[I made this subrace for a love of dryads and LOTR Ents. I haven't played since 3.5e but I'm creating a 5e adventure (I would never have played at all if I didn't DM, tbh) and I've always enjoyed drawing from the monster manual and the races to create my own things to play with. Most of them have been monsters, but this is my first completed(?) subrace/race. And I do love it. I think it could be a race on its own if you give it Ability Score Increase: Increase Wisdom or Dexterity by 2. Speed: 30 ft. Size: Medium. Languages: Common, Sylvan and 1 other standard language. But I made it as a subrace that you can add the original racial traits to. I realize that humans don't really have subraces in the traditional sense and I drew from the Elves and the Half-Elves primarily for the make-up. Please review Dryads in the Monster Manual for full understanding of the Treebound Lifespan. Sorry if it's a bit rough.]
Subrace of Elves or Humans
Half-Dryad (Dyradborn, Treechildren, whatever you prefer) Raised by their mothers, Treebound Dryads, the Half-Dryad is usually reclusive and believed to be Dryads themselves. They are distrusting of other races, but most receptive to forest-dwellers. They can be very mischievous and often remain within the lands of their mother's tree. Being few and far between, it is hard to say why a handful of these creatures might choose the adventuring lifestyle. A common reason would be to protect their mother's lands from an impending destructive threat that is otherwise out of their reach. Half-Dryads are usually Druids and Rangers, or Sorcerers, drawing on their relationship with nature and nature deities, and/or their innate fey magic, respectively. Half-Dryads have soft woody skin. Usually discolored to resemble tree bark and in similar shades. Skin colors range from pale to deep brown. Hair is green, brown, or red and resembles leaves. Eyes are deep brown or dark green.
Ability Score Increase. Your Charisma score increases by 2. Treebound Lifespan. Half-Dryads reach physical maturity at about the same age as humans and can live as a humanoid for as long as their tree lives. This could mean millenia. A Half-Dryad's life is tied to the life of their Dryad mother's tree. A Half-Dryad will slowly immobilize and eventually become a medium tree within 1d10 years of their birthtree's death. While they live on as trees, they effectively die as they lose their memories, sentience, ability to ambulate, and ability to speak. (If Half-Human)Darkvision. 60ft Magic Resistance. Advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects. Fey Legacy. You know the druidcraft cantrip. At 1st level, you can cast the charm person spell once per day. When you reach 3rd level, you can cast the barkskin spell once per day. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for these spells. Tree Stride. Once per week, you can use 10 feet of your movement to step magically into one living tree within your reach and emerge from a second living tree within 30 feet of the first tree, appearing in an unoccupied space within 5 feet of the second tree. Both trees must be large or bigger. Speak with Plants. You can communicate with plants as if you share a language with them. Forest Camouflage. You have a +5 bonus to Dexterity (Stealth) checks when in forests, groves or groups of trees and can attempt to hide in plain sight if you are within 5 feet of a living tree. Additional Language. You can speak, read, and write Sylvan. Metal abhorrent. Like druids, a Half-Dryad will not wear armor or use shields made of metal.
Generally, your DM has final say on whether or not you can use a Half-Dryad, what classes you can take and may exclude any portion of this subrace's description, abilities or features.
I enjoyed making it. I hope you enjoy the concept. I may edit this as time passes and as I get more into 5e.
Edit 6/19/18: I removed class restrictions that this subrace might have, since they are only suggestions.
Overall I really like it. I think the metal restriction is unnecessary though. That severely limits viable classes, which can be recommended for roleplaying purposes as you do at the end, but shouldn't be done mechanically.
Giving advantage to wild surges is overpowered. Races should never directly change class features.
It is really interesting to me that those were like the two things I really wasn't sure about! I will remove the notes about classes, because the entire time I was writing them I was conflicted about the lore of what a half-dryad might be and the fact that other races don't have class restrictions.
I'm keeping the metal restriction for now, simply because I still think this subrace could be perceived as overpowered. If it is not perceived as overpowered by the community, I will happily change nerfs. xD
Dont get rid of the class restrictions entirely. Remove the mechanical side of them, but keep the descriptions for flavor. It shows a lot if most of the species tends to fall under specific classes and subclasses.
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[I made this subrace for a love of dryads and LOTR Ents. I haven't played since 3.5e but I'm creating a 5e adventure (I would never have played at all if I didn't DM, tbh) and I've always enjoyed drawing from the monster manual and the races to create my own things to play with. Most of them have been monsters, but this is my first completed(?) subrace/race. And I do love it. I think it could be a race on its own if you give it Ability Score Increase: Increase Wisdom or Dexterity by 2. Speed: 30 ft. Size: Medium. Languages: Common, Sylvan and 1 other standard language. But I made it as a subrace that you can add the original racial traits to. I realize that humans don't really have subraces in the traditional sense and I drew from the Elves and the Half-Elves primarily for the make-up. Please review Dryads in the Monster Manual for full understanding of the Treebound Lifespan. Sorry if it's a bit rough.]
Subrace of Elves or Humans
Half-Dryad (Dyradborn, Treechildren, whatever you prefer)
Raised by their mothers, Treebound Dryads, the Half-Dryad
is usually reclusive and believed to be Dryads themselves.
They are distrusting of other races, but most receptive to
forest-dwellers. They can be very mischievous and often
remain within the lands of their mother's tree. Being few
and far between, it is hard to say why a handful of these
creatures might choose the adventuring lifestyle. A common
reason would be to protect their mother's lands from an
impending destructive threat that is otherwise out of their
reach. Half-Dryads are usually Druids and Rangers, or
Sorcerers, drawing on their relationship with nature and
nature deities, and/or their innate fey magic, respectively.
Half-Dryads have soft woody skin. Usually discolored to
resemble tree bark and in similar shades. Skin colors range
from pale to deep brown. Hair is green, brown, or red and
resembles leaves. Eyes are deep brown or dark green.
Ability Score Increase. Your Charisma score increases
by 2.
Treebound Lifespan. Half-Dryads reach physical maturity
at about the same age as humans and can live as a humanoid
for as long as their tree lives. This could mean millenia.
A Half-Dryad's life is tied to the life of their Dryad mother's
tree. A Half-Dryad will slowly immobilize and eventually
become a medium tree within 1d10 years of their birthtree's death.
While they live on as trees, they effectively die as they lose
their memories, sentience, ability to ambulate, and ability to
speak.
(If Half-Human) Darkvision. 60ft
Magic Resistance. Advantage on saving throws
against spells and other magical effects.
Fey Legacy. You know the druidcraft cantrip. At 1st level,
you can cast the charm person spell once per day. When you
reach 3rd level, you can cast the barkskin spell once per
day. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for these spells.
Tree Stride. Once per week, you can use 10 feet of your
movement to step magically into one living tree within your
reach and emerge from a second living tree within 30 feet of
the first tree, appearing in an unoccupied space within 5 feet of
the second tree. Both trees must be large or bigger.
Speak with Plants. You can communicate with plants as if
you share a language with them.
Forest Camouflage. You have a +5 bonus to
Dexterity (Stealth) checks when in forests, groves or
groups of trees and can attempt to hide in plain sight if
you are within 5 feet of a living tree.
Additional Language. You can speak, read, and write Sylvan.
Metal abhorrent. Like druids, a Half-Dryad will not wear armor
or use shields made of metal.
Generally, your DM has final say on whether or not you can use
a Half-Dryad, what classes you can take and may exclude any
portion of this subrace's description, abilities or features.
I enjoyed making it. I hope you enjoy the concept. I may edit this as time passes and as I get more into 5e.
Edit 6/19/18: I removed class restrictions that this subrace might have, since they are only suggestions.
Overall I really like it. I think the metal restriction is unnecessary though. That severely limits viable classes, which can be recommended for roleplaying purposes as you do at the end, but shouldn't be done mechanically.
Giving advantage to wild surges is overpowered. Races should never directly change class features.
It is really interesting to me that those were like the two things I really wasn't sure about! I will remove the notes about classes, because the entire time I was writing them I was conflicted about the lore of what a half-dryad might be and the fact that other races don't have class restrictions.
I'm keeping the metal restriction for now, simply because I still think this subrace could be perceived as overpowered. If it is not perceived as overpowered by the community, I will happily change nerfs. xD
Dont get rid of the class restrictions entirely. Remove the mechanical side of them, but keep the descriptions for flavor. It shows a lot if most of the species tends to fall under specific classes and subclasses.