'Dungeons & Dragons' Needs to Bring Back These Old School Monsters

Dungeons and Dragons should dive deep into its past and update two of its weirder monsters for Fifth Edition. The early modules of Dungeons & Dragons are filled mostly with classic monsters like kobolds, goblins, and orcs, most of whom were meant to menace new adventurers as they explored their first dungeon or castle. While many classic monsters have gotten updates as Dungeons & Dragons changes its rules, there are a few monsters that unfortunately have slipped through the cracks. Two such monsters first appeared in the classic module Palace of the Silver Princess, in which adventurers explored a castle cursed by a mysterious ruby.

In the adventure, players eventually come to the palace garden, which has been corrupted by dark magic. While all the normal plants have died, strange thorny weeds have sprung up in their place. However, these weeds are actually monsters - the dreaded archer bush. The archer bushes are carnivorous plants that pepper their prey with sharp thorns, slowly bleeding out their victims as they cross through the garden. The center of the garden contains an even more dangerous threat, a vampire rose. The vampire rose is carnivorous as well, but its thorns contain a powerful hypnotic anesthetic that drains a player's willpower, leaving them helpless as the rosebush sucks the lifeforce out of them. Although a vampire rose's flowers are usually white, they turn a deep blood red once the plant has feasted on a victim.

Plants are a woefully underrepresented monster type in Dungeons & Dragons right now, and both these plants have the potential to create some memorable encounters for party members. After all, what better way to drive how dangerous a world is when even the rose bushes want to kill and eat you?

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