Dracoflora (5e PlantFungi)

Dracoflora

“	Can't touch these once they're full grown. Try the ones without a face, and keep your poison handy.	”
—Dr. Mandragora, Beginner's Guide to Magical Botany

Physical Description

By Mateusz Skutnik

This plant resembles that of a pepper plant at a glance. But the peppers are very large... and they have eyes and teeth. These are actually the heads of the dracoflora, and they can breath fire, hiss, the whole shebang. Smaller peppers grow from other stems. There is never more than two peppers a stem. While they are small, they are perfectly edible, non-sentient, peppers, albeit very spicy.

Stories

These plants were said to be grown for the purposes of potions that allowed people to breathe fire like dragons. Magical botanists allegedly used the blood of red dragons to grow these plants. This created a nasty temperament in the peppers, which are hostile like dragons are. Supposedly, they burned down the first lab they were created in. There have been multiple stories about how dangerous these things and their spicy potential can be. These are less like fictional stories and more like very likely rumors of their origin.

Ecology

While they appear nasty and tenacious, dracoflora are ultimately unsustainable as plants. They are not found in the wild and can be grown only within controlled arcane labs that can contain their fire. These plants, if ever attempted to be grown in nature, would undoubtedly raze the land around themselves. While they themselves are immune to their own flames, they would starve to death with no food sources. The spice level in these peppers also render them inedible to most animals.

Growth and Harvest

Dracoflora require large amounts of prey to sustain their diet. Much like a venus flytrap, they grow in non-nutritious soils and do not take in a lot of nutrients through their roots. Caretakers usually feed them with long tweezers while they are young and small. Larger dracoflora pepper heads can grow to be a foot long at most, and with hazardous flaming breath and sharp teeth. These usually require longer artifices to feed and nurture properly, as they are ever a danger to their caretaker and surroundings. Most dracoflora have to be kept in a flame-proof environment, lest they burn everything down. The airflow must be controlled carefully, as it is known to agitate and make the plants more belligerent while it is stagnant or oversaturated. When the plants have produced usable fruits, the employment of poison gas is common to kill the active pepper heads quickly. After they have been subdued, it is only a matter of picking the usable peppers and using them for product.

Edibility

Dracoflora peppers, before they become heads, are usually edible for a small frame of time. When eaten, they are known to be so spicy that they will make your eyes water. Even creatures that cannot taste spice will feel an uncomfortable rise in temperature. The liquid from these peppers is very potent and should not be applied to the general bodily orifices, same as with real life chili peppers. After this period of edibility, the peppers usually gain their fire-breathing capabilities and mature into hostile pepper heads.

Other Common Uses

Due to the controlled substance that dracoflora produces, they are heavily regulated and confined within experimental and governmental usage. There are no common uses of dracoflora. Any uses other than the production of official potions tend to be underground activity.

Relevant Products

Dracoflora are raised almost exclusively for their peppers, which are used to produce bottled dragonbreath potions.

Bottled Dragonbreath

Potion, Uncommon

Made from the spicy dracoflora peppers, this potion lends the power of dragon breath to the drinker. When you drink this potion, you gain the effect of the dragon's breath spell for 1 minute (no concentration required). However, you can only exhale fire breath. The potion's red fluid is streaked with orange and has a pungent smell that can make one's eyes water simply from smelling it.

Dracoflora Traits

A dragonfire-breathing plant
Age. Dracoflora can live for as long as 150 years with good care. Usually, they end up harvested at around 10 years per head.
Size. Like a typical pepper plant, dracoflora are not terrifically tall. Their size is Small.
Fire Blast. The dracoflora can use an action to breathe a spray of fire at a creature. This attack is nonmagical and mimics the breath effects of dragon's breath.

Random Height and Weight

Base Height	Height Modifier*	Base Weight	Weight Modifier**
2′ 5''	+1d12	10 lb.	× (1d4) lb.
*Height = base height + height modifier **Weight = base weight + (height modifier × weight modifier)

Suggested Uses

The dracoflora sometimes are placed in greenhouses as a form of guardian, as they are fiercely territorial about what approaches their pots. Players might be tempted to make pets of them, or even harvest them for their peppers. The best way to make use of them is the potion they produce, without necessarily introducing the plant itself.

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