Homebrew Wood Woad Species Details

     A wood Woad is a powerful plant in humanoid form invested with the soul of someone who gave up their life to become an eternal guardian.

Born of Sacrifice 

    The ritual to create a wood woad is a primeval secret passed through generations of savage societies and dark Druid circles. Performing the ritual isn’t necessarily an act of evil, if the victim-to-be has entered into a bargain that requires it to be a willing sacrifice .
     In the ritual a living person’s chest is pierced and the heart removed. A seed is then pushed into the heart, and it is placed in a tree. Any hollow or crook will do, but often a special cavity is carved out of the trunk. The tree is then bathed and watered with the blood of the sacrificed victim, and the body is buried among the tree’s roots. After three days, a sprout emerges from the ground at the base of the tree and swiftly grows into a humanoid form.
     This new body, armored in tough bark and bearing a gnarled club and sheild, is at once ready to preform its duty. The one who performed the ritual sets the wood woad to its task, and the creature follows those orders unceasingly.

Pitiless Protectors

     A wood Woad has a hole where it’s heart would be, just as does the body of its former self, buried in the earth. Those who become wood woads trade their free will and all sense of sentiment for supernatural strength and a deathless duty. They exist only to protect woodlands and the people who tend them. A wood woad’s face is void and expressionless, except for the motes of light that swim about in its eye sockets. Wood woads speak little, and when not being called upon to take action, they root themselves in the earth and silently take sustenance from it.

Uprooted by Immortality

    Like a tree, a wood woad needs only sunlight, air, and nutrients from the earth to go on living. Because they are undying, some wood woads outlive their original purpose. The site a wood woad guards might lose its power or significance over time, or those whom it was assigned to guard might themselves die. If it is freed from its specific duties, a wood woad might roam to find another place of natural beauty or fey influence to watch over.
   Wood woads are drawn to creatures that have close ties to nature, and that protect and respect the land, such as druids and treants. Some treants have wood woad servants by virtue of age-old pacts with druids or fey that preformed the rituals, while others acquire the services of freed wood woads that find renewed purpose in the domain of kindred guardian.

Wood Woad Names

    Wood Woads tend to keep the name they had before the ritual.

 

Wood Woad Traits

Your elf character has a variety of natural abilities, the result of thousands of years of elven refinement.

Ability Score Increase

Your Wisdom increases by 2 or your Wisdom increases by 1 and one other stat increases by 1.

Age

Wood Woads are only mature if they converted when at a mature age. They cannot die of old age, but do need sunlight, water, and nutrients from the earth.

Alignment

Wood Woads are lawful protectors but tend to remain neutral when their goal is not threatened.

Size

Wood Woads vary widely in height and build, from a well over 4 feet to barely 6 feet tall. Regardless of your position in this range, your size is medium.

Speed

Your base walking speed is 30 feet, and you have a climbing speed of 20 feet.

Darkvision

Persistent to keep vigilant in the night, you have superior vision in dim and dark conditions. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and darkness as if it where dim light. You can’t discern colors in darkness, only shades of gray.

Forest Training

Protecting and training in the forest for so long gives you proficiency in the Athletics skill.While in a forest, you can also your proficiency bonus, if you don’t already, to Wisdom(Perception) and Dexterity(Stealth) checks.

Plant Camouflage

You have advantage on Dexterity(Stealth) checks you make in any terrain with ample obscuring plant life.

Wooden Flesh

You have resistance to bludgeoning and piercing damage, but are vulnerable to fire damage. If you are not wearing armor, you are also vulnerable to slashing damage.

Wooden Skills

You gain proficiency with any weapon made entirely of wood, including improvised weapons.

Resting Regeneration

As long as you have not taken fire damage seance your last short or long rest, you can roll 1d10 before a short rest and regain that number of hit points with any access hit points becoming temporary hit points. Any temporary hit points acquired this way will immediately disappear if hit with an attack that does fire damage.

Tree Stride

When you reach level 5, once on each of your turns, you can use 10 feet of your movement to step magically into one living tree within 5 feet of you and emerge from a second living tree within 60 feet of you that you can see, appearing in an unoccupied space within 5 feet of the second tree. Both trees must be Large or bigger.

Natural Armor

You have rough bark skin. When you aren’t wearing armor, your AC is 15 + your Dextarity modifier (max 2). If you wear armor, you cannot use this natural armor, but you still must limit your Dextariy modifier improvements to a maximum of 2. I You can still hold a shield and gain its AC benefit or grow one over the course of a short rest for the same bonus but at the cost of your hand. You can reform your hand by cutting of your shield for 2 points of slashing damage before a short rest and regrow your hand during that short rest.

Languages

You can speak, read, and wright Sylvan and one other language of your choice.