Climate/Terrain: All desert
Frequency: Very rare
Organization: Solitary
Active Times: Any
Diet: Special
Intelligence: Non-intelligent (0)
Treasure: Incidental
Alignment: Neutral
Reaction Modifier: - 3

Number Appearing: 1-3
Armor Class: 7 (leaves), 6 (core), 8 (threads)
Movement: 0
Hit Dice: 3 (core), 1 + 1 (leaD, 4 hp (thread)
THACO 16
Number of Attacks: 12
Damage per Attack 1-2 x 12
Special Attacks: Blood drain
Special Defenses: Nil
Magic Resistance: Nil
Size: Medium (5-6 feet high)
Morale: Fanatical (20)
Experience Value: 65 + 3hp

Vampire cacti are plants of the deep desert that supplement
their water supply by draining liquids from animals
that come within range.

Physical Appearance: Vampire cacti resemble century
plants, with 12 fleshy leaves each tipped with a sharp
needle about 1 inch long. Sprouting from the plant’s central
core is a single spike rising to a height of 5-6 feet. The
leaves are about 5 feet long, but droop towards the ground
so the main body of the plant stands about 3 feet high. The
leaves are dusty green with a narrow band of yellow
around their margins. The needles on their tips are white.
The central spike is golden yellow. Once every midsummer
a single small flower blooms at the top of the central spike.
This flower is blood-red in color. After this flower has been
pollinated, a small blood-red fruit forms. This fruit is moist
and sweet-tasting, and almost irresistible to most birds.

The plant itself is rooted to one spot, but it can move its
leaves rapidly. Vampire cacti are usually surrounded by
the skeletons and drained corpses of warm-blooded denizens
of the desert (kangaroo rats, etc.).

Combat: The vampire cactus attacks by shooting the
needles at the tips of its leaves into its victim. These needles
have a range of 3 yards, and remain attached to the
leaves by a thick rubbery thread that unreels from within
the leaf. This thread is the vessel through which the plant
drains its victim’s bodily fluids.

The needles do 1-2 points of damage each when they
strike. Each subsequent round, the plant drains 1-3 points
of liquid (i.e., blood) through each needle that remains in
its victim’s flesh. The victim can tear free or pull the needles
loose, but they are viciously barbed and pulling them
out of flesh causes 1-3 points of damage each. The plant can
fire all twelve needles simultaneously, but no more than
six can be directed at a single target. The plant can engage
as many targets as it has needles. Any needle that fails to
penetrate its target is reeled in, and is ready to be fired
again in 30 seconds. Once a target is dead, the plant reels
in the needles from that target and readies them to fire at
any other victim that presents itself. The plant becomes
satiated after draining 50 points worth of damage. When it
reaches satiation, it reels in all its needles, and does not
attack anything again for 48 hours.

The threads connecting the needles to the leaves are very
resilient: AC 8, taking 4 hp to sever. The leaves are AC 7,
and each takes 1 + 1 hit dice of damage. Damage to threads
or leaves does no permanent harm to the plant, since it can
regrow a damaged leaf in 5-8 days (although destroying a
leaf or severing a thread decreases the plant’s number of
attacks, of course). The only way to kill the plant is to
destroy its core. This core is AC 6, and takes 3 hit dice of
damage. Damage done to the leaves doesn’t count against
this total. Because the core is surrounded by leaves which
can move, any attack directed at the core has a 75% chance
of hitting a leaf instead.

Vampire cacti are immune to lightning and electrical
attacks (they ground the electricity into the desert through
their roots). They’re very vulnerable to fire, however:
Fire-based attacks do double damage. Since they have no
mind, sleep, charm, illusion and other mind-affecting magics
have no effect.

Habitat/Society: Creatures of the Bright Desert, vampire
cacti evolved their blood-draining abilities to help
meet their water needs. Other adaptations to life in the
deep desert include the dusty-looking surface of their
leaves (to help slow down evaporation), the single small
bloom (to minimize water loss) and a conductive root system
(vampire cacti are often the tallest objects around, and
hence frequently struck by desert lightning). Migrating
birds seem to have carried the seeds of vampire cacti to the
margins of the Dry Steppes, and even to the forbidding Sea
of Dust, because some of the deadly plants are found there.

The only treasures to be found near a vampire cactus are
the personal possessions of any unlucky victim.

Niche: Nothing eats the vampire cactus: Its tissue is
too tough and bitter (in contrast to its fruit). Anything
warm-blooded is a potential victim for the cactus.