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. 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.
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 Woad Traits

Your Wood Woad character has the following racial traits.

Ability Score Increase

Your Wisdom score increases by 2, and your Strength or Constitution score increases by 1.

Age

Sprouting 3 days after the ritual completes, wood woads mature into their humanoid shape very quickly over a few months and can exist seemingly indefinitely unless destroyed.

Alignment

Wood woads tend towards the lawful neutral alignment but may adopt traits of the soul within them.

Size

Your size is Medium, and you weigh between 200 to 400 pounds.

Forest Ambusher

You have advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks made to hide in terrain with ample obscuring plant life.

Deathless Duty

As a bonus action you may spend a Hit Die to recover hit points equal to the die roll plus your Constitution modifier. You can do this a number of time equal to your proficiency bonus.

Languages

You can speak, read, and write Common, Sylvan, and one more of your choice.

Darkvision

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. You can't discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.

Living Plant

Whilst you were created by magic, you are a living creature. You count as a plant type creature and are vulnerable to fire damage.

Natural Armor

Your rough bark repels most blows harmful to others. When you aren't wearing armor, your AC is 15 (your Dexterity modifier doesn't affect this number). You can use your natural armor to determine your AC if the armor you wear would leave you with a lower AC. A shield's benefits apply as normal while you use your natural armor.

Magically Infused

While the binding may weaken, your body is still infused with magical power. You know the shillelagh cantrip, and as an action you can cause a shield to replace one of your hands. This shield prevents use of that hand, and cannot be removed unless you choose to dismiss it as an action at which point it falls off and withers away. Once you use this ability it cannot be used again until you finish a short or long rest.

Photosynthesis

Instead of eating or sleeping, you benefit from a long rest after spending a total of 4 hours partially taking root to absorb water, nutrients, air, and bright light simultaneously whilst performing photosynthesis. These hours can be spread out throughout a day but must be completed before its end to count. While doing so you have blindsight 10 ft around you, but are blind and deafened beyond that range.

Previous Versions

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