Manual of the Planes

CHAPTER 9:MONSTERS172CombatAn umbral banyan is cagey enough to know that it has tostrike with surprise to be successful. A sessile plant, it can’trun if a battle goes against it, although it can retreat to thePlane of Shadow and fight there. It fights to the death unlessit can grab a prisoner to bargain with as it seeks a truce.Improved Grab (Ex): To use this ability, the umbralbanyan must hit a Large or smaller opponent with a tendrilattack. Each successful grapple check after the firstdeals normal tendril damage. If it surprises multiple foes,the umbral banyan tries to grapple up to four of them,despite the reduced attack bonus for successive grapplechecks (its highest bonus for grapple checks is +28).Yank Upward (Ex): On the round after an umbralbanyan grapples a foe, it can automatically yank the heldcreature 20 feet up into the air if it is still successfullygrappling. Opponents who escape the grapple take 2d6points of damage from the fall to the ground.Strength Damage (Su): Beginning on the round afteran umbral banyan yanks its prey upward, each tendrildeals 1d4 points of temporary Strength damage eachround it maintains the grapple (in addition to normaltendril damage). A successful Fortitude save (DC 22)negates the Strength damage for that round.Plane Shift (Su): As a free action, an umbral banyan canshift itself and any grappled opponents to a forest on thePlane of Shadow for 5 rounds, as the plane shift spell. Theumbral banyan and any creatures within 20 feet of it return tothe original spot on the Material Plane at the end of that time,unless the banyan is destroyed in the meantime, in whichcase any surviving opponents must find their own wayhome. Umbral banyans native to the Plane of Shadow canplane shift to a forest on the Material Plane in the same way.Camouflage (Ex): Because an umbral banyan lookslike a normal tree when at rest, it takes a successful Spotcheck (DC 25) to notice it before it attacks. Anyone withWilderness Lore or Knowledge (plants or herbs) can usethose skills instead of Spot to notice the umbral banyan.Plant: Immune to mind-influencing effects, poison,sleep, paralysis, stunning, and polymorphing. Not subjectto critical hits.Half Damage from Piercing (Ex): Piercing weaponsdeal only half damage to an umbral banyan, with a minimumof 1 point of damage.GENIEOf all the creatures that inhabit the Elemental Planes,genies interact the most closely with the Material Plane.Some genies live in bored opulence, but many are drawnto variety and danger.In their natural form, genies are generally humanlikebut betray some hint of their true nature. Dao, for example,are stocky and muscular, while a marid’s skin oftenhas a bluish tint. All genies are masters of illusion magic,so their appearance can rarely be taken at face value.Their behavior also mimics an aspect of whatever planethey call home. Dao are eager traders of gems and gold,while marids can change their moods as capriciously as acalm sea becomes stormy. All genies share an inquisitivetemperament, though, often leaving their vast elementalpalaces to get caught up in the many agendas and conflictsof the Material Plane.COMBATWith their wide array of spell-like abilities, genies have anumber of ways they can approach a fight. They tend toconsider combat as a puzzle, trying different techniquesand probing for weaknesses.Plane Shift (Sp): A genie can enter any of the ElementalPlanes, the Astral Plane, or the Material Plane. This abilitytransports the genie and up to six other creatures, providedthey all link hands with the genie. It is otherwisesimilar to the spell of the same name.Telepathy (Su): A genie can communicate telepathicallywith any creature within 100 feet that has a language.DAOGenies from the Elemental Plane of Earth, dao often rungem-mining operations there or on the Material Plane.They love to barter for power and wealth but are apt todiscount lesser creatures as mere resources to beexploited, then thrown away.Resembling muscular humans in flowing silk robes,dao are almost always festooned with jewelry. Their naturalforms are too tall to pass for human, but like manygenies, they employ alter self to appear as a normal humanor dwarf when it suits them.On the Plane of Earth, many dao live in a great undergroundcomplex called the Great Dismal Delve, wherethey force elemental slaves to toil in their gem mines.The Great Dismal Delve is the size of a continent andracked with frequent quakes, which dao find entertaining.The rivalries among those who would become theGreat Khan of the dao are intense and unending.Elsewhere, bands of dao organize themselves in vastunderground mazeworks led by an ataman or hetman,who rules with a stony fist over the other dao and whateverslaves do their mining for them.Dao speak Terran, Aquan, and Common.CombatIn a fight, a dao rearranges the battlefield to suit it. Usingwall of stone, passwall, and transmute rock to mud, it dividesits foes, seals off (or creates) escape routes, and preventsthem from maneuvering effectively. Then it eagerly putsits strength to the test, wading into the thick of a meleewith both fists flailing.Spell-Like Abilities: At will—alter self, detect good,detect magic, gaseous form, invisibility, misdirection, passwall,persistent image, wall of stone; 3/day—move earth, transmuterock to mud; 1/day—grant up to three limited wishes (tonongenies only). These abilities are as the spells cast by a19th-level sorcerer (save DC = 12 + spell level).Earth Mastery (Ex): A dao gains a +1 bonus on attackand damage rolls if both it and its foe touch the ground. If