Homebrew Autumn Hamadryad Species Details

I met a lady in the meads,
Full beautiful, a fairy's child;
Her hair was long, her foot was light, 
And her eyes were wild.

— John Keats, La Belle Dame sans Merci

At the beginning of time, the world had four daughters more beautiful than any creature—and more wild.  They were called Summer, Autumn, Winter, and Spring, and they chased one another around the world while the gods looked on.  In their play, they frolicked with the brothers of the wind, and from this union the first nymphs were born.  They were named Summer Ash, Autumn Oak, Winter Fir, and Spring Flower, and they were the spirits of the first trees that grew in the world.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

The capricious nymphs played their own wild games in the forests of the dawning world for time out of mind.  But they were not all to dwell in such bliss forever.  With the rise of mortals, certain autumn nymphs—the wisest and most pensive of the tree sisters—withdrew from their games when they began to perceive the state of natural life in decline.  Woodlands were burned, dryads' groves cut down, and great swaths of the world left lifeless by the wars and the avarice of reckless mortals.

To protect their homes, these autumn nymphs embraced their wild natures entirely.  They abjured their carefree fey immortality and began the slow transformation into the tree maidens known as dryads.  In these forms, they would protect their forests from harm with mighty branch and crushing limb, using their wisdom to understand the minds and motives of mortal creatures.

Hamadryads stand at an intermediate state between playful nymph and fierce dryad.  Bound to a living tree, a hamadryad ardently protects the forests of which she is a part.  She calls on the mighty strength of the wood to smash her enemies, summoning the spellbinding beauty of her fey heritage to bewitch and charm mortals and thereby tame their destructive natures.  Hamadryads retain the flawless physical perfection of their autumn nymph form with all its grace and charm.  However, they can harden their flesh to match that of the oldest tree in an instant, solidifying their wooden hearts against any hope of compassion.

Typically, a young hamadryad is bound to a tree home that somewhat resembles her feminine shape.  As a youth, she remains in the forest where her tree grows, for her life is bound to its existence.  However, rare hamadryads are able to break the connection to their tree home by some twist of fate or destiny.

Some do so in the course of surviving its destruction, by natural disaster or monstrous forces.  Others are drawn far from their forests in the name of undertaking quests meant to save them.  Some hamadryads dwell close enough to civilization that they take up the struggles of the mortal races.  Answering their heart's yearning call, they uproot themselves from the earth and leave behind their sylvan idylls—seeking the wondrous perils and delights that are the stuff of mortal knowledge and emotion.    

Of Two Natures

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Born of the power of nature, all hamadryads are female, and they present themselves in two aspects.  In their nymph form, these granddaughters of the Four Seasons are paragons of fey perfection and physical beauty.  Their hair and eyes match the color of autumn leaves, from green to russet, gold, orange, red, and brown.  Autumn leaves and acorns might dangle from a hamadryad's hair, and her eyes are clear orbs of green, white, or gold.

The dryad aspect of a hamadryad is not dissimilar.  However, when a hamadryad draws on her dyad strength, her features take on the appearance of skillfully carved wood, the patterns of the grain manifesting across her form like ripples on the surface of a pond.

Inside their forest homes, hamadryads walk unclothed in their dryad aspect, blending easily into the background of bark and foliage.  When they appear before mortals and civilized creatures, hamadryads favor light, gossamer raiment.

Adventuring hamadryads who set out to right the world through strength of arms favor armor wrought of natural materials, such as leather or hide.  Those who don heavier protection prefer the light mithral armor crafted by elvenkind.  When hamadryads wear armor, they ornament it with carved designs or embroidered patterns representing the natural order of their forest homes and the causes for which they fight.  Hamadryad heroes who leave their forests carry a piece of their tree with them—a charm carved from the wood of a fallen branch, or a garland strung with autumn leaves whose colors never fade.      

Questing Maidens

When the first autumn nymphs underwent the metamorphosis into hamadryads, they renounced their innocent immortal existence.  Likewise, all hamadryads experience a fundamental change in their nature and outlook in the pursuit of worldly destiny or unfulfilled yearning.  Like a tree shedding its leaves in autumn, a hamadryad abandons the joyful games of gossip and whispers she once played among her sisters, and the chill of winter settles over her heart.  No longer an entirely capricious fey, she is governed by the purposes and goals that rule the hearts of mortals.   

Despite this change, hamadryads retain the native diablerie of their nymph heritage.  They are accustomed to having their way with mortals, and sometimes have trouble understanding why they are denied what they ask for.  Hamadryads new to the world sometimes lack the patience to learn and observe the extensive cultural traditions and taboos of the mortal races.  When their natural charms fails, frustrated hamadryads sometimes manifest their dryad aspects to inspire terror in the hapless offender.

Many of the hamadryads that venture out into the world are disenfranchised forest spirits seeking justice or revenge for the destruction of their woodlands.  Others have observed some aspect of mortal life that they themselves lack, and that they grow obsessed with understanding.  The spirit that drives mortal humanoids to undertake grand quests and sacrifice everything for principle has stirred the curiosity of many hamadryads, causing some to abandon their sylvan cloisters in the name of seeking something more.

Sometimes the prospect of mortal love moves a hamdryad to leave the security and peace of her woodland home.  Though such mortal emotion is rare among the nymphs, those who feel its pangs or dwell overmuch on its nature are doomed to try to fill the lonely, questioning void it creates.   

Lonely Queens 

Hamadryads live a solitary existence.  In their youth they dwelt happily in the woodlands of the world and the Feywild, frolicking with others of their kind.  The choice to seek a life in the wider world means that a hamadryad loses the fellowship of her sisters.

When a hamadryad adventurer leaves her tree and ventures off into the world, she walks alone.  As beautiful as they are, hamadryads naturally attract the attention.  Some seek to serve their beauty, while others hope to take advantage of hamadryad's inexperience with the world.

Hamadryads quickly learn to congregate where other fey are found, and they are typically welcomed as honored guests among gnomes, pixies, eldarin, elves, and satyrs.  Some fey communities go so far as to treat hamadryads—leading some hamadryads to expect this sort of deference at all times.  This expectation, combined with a hamadryad's reluctance to adjust to the social norms of other cultures, can cause a hamadryad to come off as haughty or graceless in the eyes of those around her.

As years slip by like leaves around her, a hamadryad who wanders the world is eventually drawn back to a place within her wood that reminds her of her pain or longing.  Here she dwells in isolation, planting her feet against the earth and setting down roots that delve deep into the soil.  As her body becomes a tree, it grows tall and strong even as it retains a semblance of her nymph's form.  Other fey creatures are attracted to the hamadryad's place of solitude, and pixies and gnomes are prone to make their homes in the vicinity.  When her vigil ends, the hamadryad's spirit emerges from the tree transformed:  she has become a dryad.  

Hamadryad Names

Hamadryads usually retain the lyrical names of the nymphs they were.

Hamadryad Names: Aileia, Celindara, Daphne, Eilonwy, Irinea, Lyrindel, Lúthien, Niala, Rhiana, Selephra 

Autumn Hamadryad Traits

Hamadryads share certain racial traits as a result of their magical descent.

Ability Score Increase

Your Charisma score increases by 2, and two other ability scores of your choice increase by 1.

Age

As spirits of the autumn oak, most hamadryads, upon abjuring immortality, live as long as the trees to which they are bound. Some live relatively short lives at one or two hundred years. Others have been known to live for millennia.  When a hamadryad's tree home dies, she undergoes a period of deep grief and mourning.

Alignment

Hamadryads retain the passionate, impulsive nature of their nymph heritage, cherishing freedom, variety, and self-expression. As such, they lean strongly towards the gentler aspects of chaos while tending towards neutrality. While rarely wishing others ill, they are unlikely, nonetheless, to take risks on behalf of others.

Size

Hamadryads are about the same size and build as humans. Your size is Medium.

Speed

Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

Darkvision

Accustomed to twilit forests and the night sky, you have superior vision in dark and dim conditions. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light.

Female Only

All hamadryads are female.

Fey of Wood and Wind

You are a fey creature and as such are affected by mechanics pertaining to the fey type. You also have advantage on saving throws against being charmed, and magic can't put you to sleep.

Oaken Vitality

You have advantage on Constitution checks made to subsist on only half a gallon of water, and you can survive twice the normal time period before suffering any adverse affects related to thirst, starvation, or suffocation.

Trance

Hamadryads don't need to sleep. Instead, they meditate deeply for at least 4 hours a day to absorb light (even from as small a source as a candle), soak in water, or connect with the earth beneath their feet. (The Common word for such meditation is "trance.") During this time you are fully conscious, though the necessity of closing your eyes effectively blinds you.  After resting in this way, you gain the same benefit that a human does from 8 hours of sleep.

Legacy of the Sky and Seasons

You know the druidcraft cantrip. When you reach 3rd level, you can cast either the enthrall or barkskin spell (self only) as a 2nd-level spell once with this trait and regain the ability to do so when you finish a long rest. When you reach 5th level, you can cast the tree stride spell once with this trait and regain the ability to do so when you finish a long rest. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for these spells.

Languages

You can speak, read, and write Common and Sylvan.