The Blight

Long ago, the first Gulthias Tree emerged from
a green stake that had absorbed the blood of the vampire Gulthias - having been driven through his vile heart. From the Gulthias Tree came the first blighted plants. The seeds spread and the legacy of the evil in Gulthias' blood grew and evolved. That corruption,
called Blight, now spreads at the will of ancient evil, surpassing that of its vampiric origin, infecting plants, creatures, and even the land itself.

A Place of Death

   The Blight is as deceptive as it is deadly. Upon first inspection, a landscape under the corruption of the Blight appears to be lush and overgrown, with bright colors, appearing full of life.
   A closer inspection, however, shows the colors to be too bright, like oiled paints, and the fullness of leaf and petal to be puffy bulging pustulence. Crumbling Bark hides blackened pulp, and creeping moses cover pools of bile.
   Born of the Blight - When the Blight’s corruption covers the land, it can condense and take form, transforming corrupted plants into evil creatures which exist solely to hate, corrupt, and kill under the will of the same evil that corrupts the land itself. The corruption of the Blight can further extend to infesting unwary creatures that linger too long on Blighted Land.

Blighted Land

   Any adventure that highlights the Blight is as much about the environment turning against the players as evil creatures that can be faced with weapons. The evil of the Blight infects the land, creating an environment saturated in danger and paranoia, called Blighted Land

Creeping Dominion

    The evil of the Blight has overcome the growth patterns of the natural world. Plants growing on Blighted Land grow with a burning intensity, spreading to consume everything.
    Within a period of 24 hours, plants on Blighted Land can turn cleared fields, paths, or roads into thickets of briars, vines, thorns, and saplings. Structures can be covered, blocking doorways, and invading windows. within a tenday, stone structures begin to crumble to ruin, and wooden structures collapse and rot.
   Blight Nodes - The Blight spreads from a central point of corruption. This node of evil maintains the Blighted Land. These nodes can be created by any source of evil, which can then give birth to Gulthias Trees, descendants of the first of their kind.
   The spread of Blight is measured in miles and days. It takes a day to increase the diameter of its influence one mile. The extent it can spread is determined by the strength of the evil in the node, but a typical Gulthias tree can exert an influence of ten miles in diameter.

Travelling in the Blight

For the average villager, crossing Blighted Land is suicidal, and the dangers are not much less for those skilled in battle and travelling the wilderness.
   All A Tangle - Blighted Land is difficult terrain both in and out of combat. Creatures on foot must spend 2 feet of speed to move across 1 foot of Blighted Land.
   Dangerous Travails - For each mile a creature spends travelling faster than a slow pace across Blighted Land, it rolls once on the Blight Assault Table. It has disadvantage on saves against any effects, and the Blighted Land has advantage on any attacks made due to this trait.
   Camping in the Blight - When a creature or group of creatures take a long rest on Blighted Land, add the number of creatures to the roll when rolling for random encounters. This feature cannot put the roll result above 20.

Fighting in the Blight

Only fools and the desperate fight on Blighted Land. It senses violence and rises to revel in it and drink the blood of the fallen.
   Children of the Blight - Creatures with the Blightborn trait have Advantage on Attacks and Saving Throws on Blighted Land, and Creatures that must make saving throws against them roll with disadvantage.
   When the Land Turns Against You - Blighted Land is not a creature, but it is evil, violent, and hungry. When rolling initiative add Blighted Land at Initiative 20, winning ties.
   On the Blight's turn in combat, roll on the Blight Assault table for each creature standing on Blighted Land without the Blightborn trait to determine how they are affected.
   Holy Defenses - The Blight automatically fails to attack Creatures under the effects of divine protection, such as the effects of the Sanctuary spell, or the Protection From Evil and Good spell, or similar effects.
   The Taste of Blood - When a creature is reduced to 0 hit points on Blighted Land, they roll once on the Blight Assault table. The creature cannot fail more than one death saving throw due to an attack triggered by this trait.

Blight Assault Table

Use the following table by rolling a d8 to determine what sort of hazard a creature faces when combatting or traveling on Blighted Land.

The Phantom Gloom

Blighted Land emits vapors, pollen, and gas. In open air, this disperses over time into the atmosphere above the land, but in enclosed spaces, like caves, infested houses, and thick forests, they can be trapped and gathered to create a fog called the Phantom Gloom.

Clouds of Death

   The Phantom Gloom is deadly poisonous. When a creature enters the Phantom Gloom for the first time on a turn or starts its turn there, that creature must make a Constitution saving throw. The creature takes 5d8 poison damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one. Creatures are affected even if they hold their breath or don't need to breathe. This damage ignores resistance, and treats immunity as resistance.

The Value of a Fungus

   The only way to become truly immune to the poison of the Phantom Gloom is to eat a Suncap Mushroom. Suncaps grow along the border where the expanding Blight runs into, and is held at bay, by consecrated ground. These mushrooms live by consuming and destroying the evil corruption of the blight. Eaten whole, or as part of a meal grants immunity to the Phantom Gloom for 24 hours.

Visions and Nightmares

   While eating a Suncap holds the poison of the Phantom Gloom at bay, a byproduct of its interaction with the Phantom Gloom creates a hallucinatory effect. Creatures in the Phantom Gloom who have consumed a Suncap in the last 24 hours may be afflicted by these hallucinations once per minute while they remain in the Phantom Gloom.
   Each time a creature is afflicted with a Hallucination, it must make a WIS Save (DC14). On a success the creature recognizes the hallucination for the illusion it is and suffers no ill effects from it.

Determining The Hallucination

The DM Rolls 1d4 to determine the illusion.
1 - A harmless and ridiculous hallucination.
2 - A disturbing hallucination that distracts them, instilling disadvantage on Wisdom skill checks.
3 - An illusory enemy appears to menace them or an ally. They believe it is an imminent threat.
4 - They are assaulted with a nightmarish vision of something that would terrify them and become Frightened until the start of their next turn.

Persistant Plumes

   The Phantom Gloom can be briefly displaced by a strong wind, but any area that has been cleared fills again after one minute if the source of the wind is removed.
   The only way to permanently remove the Phantom Gloom from an area is to either permanently open the the Phantom Gloom’s enclosure to the sky, or entirely end the threat of the Blighted Land.

Combatting the Blight

   While it is impossible to fully clear the influence of Blighted Land by attacking the land itself, it can yield short-term advantages.
   Slash and Burn - Blighted Land can be cleared through magical assault and vigorous application of weaponry. A creature with a melee attack that deals slashing damage can spend their action for one minute to clear a five foot section of Blighted Land.
   Magical damaging effects that target an area clear the Blighted Land where it strikes, and magical effects that must have a specific target may target any 5ft space of Blighted Land. Blighted Land can be damaged by all magical damage types except psychic.
   The Blight may be damaged by fire, but it resists the spread of fire. Fire damage done to any area does not catch adjacent areas on fire, and the fire in the affected area dies down before it can spread unless the source of the damage is maintained.
   Cleared Blighted Land does not count as Blighted Land for the purposes of any traits or effects until it has regenerated.
   Temporary Victories - While Blighted creatures can be slain, and Blighted Land can be cleared, until the corruption is destroyed at its root all victories are temporary. Cleared Blighted Land regenerates and becomes as dangerous as uncleared land after twelve hours, and after twenty-four hours it would be impossible to tell that the Blighted Land had ever been cleared.
   Up By The Roots - The only way to end the influence of Blighted Land in a region is to destroy the root of the evil that empowers it. If a blight node is destroyed, the Blighted Land that radiates from it withers away, and the land becomes fully cleared of the taint after ten days. If a greater source of evil empowers multiple nodes, then even clearing a node is only temporary until that greater evil has been destroyed.

Blight in Your Setting

In the Forgotten Realms, Blighted creatures, plants, and land are at their core decended from the evil of the Vampire Gulthias, but that is not nessesary to Blight in your setting. Any source of evil corruption could cause Blight, from a vengeful nature spirit, to polluted water sources, a cursed item, a haunted battlefield, or any number of things. - Adjust it to suit your story.

Blight Interactions

Rangers and the Blight

   The Blight is an unnatural environment, and as such cannot be selected by the Ranger’s Natural Explorer trait.

Druids and the Blight

   The Blight as a terrain, and the plants on Blighted Land are considered magical for the purpose of the Land Stride feature.
   Creatures with the Blightborn trait have advantage on the Wisdom saving throw of the Nature’s Sanctuary feature.

Spells and the Blight

   Certain spells and their effects are altered by the corrupting effects of Blighted Land. These alterations should be kept secret from the players until they discover them in the process of play. When on Blighted Land, apply these changes to the following spells:
   Commune with Nature - The connection to the natural world provided by this spell feels dark and shifting to the caster. The answers to the questions of the Caster have a fifty-percent chance of being lies. A Wisdom(Insight) check (DC14) can determine the truthfulness of the information.

Spells and the Blight, cont...

   Detect Poison and Disease - The caster’s senses are overwhelmed as they feel the presence of the poison and disease of the Blight in all directions. It is impossible to discern individual sources of poison and disease.
   Druid Grove - After the duration of the spell, the grove and its effects becomes hostile and continue to exist as long as the area remains infected by Blight. The caster and creatures they had deemed immune to the effects of the grove are no longer immune.
   Entangle and Wall of Thorns - After the spell’s duration, or when the caster loses concentration, the Blighted Land accepts and maintains this new dangerous form as long as the area remains infected by Blight. Once the effect created by an individual casting of one of these spells falls under the control of the Blight, creatures with the Blightborn trait become immune to the effect of that casting.
   Goodberry - Each berry created by this spell has a chance of actually being a Blight Berry. If consumed, roll 1d100. On a roll of 25 or less, consult the Blight Berry on the Blight Assault table to determine the effects.
   Grasping Vine - After the spell’s duration, or when the caster loses concentration, the vine remains as long as the area remains infected by the Blight, and falls under its influence, becoming hostile to the caster and creatures without the Blightborn trait. The vine acts on the Blighted Land’s turn in combat.
   Locate Creature and Locate Animals or Plants - If either spell is used to locate a creature with the Blightborn trait, or a blighted plant, the spell feels twisted to the caster. Instead of locating the creature or plant like normal, the spell misdirects the caster to a different location. A Wisdom(Insight)                         check (DC14) can determine that the spell                                   has been misdirected.

   Plant Growth - Casting this spell as an action causes 1+1d4 Twig Blights, and 1d4 Needle Blights to spawn in the spell’s area of effect. These creatures are compelled to attack the caster until destroyed.
   Casting this spell over 8 hours does not apply its normal effect. Instead, The influence of the Blighted Land is suppressed in a half mile radius around the caster’s location at the time of the casting for 24 hours.
   Speak with Plants - Plants given sapience are either hostile to the caster, answering only in lies and insults, or driven to intense insanity or depression, only capable of gibbering madness or inconsolable weeping.
   Spike Growth - Creatures with the Blightborn trait have advantage on checks to recognize the dangerous terrain. The caster does not have to maintain concentration on the spell, and the Blighted Land accepts and maintains this new dangerous form as long as the area remains infected by Blight.
   Transport via Plants and Tree Stride - Whenever the caster travels through a tree or other plant using one of these spells, instead of emerging at the location of their choice, they emerge from a random tree or plant within range that is also on Blighted Land, and must make a Constitution saving throw (DC14) or take 1d8 necrotic damage as they travel through the evil coursing through the plants’ very sap.

Blight Resources

The Blight has a unique ecology that can both thwart and be harnessed by adventurers.

Foraging in the Blight

   Food and water sources in the Blight are limited. Any food and water foraged in the Blight is corrupted and dangerous. A WIS(medicine) or WIS(nature) check(DC14) can determine that the food and water is unfit to consume.
   If a creature without the Blightborn trait consumes foraged food or water, the DM randomnly determines one disease that attempts to infect the creature (See Blight Diseases).
   Furthermore, harvested food and water provides no nurishment unless cleansed via the Purify Food and Drink spell.

Harvesting the Blight

   The poisons found in the Blight are unique to the Blight, and as such cannot be created by alchemical means - they can only be harvested. Use the rules provided in the DMG (p.258) for harvesting Blight resources.
   Any harvested poison or diseased food and water retains its potency on Blighted Land as long as the Blight remains active. If it is taken away from Blighted Land it becomes inert after 24 hours.

Foraging Suncap Mushrooms

   Suncap Mushrooms are not dificult to identify. They glow with a soft yellow bioluminecence that cannot be mistaken. They can be successfully harvested without damaging the divine magic within by a simple Wis(Survival) check (DC10). The real trick is in knowing where to look.
   A character might know about Suncap Mushrooms if Blight in your setting isn't a particularly new phenomenon. An Int(Nature) or Int(Religion) check might recall their properties and where to find them.
   However, if Blight is new to your setting, or if The Phantom Gloom is an unavoidable obstacle of your adventure, it might be helpful to have an NPC guide or introduce the players to the fungus.
   If there are no sources of consecrated ground, the players can create Suncaps by either consecrating ground on the border of the Blight so that their areas collide, creating a breeding ground for the fungus or by pouring a vial of Holy Water on any regular mushroom that was harvested from Blighted Land, thus transforming it into a Suncap. One vial of Holy Water can create one Suncap Mushroom.

Blight Poisons

   Blight Bile Concentrate (Injested). This poison is created by consentrating Blight Bile into a syrup that can be drunk directly, dissolved in liquid, or added to food. When consumed, the creature takes 1d8 acid damage and must make a DC 14 Constitution saving throw. On a failure, the creature becomes poisoned for up to one minute. Each round at the start of their turn, they must repeat the saving throw or take 1d8 acid damage and remain poisoned. On a successful save, the creeature does not take damage and is no longer poisoned.

   Blight Smoke (Inhaled). This poison is a compressed ball of Horror Pollen contained in a bag or bomb-like device. A creature subjected to this poison must succeed on a DC 14 Constitution saving throw, taking 6 (3d4) psychic damage and one Short-Term Madness effect (DMG p.259), or half as much damage on a successful one and the creature does not suffer from madness.

   Rot Paste (Contact). This poison is made by grinding Black Rot Mold into a paste. A creature subjected to this poison must succeed on a DC 14 Constitution saving throw, taking 12(3d8) necrotic damage and becomes poisoned for one minute on a failure, or half as much damage and is not poisoned on a success. While the creature is poisoned, they are paralyzed. They can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of their turns to end the paralysis effect. If they fail the initial save by a natural 1, they fall unconcious for the duration of the poisoned condition.

   Viper Tree Venom (Injury). This poison is a consentrated form of the sap of a Viper Tree. When a creature is wounded by a weapon coated with this poison, they take an additional 1d8 poison damage and they must make a DC 14 Constitution saving throw, becoming poisoned for 1 minute on a failure and gaining vulnerability to piercing and slashing damage for the duration of this poison. If the poisoned creature has resistance to piercing and slashing damage, they instead lose this resistance for the duration.

Blight Diseases

  Blight Plague

Blight Plague is the signature disease of the Blight, and possbily the most deadly. Creatures that fully sucumb to the sickness are overtaken by the Blight, and turned into thralls of the evil that empowers its spread. This disease targets any creature without the Blightborn trait, excluding constructs, elementals, and the undead. Abberations, Celestials, and Fiends have advantage on saving throws against this disease.
      This disease is contracted in two ways. One is through consuming un-purified food or water harvested from blighted land, the other is by being infected by a Blight Beast. In both cases, the creature makes a DC 14 Constitution saving throw when exposed to the disease, becoming infected on a failure. Once a creature suceeds on this save, it is immune to the disease for 24 hours.
      Once a creature has failed the inital saving throw, they must repeat this saving throw after each long rest, and at least once every 24 hours. Once a creature fails three more saves after the initial saving throw, they fully sucumb to the disease. A creature makes this save with advantage if it is not on or over blighted land .
      Symptoms manifest 1d4 hours after contracting the disease through the first failed Constitution saving throw. Early symptoms of this disease include disorientation and, though the creature feels a freezing sensation, they suffer from an intense fever. They can no longer willingly leave blighted land under their own power, and freeze in place whenever they try to leave.
      The symptoms worsen each time the creature fails another saving throw. On the second failure, the veins of the creature's eyes become bright green. On the third, tiny vines can be seen down the creature's throat and deep in their ears and nose. On the fourth and final failed save they succumb to the disease and gain the Blightborn trait, and everything that entails. Once they have succumbed, they can only be cured with a greater restoration or heal spell.

Blight Diseases, Continued...

  Inner Gloom

This disease can affect any creature except for undead, constructs, and creatures immune to fear effects or the Frightened condition, instilling within infected creatures the sense of a waking nightmare that never ends.
      When a creature consumes blighted food or water they must succeed on a DC 14 Constitution saving throw or become infected. The creature begins to exhibit symptoms immediately upon becoming infected, in which the insides of their eyes appear to become obscured by a purple-gray fog.
      The creature is afflicted with a constant sense of dread. They suffer from the Frightened condition, with every hostile or unfamiliar creature, as well as any dangerous-looking location, as the target of their fear. Additionally, every time they would complete a rest they must suceed on a DC 14 Wisdom saving throw to gain the benefits of the rest. If the creature fails this saving throw on a long rest they also gain one level of exhaustion. If the save is made on blighted land, the creature has disadvantage on the save and on a success only recovers half of any resources that they would normally recover, rounded down.
      A creature that completes a Wisdom save successfully for three long rests recovers from the disease. Additionally, the disease can be cured by consuming a suncap mushroom, or drinking a vial of holy water.

  Underblacken

This disease targets humanoids and beasts without the Blightborn trait, causing blackened flesh in the body's crevices, and an unnaturally healthy glow in the rest as the creature's metabolism goes into overdrive, slowly burning them out from the inside.
      When a humanoid or beast consumes blighted food or water they must succeed on a DC 14 Constitution saving throw or become infected. The creature begins to exhibit symptoms 1d12 hours after becoming infected. After each long rest, the creature repeats the initial saving throw. On a failure, the creature gains one level of exhaustion.
      The visible symptoms include blackened skin and hair in parts of the body uncommonly seen directly, like behind ears, armpits, genitals, and the flesh inside orofices, except for the top of the tongue. The rest of the creature's body gives off a healthy glow that is still somehow unsettling to look at. After one full day of the symptoms' first appearance, the creature begins to slowly, one thin layer at a time, degrade. The top layer of skin can be rubbed off like oil paint and the edges of hairs crumble like dirt. Bodily liquids like sweat, spit, and blood faintly steam even after they leave the victim's body.
      The extra energy the creature feels as its body slowly burns away exhibits itself through temporarily enhanced abilities. While the creature is infected, they have advantage on Strength(Athletics) checks, Dexterity(Acrobaics) checks, and roll one additional damage die for every damage type they would deal when they would deal damage through a weapon attack or spell.

      This extra energy is the byproduct of a cost, however. As long as the creature is infected, it cannot regain expended class and racial features. Each time the creature uses the Attack Action, or casts a spell, they must lower their maximum hit points by 1. Additionally, each time the creature completes a long rest it reduces its maximum hit points by 1.
      The disease continues in this manner until the creature is either cured or dead. While on or over blighted land, the disease can only be cured by a greater restoration or heal spell, but when the creature is away from blighted land it can be cured normally.

  Vein Rot

This disease targets humanoids and beasts without the Blightborn trait, corrupting the body's ability to regenerate from injury.
      When a humanoid or beast consumes blighted food or water they must succeed on a DC 14 Constitution saving throw or become infected.
      The creature begins to exhibit symptoms 1 day after becoming infected, which last until the creature recovers from the disease. Symptoms include blackening veins that can be seen through the creature's skin, and the creature gains the following flaw: "I am paranoid, mistrusting even my closest friends, family, and allies. I see hidden dangers in even the most mundane behaviors and activities of other creatures."
      As long as a creature remains infected, they cannot regain hit points by any means. An infected creature can repeat the saving throw if it is not on or over blighted land once after every long rest. After three successful saving throws, it recovers from the disease.

Creatures of the Blight

While blighted land, is dangerous all on its own, the land is but the spine of this creeping evil. The eyes and ears, the grasping talons, the flesh that which covers and protects the core - the blight nodes, are the creatures spawned and enthralled by its evil. These creatures are the Blightborn.

Blightborn

The Blightborn include both creatures directly created by the evil itself, and creatures that have been overtaken by the Blight. In both cases, these creatures have the Blightborn trait.
      When using the Blight in your setting, automatically add the Blightborn trait to the following creatures from officially published D&D 5e materials: Needle Blight(MM 32), Twig Blight(MM 32), Vine Blight(MM 32).
      Any creature that can be the victim of the Blight Plague disease can be overtaken by the Blight and given the Blightborn trait, but of the creature types available, beasts, humanoids, and plants are by far the most common among the creatures who have succumbed to the disease and gained the Blightborn trait.

Blightborn

   Creatures with this trait gain a number of temporary hit points equal to their CR rating multiplied by 10, with a minimum of 10 temp hp. These temporary Hit Points regenerate each day at dawn.
   For instance, a creature with a CR rating of 1/8 would gain 10 temp hp due to the minimum, while a creature with a CR rating of 2 would gain 20 temp hp (2 x 10).
   Creatures with this trait have certain advantages while on blighted land. These advantages include the following:

• This creature has advantage on Attacks and Saving Throws.
• This creature's abilities which require saving throws impose disadvantage on those saves.
• This creature ignores difficult terrain caused or maintained by blighted land.
• If this creature does not have an ability or action that includes a grapple, it gains the following action:

   Parasitic Vines. Leafy vines emerges from this creature's orofices and from beneath its skin to wrap around a target creature. This creature makes a proficient strength melee weapon attack against a creature within 5 ft. On hit: 1d6+STR bludgeoning damage, and the target is grappled(escape DC 14). While this creature is grappling another creature it cannot use this action again.
   While a creature is grappled by this effect, at the start of both creature's turns, the grappled creature takes 1 necrotic damage, and this creature gains 1 hp.

      When building adventures with the Blight, if you wish to create a Blightborn creature, simply add the Blightborn trait and make the following additional adjustments to the creature:

• Change the creatures Intelligence score to 5.
• Change the creatures Wisdom score to 10.
• Change the creatures Charisma score to 5.
• The creature loses all class features and spellcasting.

      Creatures with the Blightborn trait have succumbed to the will of the Blight. Their motivations are those of the evil that empowers the Blight. Their actions and behaviors reflect that change. Blightborn creatures hate all creatures that have not succumbed to the Blight and attack them without concern for their own survival insticts. They have enough wisdom to fight from advantageous positions, but not to retreat or care for their wounded.
      Between the time when a creature has become blightborn, and when they attack, they can pass as a normal creature of their type at a glance. A Wisdom(Insight) check, however, reveals that something is very wrong. A blightborn's movement is jerky and stiff and the creature does not respond to communication.

Blightbeasts

When a beast has been overtaken by blight and become Blightborn, on occasion, the evil of the blight can pool within such a creature, concentrate, and turn it into something more - a Blightbeast -a creature so overcome with blighted vines, leafs and blooms that it becomes hard to see the beast it once was beneath the mass.
      The Blightbeast is the reaching hand of the blight. It carries its influence beyond its borders, and where it settles it creates a temporary patch of blighted land. When the blight is directed by an intelligent evil, these creatures are used to create the land upon which new blight nodes can be grown, to further expand the blight's control.

Lesser Blightbeast

Medium plant beast, neutral evil

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• Armor Class 9
• Hit Points 22(3d8 + 9) - Blightborn Temp HP 10
• Speed 30ft.

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STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
13 (+1)	8 (-1)	16 (+3)	3 (-4)	6 (-2)	5 (-3)

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• Damage Resistances Necrotic; Bludgeoning, Piercing, And Slashing From Nonmagical Weapons
• Damage Immunities Poison
• Condition Immunities Charmed, Exhaustion, Poisoned, Unconcious
• Senses Blingsight 30 ft., passive Perception 8
• Challenge 1 (200 XP)

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Blightborn. This creature has 10 temporary hit points that regenerate each day at dawn. While on blighted land this creature has advantage on attacks, saving throws, and imposes disadvantages on saves made against the Lesser Blightbeast's abilities. Additionally, the Lesser Blightbeast ignores difficult terrain created or maintained by blighted land.

Deadly Flora. The blighted plants that cover the Lesser Blightbeast's flesh emits an invisible poisonous gas when agitated. Once per turn, if a creature hits the Lesser Blight Beast with an attack, a gas cloud bursts from the creature in a 5 ft. radius. Each creature without the blightborn trait within the area must make a DC 12 Constitution saving throw, taking 7 (2d6) poison damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.

Actions

Parasitic Vines. Melee Weapon Attack: +3 to hit, reach 5ft., one target creature. Hit 4 (1d6 + 1) bludgeoning damage, and the target is grappled(escape DC 14). While this creature is grappling another creature it cannot use this action again. While a creature is grappled by this effect, at the start of both creature's turns, the grappled creature takes 1 necrotic damage, and this creature gains 1 hp.

Infect. The Lesser Blight Beast extends a Parasitic Vine down the throat of a creature it has grappled and attempts to infect the creature with the Blight Plague disease. The creature must make a DC 14 Dexterity saving throw.
      On a Successful save, the creature is not infected and becomes immune to Blight Plague from this creature's Infest ability for 24 hours. On a failed save, the creature becomed infected with the disease and immediately manifests the symptoms of the disease.

Blight the Land. The Lesser Blight Beast lays prone on the ground and the blighted tendrils covering its flesh dig deep into the earth and begins to turn the surrounding area into blighted land. Channeling the powers of the blight in this way takes one minute. The Lesser Blight Beast cannot move after taking this action.
      At the start of the Lesser Blight Beast's next turn, it becomes incapacitated and the land around it in a 20 ft. radius becomes blighted land. This effect ends if the Lesser Blight Beast is killed before the channeling time can be completed.
      If the Lesser Blight Beast is able to complete the full channel time, the Lesser Blight Beast dies and the land becomes blighted land for the next 24 hours or until cleared.

Greater Blightbeast

Large plant beast, neutral evil

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• Armor Class 10
• Hit Points 38(4d10 + 16) - Blightborn Temp HP 20
• Speed 20ft.

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STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
18 (+4)	10 (0)	18 (+4)	3 (-4)	6 (-2)	5 (-3)

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• Saving Throws - Wisdom +0, Constitution (+6)
• Damage Resistances Necrotic; Bludgeoning, Piercing, And Slashing From Nonmagical Weapons
• Damage Immunities Poison
• Condition Immunities Charmed, Exhaustion, Poisoned, Unconcious
• Senses Blingsight 30 ft., passive Perception 8
• Challenge 2 (450 XP)

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Blightborn. This creature has 10 temporary hit points that regenerate each day at dawn. While on blighted land this creature has advantage on attacks, saving throws, and imposes disadvantages on saves made against the Greater Blightbeast's abilities. Additionally, the Greater Blightbeast ignores difficult terrain created or maintained by blighted land.

Deadly Flora. The blighted plants that cover the Greater Blightbeast's flesh emits an invisible poisonous gas that assaults creatures without the blightborn trait within 5ft. At the start of each effected creature's turn, as long as they are within range, they take 1d4 poison damage.
      Additionally, once per turn, if a creature hits the Greater Blightbeast with an attack, a gas cloud bursts from the creature in a 10 ft. radius. Each creature without the blightborn trait within the area must make a DC 14 Constitution saving throw, taking 10 (3d6) poison damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.

Actions

Parasitic Vines. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 10ft., one target creature. Hit 8 (1d8 + 4) bludgeoning damage, and the target is grappled(escape DC 14). While this creature is grappling another creature it cannot use this action again. While a creature is grappled by this effect, at the start of both creature's turns, the grappled creature takes 1 necrotic damage, and this creature gains 1 hp.

Infect. The Greater Blight Beast extends a Parasitic Vine down the throat of a creature it has grappled and attempts to infect the creature with the Blight Plague disease. The creature must make a DC 14 Dexterity saving throw.
      On a Successful save, the creature is not infected and becomes immune to Blight Plague from this creature's Infest ability for 24 hours. On a failed save, the creature becomed infected with the disease and immediately manifests the symptoms of the disease.

Blight the Land. The Greater Blightbeast lays prone on the ground and the blighted tendrils covering its flesh dig deep into the earth and begins to turn the surrounding area into blighted land. Channeling the powers of the blight in this way takes one minute. The Greater Blightbeast cannot move after taking this action.
      At the start of the Greater Blightbeast's next turn, it becomes incapacitated and the land around it in a 120 ft. radius becomes blighted land. This effect ends if the Greater Blightbeast is killed before the channeling time can be completed.
      If the Greater Blightbeast is able to complete the full channel time, the Greater Blight Beast dies and the land becomes blighted land for the next 24 hours or until cleared.

Blights

Brief discussion of Blights.
      The Blightbeast is the reaching hand of the blight. It carries its influence beyond its borders, and where it settles it creates a temporary patch of blighted land. When the blight is directed by an intelligent evil, these creatures are used to create the land upon which new blight nodes can be grown, to further expand the blight's control.

Moss Blight

Large plant beast, neutral evil

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• Armor Class 10
• Hit Points 38(4d10 + 16) - Blightborn Temp HP 20
• Speed 20ft.

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STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
18 (+4)	10 (0)	18 (+4)	3 (-4)	6 (-2)	5 (-3)

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• Saving Throws - Wisdom +0, Constitution (+6)
• Damage Resistances Necrotic; Bludgeoning, Piercing, And Slashing From Nonmagical Weapons
• Damage Immunities Poison
• Condition Immunities Charmed, Exhaustion, Poisoned, Unconcious
• Senses Blingsight 30 ft., passive Perception 8
• Challenge 2 (450 XP)

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Blightborn. This creature has 10 temporary hit points that regenerate each day at dawn. While on blighted land this creature has advantage on attacks, saving throws, and imposes disadvantages on saves made against the Greater Blightbeast's abilities. Additionally, the Greater Blightbeast ignores difficult terrain created or maintained by blighted land.

Deadly Flora. The blighted plants that cover the Greater Blightbeast's flesh emits an invisible poisonous gas that assaults creatures without the blightborn trait within 5ft. At the start of each effected creature's turn, as long as they are within range, they take 1d4 poison damage.

Actions

Parasitic Vines. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 10ft., one target creature. Hit 8 (1d8 + 4) bludgeoning damage, and the target is grappled(escape DC 14). While this creature is grappling another creature it cannot use this action again. While a creature is grappled by this effect, at the start of both creature's turns, the grappled creature takes 1 necrotic damage, and this creature gains 1 hp.

Blight Variants

   As Blights are born from the dying plants of any given environment, they can evolve in new ways, different from the standard versions in the Monster Manual in ways appropriate to their origins. Below are a few possible alternatives.

Desert

• Cactus Blight - (Needle Blight Variant)
     For instance, a creature with a CR rating of 1/8 would gain 10 temp hp due to the minimum, while a creature with a CR rating of 2 would gain 20 temp hp (2 x 10).
  

Subterranean

Underwater

• Seaweed Blight - (Vine Blight Variant)

Copywrite and Art Credit

   This rough draft, including all of the text and mechanics belong to me, Edward Cheever, and are under a Creative Commons licence, noted below.
   All of the placeholder art does not belong to me, and I make no claim to them. I've attributed them to the best of my ability below:

• Page 1 - "Claustrophobic," by Michael Lo - http://michaello113b.blogspot.com/
• Page 2 - "Fog s wallpaper | 1280x1024 | #55154," unknown artist - https://ispackaging.com/2166002.html
• Page 3 - "The Blight" - cover of "To the Blight," by Charles Keegan
• Page 4 - "Untitled," by Christopher Burdett - http://www.ChristopherBurdett.com
• Page 5 - "Mushroom," by Subbotina Anna - https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/mushroom-fantasy-glowing-mushrooms-mystery-dark-734990815
• Page 6 - "Fantasy Watch," by 2806 - https://omarrodriguezv.deviantart.com/art/Fantasy-Watch-131451203

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.