Hello! I've been thinking about creating a homebrewed plant/dryad/etc. type race for D&D, as that's currently something the game doesn't have. Their lore isn't quite pinned down yet; I've considered having them be some sort of feywild spirit that infused flora, or even the result of a mortal dying and their consciousness inhabiting plants, Swamp Thing style. At any rate, I'd like to get feedback on potential traits for them. Currently, I'm considering the following traits:
Phytomorphosis: Your creature type is Plant, although you are still affected by spells that target humanoids.
Floral Origin: When creating a character of this race, you choose what sort of environment the plants that compose their body are native to. You gain advantage on stealth checks when trying to blend in with plants of that environment. In addition, you get one of the following perks: Forest: You have +1 to AC when not wearing armor, thanks to your thick bark. Swamp: You have a swim speed of 30 and can breathe underwater. You are also immune to disease. Desert: You are unaffected by dry or hot environments, and need less water. When an enemy grapples you or hits you with an unarmed strike, they take 2 piercing damage. Cave/Underdark: You have resistance to poison damage and immunity to the poison status effect. You also have 60 ft. of darkvision.
Photosynthetic: As long as you're exposed to direct sunlight regularly, you don't need to eat. You also don't need to sleep, instead spending eight hours each night in a dormant but aware state.
Natural Weapons: As a bonus action, you can convert one of your hands into a natural weapon that deals 1d6 slashing, piercing, or bludgeoning damage (your choice upon using the ability). You cannot use the transformed hand for anything other than attacking, and it lasts until you transform it back with a bonus action. You can only use this ability once per short rest.
Interesting, Don't forget to give them the plant creature type so they take the extra damage from spells that kill plants. As for feedback I'd give desert free endure elements and an ability that make them only occasionally need to drink or something instead of an extra bonus to unarmed especially since they can already chose their unarmed damage type.
1- It is a little strange to have what would be different plant species that make up a single race. You might want to consider forming the race around a single floral origin, then build the others as separate races. You might even create a secret political structure that addresses how the different plant races interact (or not) with each other.
2- You might want to give them a home (maybe an island nation) where you can develop the various cultural subtypes. What type of classes would they be exposed to and why?
3- I agree with Voxx88. What are their vulnerabilities? one approach to work this out is to run through the spell list and ask..how would this plant type react to this spell? For example, does cure wounds work or would they need to have plant growth cast on them to heal. Or maybe plant growth gives them a +2 to str for the duration of the spell...Blight would obviously be a problem for this race. Also, take a look at kelpies, plant centaurs, etc to get a sense of what has already been done.
As always with DnD, it is about the story you are weaving more than the game mechanics.
3- I agree with Voxx88. What are their vulnerabilities? one approach to work this out is to run through the spell list and ask..how would this plant type react to this spell? For example, does cure wounds work or would they need to have plant growth cast on them to heal. Or maybe plant growth gives them a +2 to str for the duration of the spell...Blight would obviously be a problem for this race. Also, take a look at kelpies, plant centaurs, etc to get a sense of what has already been done.
Since they're meant as a playable race, I don't want to make them too mechanically different for the sake of keeping them consistent with other races.
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Hello! I've been thinking about creating a homebrewed plant/dryad/etc. type race for D&D, as that's currently something the game doesn't have. Their lore isn't quite pinned down yet; I've considered having them be some sort of feywild spirit that infused flora, or even the result of a mortal dying and their consciousness inhabiting plants, Swamp Thing style. At any rate, I'd like to get feedback on potential traits for them. Currently, I'm considering the following traits:
Phytomorphosis: Your creature type is Plant, although you are still affected by spells that target humanoids.
Floral Origin: When creating a character of this race, you choose what sort of environment the plants that compose their body are native to. You gain advantage on stealth checks when trying to blend in with plants of that environment. In addition, you get one of the following perks:
Forest: You have +1 to AC when not wearing armor, thanks to your thick bark.
Swamp: You have a swim speed of 30 and can breathe underwater. You are also immune to disease.
Desert: You are unaffected by dry or hot environments, and need less water. When an enemy grapples you or hits you with an unarmed strike, they take 2 piercing damage.
Cave/Underdark: You have resistance to poison damage and immunity to the poison status effect. You also have 60 ft. of darkvision.
Photosynthetic: As long as you're exposed to direct sunlight regularly, you don't need to eat. You also don't need to sleep, instead spending eight hours each night in a dormant but aware state.
Natural Weapons: As a bonus action, you can convert one of your hands into a natural weapon that deals 1d6 slashing, piercing, or bludgeoning damage (your choice upon using the ability). You cannot use the transformed hand for anything other than attacking, and it lasts until you transform it back with a bonus action. You can only use this ability once per short rest.
Interesting, Don't forget to give them the plant creature type so they take the extra damage from spells that kill plants. As for feedback I'd give desert free endure elements and an ability that make them only occasionally need to drink or something instead of an extra bonus to unarmed especially since they can already chose their unarmed damage type.
Interesting concept. I had a couple of thoughts:
1- It is a little strange to have what would be different plant species that make up a single race. You might want to consider forming the race around a single floral origin, then build the others as separate races. You might even create a secret political structure that addresses how the different plant races interact (or not) with each other.
2- You might want to give them a home (maybe an island nation) where you can develop the various cultural subtypes. What type of classes would they be exposed to and why?
3- I agree with Voxx88. What are their vulnerabilities? one approach to work this out is to run through the spell list and ask..how would this plant type react to this spell? For example, does cure wounds work or would they need to have plant growth cast on them to heal. Or maybe plant growth gives them a +2 to str for the duration of the spell...Blight would obviously be a problem for this race. Also, take a look at kelpies, plant centaurs, etc to get a sense of what has already been done.
As always with DnD, it is about the story you are weaving more than the game mechanics.
I hope that helps.
I've updated the traits with some feedback, both from here and from elsewhere.
Since they're meant as a playable race, I don't want to make them too mechanically different for the sake of keeping them consistent with other races.