (75%), but his interpretation of this knowledge is very distorted at best. Everytime something mushroom-related is part of the game (ingame or at the table, mushrooms mentioned in a module, mushrooms on a pizza, the ranger doing a wilderness survival check, all counts, if it's not deliberate), there is a 1 in 8 chance that King Shroom will be interested enough to get involved. When encountered, he will react like this:

King Shroom Reaction Table (2d8):

2     Altering reality, blessing characters (psychic tranfer of language)
3-5   On a Mission (speaking in a high pitched voice)
6-8   Offering Knowledge (psychic transfer of images)
9-12  Offering an Experience (psychic transfer of feelings)
13-15 Needs something done (speaking in a dark, deep voice)
16    Stoned, blessing turns curse (talking gibberish for all but those
        under the influence of shrooms or his aura)

If a group of adventurers gets his attention, he will keep his distance for a while and observe. Signs of him being around are mushroom circles in the area, rumors of mushroom poisoning or even stoned cultists engaging the group with cryptic messages ("He is seeing you!"). His timing for appearing is always inconvenient, but the surroundings decide if encountering him will be a pleasant or an unpleasant "trip" (with no connection to his intentions, of course). So he will be seen as a humanoid mushroom of sorts, but how he manifests to the observer totally depends on the entire experience. How he communicates may be read from the result of the Reaction Table.

King Shroom has no legs, so he won't walk. But he is able to use Dimension Door at will within a fungus network and Teleport at will in between fungi networks (spawning in a mushroom circle every time). He casts spells like a level 23 magic user, with the spell effects always mirroring fungus behaviour. He emanates a psychedelic aura 30' around him (save vs. spells to avoid the effects of a Feeblemind spell, interaction with King Shroom remains possible under the influence of the aura and wears of after 1d4 turns). He will fight back if threatened, but only using his spells. Lizards he will attack on sight. Only magic weapons may harm him.

Destroying him will release his spores and he will respawn 1d6 days later. It is the way of the mushroom. Killing him is quite difficult, trapping him might be the best way to achieve that. His blessing is a random spell in the mind of the blessed, to use one time at will. His curse is a funguid infection that makes it impossible to process any other food but mushrooms, slimes and molds, transforming the host into a mushroom after (CON) months. King Shroom eats mushrooms for the various effects they might have and he is quite fond of fermented beverages. 

Giant crickets sing his song...

2 comments:

  1. Lots to work with there too. The manifestation and various effects could be very interesting, and the durability of course. The final line does triple duty, as poetry, possible omen and means of approach.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Cool. This could be one of the mysterious fungal-entities that the Fruggar serve...

    ReplyDelete

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