Species - Awakened Tree (Patreon)

Tuinvale Treefolk, by Jason A. Engle © Wizards of the Coast LLC

Ever wanted to be a tree?

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I don't know about you, but it sounds totally rad to me to play as a big stompy treefolk. It's a fairly straightforward species with the caveat that it's Large — unusual for a D&D species. (It's actually intentional that the species is on the simpler side; it's a good test bed to see how well the Large rules actually play).

As a tree, you are a Plant, and a little slower than normal. You have Natural Armor, giving you a Constitution-based AC, and Fear of Fire means you panic anytime someone sets your bark alight. Reaching Branches do a lot to mitigate that slow speed: your branches act as natural weapons and you get 10' reach on your unarmed strikes and grapples. False Tree lets you pretend to be a tree, and Solar Replenishment reflects your photosynthetic "diet". The species also comes with three feats: Ironwood Bark doubles down on your toughness, Solar Enrichment gives you some general benefits when you get enough sun, and Fire-Hardened reduces the negative impacts of your Fear of Fire and gives you a small boost on top of it.

The species comes with an appendix for Large Species rules: you get build in Large Appetite, Large Armor, Large Build, and Oversized Weapons. Basically, your weapons and armor are more expensive, you need more food (but a tree gets to ignore this), and your weapon attacks deal bonus damage.

As always, you're invited to come discuss and offer feedback on Discord! I'm really curious to see how this works out at your table and whether the Large species rules do the trick for you.