If It Grows in the Ground, It'll Kill You.

Hazard: Bloodgrass
Organized around a mother-root, Bloodgrass tendrils hide amongst the normal grass in Verdant Belts and Forests—a Notice check at -4 is required to detect the difference between Bloodgrass and mundane grass.
--Bloodgrass can get The Drop on victims that are unaware of its presence.
--Bloodgrass hits automatically for 2d6 Damage, if this is enough to penetrate the armor on the victim’s legs, the victim must also succeed on a Vigor test or else he becomes paralyzed for 2d6 turns.
--When the victim suffers a Wound, this indicates the feeding process has begun and the mother-root begins to send out more Bloodgrass tendrils to drain the prey as quickly as possible. The damage caused by tendrils increases to 3d6 the following turn, growing by 1d6 with each Wound caused until the victim is dragged beneath the grass and pulled to the mother-root, which devours its flesh.
--Once one encounters a Bloodgrass patch and passes a common knowledge check to determine what he’s dealing with, it takes only a standard Notice test to find the mother-root; it typically rests raised knoll-like formation—d12” from where the attack takes place—which is made from the bones of the bodies it has devoured.
--Attacking Bloodgrass tendrils is a futile effort. Each attack automatically causes a Wound, reducing the damage on the next turn by 1d6, but should the tendrils cause the victim another wound, more will arrive.
--Should one move to attack the Bloodgrass mother-root, all attacks hit automatically (it has a Parry of 0) and it has a Toughness 8. A Wound is sufficient to destroy the mother-root.

Hazard: Rock Cactus
Round cacti that grow in clumps in places where water is scarce. They look benign, until someone gets to close and they extend foot-long spines that seek to impale victims and drain their life-giving fluids.
--Rock cacti are difficult to locate unless one is intentionally looking for them. Seeing a rock cactus on approach requires a Notice -2 check, -4 if the cactus is hiding in Stony Barrens or a Boulder field where it is almost indistinguishable from nearby stones.
--Victims failing to Notice the cactus suffer a -2 to the Agility check that is necessary once one approaches too close. Approaching a Rock Cactus aware still requires an Agility check to dodge the spines.
--A Rock cactus strikes a victim with for 2d6 damage (normally to the legs). If the victim is Shaken or Wounded, he must roll Vigor successfully or suffer a level of Fatigue due to dehydration.
--Should the damage suffered result in a Wound, the Rock Cactus has impaled the victim and it proceeds to dislodge itself from the ground and hang onto the victim until all its fluids are drained. A Strength roll at -2 is required to remove a Rock Cactus. Each round the cactus remains attached to the victim, another Vigor roll is required to avoid fatigue.

Hunting Cactus, Carnivorous Psionic Plant
Traits                        Secondary Statistics
Agility     d4              Charisma: N/A
Smarts    d6               Pace: 3”
Spirit      d4               Parry: 2
Strength d6               Toughness: 5
Vigor      d6

Skills: Notice d8, Stealth d10, Shooting d10
Languages: N/A

Psionic Powers (15pp): Darksight, Farsight, Inflict Pain (Stun)
Special Abilities:
--Concealment: A Hunting Cactus will conceal itself amidst a group of mundane cacti. An opposed Notice/Stealth roll is necessary to detect the dangerous plant being.
--Needle Pods: A Hunting Cactus is composed of 11 to 30 (d20+10) pods, each with d10 Damage worth of needles it can shoot up to 5” in any direction. Any victim that is Shaken or takes a Wound from the needles must make a Vigor check or suffer paralysis for d6 turns.
--Feeding Spine: Each Hunting Cactus has a single spine amidst its needles that is dedicated to feeding. Once a victim is paralyzed, the Cactus moves slowly toward it through the sand and inserts the feeding spine. The spine does Str+d10 damage automatically to a paralyzed victim.

A Spell...

The idea for the Power below came to me when I was reading the AD&D Dark Sun description of Fire Clerics, and how they preferred to fight with a spell that created a burn blade in their naked hand. I figure the power below could be adapted to practically any elemental cleric (even a water-priest could fight with a sword made of steam) or to a "mind-knife" type-psionicist.

Magic Weapon
Rank: Seasoned
Range: Self
Power Points: 4
Duration: 3 (1/round)
Trappings: Telekinetic Blade, Sword of Flames, Earthen Hammer, Laser Cutlass
This spell conjures a one-handed melee weapon of energy the user can wield against enemies. The weapon does Str+d8 damage (or Str+d8 and +1 to Parry on a Raise). The caster must have a free hand available to wield the weapon. If the power-user is incapacitated, the blade ceases to exist. A caster cannot use the spell multiple times to create multiple weapons, however it can be acquired multiple times should this effect be desired. Different trappings can be applied to the spell.

Bardic Poisons as an Arcane Background

After some discussion on the subject of poisons in the Dark Sun setting over on the Pinnacle forums, it occurred to me that an Athasian Bard's assassin qualities might best be written as a tightly-controlled version of the AB: Alchemist Edge from the Fantasy Companion

Many Athasian Bards double as assassins by means of poison. These Bards employ the Arcane Background: Poisoner and the Arcane skill Poisons (Smarts). Like an Alchemist, a Poisoner’s Power Points are invested in doses of his wears and can only be recovered after the toxins are discharged.

AB: Poisoner
Starting Powers: 3
Power Points: 10
Power List: Blind, Bolt*, Confusion, Curse, Curse (from Deadlands)*, Drain Power Points, Draining Touch, Drain Life (Horror Toolkit), Fear, Lower Trait, Puppet, Sluggish Reflexes, Slumber, Strength of the Undead (Horror Toolkit as “Wight Poison”)*

Bolt
Rank: Novice
Power Points: 2-6
Range:
Duration: Instant
Trappings:
This is one of the handful of Powers a poisoner can use to create multiple doses of a poison. Each dose of the poison does 2d6 or 3d6 damage, depending on how many Power Points are put into it.

Greater Curse
Rank: Seasoned
Power Points: 5
Range: Touch
Duration: Permanent
Trappings:
As “Curse” in Deadlands: Reloaded.


The following Power is based on “Strength of the Undead” as written in the Horror Toolkit, only this spell resumes the user has acquired the poison of a Wight. The “Death Touch” is employed exactly like the Wight’s power. I bumped the Rank up to "Heroic" given that the Poisoner (or Necromancer) doesn't have to be touching a Wight in order to put the power into the poison.

*Death Touch (Strength of the Undead: Wight Poison)
Rank: Heroic
Power Points: 6
Range: Touch
Duration: Instant
Trappings: Hand of Death, Poisoned Claws
Arcane Skill vs. Vigor -2. On a success, the victim suffers “the shakes” for 24 hours and has a -1 penalty to all trait rolls. Failure means the victim is incapacitated and will die in 2d6 hours unless he receives a Healing -2 roll.

Poison Trapping:
Minor: A Raise with a detrimental power leads to gas that burns the eyes, nose, and throat. This distracting effect results in a -2 penalty to Parry (for the duration of the spell or until the victim’s next action).
Major: The victim must make a Vigor check (at -2 on a Raise) vs. Poison-based Fatigue. The downside is that the range of the spell is halved. For poisoners however, this is often meaningless as they deliver their wears with the use of a blade, needle, or some other subtle means.