I mean the thing seems to take multiple steps per turn. And hit me sometimes for 50 damage. Other times I take damage when I hit them. And it shows nothing in the combat log of them hitting me.
Same thing just happened to me with "The Root Ram" in the first floor extra dungeon bit. It made about six attacks when I couldn't do anything. From 83 HP to 32 HP, two debuffs and moved like four squares. EDIT: Seems to be restricted to the root vegetable monster, the other monsters around it won't take additional turns but it seems to take as many as it likes until it has an attack blocked.
Historically, legends said that the mandrake root had to be harvested in a graveyard or battlefield, because it fed on human blood. And the thing must be pulled out of the ground while the ears were deafened with cloth, because one shout from the thing would kill a person instantly. Under the circumstances, I think you're extremely fortunate that it's only doing severe damage. Perhaps these are under-nourished mandrogora, or under-achievers.
They have a special attack that lets them run really fast in one direction. Moving out of the way makes them hurt themselves. It currently does 3*.
It's charging. All of the root monsters can charge at you in a straight line from far away. If they do damaging them (I think on all of them) or simply moving out of the way will cause it to take damage and be stunned. That's also why it does obscene amounts of damage (which will be nerfed)
how can you move out of the way if it is charging you all in a single turn? are you just sayign I shouldn't ever be directly in line with it?
Exactly: move out of a straight line before it has an opportunity to charge. If you sidestep, it'll either sidestep with you, or keep approaching. You can hope it keeps approaching.
Technically, everything but the rutabaga is stunned while it's moving. However, it only moves 3 or 4 squares before you can move again. It will keep moving 3-4 squares (I don't remember which) each time you move, until it's damaged or hits something (which will also damage it). So if it's far enough away that it doesn't hit you immediately, you can step out of it's path.
