Violet Fungus 5e: Stats, Rotting Touch and Fungus Traps

A violet fungus is a CR 1/4 Medium Plant with AC 5, 18 hit points and a speed of 5 feet. It can barely move, but its Rotting Touch reaches 10 feet and deals 4 (1d8) necrotic damage, and it makes several of those touches every turn: 1d4 in the 2014 rules, exactly two in 2024. It senses everything within 30 feet by blindsight and is immune to being blinded, deafened or frightened (and charmed, in 2024). On its own it's a hazard. Next to a shrieker, it's the part of the fungus patch that bites.

Table of Contents

• •Violet Fungus Stat Block (2014)
• •The Violet Fungus in the 2024 Rules
• •How Violet Fungi Fight
• •Running a Violet Fungus Encounter
• •How Players Beat Violet Fungi
• •Violet Fungus Encounter Ideas
• •Frequently Asked Questions

Violet Fungus Stat Block (2014)

Two traits carry the 2014 version. False Appearance makes it indistinguishable from an ordinary fungus while motionless, so the party walks into reach without warning. Multiattack rolls 1d4 for the number of touches, so one turn it makes a single touch and the next it makes four (up to 32 necrotic damage if all four hit high).

The Violet Fungus in the 2024 Rules

The 2024 fungus is more predictable and slightly weaker on average. Losing False Appearance matters more: a 2024 violet fungus is a visible purple growth unless you describe a cave where it blends in.

How Violet Fungi Fight

It doesn't chase. It waits. With 5 feet of speed, a violet fungus fights whatever comes within 10 feet. Put it where the party has to pass: the only dry ledge, beside a treasure chest, at a narrow bend.

Damage per round. Against AC 16, +2 hits on a 14 or higher, 35% of the time. Against AC 12, it hits on a 10 or higher, 55%. Each hit averages 4.5 (1d8).

Three fungi lining a passage can put 15 to 19 necrotic damage a round on a lightly armored character who stops in the middle. Each touch only targets "one creature," but there's nothing stopping the fungus from splitting touches between two characters in reach.

It goes last. With Dexterity 1, it almost always acts at the bottom of initiative. Characters who walk into reach usually get a turn to back out before it strikes, unless it was hidden.

Running a Violet Fungus Encounter

A violet fungus is 50 XP. Under the 2024 rules, four of them are a Low encounter (200 XP) for four level 1 characters, and six are Moderate (300 XP).

Under the 2014 Dungeon Master's Guide guidelines in our encounter calculator, four violet fungi are 200 XP ×2 = 400, Deadly for four level 1 characters. That number overstates them. The multiplier assumes every creature gets into the fight, and a 5-foot-speed fungus only fights whoever stands next to it. Treat fungi as terrain that hurts, not as a squad.

They're best mixed in. A shrieker brings the creatures that live nearby, the violet fungi hold the chokepoint, and the party fights the newcomers with purple tendrils at its back. Good company underground: a grick, a gelatinous cube, or zombies shambling through the patch.

How Players Beat Violet Fungi

• •Don't stand in reach. Anything with a range beyond 10 feet kills it with no risk. Against AC 5, any attack at +4 or better misses only on a natural 1.
• •Burn or blast it. It has no resistances. Thunderwave (Constitution save, +0) or Burning Hands (Dexterity save, −5) can hit several at once. Against Burning Hands it needs an 18 or higher to save at DC 13.
• •Blight overkills it. A Plant makes the save with disadvantage and takes maximum damage in 2014, or automatically fails in 2024.
• •Don't bother with sight tricks. Darkness, invisibility and Blindness do nothing to a creature with blindsight that's immune to being blinded.

Violet Fungus Encounter Ideas

The cellar crop. A brewery's cellar has gone quiet and two workers are missing. The party finds a cave-in that opened into a grotto, a shrieker by the breach, and four violet fungi ringing the bodies. The fungi are still feeding.

Fungus in the walls. A dwarven mine's ventilation shaft is the only way to the lower level, and violet fungi have grown along it. Climbing past means spending two turns inside a 10-foot reach while hanging on a rope.

The garden of a dead mage. In the 2014 rules, a long greenhouse of "ordinary" mushrooms is half violet fungus (False Appearance). The mage grew them as a burglar trap and they've outlived her.

Frequently Asked Questions

What CR is a violet fungus?

CR 1/4, worth 50 XP, in both the 2014 and 2024 rules. It has AC 5, 18 hit points and a 5-foot speed.

How many attacks does a violet fungus get?

In 2014 its Multiattack makes 1d4 Rotting Touch attacks, so between one and four. In 2024 it always makes two. Each touch is +2 to hit with 10-foot reach and deals 4 (1d8) necrotic damage.

Can a violet fungus see invisible creatures?

It doesn't need to. It has blindsight out to 30 feet and is immune to the blinded condition, so invisibility and darkness don't hide anyone within that range.

What's the difference between a shrieker and a violet fungus?

A shrieker has no attacks; it screams when a creature or bright light comes within 30 feet and alerts everything nearby. A violet fungus is the one that fights, with a 10-foot-reach necrotic touch. They're often found together.

Stat blocks: System Reference Document 5.1 (2014) and 5.2.1 (2024), Wizards of the Coast, CC-BY-4.0. Tactics, encounter math and ideas are Loreify's own.