Size:
Type:
± Aberration
Form:
Temper:
# App:
± 2d6
Lair:
Diet:
Combat Dice:
± 0
Hit Points:
± 0
Attack Rank:
± 0
Passive Defense:
± 0
Active Defense:
Damage Reduction:
± 0
Role:
Ground:
± 20'
Climb/Arboreal:
Flight:
Swim:
Benthic:
Burrow:
Ethereal:
Actions/Abilities/Traits: Basic Fantasy
Actions/Abilities/Traits: Basic Fantasy
Offense
1 spike + incubation
Circumstance: Combat
1d6
Special
Incubation
When the loadstar strikes, its spikes dig into living flesh and deliver a fast-growing embryo. In one round, the wound site expands to form a blob under the skin, weighing 10 pounds and containing about 1 gallon of an orange liquid summoned from an extra-dimensional space. In the center floats the larva of the loadstar. If the site is lanced (doing another 1d4 points of damage) and squeezed immediately, the liquid may be flushed, killing the larva. Otherwise, the orange ichor converts to pure adipose tissue 10 minutes after injury. From that moment on, the fat must be lost in an ordinary way, typically through depriving oneself of food. 30 days after initial injury, a small loadstar emerges from the skin and floats away to find darkness.
The immediate consequence of a loadstar sting is the burden of the 10 extra pounds carried. This extra encumbrance can be debilitating to smaller adventurers or those struck multiple times. Adventures may need to drop all of their belongings in order to escape.
Special
Cure Disease
The curing of the disease, typically done by magic, kills the incubating larva but does not remove the excess fat. Clerics can return the body to its previous state with a restoration spell. Otherwise, the fat may be slowly lost at a rate of one pound per week by cutting the amount of food eaten. Intensive fasting can increase this rate to five pounds per week, but the subject must save vs. Death or else fail to complete the fast, making no progress for the week.
Environments
underdark
Ball of thin iron spikes that injects fast-growing parasitic embryos
The Loadstar appears as a ball of thin, iron spikes floating in mid-air. Immature subjects may be as small as a fist, but those most often encountered are between two and three feet in diameter. Their shape suggests a sea urchin, though they are always found underground. Beneath a hard outer shell of iron lies the bright orange goo that serves as the loadstar's guts.
Loadstars are mindless but will instinctively moderate their attacks, typically avoiding attacking a victim after it already carries one or more larva.
Basic Fantasy Field Guide Omnibus
Actions/Abilities/Traits: Basic Fantasy
Ball of thin iron spikes that injects fast-growing parasitic embryos
The Loadstar appears as a ball of thin, iron spikes floating in mid-air. Immature subjects may be as small as a fist, but those most often encountered are between two and three feet in diameter. Their shape suggests a sea urchin, though they are always found underground. Beneath a hard outer shell of iron lies the bright orange goo that serves as the loadstar's guts.
Loadstars are mindless but will instinctively moderate their attacks, typically avoiding attacking a victim after it already carries one or more larva.
Basic Fantasy Field Guide Omnibus
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