Wow! Can you believe that @trayedandtested on Instagram got more than 1,000 followers yesterday? And that’s all because of you, the D&D community. So, as promised, I’ll be making a whole slew of new playable races for Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition.
Also, be sure to FOLLOW Felipe 5 Horas who jumped in to offer up artwork, too. His stuff is amazing! Click this link to open your Instagram and follow. You won’t be disappointed.
Here is what is on the slate:
- Half-mindflayers (done)
- Kitsune (done)
- Treants (this article)
- Fairies
- Oni
- Robotic Race
Playtest Content
The material here is presented for playtesting and to spark your imagination. These game mechanics are in draft form, usable in your campaign but not refined by
final game design and editing. They aren’t officially part of the game and aren’t permitted in D&D Adventurers League events.
Errata:
- 12/26/2018: Adjusted the natural armor growth so that it only scales up by 1 point at level 9. Also, brought down the Dexterity penalty to 2.
- 12/26/2018 – Part 2: Took out the Dex add to natural armor Dex. After reading up on the new Warforged build, I changed it back to your AC scales with level.
- 12/26/2018 – Part 3: Changed the Natural armor again, making it 13 + Constitution. My thought was that spellcasters should haven’t natural AC north of 20 (which would’ve happened with the last build.
What are treants?
Treants are awakened trees that dwell in ancient forests. Although treants prefer to while away the days, months, and years in quiet contemplation, they fiercely protect their woodland demesnes from outside threats.
Younger treants (those between the age of 50 – 75) like to explore the world outside of their natural environments. These treants often join adventuring parties, offering their strength and wisdom to their companions.
Treant Traits
Your treant character has certain characteristics in common with all other treants.
Ability Score Increases. Your Strength score increases by 2, your Constitution score increases by 1, and your Dexterity score is reduced by 2.
Age. Treants age slowly, typically maturing around 50 to 75 years of age. Most adventuring treants are around this age since “adventuring is a young tree’s game.” Like normal trees, treants can live up to 200 years and some may even reach 400 years of age.
Alignment. Treants tend towards chaotic alignments and are often good.
Size. Young treants are larger than most humanoids, standing 7 to 8 feet tall. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 25 feet.
Seasonal Moods. Treant attitudes are affected by the time of year. Depending on what season it is in the campaign world, you gain traits as detailed below:
- Spring. You are in a delightful mood and positively bursting with energy. During the spring, your walking speed increases by 10 feet and you have a +3 bonus to your initiative checks.
- Summer. You are temperamental and quick to action. During the summer, when you hit with a melee weapon attack you deal 2 extra damage.
- Autumn. You are solemn yet eager to help your allies. During the autumn, when a creature that you can see targets an ally within 5 feet of you with an attack, you can use your reaction to swap places with your ally, and you become the target instead.
- Winter. Your mood is dark as you frequently reflect on life and death. During the winter, you have resistance to necrotic damage. In addition, you make all death saving throws with advantage.
- Variant: Evergreen. If you like, you can choose to be an evergreen treant and your mood stays the same throughout the years. As an evergreen tree, your allies can use your dense needles to avoid attacks. Any ally within 5 feet of you has the benefits of half cover as long as you are within 5 feet of the attacker and are aware of it.
Tree Appearance. While you remain motionless, you are indistinguishable from a normal tree.
Natural Armor. Because of your unusual shape, you cannot wear armor of any type. However, your Armor Class equals 13 + your Constitution bonus. You still gain the normal benefit of using shields as long as you are proficient with them.
Fire Vulnerability. You take double damage from fire and fire spells and effects.
Hybrid Nature. You have two creature types: humanoid and plant. You can be affected by a game effect if it works on either of your creature types.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and Sylvan.
Design Notes
Is an automatic 13 + Con AC at first level broken? Maybe. But according to Volo’s Guide to Monsters, it’s not. In Volo’s, Lizardfolk not only get to wear armor (which treants can’t) and use shields, aren’t vulnerable to fire, and get bonuses to both Con and Wis which usually is a big design no-no.
If you want to go a step further, check out Warforged in the Eberron UA. Those things are broken AF.
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Art by Dragfepix.