Homebrew Dryad Species Details

History

Powerful fey will sometimes bind lesser fey spirits to trees, transforming them into dryads. This is sometimes done as a punishment when the fey spirit falls in love with a mortal and that love is forbidden.  Dryads can also be created by the primal forces of nature to protect nature and tend to the forest. Dryads are bound to their birth tree and the residing area and rarely leave their homes.

Old Wives Tales

Despite folklore amongst common folk, Dryads will not go mad and die if their birth tree is destroyed. In the circumstance that a Dryads birth tree is destroyed, the Dryad will feel a long sadness, and will grieve over the loss of their home, much like a human would grieve for a lost loved one.

Society

As dryads are bound to their forests, 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

Appearance

Dryads are fey-spirits who live within the woods. Their appearance and height can vary depending on their surroundings, for example.. A dryad in a dense forest may have bark like skin and various mosses and mushrooms growing from them, while a dryad in a dense swamp may have vines for hair and skin the color of the water nearby. Regardless of appearance, dryads tend to have warm orange toned eyes with no pupils.

Dryad Traits

Your Dryad Character has the following traits

Nature Whisperer

You have the ability to communicate in a limited manner with beasts and plants. They can understand the meaning of your words, though you have no special ability to understand them in return. You have advantage on all Charisma checks you make to influence them.

Ability Score Increase

When determining your character’s ability scores, increase one score by 2 and increase a different score by 1.

Age

You age like a tree, very slowly. This means you can live anywhere from a few hundred years to a few thousand.

Size

Dryads come in many sizes, depending on their home tree. They can range from 4 feet tall to 8 feet tall.

Nature Magic

You know the druidcraft cantrip. When you reach 3rd level, you can cast the entangle 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 barkskin spell once with this trait and regain the ability to do so when you finish a long rest. Wisdom is your spellcasting ability for these spells.

Speed

Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

Fey

Your creature type is fey, rather than humanoid.

Fey Ancestry

You have advantage on saving throws against being charmed and magic can't put you to sleep.

Languages

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