Zacuer: Carnivorous Plant People

Carnivorous Plant People

The Zacuer are small, carnivorous, plantlike humanoids native to the region of Bolok, a land whose life has been stolen away. Though they can take many forms, they typically look like earthen-skinned humanoids fused with some local flora. In most of Bolok, this means they are a kind of humanoid cactus.
A scant few hundred years ago, the forefathers of the Zacuer were a barrel-shaped, adorable race of bumbling wanderers that survived on sunlight and good vibes as they guided travelers through verdant pastures and sunlit groves.
But when Bolok was lost, they were forced to change along with it; fresh blood was now the most plentiful source of water and living flesh the richest soil. The blood-drinking Zacuer are tough ambush predators feared by even the warrior half-orc tribes of Bolok. Wandering into a Zacuer grove is known to be certain death, and the half-orc tribes send out war parties to clear out these groves when they grow too large.
Zacuer live in nomadic groups as small as 2 or stationary groves as large as 200. Clever and ruthless, though not actively cruel, they normally set up ambushes along popular roads, posing as desert flora to entice travelers close enough to slay with their spines. These spines are also the means by which they drink the blood of their prey, draining them nearly dry before planting a bud into their bodies that will shortly grow into a new Zacuer. The new Zacuer will be raised by their parent and will either stay with the group or wander off when they become adults.
Zacuer groves usually grow around a Zacuer that has become too large to move. Younger Zacuer, typically its offspring, will hunt for it out of filial piety. These small communities eventually develop a simple culture of nature worship and idiosyncratic ritual, even husbanding rodents and lizards as a food source.
Zacuer Adventurers
Some Zacuer bud with an increased level of curiosity, intelligence, and empathy. After becoming capable of surviving on their own, these Zacuer will wander away from their parent to live among other places and peoples, although they almost never leave the region.
Exceptions
It has been discovered Zacuer don’t exactly need to drink blood; it’s just that it’s the most plentiful source of water and nutrients in their homeland. Some Zacuer have adapted to drinking water and eating meat in order to live among other races, but they get sick if they attempt to eat other plantlife.

Traits

Ability Score Increase. Increase your Constitution or Strength score by 2. Then increase your Strength, Constitution, Wisdom, or Dexterity by 1. You can’t choose the same ability score for both increases.
Age. A Zacuer bud planted in a corpse that has been dead no longer than 24 hours becomes a seedling within a week and an adult by one month. Zacuer continue to grow throughout their lives, which can last up to 200 years. Around 125 years, Zacuer become too large to walk and must root themselves to the ground.
Alignment. Zacuer can be temperamental and chaotic, but don’t usually care deeply about good or evil.
Size. Your size is Medium or Small. You choose which when you select this race. Most humanoids are Medium sized, and being Small is generally a disadvantage, although for Zacuer, it means they can feed more easily.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 25 feet if you are Small and 30 feet if you are Medium.
Names. Zacuer don’t usually take names, but if it becomes necessary, they will choose a random word in Common that sounds nice to them. Blood, Spine, Blossom, and Seguaro are ever popular choices. They either use the name of their race (Zacuer) or two common words put together as a surname. In all likelihood, there is a Zacuer wandering the world that calls themselves Spine Spinespine.
Zacuer Instincts. You have proficiency in the Survival skill.
Succulent Skin. You skin is highly protective against inclement weather, granting you resistance to cold and fire damage.
Zacuer Anatomy. You don’t need to eat or drink for one week if you can spend an hour uninterrupted drinking the blood of a living or recently deceased creature your size category or larger. You can do this as part of a short or long rest.
Being fed on this way is incredibly painful. The process kills the creature if it is Small. Medium sized creatures gain five levels of exhaustion from the process. Feeding this way on a Large creature causes them to gain four levels of exhaustion, and so on.
You can also eat and drink as other races do, but eating anything other than meat will upset your stomach, causing you to be poisoned until you finish a long rest.
Autonomic Pipette Spine. When a creature (other than you) within 5’ of you takes slashing or piercing damage, if that creature has blood, you can use your reaction to drink some of their blood through a hollow spine attached to a vine-like cord, regaining hit points equal to your character level. You can take this reaction even when unconscious.
You can use this reaction once and regain the ability to do so after you finish a short or long rest.
Floral Adaptation. Whenever you gain a level or have at least one week of downtime, you can alter your appearance to suit your environment. While adapted to your environment and perfectly still for at least one round, you can make a Wisdom (Deception) check to emulate a normal plant. Treat all rolls below 10 on this check as a 10.
Languages. You speak Common, but you cannot read or write without investing an additional language choice. You can also communicate nonverbally with other Zacuer as long as you can see each other.
Trivia

Trivia
Zacuer can drastically alter their body shapes. They are naturally very plantlike in appearance, looking like nothing more than ambulatory cacti or shambling shrubbery. However, after observing and spending time among other humanoids, they may take an interest in those shapes as well, choosing to be curvy and feminine at some points, or broad and masculine at others. However, they always at least resemble plants or humanoids fused with plants. Since they reproduce asexually, these choices are purely aesthetic, but most Zacuer find a favorite shape and stick with it throughout their lives.