Homebrew Dryad Species Details

Dryads are created when a large amount of magical energy flows into a plant and grants it intelligence and a humanoid form. Some dryads can also have children with humans and other dryads. The offspring will also be dryads. The race is a small one, but more than make up for it in their plant related power.

Plantborn

Dryads are all humanoid, but other than that, their forms vary greatly, with details dependent on what plant it ascended from. There are two general kinds of dryads. There are human-like dryads, that look like female humans with small, additional features dependent on the parent plant (flowers on body, bark portions of skin, vines for hair). They do have flesh-looking skin and human faces. The second category, pure dryads, are much more plantlike than human, often completely made out of the plant (bark skin, vine skin). These are the most inhuman of them, with few human features if any, and are feared as much as they are admired.

Trusting and Naive

Dryad usually spend the majority of their life in their forest, and so are very curious of outsiders. They grow up in the natural world, and so anything man-made fascinates them. This considered, they also have a hard time grasping modern concepts such as social conventions, lying, and currency. They are fiercely protective of their forests and the creatures  that reside in them.

Dryad Names

Dryad made from an ascended plant or born from two dryads name themselves after the plants they resemble or descended from, or from an item or concept in nature that they admire. Dryad born from a human and dryad have names similar to translated elven family names. They usually don’t have last names.

Nature Names: Birch, Sequoia, Fern, Pumpkin, Growth, Woodpecker, Blossom

Elven Names: Silverdew, Moonwhisper, Gemblossom, Nightbreeze

Dryad Traits

Their connection to the natural world grants them certain traits.

Ability Score Increase

Your Intelligence score increases by 2, and your Dexterity score increases by 1.

Age

Dryads mature quickly, reaching maturity at age 10. They age very slowly after this though. Outside of their forest, dryads can live to be about 750, but inside, their aging slows down to the point where they can live thousands of years.

Alignment

Dryads are caring towards their forest and so are almost always good in nature. They don’t care much about rules, however, and so are mostly neutral.

Size

Dryad sizes can vary from 5 ft to just around 8 ft. Your size is Medium.

Speed

Your base walking speed is 30 ft.

Speak With Plants and Beasts

You can speak to plants as if you shared a language, and beasts can understand your speech. You cannot understand theirs though.

Photosynthesis

You can gain energy through water and sunlight. You cannot subsist entirely on either, but you can on both. You could survive 1 week with just sunlight, and you could survive 1 month with just water. You can still consume and gain energy from conventional food.

Natural Legacy

You know the [druidcraft] cantrip. When you reach 3rd level, you can cast [spike growth] once with this trait and regain the ability to do so after a long rest. Intelligence is your spellcasting ability for these spells.

Languages

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