Homebrew Dryad Nomad Species Details

“It was that period in the vernal quarter when we may suppose the Dryads to be waking for the season. The vegetable world begins to move and swell and the saps to rise, till in the completest silence of lone gardens and trackless plantations, where everything seems helpless and still after the bond and slavery of frost, there are bustlings, strainings, united thrusts, and pulls-all-together, in comparison with which the powerful tugs of cranes and pulleys in a noisy city are but pigmy efforts."

 

— Thomas Hardy

 Travelers entering a forest might catch a glimpse of a feminine form flitting through the trees. Warm laughter hangs on the air, drawing those who hear it deeper into the emerald shadows. Few people manage to catch a glimpse of dryads in their home environment, but sometimes - on very rare occasions - dryads come to them.

Physical Description

Dryads are humanoids who live within the woods. They blend in with nature itself due to plant-like properties that grow out of their bodies, like twigs, grass hairs, bark skin, leaves, and even flowers. For the most part, dryads are almost exclusively female, though some may be androgynous, as they are merely spirits of nature in the end. Dryads embody the trees usually, but some are found in other plants like river reeds and flower bushes. They usually wear loose clothing made of plant material. Dryads are typically described as fleeting and beautiful. Some dryads change color with the seasons, such as adopting red hair in the summer or snow-white skin in the winter.

Personality

Most dryads prefer to live away from civilization, delighting in the savage wilderness away from those that seek to cut their trees. They live with respect to nature and accept the company of those that do so as well. Attractive men who are fond of nature are often taken in by a dryad as both her mate and guardian. Dryads are generally benign and attempt to warn off intruders. Only those who are particularly cruel and determined to destroy a dryad's forest see the full wrath of these fey.

All dryads are magically bound to a single tree. These serve as the dryad's life force and home, and they fight to the death to protect their bonded tree, as should the tree be cut or destroyed, the dryad will die soon afterward. A dryad cannot stray too far from her bonded tree without suffering the same fate. If a dryad leaves the vicinity of her tree for too long, she dies. There are rumors, however, of magic rituals that can place a portion of their bonded tree-soul into a small object removed from the tree that can be carried with them as a totem, allowing them to travel despite normal restrictions. These dryads may explore a much wider range, but guard their totem with their life. 

Society

As dryads are bound to their trees in some fashion, they fear encroaching modernity from civilization. Usually, they live in the forests their whole lives, particularly for their tree's sake. Within these woods, they are usually frequented by travelers and other interlopers within the natural world. Many dryads host parties with fey entities like fairies, leprechauns, and boisterous satyrs. They otherwise live very simple lives, merely subsisting off the nature around them. Even the dryads who adventure, having been able to leave their forest, live sparsely. They feel uncomfortable in cities and will rarely indulge in excess.

Dryad Names

A dryad takes its name from something in nature or a name that relates to their home plants.

Male: Dryope, Erato, Eurydice, Balanos, Epimeliades, Igeiros, Olivis, Oake

Female: Chrysopeleia, Phigalia, Tithorea, Kraneia, Daphnaeae, Morea, Kissiae, Meliae

Dryad Nomad Traits

Your dryad character has the following racial traits.

Ability Score Increase

You may increase one Ability Score by 2 points and another score by 1 point.

Age

Dryads are not born, but spring into being fully grown when a tree becomes ripe for them. They mature and age in pace with their tree, living for thousands of years.

Alignment

Most Dryads are Neutral, but some tend toward Chaotic or Good alignments.

Size

Dryads range from just under 6 to over 7 feet tall. Your size is Medium.

Here’s how to determine your height and weight randomly, starting with rolling a size modifier:

Size modifier = 3d6

Height = 5 feet + 8 inches + your size modifier in inches

Weight in pounds = 120 + (2d4 × your size modifier)

Speed

Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

Fey

Your creature type is fey, rather than humanoid.

Nature's Bounty

You are proficient with Intelligence (Nature) and Wisdom (Animal Handling) skill checks.

Fey Resistance

You have advantage saving throws against spells and other magical effects.  

Treebound Step

Once per round, a dryad can use 10 feet of movement to enter a tree, merging their body, equipment, and any gear they are carrying. They may choose to remain there indefinitely or move to another tree within 60 feet, providing that both trees are bigger than them. You appear in a spot of your choice within 5 feet of the destination tree. You may move between trees a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus before taking a long rest.

While fully merged you cannot talk, and do not need to eat, drink, sleep or breathe. Nothing of your presence remains visible or otherwise detectable by nonmagical senses other than a vague, faded pattern on the bark of the tree resembling your face.  Your eyesight is blurred and sounds are muffled, and any Wisdom (Perception) checks you make to detect something outside it are made with disadvantage. Any damage dealt to a tree while you are inside is also dealt to you as Force damage.  

Woodland Magic

At 1st level you learn the Druidcraft cantrip.  At 3rd level you gain Entangle and Charm Person and can cast each one once before taking a long rest. At 5th level you gain Barkskin and may cast it at will without needing to concentrate, but may only use it on yourself.  Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma is your spell modifier.

Acorn of Far Travel

You carry an acorn from your bonded tree which carries its essence with you at all times.  Unless this acorn is in your inventory, you suffer one level of exhaustion each day that you are away from your bonded tree and recover one fewer levels of exhaustion per long rest.  If your bonded tree takes damage or is destroyed then you receive the same amount in Psychic damage, though you cannot be reduced below 1 hit point unless your totem is similarly destroyed.

You may plant this acorn in an open area with fertile soil at which point it begins to grow, and the bond with your old tree is transferred to the new one.  Over 4d6 days the tree grows at a rapid pace until it is fully mature.  Once this time has passed you may collect a new acorn.  The area around the tree is considered a Dryad's Grove and can have one or more harmless magical effect on the environment decided on by you and the GM.  These effects can extend up to 90 feet from the tree. Examples of this effect could be a light fog, a sweet smell floating in the breeze, an abundance of small woodland critters, or the distant sounds of laughter as you approach.  Vegetation around the tree tends to be lush and vibrant, with fruits and vegetables growing slightly larger and quicker than normally found in the wild.

If the spell Druid's Grove is cast here, the effect will last as long as the tree does.

Languages

You can speak, read, and write Common and Sylvan.  You may use Sylvan to communicate with plants and animals as though you share a language.