So I'm a new DM trying to make my first custom campaign and I have an idea for a treefolk race. I've seen a lot of these but came up with an idea and I was looking for input. My race is more like Groot from the MCU than something like an Ent. In particular I was hoping for input on the Root Regeneration ability and if it seems overpowered. Here is a link to the race page. https://www.dndbeyond.com/races/897879-treefolk
I like what you have here! I don’t think Root Regeneration is too overpowered; its use of an action and subsequent bonus actions is pretty taxing from an action economy perspective.
I do want a little more from the race though. It only has two defining features: root regeneration and a nature proficiency. Maybe it can entangle enemies or speak with plants once per long rest? Perhaps it counts as large for purposes of carrying capacity?
"The relevant equation is: Knowledge = power = energy = matter = mass; a good bookshop is just a genteel Black Hole that knows how to read." - Terry Pratchett
Thanks, that helps a lot. I like the ideas of them having a Powerful Build like a Goliath has and maybe some form of limited plant communication. Maybe another possibility could be something like the Bugbear Long-Limbed feature giving them a extra 5 ft. reach for melee?
edit: What if they can communicate with plants once per short rest? They can ask questions like the Speak with Plants spell, but can't actually command them to do anything.
This is an approximation of what your race would look more like coming from WotC; (I lightly rejiggered the language for root regeneration, and buffed it a little in a way you pro’ly would have eventually when it occurred to you):
Treefolk Race Details
Born from trees, Treefolk are humanoidbipedal masses of living wood with eyes and mouths. They are intelligent and wise to the ways of nature. While their bodies are humanoid in shape, the bark on their bodies differs based on the species of tree out of which it was born.Treefolk reach maturity after about 20 years and can live up to about 300 years
Creating Your Character
If you create a Treefolk character, follow these additional rules during character creation.
Ability Score Increases
When determining your character’s ability scores, increase one of those scores by 2 and increase a different score by 1, or increase three different scores by 1. Follow this rule regardless of the method you use to determine the scores, such as rolling or point buy.
The “Quick Build” section for your character’s class offers suggestions on which scores to increase. You’re free to follow those suggestions or to ignore them. Whichever scores you decide to increase, none of the scores can be raised above 20.
Languages
Your character can speak, read, and write Common and one other language that you and your DM agree is appropriate for the character. The Player’s Handbook offers a list of widespread languages to choose from. The DM is free to add or remove languages from that list for a particular campaign.
Creature Type
Every creature in D&D, including every player character, has a special tag in the rules that identifies the type of creature they are. Most player characters, including owlin, are of the Humanoid type. Creature types don’t have rules themselves, but some rules in the game affect creatures of certain types in different ways. For example, the text of the cure woundsspell specifies that the spell doesn’t work on a creature that has the Construct type.
Height and Weight
Player characters, including treefolk, typically fall into the same ranges of height and weight that humans have in our world. If you’d like to determine your character’s height or weight randomly, consult the Random Height and Weight table in the Player’s Handbook, and choose the row in the table that best represents the build you imagine for your character.
Treefolk Traits
You have the following racial traits.
Creature Type
You are a Plant
Size
Your size is Medium.
Speed
Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Woodland Nature
You are proficient in the Nature skill, and can speak, read, and write Sylvan.
Root Regeneration
Whenever you are standing on a patch of soil or dirt, you maycan put down roots to regain health. As an action you may seep roots from your feet into the ground. On subsequent turns you maycan use a bonus action to expend 1 hit die and regain a number of hit points equal to the number rolled plus your Constitution modifier (minimum 1 hit point). While rooted, your speed is 0, and you cannot be moved or knocked Prone. You can remove your roots from the ground as a bonus action.
From a purely technical perspective, you got a solid start for a feature, and a couple ribbon proficiencies. Astromancer is absolutely right, your race could have more and still be well within the range of balance. Compare it to the most recent additions to the PC menagerie:
Your features are unreadable to many creatures. Creatures of your choice that are not Plants have disadvantage on Wisdom (Insight) checks against you.
Or:
Wooden Features
You have advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks while in forests.
Or:
You're an Effing Treeperson
If you do not spend at least 1 hour each day in direct sunlight, you suffer one level of exhaustion at the end of that day. You can only recover from this exhaustion through magic or by spending at least 1 hour in direct sunlight. However, you do have the following plantvantages:
You don’t need to eat.
You have advantage on saving throws against poison, and you have resistance against poison damage .
You don’t need to sleep, and magic can’t put you to sleep. You can finish a long rest in 4 hours if you spend those hours in an inactive, motionless state, during which you retain consciousness.
(Obviously you would have to change the wording a li’l. 😏)
Thanks for the input! The wording in Root Regeneration is clearer and puts what I meant into better words. Plus the part about being knocked prone makes sense. I'll have to think about which other features to add.
Thanks for the input! The wording in Root Regeneration is clearer and puts what I meant into better words. Plus the part about being knocked prone makes sense. I'll have to think about which other features to add.
Thanks, I’m glad I got that right. Like I said, it felt like that’s where you wanted to go with it anyway, and pro’ly would’a got there yourself sooner or later.
Lemme ask ya:
Is your Treefolk an inherently “magical” species in your mind? Like, do they literally have magic as part of their makeup to the point they can spontaneously make stuff happen inherently (like Fairies); or not so much? • If you feel they are, then a racial trait with limited Spellcasting would fit the bill. • If not so much, then lean more towards physical traits.
(If going for full racial casting like a Tiefling then entangle is thematic for the bit at 3rd character level, and earthbind, spike growth, or the new wither and bloom would all be contenders for the 5th character level.
To answer some questions, no they're not inherently magical. I imagine them still having to eat and sleep.
I'm not sure about darkvision. Because they are tree folk I imagine them being more active during the day so probably no darkvision.
Thanks for the input everyone here's what I'm thinking for revisions:
Treefolk
- Ability Scores: Increase one ability score by 2 and another by 1, or three ability scores by 1.
- Age: Treefolk reach maturity after about 20 years and can live up to about 300 years.
- Size: Treefolk range from about 5 ft. tall in early adulthood to about 7 ft. tall in their later years with a heavy build. Your size is Medium.
- Speed: Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
-You are proficient in the Nature skill
- Powerful Build: You count as one size larger when determining your carrying capacity and the weight you can push, drag, or lift.
- Root Regeneration: When standing on a patch of soil or dirt, you can put roots into the ground to regain health. As an action you seep roots from your feet into the ground provided it is dirt or soil. On following turns you can use a bonus action to expend 1 hit die and regain a number of hit points equal to the number rolled plus your Constitution modifier (minimum 1 hit point). During this time your speed is 0 and you cannot be moved or knocked Prone until you use a bonus action to remove your roots from the ground.
- Plant Communication: Once per short rest you can use an action to imbue plants within 30 feet of you with limited sentience for 5 minutes, giving them the ability to communicate with you. You can question plants about events in the spell's area within the past day, gaining information about creatures that have passed, weather, and other circumstances.
If a plant creature is in the area, you can communicate with it as if you shared a common language, but you gain no magical ability to influence it.
- Languages: Common and Sylvan
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So I'm a new DM trying to make my first custom campaign and I have an idea for a treefolk race. I've seen a lot of these but came up with an idea and I was looking for input. My race is more like Groot from the MCU than something like an Ent. In particular I was hoping for input on the Root Regeneration ability and if it seems overpowered. Here is a link to the race page. https://www.dndbeyond.com/races/897879-treefolk
I like what you have here! I don’t think Root Regeneration is too overpowered; its use of an action and subsequent bonus actions is pretty taxing from an action economy perspective.
I do want a little more from the race though. It only has two defining features: root regeneration and a nature proficiency. Maybe it can entangle enemies or speak with plants once per long rest? Perhaps it counts as large for purposes of carrying capacity?
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Astromancer's Homebrew Assembly
"The relevant equation is: Knowledge = power = energy = matter = mass; a good bookshop is just a genteel Black Hole that knows how to read." - Terry Pratchett
Thanks, that helps a lot. I like the ideas of them having a Powerful Build like a Goliath has and maybe some form of limited plant communication. Maybe another possibility could be something like the Bugbear Long-Limbed feature giving them a extra 5 ft. reach for melee?
edit: What if they can communicate with plants once per short rest? They can ask questions like the Speak with Plants spell, but can't actually command them to do anything.
This is an approximation of what your race would look more like coming from WotC; (I lightly rejiggered the language for root regeneration, and buffed it a little in a way you pro’ly would have eventually when it occurred to you):
Treefolk Race Details
Born from trees, Treefolk are
humanoidbipedal masses of living wood with eyes and mouths. They are intelligent and wise to the ways of nature. While their bodies are humanoid in shape, the bark on their bodies differs based on the species of tree out of which it was born.Treefolk reach maturity after about 20 years and can live up to about 300 yearsCreating Your Character
If you create a Treefolk character, follow these additional rules during character creation.
Ability Score Increases
When determining your character’s ability scores, increase one of those scores by 2 and increase a different score by 1, or increase three different scores by 1. Follow this rule regardless of the method you use to determine the scores, such as rolling or point buy.
The “Quick Build” section for your character’s class offers suggestions on which scores to increase. You’re free to follow those suggestions or to ignore them. Whichever scores you decide to increase, none of the scores can be raised above 20.
Languages
Your character can speak, read, and write Common and one other language that you and your DM agree is appropriate for the character. The Player’s Handbook offers a list of widespread languages to choose from. The DM is free to add or remove languages from that list for a particular campaign.
Creature Type
Every creature in D&D, including every player character, has a special tag in the rules that identifies the type of creature they are. Most player characters, including owlin, are of the Humanoid type. Creature types don’t have rules themselves, but some rules in the game affect creatures of certain types in different ways. For example, the text of the cure woundsspell specifies that the spell doesn’t work on a creature that has the Construct type.
Height and Weight
Player characters, including treefolk, typically fall into the same ranges of height and weight that humans have in our world. If you’d like to determine your character’s height or weight randomly, consult the Random Height and Weight table in the Player’s Handbook, and choose the row in the table that best represents the build you imagine for your character.
Treefolk Traits
You have the following racial traits.
Creature Type
You are a Plant
Size
Your size is Medium.
Speed
Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Woodland Nature
You are proficient in the Nature skill, and can speak, read, and write Sylvan.
Root Regeneration
Whenever you are standing on a patch of soil or dirt, you
maycan put down roots to regain health. As an action youmayseep roots from your feet into the ground. On subsequent turns youmaycan use a bonus action to expend 1 hit die and regain a number of hit points equal to the number rolled plus your Constitution modifier (minimum 1 hit point). While rooted, your speed is 0, and you cannot be moved or knocked Prone. You can remove your roots from the ground as a bonus action.From a purely technical perspective, you got a solid start for a feature, and a couple ribbon proficiencies. Astromancer is absolutely right, your race could have more and still be well within the range of balance. Compare it to the most recent additions to the PC menagerie:
How about something like:
Or:
Or:
Edit: Typo
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Thanks for the input! The wording in Root Regeneration is clearer and puts what I meant into better words. Plus the part about being knocked prone makes sense. I'll have to think about which other features to add.
Thanks, I’m glad I got that right. Like I said, it felt like that’s where you wanted to go with it anyway, and pro’ly would’a got there yourself sooner or later.
Lemme ask ya:
• If you feel they are, then a racial trait with limited Spellcasting would fit the bill.
• If not so much, then lean more towards physical traits.
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Depending on what other features are being included, here’s another couple of suggestions:
Limited Tremorsensewhilst you’re rooted.
Racial casting of druidcraft or thorn whip.
(If going for full racial casting like a Tiefling then entangle is thematic for the bit at 3rd character level, and earthbind, spike growth, or the new wither and bloom would all be contenders for the 5th character level.
Edit: forgot to add the other spells
Please take a look at my homebrewed Spells, Magic Items, and Subclasses. Any feedback appreciated.
To answer some questions, no they're not inherently magical. I imagine them still having to eat and sleep.
I'm not sure about darkvision. Because they are tree folk I imagine them being more active during the day so probably no darkvision.
Thanks for the input everyone here's what I'm thinking for revisions:
Treefolk
- Ability Scores: Increase one ability score by 2 and another by 1, or three ability scores by 1.
- Age: Treefolk reach maturity after about 20 years and can live up to about 300 years.
- Size: Treefolk range from about 5 ft. tall in early adulthood to about 7 ft. tall in their later years with a heavy build. Your size is Medium.
- Speed: Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
-You are proficient in the Nature skill
- Powerful Build: You count as one size larger when determining your carrying capacity and the weight you can push, drag, or lift.
- Root Regeneration: When standing on a patch of soil or dirt, you can put roots into the ground to regain health. As an action you seep roots from your feet into the ground provided it is dirt or soil. On following turns you can use a bonus action to expend 1 hit die and regain a number of hit points equal to the number rolled plus your Constitution modifier (minimum 1 hit point). During this time your speed is 0 and you cannot be moved or knocked Prone until you use a bonus action to remove your roots from the ground.
- Plant Communication: Once per short rest you can use an action to imbue plants within 30 feet of you with limited sentience for 5 minutes, giving them the ability to communicate with you. You can question plants about events in the spell's area within the past day, gaining information about creatures that have passed, weather, and other circumstances.
If a plant creature is in the area, you can communicate with it as if you shared a common language, but you gain no magical ability to influence it.
- Languages: Common and Sylvan