Cavities. The yggdrasti has 1d4 + 2 cavities in its trunk. Each cavity is big enough to hold one Medium creature, two Small creatures, or eight Tiny creatures. A creature inside a cavity has three-quarters cover against attacks and other effects that originate outside the cavity. The yggdrasti’s cavities aren’t connected to one another.
False Appearance. If the yggdrasti is motionless and rooted in the ground at the start of combat, it looks just like a dead tree and has advantage on its initiative roll. Moreover, if a creature hasn’t observed the rooted yggdrasti move or act, that creature must succeed on a DC 18 Intelligence (Investigation) check to discern that the yggdrasti is animate.
Lightning Conduit. If the yggdrasti is subjected to lightning damage, it is unhurt, and the lightning damage is instead divided evenly among all creatures it is grappling. In addition, the yggdrasti regains one use of Lightning Discharge.
Unusual Nature. The yggdrasti doesn’t require air or sleep.
Multiattack. The yggdrasti makes two Root attacks and uses Lightning Discharge (if available).
Root. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 20 ft., one target. Hit: 12 (2d6 + 5) bludgeoning damage, and if the target is a creature, it is grappled (escape DC 15). The yggdrasti has four roots, each of which can grapple one target.
Lightning Discharge (3/Day). The yggdrasti shoots lightning at one creature within 120 feet of itself. The target must make a DC 13 Dexterity saving throw, taking 31 (7d8) lightning damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.
Description
Thought to be cast-off splinters of Yggdrasil, the World Tree, yggdrasti look like gigantic, dead trees covered with barnacles. They fly through Wildspace and the Astral Sea with their topmost branches leading the way and their withered roots trailing behind them. Each one has its own gravity plane and air envelope.
Creatures sometimes try to hitch a ride on an yggdrasti to take advantage of its air envelope. A typical yggdrasti specimen has cavities inside its trunk in which Medium or smaller creatures can lurk.
Yggdrasti attack any settlements or spelljamming ships they come across without provocation. By using a speak with plants spell or similar magic, someone might be able to convince an yggdrasti to break off its attack, but the monster’s innate hatred of other living things is extremely difficult for it to suppress.
Yggdrasti sometimes make landfall and disguise themselves as ordinary trees, burying their roots in the ground to pull off the deception. They can uproot themselves at any time and use their roots to shamble awkwardly across the ground, but flying is their preferred mode of travel.
I am roots.
*Yakov Smirnoff voice*
In Astral Plane, drift wood collect you!
Can't it just Lightning Discharge itself for infinite uses and a ton of damage to anything it's grappling?
Love it
It's cool. but not really correct in the Nordic Mythology sense of things.
Sorry, I thought it said 'Yggdrasil', not 'Yggdrasti'
No reason it couldn't; typically anything that targets a creature "within N feet of yourself" can also target yourself.
Of course it would need to grapple something first or there won't be much point, and the more enemies it grapples, the less damage they each take.
Elden Ring says what?
Yeah, it's the Erdtree! though unless the monster is one of the classic ones its a pretty neat coincincidence!
I think that it needs to have the option to absorb any creature that is in the cavities. Since it has an "innate hatred of other living things" there is no way that it would just allow itself to become a taxi.
I’m going to make this even worse:
Gulthias yggdrasti.
I like the cavities on it, that would imply that it can imprison grappled targets in them (Though for some reason it's not mentioned in the statblock, but i just presume it would use one of it's root attacks to do that), but it also means it can have company in forms of some Far Realm insects for example, if it finds it's way to the material plane.
If they're Unaligned (not Evil), why the "innate hatred of other living things"?
Why the withered roots & barnacles? Why the Cavities & air envelope? Why the Lightning Resistance?
I feel like there's backstory here I'm not catching onto... Are these trees meant to have symbiotic creatures which are missing now, & that's why they're so grumpy?
Scrape the barnacles off & fertilize the roots with lots of dead bodies, & maybe they're your best friend?
Paired with lightning immune Tiny/Small/Medium creature swarms, these could be great natural ships?
They don't even get Exhaustion when Dashing all day...
Groot's big brother
wait you're right
Reminds me of the trees from Monument Mythos. I'll probably try to work that into these, if I ever use them. I might also try to figure some smaller version of this that's more like a little pissed off tumbleweed.
If it has an innate hatred of other living things, what kind of creatures would live in its cavities?
Only if you like clay in your soup.
Now your thinking like a tree!
I made a boss monster known as "The Bushmaster Bandit," whose whole gimmick is breeding and tending to living bushes and other leafy-monsters and not just using them but straight up calling them like allies to blast some fools into next week and swipe stuff off of them.
Soooooooooooooo this is basically his mini-boss monster now. Pretty rad.