Arboreal Snag
Level 3Attacks
Abilities
Trigger A creature within the monster's reach uses a manipulate action or a move action, makes a ranged attack, or leaves a square during a move action it's using. Effect The monster attempts a melee Strike against the triggering creature. If the attack is a critical hit and the trigger was a manipulate action, the monster disrupts that action. This Strike doesn't count toward the monster's multiple attack penalty, and its multiple attack penalty doesn't apply to this Strike.
An arboreal snag takes 5 additional damage from axes.
If the arboreal snag takes damage from a piercing attack, nauseating green pus spurts from the wound. Creatures within 10 feet of the snag must succeed at a DC 20 fortitude save or be Sickened 1 (Sickened 2 on a critical failure). Creatures that attempt this save are then temporarily immune for 1 hour.
A creature with void healing draws health from void energy rather than vitality energy. It is damaged by vitality damage and is not healed by vitality healing effects. It does not take void damage, and it is healed by void effects that heal undead.
The monster picks up a rock within reach or retrieves a stowed rock and throws it, making a ranged Strike.
Requirements The monster's last action was a successful Strike that lists Grab in its damage entry, or the monster has a creature Grabbed or Restrained Effect If used after a Strike, the monster attempts to Grapple the creature using the body part it attacked with. This attempt neither applies nor counts toward the creature's multiple attack penalty. The monster can instead use Grab and choose one creature it's grabbing or restraining with an appendage that has Grab to automatically extend that condition to the end of the monster's next turn.
Requirements The monster's last action was a successful Strike that lists Knockdown in its damage entry Effect The monster attempts to Trip the creature. This attempt neither applies nor counts toward the monster's multiple attack penalty.
Description
Arboreals can be victims of undeath like any other living creature, but without bones or flesh, their undead take a different form. When an arboreal shivers to life as undead, it often animates as a snag-a leafless, skeletal dead tree that haunts its forest, attacking any living creature it can catch. An arboreal snag is mindless and difficult to control, but some necromancers use them as forest guardians.
While many arboreals are comfortable remaining still for prolonged periods of time, arboreal snags tend to be restless, meandering in a region they consider their domain. This territory is sometimes evident from battered forest animals or trampled undergrowth that litters the ground, but forest creatures soon learn to avoid the area entirely. It doesn't take long for regions haunted by arboreal snags to grow desolate and unhealthy, and locals often dub such regions as haunted or cursed.