Tress
written
by Galen Musbach
Climate: temperate to sub-arctic
Planes: Bytopia to Pandemonium, Outlands
Organization: lock (eg, "a lock of hair")
Activity Cycle: Any
Diet:
Host
Intelligence: none [Rarely Low(5-7)]
Treasure: U (jeweled combs, hair clips, or brushes)
Alignment: none
# App: many
Armor Class: 6
Movement: 1, Float on wind per wind
speed
Description: A Tress is a symbiotic
life form which attaches
to the heads of persons with thinning hair to restore body and
volume. It is capable of some movement, waving even when the
air is still as though in a light breeze; it is unknown why the
Tresses do this. Attachment requires one turn, and is usually
accomplished by having the balding person immerse his/her head
in a water bath containing the Tresses; Tresses can also attach
to someone by having them sleep with a special pillow, but there
is some danger of the Tresses attaching elsewhere than the head
in such cases.
Tresses object to being cut, and will evade scissors if possible.
Tresses feed on the host through the connection point at the scalp;
this has no noticeable effect on the host. Tresses are at least one
inch long, and grow steadily throughout their lives;
if a Tress is broken, both pieces become new Tresses.
Tresses can be killed by Fire. They appear to be stunned
by Electrical attacks, but not harmed. They are immune to
Cold, Gas, and Poison, but take normal damage from Acid.
They can be targeted by a Magic Missile, but it will only harm
one of them per missile, so it is kind of pointless.
Tresses will also attach to animals as a replacement pelt;
cases of humans with pelts resulting from Tress infestation
have been confirmed ("Cousin It"), but seems to have been
an exceptional instance.