Copyright 2011 Wizards of the Coast.

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D&D Third Edition made many attempts to create new monsters that would grow popular enough to become iconic, and I think these little critters were one of their greatest successes even though they weren’t an intentional attempt.

They first appeared as custom opposition in The Sunless Citadel, the very first official module for Third Edition. They had a very specific origin tied to the overall story arc of that campaign. That origin is mentioned in version, but we also see some lore that talks about them in the Vale.

The Lore

Twig blights look like large woody shrubs or small trees with interlocking branches. They can change shape somewhat to blend in with the surrounding vegetation, and they can also uproot and twist themselves into roughly humanoid shapes in order to hunt or migrate.

Blights need fresh blood to reproduce and grow, using their roots to absorb it from the soil or directly from corpses. New seedlings sprout from their root systems, as many as a dozen at a time. They’re very fragile early on, but mature quickly and after a few days are big enough to start ambushing small creatures.

The first blights originated from the Gulthias Tree, which grew from the stake used to slay ancient vampire who went by that name. Some people speculate that repeating the process to create a similar tree could create new varieties of twig blight, though of course few are unbalanced or evil enough to try.

Our Vale-specific story is about a lonely pig farmer named Fellis, who was the first to discover these creatures in the Vale. A strange new bush appeared overnight in his slaughter shed, and soon it began sprouting seedlings. Fellis loved the little scamps, giving them names and playing them tunes on his flute. His neighbors were very worried about all of this weirdness, but still regularly went there to trade for pig meat.

During that winter, however, severe snow storms tore through the region and made regular travel impossible until the thaw. When Fellis’ neighbors managed to get to his farm again, they saw that the man, his family, his pigs, and even the cat had all been killed. All that was left was a number of pulsating bushes sprouting from their corpses. Several nearby villages banded together to burn out the infestation, but a few individuals managed to escape into the surrounding woods. So now we can add “twig blight infestation” to the list of everyday disasters that can fall upon the people of the Vale.

Twig blights can survive from normal soil nutrients and sunlight like mundane plants, but they vastly prefer to have access to a blood supply. Their numbers increase rapidly when they can find a big source like a slaughterhouse or battlefield, though even a single corpse is enough to let their reproduction cycle continue. When their current blood supply runs dry, they’ll uproot themselves to look for more. If can’t find a new victim or supply quickly, they’ll take root again and wait in ambush.

Twig blights can even be found in dungeons, ruins, caves, and other places never touched by the sun. Without access to light, they become even more bloodthirsty than usual.

Some powerful creatures try to make use of twig blights as unguided boundary guardians by seeding them along that boundary. However, the creatures are fickle and as likely to follow the wind to nearby settlements as they are to stay in place.

Twig Blights are monsters. They have some intelligence and can even speak Elven, but they only use that to set up smarter ambushes. They only see other creatures, sapient or not, as food sources, and only interact with them through violence. You might be able to keep them contained for a while if you supply them with enough blood, like Fellis did, but their reproductive cycle will ensure their population quickly outstrips the supply, at which point they’ll begin hunting for live prey (which means you).

The Numbers

Twig Blights are Small Fey Humanoids with the Plant tag. They have ground and climb Speeds of 5 with Forest Walk, and Darkvision. They have Resist Poison 5 and the non-minions have Vulnerable to Fire 5. Their signature trait is Rooted, which reduces forced movement from pulls, pushes, or slides by 3 squares.

Like their original 3e incarnation, they’re early Heroic opposition.

Twig Blight Seedling

A seedling who just grew big enough to hunt. It’s a Level 1 Minion Skirmisher. Their claw attack lets them shift 2 squares before making the roll, deals poison damage, and has a small damage bonus when the target is granting them combat advantage.

Their tactics are simple: surround and kill.

Twig Blight

The classic model is a Level 2 Lurker with 28 HP. It can turn invisible for a turn with a standard action, and surprise opponents with Blighted Claw attacks that do heavy poison damage and weaken (save ends). Even a miss still does half damage and weakens for a turn.

If the blight can’t become invisible, it can still attack with basic claw attacks that do a typical amount of poison damage.

Twig Blight Swampvine

This is a new variant! It could be that classic blights adapted themselves to a swampy environment… or it could be that someone out there did prove the stake-tree theorem. They’re particularly common in the Witchlight Fens along the Nentir River.

Swampvines are Level 3 Soldiers with 42 HP. They’ll use their minor actions to pull targets close using a Swamp Vine, which also grabs them (escape DC 13). If a grabbed target attacks someone other than the swampvine, they take an automatic 5 poison damage. They can also make basic claw attacks that do poison damage.

Twig Blight Swarm

A big bunch of classic twig blights that decided to stop being subtle. It’s a Large Swarm made up of Small creatures, and a Level 5 Brute with 74 HP. It’s Swarm Attack aura deals 3 damage to those inside, and while it looses its specific vulnerability to fire it’s still vulnerable to close and area attacks like any other swarm.

Its version of Rooted makes it completely immune to being pushed, pulled, or slid, and its Swarm of Claws basic attack deals poison damage.

Final Impressions

I’m sure there are lots of people who will be happy to have official 4e stats for Twig Blights. Their explicitly unnatural origin and their monstrous disposition tends to make them better “guilt-free” low-level opponents than your usual selection of humanoids.

This incarnation of them is also quite tricky for low-level PCs to handle, since a lot of their early powers rely on forced movement for their more interesting effects.