Buso Datu

Buso Farmer Creature3

NE Medium Humanoid

Senses Perception +8; low-light vision

Languages Goblin, Sylvan

Skills Arcana +8, Athletics +9, Cooking Lore +10, Farming Lore +10, Nature +8

Str +4, Dex +1, Con +2, Int +3, Wis +1, Cha -1

Items javelin (4), kukri, studded leather

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AC 18; Fort +9, Ref +6, Will +8

HP 48

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Speed 25 feet

Melee [one-action] kukri +11 (agile, trip), Damage 1d6+6 slashing

Ranged [one-action] javelin +8 (thrown 30 feet), Damage 1d6+6 piercing

Resize Plant [two-actions] (arcane, plant, polymorph, transmutation) Frequency twice per day; Requirements The buso touches a Small, Medium, or Large plant; Effect The plant grows or shrinks by one size, remaining that size for the next 5 minutes. If used on a plant creature, this effect has the effects of enlarge or shrink (buso’s choice). Unwilling plant creatures can attempt a DC 18 Fortitude saving throw to resist this effect.

About

Occasionally, a busaw spirit who seeks to live a mortal life will possess a buso baby. Such babies are born with the two eyes typical of most humanoid as well as an ivory horn that channels arcane fire. Seen as gods incarnate, they’re revered as datu, who rule buso society. When a buso datu dies, their busaw spirit simply retakes their place haunting the forest.

Busos are tree-dwelling folk with a simmering desire to consume the flesh of others. They to heavily supplement their food with leaves and root crops, possess significant knowledge of agriculture, and boast innate powers over plants and their growth. In regards to meat, however, busos reject the flesh of beasts; they instead consume other humanoids. Not only do they find the taste of other creatures repulsive, but their bodies reject non-humanoid meat since it provides them no nutritional value and consuming it leaves them sickened and weak.

Busos’ unusual dietary needs mean they’re almost always at odds with neighboring cultures. They typically maintain decent relations only with goblins, who are as a people less prone to judging others based on diet. Other communities fear busos-with some justification-though aside from the occasional forays to harvest someone for their next meal, busos tend to keep to themselves. In some desperate locations, communities faced with famine or other natural disasters might even seek out busos’ aid, offering victims in exchange for knowledge or magical assistance that might save their communities from slow and terrible deaths through starvation.

A buso’s single eye sometimes leads to them being compared to cyclopes. However, both types of creatures deny any common ancestry, and they first appeared independently in entirely different parts of the world with substantially divergent abilities. For their part, busos believe that their ancestors’ deeds gave rise to their single eyes. When faced with a famine that threatened their existence, these ancestors each cut out one of their eyes as an offering to the malevolent spirits of the forest, imploring for their salvation. Busos say that these spirits, whom they call the busaw, gave them their knowledge of agriculture, power over plants, and craving for sentient flesh. Henceforth, they revered the busaw as gods and called themselves buso: those who worship the busaw.