Homebrew Wood Woad Species Details

Born of Sacrifice. 

The ritual to create a wood woad is a primeval secret passed down 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 shield, is at once ready to perform 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 its 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 performed the rituals, while others acquire the services of freed wood woads that find renewed purpose in the domain of a kindred guardian.

Wood Woad Traits

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

Ability Score Increase

Your Wisdom score increases by 1, Your Strength score increases by 1, and your Constitution score increases by 1.

Age

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.

Alignment

Wood Woads are created for a specific purpose and the creatures will follow this purpose until either it is done, or they are dead. Because of this, a Wood Woad is typically a Lawful Neutral creature, however, if the task they were made to do gets completed, they may find a more chaotic, good or evil lifestyle. 

Size

Wood Woads typically stand between 6 and 7 feet tall. Your size is Medium.

Speed

Your base walking speed is 30ft. Your base climbing speed is 30ft.

Plant Biology

Your creature type is plant, rather than humanoid.

Natural Barkskin

Due to your natural barkskin, you are ill-suited to wearing armor. Your hardened skin provides good protection, however; it gives you a base AC of 16 (your Dexterity modifier doesn’t affect this number). You gain no benefit from wearing armor, but if you are using a shield, you can apply the shield’s bonus as normal.

Hardened Exterior

You have resistance to non-magical bludgeoning and piercing damage.

Fire Vulnerability

Due to your creature type being Plant, you are vulnerable to fire damage.

Tree Stride

Once per turn, the Wood Woad can use 10 feet of its movement to step magically into one living tree within 5 feet of it and emerge from a second living tree within 60 feet of it that it can see, appearing in an unoccupied space within 5 feet of the second tree. Both trees must be Large or bigger. You can do this a number of times equal to your Wisdom modifier (minimum of once).

Tree Talking

You know how to read, write, and speak Sylvan.