Strangleweed
| Strangleweed | |
|---|---|
 A patch of strangleweed, WGA2 Falconmaster, p61. Art by Ken Frank. | |
| General information | |
| Alignment: | Unaligned or Neutral |
| Type: | Plant |
| Subtype: | Carnivorous |
| First appearance: | Monster Manual 1e |
Strangleweed is a carnivorous plant known to grow in the Flanaess.
Description
There are two plants commonly known by similar names—Strangle weed and strangleweed.
- Strangle weed
- A type of "intelligent kelp found in relatively warm seawater. A bed of this carnivorous plant is indistinguishable from normal seaweed."[1][2]
- The kelp grows in beds several feet across, with fronds up to 12' in length. It entangles and suffocates its victims.[2]
- Strangleweed
- A long, clinging vine usually found growing in caves. The vines and leaves are a shiny black; the leaves are sharp as razors and the short, fine spines that cover the vines can catch in the skin of those who brush against it, causing a nasty rash.[3]
- Strangleweed is carnivorous. It can sense motion when "prey" comes near, entangling its victims in its vines, cutting and strangling them.[3] The sharp leaves can cut through colthing and fur, and will cut a victim while the strangleweed is constricting and choking them.[3]
- Strangleweed neither needs light nor contains chlorophyll, leading to confusion and debate amongst sagges regarding its taxonomic classification, and whether it is truly a "plant" or not.[3] Additionally, it only needs a "damp" environment and does not need other water.[3]
Publishing History
The intelligence of strangleweed has been described variously. In it's earliest statistics in the 1e Monster Manual (1977), it was described as intelligent[4], though this was likely because there were no mechanics for non-sentient or unintelligent monsters in this sense. Throughout 2e, in core monster sources (MC2 1989, MM 1993), it was described as having "animal" intellect (INT 1).[2][5] In WGA2 Falconmaster (1990), a World of Greyhawk sourcebook, it was described as specifically non-intelligent.[3] Though later editions did not have statistics for strangleweed, other plants exist whose stat blocks use "blindsight" (or "woodsense") to explain their actions with limited or no intelligence—like the exceedingly similar assassin vine,[6][7] vampirevine, strangle vine, and greenvise,
References
Notes
Citations
Bibliography
- Brown, Richard W., and Anne Brown. Falconmaster. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR, 1990.
Encyclopedia Greyhawkania Index
The Encyclopedia Greyhawkania Index (EGI) is based on previous work of Jason Zavoda through '08, continued by numerous other fans. The EGI article has a list of sources, product names, abbreviations, and a link to the full, downloadable index.
| Topic | Type | Description | Product | Page/Card/Image
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Strangleweed | Monster | Native of: Material Plane, Flora, | MC2 - Monstrous Compendium Volume 2 | Insert (Plant, Carnivorous) |
| Strangleweed | Monster | Native of: Material Plane, Flora, | MC2 - Monstrous Compendium Volume 2 | Encounter Tables |
| Strangleweed | Monster | Native of: Material Plane, Flora, | Monster Manual 1, AD&D 1e | 93 |
| Strangleweed | Monster | Native of: Material Plane, Flora, | Monstrous Manual, AD&D 2e | 293, 295 |
| Strangleweed | Monster | Native of: Material Plane, Flora, | Monstrous Manual, AD&D 2e (Premium Edition) | 293, 295 |
| Strangleweed | Monster | Native of: Material Plane, Flora, | WGA2 Falconmaster | 35, 61 |