FREQUENCY: Rare
NO. APPEARING: 1-4
ARMOR CLASS: 5
MOVE: 9″
HIT DICE: 4
% IN LAIR: 20%
TREASURE TYPE: Nil
NO. OF ATTACKS: 2
DAMAGE/ATTACK: 1-8 / 1-8
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Breath Weapon
SPECIAL DEFENSES: Nil
MAGIC RESISTANCE: Standard
INTELLIGENCE: Semi
ALIGNMENT: Neutral Evil
SIZE: S to L
PSIONIC ABILITY: Nil
ATTACK/DEFENSE MODES: Nil
XP: 175 + 4/hp
A lumbering corpse exists as a horrid cross between the dead remains of a humanoid (e.g., halflings, dwarves, humans, gnolls) and a sentient, carnivorous fungus. The creature’s desiccated skin is held together with brown, green, or yellow mold. Their skulls and bones are mainly concealed by mold, but pieces are left exposed. Although they appear similar to zombies and can be mistaken for them at a distance of 100 feet or more, a lumbering corpse is not undead. It relies on its senses to hunt. The monster uses its heightened olfactory sense to detect prey up to 300 feet. Their visual abilities are limited to only 30 feet.
In melee combat, a lumbering corpse attacks with its club-like hands. Each attack inflicts 1-8 damage per hit. The monster may attack multiple melee adversaries without penalties. Once per combat, a lumbering corpse can expel a burst of spores on a single melee combat opponent. The spores inflict 3-12 points of damage and force the victim to make a saving throw vs. poison. Failure results in dizziness, which causes a -3 “to hit” penalty for 1d4 hours.
The moss that binds the monster together provides a natural armor class, and any weapon (magical or otherwise) inflicts -3 damage per hit. Spells and fire inflict normal damage. If a melee weapon inflicts enough damage to wound the monster, the creature’s wound sprays acidic fluid that causes 1-4 points of damage to its melee attacker. The acid is corrosive enough to harm only flesh.
Although a lumbering corpse is not undead, it has many of the same immunities. Lumbering corpses are not affected by sleep, fear, poison, disease, or mind-affecting spells. They do not require sleep. They are fierce adversaries and seek to destroy all living things, consuming bone marrow, blood, and flesh to survive.
These horrific, evil-minded monsters are the creations of the god of disease. They can be created through spores released by a lumbering corpse upon a corpse or by the magical spells of the god’s worshippers. They are most often encountered in swamplands and marshes, attacking and devouring any living thing they encounter.