Frightful Fridays! Crabberry

Hello and welcome back for another Frightful Fridays! (actually on Friday) This week’s critter is a plant that can transform from a little cranberry into a crab. It’s cute until it gets pinchy.

I hope you enjoy the crabberry. I’ll be back next week with another construct.

This spherical scarlet fruit suddenly extrudes six legs and a pair of pincers.
Crabberry      CR 5
XP 1,600
N Diminutive plant
Init +3; Senses low-light vision; Perception +11
DEFENSE
AC 18, touch 18, flat-footed 14 (+3 Dex, +1 dodge, +4 size)
hp 52 (7d8+21)
Fort +8, Ref +7, Will +4
Defensive Abilities acid spray; Immune plant traits; Resist acid 5, electricity 5
OFFENSE
Speed 20 ft., climb 10 ft.
Melee 2 pincers +12 (1d6+3 plus attach)
Space 1 ft.; Reach 0 ft.
STATISTICS
Str 3, Dex 17, Con 16, Int 7, Wis 14, Cha 12
Base Atk +5; CMB +4; CMD 11 (19 vs. trip)
Feats Lightning Reflexes, Mobility, Weapon Finesse
Skills Climb +11, Perception +11, Stealth +19
SQ freeze (cranberry)
ECOLOGY
Environment temperate or warm forests and plains
Organization solitary, pair, or bunch (3−12)
Treasure none
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Acid Spray (Ex) Crabberry juice is acidic. Every time a crabberry is damaged by a piercing or slashing weapon, all creatures adjacent to the crabberry take 1d3 points of acid damage (2d3 points of acid damage if the attack is a critical hit).
Attach (Ex) If a crabberry starts its turn attached to a target, the target takes 1d6 points of bleed.

Crabberry Swarm      CR 8
XP 4,800
N Diminutive plant (swarm)
Init +7; Senses low-light vision; Perception +16
DEFENSE
AC 20, touch 18, flat-footed 16 (+3 Dex, +1 dodge, +2 natural, +4 size)
hp 105 (14d8+42)
Fort +12, Ref +9, Will +6
Defensive Abilities acid spray, swarm traits; Immune plant traits; Resist acid 10, electricity 10
OFFENSE
Speed 20 ft., climb 10 ft.
Melee swarm (3d6 plus bleed and distraction)
Space 10 ft.; Reach 0 ft.
Special Attacks bleed (2d6), distraction (DC 20)
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 14th; concentration +15)
3/day—quickened goodberry
STATISTICS
Str 3, Dex 17, Con 16, Int 7, Wis 14, Cha 12
Base Atk +10; CMB —; CMD —
Feats Combat Casting, Dodge, Improved Initiative, Improved Lightning Reflexes, Lightning Reflexes, Mobility, Quicken Spell-Like Ability (goodberry)
Skills Climb +11, Perception +16, Stealth +21
SQ freeze (mound of cranberries)
ECOLOGY
Environment any land
Organization temperate or warm forests and plains
Treasure none
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Acid Spray (Ex) Every time a crabberry swarm is damaged by a piercing or slashing weapon or by a spell or effect that damages an area, all creatures in the swarm’s space take 1d6 points of acid damage (2d6 points of acid damage if the attack is a critical hit).

Crabberries are sentient fruit that grow on otherwise ordinary shrubs. Scholars who have studied crabberry origins reason ancient druids attempting to awaken a cranberry bush inadvertently granted intelligence to the fruit borne by the plant. As evidence, they point to the crabberry’s ability to reshape into an arthropodous form to protect their parent plants. Crabberries can scuttle along at a rapid pace for their size, and their legs allow them to climb surfaces. Their pincers are astonishingly powerful, and the creatures use their pincers to grab hold of their prey and worry free-flowing wounds. In larger bunches, the berries swarm together and can collectively convert some of their number to life-giving berries they cannibalize to regain their health.

Crabberries nearing the end of their lifespans (which can reach up to two years) wander off in bunches in a quest to find fertile ground where they die. Their decaying bodies provide sustenance for seeds they develop in their later stage of life, and the seeds sprout and grow into new crabberry shrubs.

After careful preparation, crabberries become delicious tasting fruit with none of their dangerously acidic juice. Nobles often pay outrageous sums for adventurers to “harvest” crabberries their chefs then prepare for banquets.

CRABBERRY        CREATURE 5
N Tiny Plant
Perception +12; low-light vision
Skills Acrobatics +9, Athletics +7, Stealth +10
Str −4, Dex +5, Con +4, Int −2, Wis +2, Cha +1

AC 21; Fort +15, Ref +14, Will +7
HP 81; Resistances acid 5, electricity 5
Acid Spray [reaction] Crabberry juice is acidic. Every time a crabberry is damaged by a Strike that deals piercing or slashing damage, all creatures adjacent to the crabberry take 1d6 points of acid damage (2d6 points of acid damage if the Strike is a critical hit).

Speed 20 feet, climb 20 feet
Melee [one-action] pincer +14 (agile, finesse), Damage 1d8+10 bludgeoning plus Grab
Constrict [one-action] 1d6 persistent bleed, DC 23

CRABBERRY SWARM      CREATURE 8
N Large Plant Swarm
Perception +18; low-light vision
Skills Acrobatics +16, Athletics +14, Stealth +18
Str −4, Dex +6, Con +4, Int −2, Wis +2, Cha +1

AC 27; Fort +19, Ref +18, Will +11
HP 162; Immunities precision, swarm mind; Weaknesses area damage 10, splash damage 10; Resistances acid 10, bludgeoning 7, electricity 10, piercing 7, slashing 7
Acid Spray [reaction] Crabberry juice is acidic. Every time a crabberry swarm is damaged by a Strike that deals piercing or slashing damage or takes area damage, all creatures in the swarm’s space take 3d6 points of acid damage (6d6 points of acid damage if the Strike is a critical hit).

Speed 20 feet, climb 10 feet
Primal Innate Spells DC 24; 2nd goodberry
Swarming Pincers [one-action] Each enemy in the swarm’s space takes 5d6 piercing damage (DC 26 basic Reflex save). Creatures that fail this save also take 2d6 persistent bleed damage.

Crabberry
Tiny Plant, Neutral

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Armor Class 14
Hit Points 88 (16d4 + 48)
Speed 20 ft., climb 10 ft.

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STR 3 (−4), DEX 19 (+4), CON 16 (+3), INT 7 (−2), WIS 14 (+2), CHA 12 (+1)
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Skills Stealth +7
Damage Resistances acid, lightning
Condition Immunities exhaustion, paralyzed, petrified, unconscious
Senses passive Perception 12
Languages —
Challenge 5 (1,800 XP) Proficiency Bonus +3
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False Appearance. While the crabberry remains motionless, it is indistinguishable from a cranberry.

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Actions
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Multiattack. The crabberry makes two Pincer attacks.

Pincer. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 7 (1d6 + 4) bludgeoning damage plus 5 (2d4) acid damage, and the crabberry attaches to the target. While attached, the crabberry moves with the target whenever the target moves, requiring none of the crabberry’s movement. If the crabberry starts its turn attached to a target, it inflicts 3 (1d6) bludgeoning damage to the target. The crabberry can detach itself by spending 5 feet of its movement. A creature, including the target, can take its action to detach the crabberry by succeeding on a DC 14 STR check.

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Reactions
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Acid Spray. Crabberry juice is acidic. When a crabberry is damaged by a piercing or slashing weapon, it can spray all creatures within 5 feet of it with acid, dealing 3 (1d6) acid damage, or 7 (2d6) acid damage if the triggering attack was a critical hit, to each creature.

Crabberry Swarm
Large Swarm of Tiny Plants, Neutral

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Armor Class 16 (natural armor)
Hit Points 136 (16d10 + 48)
Speed 20 ft., climb 10 ft.

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STR 3 (−4), DEX 19 (+4), CON 16 (+3), INT 7 (−2), WIS 14 (+2), CHA 12 (+1)
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Stealth +7
Damage Resistances acid, lightning; bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing
Condition Immunities charmed, exhaustion, frightened, paralyzed, petrified, poisoned, prone, restrained, stunned, unconscious
Senses passive Perception 12
Languages —
Challenge 8 (3,900 XP) Proficiency Bonus +3
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False Appearance. While the crabberry swarm remains motionless, it is indistinguishable from a mound of cranberries.

Swarm. The swarm can occupy another creature’s space and vice versa and the swarm can move through any opening large enough for a Tiny berry. The swarm can’t regain hit points or temporary hit points, except through Healing Fruit.

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Actions
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Pincers. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target in the swarm’s space. Hit: 14 (4d6) bludgeoning damage plus 18 (4d8) acid damage, or 7 (2d6) bludgeoning damage plus 9 (2d8) acid damage if the swarm has half of its hit points or fewer. The target must succeed on a DC 14 Constitution saving throw or become poisoned for 1 minute. While poisoned, the target takes 9 (2d8) acid damage at the beginning of each of its turns. The target can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success.

Healing Fruit (3/Day). The crabberry swarm casts goodberry, requiring no material components and using CHA as the spellcasting ability. The swarm can consume a berry as a bonus action or up to three berries as an action to regain hit points.

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Reactions
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Acid Spray. Crabberry juice is acidic. When a crabberry swarm is damaged by a piercing or slashing weapon or a spell or effect that deals damage to an area, it can spray all creatures in its space and within 5 feet of it with acid, dealing 7 (2d6) acid damage, or 14 (4d6) acid damage if the triggering attack was a critical hit, to each creature.