Homebrew Arboren Species Details

Arboren are sentient plant creatures who can come from many possible sources, such as: being awakened by magic, via a cursed transformation, grown from spellwarped seeds, or the seeds of other arboren .

Phyisical Description

As their name implies, arboren resemble walking trees. Their torso resembles a tree trunk, stumpy legs and root-like appendages for toes; long boughs for arms and long branch-like fingers, a torso resembling a treetrunk, very little neck, and a face framed by thin, leaf-filled branches instead of hair. Each arboren's leaves and bark strongly resembles a specific kind of tree, such as birch, elm, oak, pine, etc. Arboren breathe and can eat or drink, though most arboren absorb nutrients by taking root at night. Depending on the type of tree they resemble, the leaves that make up their hair may change color or even fall off with the changing of the seasons.

Arboren are medium or small creatures, but grow to be nearly ten feet tall. They usually do not wear clothing, but can fashion belts and such to hold their possessions. Non-arboren usually cannot tell male arboren from females.

Whose Woods These Are I Think I Know

Ponderous and slow-moving, arboren tend to think before they speak, and speak before they act. Arboren come in all varieties of temperament and alignment, often depending upon their proximity to other intelligent creatures, and whether those experiences have been positive or negative. Arboren are solitary creatures, only gathering in small groups when the need arises. Most arboren claim their own territory much like an animal, which may be any size up to several square miles of forest. An arboren will aggressively defend the trees within their territory if it is threatened by invaders.

Most days for an arboren begin and end in the forest. After sunrise, the arboren will uproot themselves and search for a spot where they can absorb the most light possible. Part of their day will be spent wandering through their wooded territory, keeping track of all the trees in their care. Occasionally they will cooperate with druids or rangers, even asking them for aid if the threat to their lands is greater than they can handle alone. At dusk, arboren will find a patch of rich, moist soil and root down into it for the night, absorbing nourishing nutrients and water until sunrise the next day.

Arboren: Fond of Trees, Amazingly.

Whether living in snow-capped mountainous timberlines, swampy bogs, high desert forests, rainforests, jungles, or any other forest type, arboren are most comfortable among trees of their own kind.

Wandering Arboren: Something has happened.

An arboren spotted outside of their forest usually has undergone some manner of tragedy: a forest fire, deforestation by other races, or even occasionally defeat at the hands of a more powerful arboren who seizes the defeated arboren's territory as spoils of victory. An arboren without a forest to tend to may travel far until they find another patch of woods that suits their liking. If their woods were destroyed by other creatures, a wrathful arboren will journey as far as it takes in order to exact revenge.

Arboren Traits

As an arboren, you have the following racial traits.

Creature Type

Your creature type is plant and humanoid.

Size

Your size is Medium or Small.

Age

Arboren enter adulthood immediately when they are born from their trees and can live to be about 500 years.

Speed

Your base walking speed is 25 feet.

Alignment

Most arboren tend towards neutrality between law and chaos. Neutral good arboren will help lost travelers, while neutral evil arboren will seek to entrap and kill interlopers in their forests.

Barkskin

Arboren develop a thick layer of outer bark when they are born. When unarmored, your Armor Class is equal to 12 + your Constitution modifier. Additionally, thanks to your wooden skin, your hit point maximum increases by 1 (each level) and you have resistance to non-magical bludgeoning damage, but vulnerability to fire damage.

Born of the Wild

Your life in communion with nature has made you capable of hunting, foraging, and navigating. You are proficient in the Nature and Survival skills.

Take Root

Arboren do not sleep, but they must put down roots each night and enter a semi-conscious dormant state similar to an elf's trance for at least 4 hours. You can take root in sand, dirt, mud, loose gravel or similar material, but not worked stone or bare rock. Additionally, you are immune to sleep effects.

Languages

You can speak, read and write Common and Sylvan.

Ability Score Increase 1

You can increase one of your ability scores by 1.

Ability Score Increase 2

You can increase one of your ability scores by 2.