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Old Harth - AI-generated fantasy Monster

Old Harth

Old Harth was once the grove's patient groundskeeper, known to villagers by a gentle nickname. When the grove began to fail, he bound himself to its heart in a desperate attempt to save it. The corruption twisted that vow into a compulsion to repel anyone who approaches the altar. Brief flashes of the old caretaker remain, especially when someone speaks to him calmly or recalls his former kindness.

Monsters
Large plant · CR 5 , moderate-to-hard solo encounter for a typical party of four 5th-level characters, depending on terrain and party resources. · Unique

Old Harth

A once-human grove warden transformed into the unwilling guardian of a corrupted root-heart. The name Old Harth was the village's harmless nickname for the patient groundskeeper before the grove remade him.
AC15
HP110/110
CR5 , moderate-to-hard solo encounter for a typical party of four 5th-level characters, depending on terrain and party resources.
Init
STR
DEX
CON
INT
WIS
CHA
ConditionsNone

Combat

AC 15 · HP 110 · CR 5 , moderate-to-hard solo encounter for a typical party of four 5th-level characters, depending on terrain and party resources.

Old Harth

Large plant (corrupted guardian), neutral evil
Armor Class15 (natural armor)
Hit Points110 (13d10 + 39)
Speed
30 ft.
STR
DEX
CON
INT
WIS
CHA
Saving ThrowsConstitutionWisdom
SkillsPerceptionStealthSurvival
Damage Resistances
Bludgeoning damage from nonmagical attacks,
Piercing damage from nonmagical attacks
Immunities
Poison damage,
Poisoned condition
Weaknesses
Old Harth cannot use Heart-Tether while more than 60 feet from the root-heart.
Its attachment to the grove can be exploited with a sincere appeal to its memories of being a caretaker.
Senses
Darkvision 60 ft.,
Passive Perception 14
Languages
Common,
Druidic
Challenge5 , moderate-to-hard solo encounter for a typical party of four 5th-level characters, depending on terrain and party resources.
Proficiency Bonus+3
Initiative+1
Passive Perception14
Root-Bound. Old Harth has advantage on saving throws against being poisoned, and it does not need to eat, drink, or breathe.
Grove Strider. Old Harth ignores difficult terrain created by roots, plants, or undergrowth.
Heart-Tether. If Old Harth is within 60 feet of the exposed root-heart, it knows the location of every creature touching the ground in that range, unless that creature is behind total cover.

Actions

Multiattack. Old Harth makes two Root-Crook attacks.
Root-Crook. Melee Weapon Attack: to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 13 () bludgeoning damage plus 3 () poison damage. If the target is Large or smaller, it must succeed on a Strength saving throw or be pulled up to 10 feet toward Old Harth.
Root-Snare (Recharge 5-6). Old Harth lashes roots through a 20-foot-radius area centered on a point it can see within 60 feet. Each creature of Old Harth's choice in that area must make a Dexterity saving throw. On a failure, a creature takes 10 () bludgeoning damage and is restrained by roots. On a success, it takes half damage and is not restrained. A restrained creature can use its action to make a Strength check, freeing itself on a success. The roots remain until the start of Old Harth's next turn. This action recharges on a roll of 5 or 6 on a d6.
Black Sap Spit (Recharge 5-6). Old Harth spits black sap in a 15-foot cone. Each creature in the area must make a Dexterity saving throw, taking 14 () poison damage on a failure, or half as much on a success. The area becomes slick difficult terrain until the end of Old Harth's next turn.

Reactions

Bark Deflection. When a creature Old Harth can see within 10 feet hits it with a melee attack, Old Harth twists the blow aside with a raised root. The attacker must succeed on a Strength saving throw or be pushed 5 feet away from Old Harth.
Role
Guardian and controller
Built for
Approximately 5th level; adjust hit points and support creatures for party size and experience.

Gear

  • Root-crook (Natural weapon, No monetary value)A hooked limb of living wood used to drag intruders away from the altar.
  • Cracked altar (Encounter feature, Immovable)The cracked stone altar surrounds the exposed root-heart. It offers half cover and is part of the encounter environment, not carried equipment.

Notes for the game master

Old Harth is a custom creature, not a canonical D&D monster.
Root-Snare restrains creatures only until they escape or the roots end at the start of Old Harth's next turn.
The encounter's two-successes-before-two-failures investigation is a separate objective and does not require defeating Old Harth.
Old Harth's Root-Snare cannot affect creatures beside the altar after the safe restoration method has been revealed, for the next use of the ability.

Tactics

  1. Opening

    Old Harth steps between the party and the cracked altar, then uses Root-Snare to divide the group. It speaks in a familiar, weary voice, warning them not to touch the heart.

  2. Mid-fight

    Use Root-Crook to pull a target away from the altar, then use Root-Snare to restrain clustered characters. Save Black Sap Spit for a group or for characters who have gathered beside the altar.

  3. End of the fight

    When reduced below 20 hit points, Old Harth abandons its position and tries to force intruders away from the altar with Root-Crook pulls and Root-Snare. It does not deliberately strike a character who is safely attempting the restoration method unless that character attacks it.

  4. Retreat

    Old Harth fights until destroyed or until the root-heart is safely restored. If the heart is restored while Old Harth remains alive, it collapses, becomes inert, and cannot act.

How it fights

Use the clearing's roots to make approach routes costly, but leave a clear and visible route to the altar.
Pull characters away from the root-heart with Root-Crook rather than standing still and trading attacks.
Do not repeatedly target a character who is attempting the restoration investigation unless that character has attacked Old Harth.
Describe the root-heart's glow and the black sap changing as characters make investigation progress.

Who it attacks first

Characters threatening the root-heart
Characters who are clustered within Root-Snare's area
Characters who have pulled Old Harth away from the altar
Avoid focusing attacks on a character peacefully investigating the heart

Works well with

The altar's half cover encourages Old Harth to use Root-Snare to push or pull characters out of safe positions.
Root-snared characters may be vulnerable to its melee attacks, but other characters can still focus on investigating the heart.
Black Sap Spit makes the ground temporarily slick, complementing the clearing's existing difficult terrain.

How to beat it

Radiant damage and fire damage bypass its resistance to nonmagical weapon attacks only in the sense that those damage types are not resisted; they are not special vulnerabilities.
Ranged attacks and forced movement can keep characters out of its reach, though its Root-Snare threatens clustered ranged attackers.
A character adjacent to the root-heart can attempt the encounter's restoration investigation, rather than spending actions attacking Old Harth.
The altar provides half cover against attacks that pass through it, for creatures positioned behind it.

Ways to avoid a fight

A character can speak to Old Harth about the grove or its former caretaker. A sincere appeal accompanied by a successful DC 14 Charisma (Persuasion) check makes Old Harth hesitate until the end of its next turn, during which it will not use Root-Snare.
A character adjacent to the root-heart can use an action to attempt a DC 14 Intelligence (Nature), Intelligence (Religion), or Wisdom (Medicine) check to understand how to interrupt the corruption. Two successes before two failures reveal the safe restoration method.
If the safe method is revealed, the heart can be restored without triggering its final violent pulse. Old Harth becomes inert when the corruption is safely interrupted.

Ecology

Old Harth is a towering, stooped figure of bark, corded roots, and moss, shaped roughly like an ancient woodsman. A cracked wooden mask covers its face, though black sap seeps from the eyeholes and trails down its chest. Its left arm ends in a hooked root-crook. Beneath its ribs, a dim green light flickers in time with the corrupted heart beneath the altar.

Behavior

Old Harth is protective of the corrupted root-heart, but its hostility comes from pain and a distorted belief that anyone approaching the altar will kill the grove. It threatens intruders, tries to separate them from the heart, and pauses briefly when addressed by a name or memory from its former life.

How it lives

Old Harth needs no food, water, or sleep while bound to the root-heart. It draws a thin stream of life from the grove, leaving nearby plants twisted and sap-stained. If the corruption is removed, the remaining body is only bark and old roots.

Lair

Old Harth is encountered in a broad clearing surrounding a cracked stone altar. The exposed root-heart lies inside the altar, glowing faintly beneath black sap. The altar offers half cover, and knee-high roots make the clearing difficult terrain.

Habitat
A broad clearing in the corrupted grove, centered on a cracked stone altar. The exposed root-heart lies within the altar, glowing faintly beneath layers of black sap. Knee-high roots cross the clearing and count as difficult terrain. The altar provides half cover.

Signs that it is near

Black sap beads on otherwise healthy leaves.
Root ridges shift beneath the soil when nobody is looking.
A cracked wooden mask appears at the edge of the clearing, then vanishes behind a trunk.
A low voice repeats warnings from somewhere beneath the altar.

Tags

boss,
guardian,
corrupted,
plantlike,
grove,
custom

Lore

Old Harth was once the grove's patient groundskeeper, known to villagers by a gentle nickname. When the grove began to fail, he bound himself to its heart in a desperate attempt to save it. The corruption twisted that vow into a compulsion to repel anyone who approaches the altar. Brief flashes of the old caretaker remain, especially when someone speaks to him calmly or recalls his former kindness.

What drives it

Keep everyone away from the root-heart, which Old Harth believes must remain untouched for the grove to survive.

After the fight

When Old Harth falls, black sap drains from the exposed root-heart and the grove's whispers become clear. If the party learned the safe restoration method, the corruption can be purged without further harm. Otherwise, the heart gives one final violent pulse, lashing the clearing with roots before going still.

“When the grove began to fail, he bound himself to its heart in a desperate attempt to save it.”
From its lore

Variants

A weakened Old Harth for a lower-level party has 85 hit points, and Root-Snare recharges only on a 6.
A resolute Old Harth for a stronger party has 135 hit points and may be accompanied by two root-tangled blights.
If the quest needs a nonlethal resolution, Old Harth collapses into dormant wood as soon as the root-heart is safely restored.

Hooks

Plot hooks

Old Harth recognizes an adventurer as someone who once helped maintain the grove, though the memory is fragmented.
A missing local healer came to the clearing seeking a cure for the grove and may still be trapped beneath the altar's roots.
The black sap has begun appearing in wells and tree hollows beyond the grove, suggesting that the root-heart is not the source of the corruption.

How to use it

Run this as a dangerous but interruptible guardian encounter. The party can fight Old Harth, investigate the heart, or do both at once.
The cracked stone altar provides half cover. Knee-high roots are difficult terrain, as described for the encounter.
A character adjacent to the heart can use an action to attempt a DC 14 Intelligence (Nature), Intelligence (Religion), or Wisdom (Medicine) check to understand how to interrupt the corruption. Two successes before two failures reveal the safe restoration method.
Once the safe restoration method is revealed, prevent the next Root-Snare from affecting anyone beside the altar. Make this protection clear in the fiction, such as the roots recoiling from the altar's rim.
For a party below level 5, reduce Old Harth to 85 hit points and have Root-Snare recharge only on a 6. For a party of level 6 or higher, consider adding one or two root-tangled blights as support.

Treasure

A wooden caretaker's token, recognizable to locals and valuable as evidence of Old Harth's former identity.
A small amount of amber hardened around a clean, uncorrupted root, worth 50 gp to an interested druid or herbalist.
If the party restores the heart safely, the grove may reward them with a charm that grants advantage on one saving throw against poison or disease.

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