Dust Bunny

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If you listen to some of my interviews with my dad, you'll hear us talk about a creature called a Dust Bunny. My dad did write up the stats for the Dust Bunny on a piece of binder paper, and I remember seeing this sheet of paper after I moved to Northridge to go to University  in 2015. Yet when I moved to Las Vegas and started talking to my dad about our old games I discovered I had lost that sheet of paper at one point. As a result I have had a conversation with him with the goal of recreating the stats for this creature. So without further ado, here is the rebuilt Dust Bunny!

Dust Bunny*

AC: 9
HD: 1/2*
Move: special
Attacks: special
Damage: Nil
Number Appearing: 4-80 (0)
Save As: Nil
Morale: Nil
Treasure Type: V
Intelligence: 0
Alignment: N
XP: 6 (25 for Mother Bunny)

The Dust Bunny is a collection of dust and hair and cloth fibers bunched together in a small ball-like shape about 2 inches in diameter that is semitransparent. These 'bunnies' will naturally occur in old abandoned buildings and/or rooms that have been locked shut with little airflow where dust has been allowed to settle for years. Where many Dust Bunnies are present they will tend to clump together and appear as one large pile of dust. Any treasure in these rooms has accumulated from the the bodies of victims of the Dust Bunny who were unable to escape.

The Dust Bunny does not 'attack', any character who comes in contact or is within 5 feet one when it is disturbed must make a Saving Throw vs Breath Weapons or be seized by a coughing and sneezing fit and watering eyes rendering the character incapacitated and unable to see. A Saving Throw made be made every round to stop the sneezing fit. This saving throw is made at a penalty of -1 for every round the character has been sneezing and is within 5 feet of the Dust Bunny. A character will die if they are consumed by this sneezing fit for a number of rounds equal to their Constitution. A successful Saving through indicates the character was able to move away from the dust or splash their face with water. Splashing water in a character's face will negate the effects of a dust bunny for 1 full minute.

The Dust Bunny cannot move of its own volition, but may be blown about by gusts of wind such as that caused by opening doors, or windows, removing sheets or blankets from a bed, etc. A character may also move the bunnies about with a broom, while doing this the character should cover their face or take other precautions to avoid their effects.

A Dust Bunny may be neutralized through the use of water. 1 cup of water is sufficient to douse 1 Dust Bunny. Once a Dust Bunny has been doused with water it will remain dormant for 1d4 days, at which point it will have dried out and doubled in size to be a Dust Bunny of 1 HD.

The Dust Bunny can be harmed only by magical weapons or fire. Any attack made by a normal or magical weapon will cause a Dust Bunny to split into two Bunnies with 1/4 HD and results in the attacking character needing to make a Saving throw vs Breath Weapon even if they have taken precautions to avoid sneezing. Any further attacks by normal weapons will not harm the creature, but attacks with magic weapons on the 1/4 HD size bunnies will kill them and disperse the dust throughout the room and cause anyone in the room to have a sneezing fit for one round if they do not save vs breath weapons.

Dust Bunnies are extremely flammable and will be destroyed by fire. When a Dust Bunny is alight it will set anything else it touches that is remotely flammable (curtains, bedding, clothes, etc) instantly on fire. As most places Dust Bunnies are found are covered in dust, lighting a single Dust Bunny on fire will often ignite an entire room. Any character within 5 ft of a Dust Bunny when it is on fire needs to make a Saving Throw vs Breath Weapons to avoid also being caught on fire. A character on fire will receive 1d6 damage each round until the fire is extinguished. A Dust Bunny will burn for 3 turns before it is completely destroyed by fire.

For every 20 Dust Bunnies in one location there will also be a Mother Bunny which appears as a cottontail rabbit made of dust. This Mother Bunny has 2 Hit Dice, can move on her own at a rate of  120(40), has an animal Intelligence(2) and is worth a total 25 xp. The Mother Bunny is on a mission to create more Dust Bunnies by collecting dust and herding large groups of  Dust Bunnies to places where there is a lot of dust present. She can create a new dust bunny once every day. If doused with water she returns as 2 Mother Bunnies after 2d4 days. If lit on fire the Mother Bunny burns for 10 turns and may still move as normal. Normal weapons have no effect on the Mother Bunny, yet magical weapons will cause her to split into 1HD smaller bunnies with same properties of a Mother Bunny, but when these are split again into 1/2 HD size they revert to the properties of a normal Dust Bunny.

Dust Bunnies are a favored collectors item for fine mattress makers. Mattresses filled with dust bunnies make for extremely soft and fluffy beds. A fine mattress maker will give 10gp for every 50HD of dust bunnies collected. Mother Bunnies are not accepted, and adventurers must be careful in the collection and transport of dust bunnies to ensure no more than 20 bunnies come in contact with each other in order to avoid the formation of a new Mother Bunny.