D&D Homebrew Races - The Alraune / Malicious Maneaters
A homebrew race of carnivorous plantfolk for Dungeons & Dragons 3e/3.5; created by Aboleth Eye!
As always, though this homebrew was made with D&D 3.5 edition in mind, with a few tweaks you can absolutely use this material with Pathfinder 1st edition! -- Aboleth Eye
In the deep woodlands and jungles of the land, you may find areas completely abandoned of animal or human life. Or rather, warmblooded creatures avoid entering the domain--for they know an Alraune resides among the trees and vines. These predatory and seductive plantfolk do not just require flesh and bone, they enjoy the taste. And they reside in the most dangerous territories as cunning man-eating abominations, luring travelers to their dooms.
The Alraune are a race of sentient plantfolk that were first discovered in the unexplored depths of rainforests and marshlands too hostile for civilized life. Some have even been discovered in desert wastelands, often claiming an entire oasis as its hunting grounds. They are a sentient force of nature’s predatory instinct, hungry to devour all that enter their grasp. Dungeons and old ruins that attract hotblooded adventurers are a popular territory as well, since Alraune living there have a steady source of meat entering their clutches.
While most sentient plantfolk and nature fey seek harmony and can even work alongside civilization to preserve the land; the Alraune have a hunger they cannot and will not suppress. Creatures like nymphs, dryads and even the Adu'Ja druidic plantfolk see the Alraune as a predatory aspect of nature, a hunter–much like humans see ghouls and their hunger for flesh off-putting. Evil-aligned fey feel a kinship towards them and often use them as guard dogs in their domains; provided their pet Alraune does not get a taste for fey blood.
But with this drive to consume and survive against the odds, the Alraune have begun to travel across great distances, to lands far and wide as an invasive species. Many have become selective over the type of prey they want to eat; choosing to pursue their prey rather than lure them into their territory.
Alraune is a German word meaning "mandrake", pronounced like "Al-Rau-Ne".
Physical Description
Alraune are a race of sentient plants that resemble sylvan or elven humanoids in form. They are humanoid in physical appearance, but their skin is usually a shade of green or green-brown due to natural camouflage. From their heads grow a cascade of flowers, vines and/or leaves. Their hands and feet are single extensions from their trunk "torso", with no fingers or toes–they use these limbs to absorb sunlight and absorb nutrients when they plant their root-feet in soil. When exposed to extremely bright lights or having absorbed polluted water, their bodies seem to have leaf-like veins beneath the surface.
Alraune are usually very tall and willowy. They usually have bodies that resemble dryads or nymphs, sometimes with exaggerated curves and feminine shapes if their preferred prey are humanoid males. Their faces are usually very attractive by humanoid standards, with false noses and large eyes. Alraune eyes are usually completely green with no irises or pupils in a sea of chlorophyll, and in complete darkness they give off a faint bioluminescent glow.
Despite their human-like faces, the mouth of an Alraune extends beyond their false lips; allowing them to greatly open their mouths. There are no muscles or bones to get in the way, so they open up like flytrap plants while standing still for hours in photosynthesis. Their mouths are fully lined by a row of sharp teeth made of their hardened epidermis; usually green or pinkish-red in color. Their digestive cavity's acidic nectar emits a fragrance that attracts insects and other pollinators, which will fall down its slippery throat and be unable to climb out. Examination of an Alraune's acidic nectar show it is quite caustic for organic materials, able to break down fur, bones and muscle over a week (depending on the size of the source).
Their flytrap mouths are covered in tiny hairs that can sense when something is walking on them, and they can snap them shut with trigger-like quickness to force prey down their throats. Alraune teeth are very sharp, however, and can bite through larger prey very easily.
An Alraune enjoys sunshine as its primary source of energy. They do not take in nutrients well from their surroundings otherwise, but their capacity of surviving for long periods of time without food is quite remarkable. Their ability to travel long distances by their own power is how this unique species has survived changing biomes and climates.
What appears to be hair on an Alraune is actually a unique extension of foliage that grows from their heads. Most Alraune have thick cascades of vines from their scalps, often wrapped or tied up like many of braided hairstyles. When resting and focusing on photosynthesizing energy for themselves, it is typical for their vegetation to flower even more excessively and grow more leaves or tendrils temporarily.
The flowers of an Alraune are very fragrant while undergoing photosynthesis, attracting pollinating insects and small birds as minor snacks. The plant takes advantage of these tiny snacks by snapping their flowers shut like mouths or their vegetation naturally forms a sticky enzyme to trap these lesser prey.
Internally, an Alraune is nothing but a plant whose bodily form has evolved to better attract humanoid prey. Their physical structure is more reliant upon their tough skins for physical support of their form, rather than how humans have skeletal structures or cartilage. Their bodies do appear to have veins to transport water, chlorophyll and oxygen throughout their bodies. Except for an acidic stomach-like organ, Alraune do not have any other internal organs, not even a brain or eyes. The internal structure of their heads are a jumble of chlorophyll-infused fibers and phloem vascular plant tissues instead. Their eyes are a special vascular tissue, filled with chlorophyll, that reacts to light as a sensory organ. Their noses are usually decorative or nonexistent, as they absorb pheromones and catch scents throughout their head vegetation and epidermis.
If an Alraune's body is harmed, any wounds will seep a chlorophyll-infused, watery blood that will slowly coagulate into hard, wood-like patches on their epidermis. When an Alraune seeks to heal its wounds using photosynthesis, they must stand with their wounds exposed to sunlight for long periods of time. The light and heat from the sun will help the wound harden into a wood-like patch. Leaves and small branches will sprout from old wounds patched like this.
The limbs of an Alraune are much more stretchy and flexible due to their lack of a skeleton. Their upper limbs are often much longer than their lower ones, allowing them to grasp prey closer and swing from tree branches. Their legs may often appear more root-like, with smaller hair-like extensions growing out to absorb nutrients and water.
Some Alraune are dreadul paragons of their kind, having evolved with more hollow bodies. They grow long, vine-like tendrils and hide them within these hollows; so they may catch their prey unaware and twist them to death. When photosynthesizing, they fully extend these tendrils into trees to catch more sunlight, or they submerge them in water sources to drink. These viney Alraune are luckily more rare to come across.
If an Alraune’s limb is torn or otherwise removed from the body, they will easily regrow if attached and allowed to heal; otherwise it apparently requires much time and nutrition for an Alraune to regrow a limb. If Alraune’s head is removed, however, that will put the creature seemingly out of commission. The body of a decapitated Alraune will go dormant and rapidly start to rot away--the creature’s essence returning to the earth. From that point, there is a chance another Alraune will gestate beneath the ground…
When an Alraune is killed, it will eventually regrow if it is not destroyed. The vegetative remains will begin to rot away, eventually forming a strange green patch of lichen in the silhouette of the creature. This lichen patch is an indicator of the Alraune regrowth cycle, and it is nearly impossible to carve away or get rid of. Only fire or acid (mundane or magical) is able to fully cleanse an area of Alraune lichen. If the remains are allowed to rot into or are buried in earth, the Alraune has a greater chance of being reborn. The bodily form rots away while its root-like legs break off into smaller ones that attempt to grow a new tuberous body.
Inside this tuberous body an Alraune forms their new body; much like a human pregnancy in its early stages. Alraune rebirth takes a long time, usually ten to twenty years. During that time the tuber will sap nutrients away from any nearby competing plants, actively killing off tree roots that invade a good mile radius of the tuber. When gestation is complete, the tuber will begin to form a leafy extension like a tree sapling, gathering light and growing over another year to resemble a tall, almost bare shrub with perfectly diametric branches from a central trunk.
It is said if one attempts to uproot an Alraune in its gestation (killing it forever), the plant creature lets out a terrible piercing shriek that instantly kills all who hear it. This is false, but it belies an interesting fact about Alraune regrowth. While they kill almost all plants within their area of regrowth, it seems that mandrake/mandragora plants will often seed and sprout more readily in this affected area thereafter. And mandrakes have been known to rarely obtain sentience from magically or elementally infused soil, letting out a piercing, painful shriek when pulled out of the ground. Perhaps these plants absorb certain properties from their past victims, making them more potent for alchemy and even possibly sentient?
If an Alraune is successful at consuming humanoids (at least ten to fifteen a year according to different recorded averages), they will often become fertile with an offshoot from a seed sprouting inside them. Alraune will then become more reckless in consuming one more humanoid, to fuel the offshoot’s growth (and possibly affecting the offshoot’s development and physical form as hypothesized above). An Alraune can only bear a single offshoot at a time, no more than once in a recorded year. Once they consume this last meal, their bodies begin to swell in their abdomen area, as a new Alraune tuber gestates within them. The fertilized Alraune will then return to their territory and expel the new tuber from their mouths, burying it in the ground. Typically the Alraune will then abandon the gestating tuber, giving up its territory and traveling to find a new one far away.
Very rarely a traveling Alraune will come across a gestating tuber (from a new offshoot or an Alraune regrowing). When this occurs the man eating plant will often dig up the tuber and consume it. This happens especially if the mature Alraune has not eaten in some time.
Alraunes are typically solitary ambush predators in the wild. It is said that all Alraune can create offshoots if they consume enough humanoid bodies–which is how they reproduce without mating.
A story about these strange creatures claims that once an Alraune that devoured a man created an offshoot newborn that grew up to have facial features much like the man’s. This story has been recorded from multiple continents and cultures with some variations, but the premise is sound–that by consuming humanoids an Alraune can create new offshoots/offspring with the traits, and might even possibly share genetics with its victims. The sciences of most fantasy settings, luckily, has not reached the point of confirming if that is the case.
According to prehistoric anthropology, there are often painted records of primitive civilization encountering strange figures in the woods, found on cave walls and tablets. While it was assumed they were all depictions of dryads, nymphs or even treants; recently, investigation into old roots found at these sites have brought up the possibility they were the petrified limbs of felled Alraune.
So perhaps humanity has always faced these predatory plants since its earliest days; the Alraune growing more plentiful as civilization expanded?
Personality and Psychology
As a whole, Alraune plantfolk are concerned entirely by their needs and wants. While they could live peaceably in isolated wilderness on bugs, birds and small animals; they are all born with a taste for humanoid flesh and blood. It is like ambrosia to these plantfolk. They often will recall specific impressionable encounters with humanoids as “memorable meals”. Scarily, many Alraune claim unsuspecting victims taste “better” than one that went down swinging.
Alraune despise urban centers like towns and cities. When interviewed, they claim the smells of too many humanoids together turns sour with the smog and filth of a town or city. They prefer the wilderness as their homes, though often close to a small settlement or village for a steady supply of prey. They are ambush predators by nature. Even if they have gone without humanoid blood for long periods, they will never consider rushing into or invading a humanoid settlement to acquire prey. They have self-preservation instincts, after all; and they are aware that plants like them can be burned or weeded out quite easily. However, their hunger can overwhelm this instinct and they may recklessly ambush travelers if they catch the scent of spilled blood and warm bodies.
These creatures are very individualistic, but have been known to join parties of adventurers in exchange for eating enemies and the occasional cupful of blood. An Alraune can be bartered into going after specific people, especially if they are actively corrupting or harming natural environments–ones that the Alraune sees as viable territories for hunting especially. To these carnivorous plantfolk the challenge of eating the flesh of giants, fey and even dragons may make them salivate with anticipation.
The Alraune do not enjoy the company of their own kind for very long. A pair may briefly meet while one is migrating or traveling. Upon coming into visual contact, the plants usually pause to circle one another for a time. This ritual can last anywhere from ten minutes to a month; whoever first gives into their hunger loses.
Once they size one another up, the plantfolk either depart immediately or act as if they were fast friends. They often end up with them conversing about favorite meals/victims, how many seasons they have hunted in their current physical form, and about possible new territories. But these conversations have their eventual limit, and usually they devolve into biting and wrestling matches, as one attempts to claim a territory the other desires or occupies. The winner of these bouts will flee, leaving the victor with a goal territory to claim or one they will simply insert themselves. Even the friendliest of stalemates will result in one moving on, as they recognize the chosen territory cannot supply them both with enough meat to live.
Fights to the death are extremely rare, considering their bodies cannot provide nutrition to one another. Additionally, destroying the other may only plant a new one in the freshly claimed territory.
While many Alraune physically resemble feminine dryads or sylvan humanoids, this is an evolution of their seductive nature. Gender does not exist to these plantfolk, as they are technically self-pollinating after feeding. Sex is not a need for them as well, since they reproduce asexually.
However, they do understand that hunger and desire are powerful forces animals and humans possess. They use that against naive humanoids by seducing them into close quarters or lying together. Many times they will pretend to be dryads, nymphs and other fey, or even gods of nature. The facade ends quickly once their prey is helpless and exposed, as the plantfolk will tear into the first flash of flesh they see. Some Alraune prefer to choke their prey to death using their flowery tendrils, so they can consume their prey at leisure.
Druids and other nature magic practitioners often interact with an Alraune to keep territory lines maintained, asking them for information about the lay of the land, or even to punish humanoids that disrupt the natural cycle or land. These druidic people realize an Alraune will not actively cause chaos or carnage, and are no more evil as any wolf, bear or even evil fey in their natural environment. Druids will often willingly spill a bit of blood in an Alraune’s territory to get the plant’s attention; in order to talk and barter with them.
Rangers on the other hand dislike Alraune instinctively–seeing them as nothing more than a predator that needs to be taken down and burned out. Mercenaries are often called by towns and guilds to take out an Alraune in a desirable territory or one inconvenient for civilization (such as on roads or under bridges). These plantfolk often terrorize trespassing rangers and hunters, seeing them as a challenging but satisfying meal.
When conversing with an Alraune, covering up exposed skin is very important. They are easily distracted by their hunger and are always looking for easy opportunities to grab a bite. They speak Sylvan and Elven fluently somehow, but their voices are much deeper and guttural in quality than you'd expect.
Alraune investigate new things with their mouths. Everything is potentially food to them, so they have to know if their teeth can cut through it and if it has tasty blood and meat. Their hunger is constantly at a slow burn, so they are quite impatient and chaotic compared to other sentient plants. Even on friendly terms, an Alraune will not hesitate to nip or threaten a bite in conversation.
As carnivorous plants, the Alraune do not identify with mortal ideals of good or evil. They only care about survival and not-survival. They do not see their carnivorous tendencies as murder. They are merely part of the great cycle of prey and predator. However, they will not tolerate any who seek to destroy or pollute their territories.
If you are cornered by an Alraune in the wilderness, there is a chance of escaping them through the promise of an easier meal. Make the meal seem more tasty and appealing, and it may allow you to secure it for them. An easier meal is better for them--they have to sustain themselves for long periods and cannot waste calories on every reckless pursuit or struggle. However, Alraune do not tolerate any form of trickery--though luckily they are not the smartest creatures in existence due to their all-consuming hunger. If an Alraune gets the scent of your blood, beware that it will come find you if you renege on a promise of an easier meal.
Some Alraune may make deals with druids to only hunt invasive creatures or humans that encroach upon their territory. These deals usually last a full seasonal year before the creature's wandering nature gets the better of them.
These plantfolk believe they were created by Obad-Hai, the Greenfather and elemental god of nature. They see themselves as vital parts of his natural cycle, for every beautiful thing in nature there is also an emotionless, dangerous niche that is filled. They do not worship gods in any way, however; they will look upon a godly visage and wonder how they taste just as they would a rat or mortal. Even powerful archfey are merely to be bartered with for short-term survival.
An ironic side effect of an Alraune claiming a territory is that it will most likely flourish. Polluted swamplands and water sources will slowly be cleaned as these plants filter water through their roots. Larger, more dangerous animals will avoid the area, allowing smaller prey animals to flourish in greater numbers. The Alraune do not like sharing their territory with any other predators. They will attack giant vermin hives or nests for food, as well as break up packs of animals wolves or bears. And mandrakes and other tuberous plants will flourish in greater numbers in their central territory, as their long-term presence hedges out other pollinator-utilizing plants to other areas.
Gods and other outsiders that seek to corrupt or pollute nature do not attract Alraune support, as a ruined world means starvation for them. They avoid humanoid settlements and cities until their own territories are encroached upon. A prosperous village means more potential prey will have to trek through their territory, at the Alraune's benefit.
More clever Alraune will seek a druid or town sage, under the pretense of seeking coexistence. They even barter with wilderness settlements, leaving them alone in exchange for monthly or seasonal tributes (offered willingly or not). Some villages have had a symbiotic partnership with these plantfolk for generations--giving up a pig or cow every month in exchange for an otherwise monster-free home. More callous and evil druids may convince an Alraune to aid in eliminating a threatening army or helping reclaim land from an offending settlement, promising them many bodies to eat.
Alraune Racial Traits
The following are the racial traits and abilities for an Alraune character:
- Medium size Plant
- Plants have immunity to all mind-affecting effects (charms, compulsions, phantasms, patterns, and morale effects) as well as poison, sleep, paralysis, polymorph and stunning effects.
- Plants also are not subject to critical hits.
- Plants breathe and eat, but do not sleep. An Alraune must rest for eight or more hours in a meditative trance before their natural healing can commence. That rest period is also required before an Alraune spellcaster can prepare new spells and/or regain daily class spell slots.
- Racial Hit Dice: 3d8
- Racial Base Attack Bonus: +2
- Racial Base Saving Throws: Fort +3, Ref +1, Will +1
- Racial Class Skills: Climb, Hide, Knowledge (nature), Listen, Survival, Spot
- Racial Skill Points: 2 + Intelligence modifier (minimum 1) x 6
- Racial Ability Scores: Strength +4, Constitution +2, Intelligence -4, Wisdom +2
- Alraune are powerful creatures, but not the most academic or interested in higher learning. Instinct often draws them to throw themselves headfirst towards tasty prey.
- Natural Attack: Bite (1d8 plus 1 ½ Strength modifier). An Alraune can make a single melee bite attack on its turn, or while wielding melee weapons can attack once with its bite as a secondary natural weapon during a full-attack action (adding half their Strength modifier instead of 1 ½).
- If an Alraune scores a critical hit with its bite attack against an organic living creature, it can forgo the critical damage and instead heal for the number of hit points equal to the damage they inflict (see Carnivorous Fasting below).
- Special Qualities:
- Low-Light Vision
- Natural Armor: The vegetal bodies of Alraunes grants them a natural armor bonus of +3.
- Photoregeneration (Ex): Alraunes who are allowed to rest in sunlight with at least a gallon of water to consume heal twice their level in hit points per day. If active during this time they gain hit points back at the normal resting rate. In darkness, they regain hit points normally.
- Alraune can regrow severed limbs (but not heads). It takes approximately 1d10 + 25 days to regrow a limb, during which time the plant can do nothing more than rest and perform light activity. Complete bed rest/hibernation cuts this time in half (1d10 + 10 days).
- If an Alraune is killed and the body is left or buried on earth, another may grow from that spot in 1d20 + 10 years. During that time, it will form a gestation tuber buried in the ground over 1d4 + 4 years.
- Scent: An Alraune’s entire body can taste the air for traces of life, and can follow trails left by scent or pheromones more easily.
- Vulnerability to Fire: As plantfolk, they take half again as much (+50%) damage from fire.
- Carnivorous Fasting (Ex): An Alraune sustains itself on only water and fresh meat (which can come from animals, magical beasts, humanoids, monstrous humanoids, giants and even dragons). They can go without eating meat for over 1 month before they must consume a number of Hit Dice in edible creatures equal to half their total Hit Dice; then they start to starve.
- If an Alraune scores a critical hit with its bite attack against an organic living creature, it can forgo the critical damage and instead heal for the number of hit points equal to the damage they inflict (see Carnivorous Fasting below). This healed damage makes up 1 Hit Dice of their needed monthly amount above.
- These plantfolk need twice as much water as a normal humanoid would. Standing in rain or a body of water for ten minutes can sustain this need, as well as swallowing it directly.
- Skill Bonuses:
- +4 racial bonus on Bluff and Intimidate checks. The pheromones emitted by an Alraune’s flowery hair or fragrant bark often delude their targets into trusting them. Their sharp teeth and unending hunger, however, can be used to easily terrify their victims.
- -4 racial penalty to Disguise checks when pretending to be a non-plant or non-fey creature. However, this trait becomes a +4 racial bonus when making Hide checks in forests and other similar natural environments.
- +4 racial bonus on Survival checks. Alraune always consider Survival a class skill, as they have an innate link to the natural world.
- Alignment: Most Alraune are chaotic in alignment, and their hunger for meat pulls them towards neutrality or evil in the eyes of mortals.
- Level Adjustment: +3
- ECL: 6+. An Alraune with 1 class level would be considered a 7th level character.
- Challenge Rating: 3
- Favored Class: Fighter. Alraune instinctively focus on grappling and pinning their opponents for consumption. Some that travel the land become killers for hire, or become part of criminal organizations that require the frequent disposal of victims
- Others become obsessed with hunting a specific “breed” of humanoid, taking on the ranger class to track their favorite humanoid prey. Many become able to tap into their primal hunger, gaining intense bouts of barbarian strength at the cost of reckless behavior.
- Some Alraune are not above setting traps to catch prey across a vast territory, since it saves them time and energy. They take levels in rogue and build traps to block roads or drop animals and people into pits for easy pickings.
- An Alraune druid typically commands a large territory of woodland or other natural terrain, using summon nature’s ally to ambush travelling parties (or to eat the animals themselves if they are hungry).
- If an Alraune druid uses its summon nature’s ally to feed itself more than once a month, animals and magical beasts will not answer their summon spells for 1d4+1 months afterwards.
- Alignment: Most Alraune are chaotic in alignment, and their hunger for meat pulls them towards neutrality or evil in the eyes of mortals.
| Alraune | |
|---|---|
| Size/Type: | Medium Plant |
| Hit Dice: | 3d8+3 (17 hp) |
| Initiative: | +0 |
| Speed: | 30 feet |
| Armor Class: | 13 (+3 natural) |
| Touch / FF AC: | 10 / 13 |
| BAB/Grapple: | +2/+8 |
| Attack: | Bite +5 melee |
| Damage: | Bite (1d8+3) |
| Space/Reach: | 5 ft / 5 ft |
| Special Attacks: | Natural Weapons (bite) |
| Special Qualities: | Carnivorous Fasting, Photoregeneration, Scent, |
| Vulnerable to fire; Plant Traits | |
| Saves: | Fort +4, Ref +1, Will +2 |
| Abilities: | Str 15, Dex 10, Con 13, Int 6, Wis 12, Cha 11 |
| Skills: | Bluff +4, Climb +4, Disguise +0 (-4 non-fey/plant), |
| Hide +0 (+4 woodland/overgrown areas), Intimidate +4, | |
| Knowledge (nature) +0, Listen +4, Survival +5, Spot +4 | |
| Feats: | Alertness, Weapon Focus (bite); Improved GrappleB |
| Environment: | any Forest or Swamp |
| Organization: | Solitary; Solitary 3rd-level druid with 2d4 wolves or 1d4 brown bears |
| Challenge Rating: | 3 |
| Treasure: | Standard |
| Alignment: | Usually Neutral or Chaotic |
| Advancement: | By Character Class (Favored: Fighter) |
| Level Adjustment: | +3 |
| Level | BAB | Fort | Ref | Will | Special | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | +0 | +2 | +0 | +2 | Woodland Stride | |||||
| 2nd | +1 | +3 | +0 | +3 | Grasping Growths | |||||
| 3rd | +2 | +3 | +1 | +3 | Ability Boost (Strength +2) |
- Pitcher Stomach [Racial]
- Some Alraune have larger stomachs that can digest meat at a slower rate, allowing them to be more patient when hunting.
- Prerequisites: Alraune
- Benefits: The Alraune's Carnivorous Fasting is slowed double; requiring them to consume meat every two months rather than every month.
- Additionally, if the Alraune succeeds in grappling a creature two or more size categories smaller than itself, it may instead swallow the creature whole and hold it in their stomach. The swallowed creature automatically receives 1d4 acid damage each round it begins its turn in the plant's stomach.
- The swallowed creature may attempt to escape the Alraune's stomach by inflicting 2 damage with a light slashing or piercing damage. The stomach has an AC equal to 10 + 1/2 its current natural armor bonus. Upon taking this damage, the swallowed creature is released and the Alraune's stomach reknits (taking no damage).
Imagine a campaign adventure coming across an Alraune in the wild. Dungeon Masters could make them the beguiling nature spirits, tricking a party into hunting down prey for them. Or perhaps a village blames them for mysterious disappearances but the Alraune is hunting down the true culprit (and hoping to get a taste of them)? Or an evil druid enclave seeks to destroy an industrial town, and your party must convince local creatures like the Alraune to fight the druidic forces so their food supply doesn't vanish?
And what if you have an Alraune character in your own party? Some people love the idea of playing monster characters; the Alraune is perfect for a high-level druid or grappling fighter, or even a barbarian! Or what about a tricky ranger or rogue, following the party's great enemy across large distances and setting up a clever hunting trap for them? So many unique archetypes to build from these plant creatures--and having access to monster feats makes for unique character customization too!
My last major reason for making the Alraune is that plantfolk are really not utilized at all in 3e/3.5. Aside from the Adu'Ja plantfolk race, only found in Dragon Magazine #317 (2004). And those just feel like plant-y proto-elves for all the article gives us. I wanted more from my plants; and I wanted them to be pretty and pretty messed up!
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