Half Dryad

I looked at the old 2010 thread on this and really didn't see anything there that came close to my idea of a half-dryad. I admit to looking at the wiki page for the 3.5 version and that is way to powerful. So I decided to make this. Please give me any suggestions/recommendations!

Name: Half-Dryad (11 total Racial Points)

Half-Dryads have weaker ties to the forest, and as such are more closely related to their human parent than their dryad one. They more closely resemble their paternal race than their mother's. By most standards they appear to be a child of normal birth. But the half-dryad's fey heritage always shows in one obvious detail, their hair. A half-dryad's hair changes with the seasons, in the spring and summer their hair comes in mixed shades of green, in the fall and winter their hair changes a varied blend of blonde, brown, and red. Leaves and flowers from their mother's root tree occasionally grow within a half-dryad's hair, for some it is mixed in among the strands of hair, for others it spreads to become foliage, their hair closely resembling a mass of verdant vines.

Type (2rp): Fey

Senses (0rp): Lowlight Vision – a part of the fey type

Size (0rp): Medium

Movement (0rp): 30ft – normal for medium creatures

Ability Score Mods (0rp): Standard - +2 Con, +2 Wis, -2 Str

Linguist (1rp): Start with Common and Sylvan languages and can learn any language with a high int score (except druidic).

Wilderness Skilled (2rp): Half-Dryads gain a +2 racial bonus to Survival and Knowledge (Nature)

Hydrated Vitality (2 RP): Prerequisite: Outsider (native) with ties to the Plane of Water, fey type, or plant type; Benefit: Members of this race gain fast healing 2 for 1 round anytime they submerge completely within a body of natural fresh water or brackish water. Stagnant, poisoned, or trapped water (such as water within an artificial pit or a bag of holding) does not activate this ability. Members of this race can heal up to 2 hit points per level per day with this ability, after which it ceases to function.

Camouflage (1 RP): Prerequisites: None; Benefit: Members of this race gain a +4 racial bonus on Stealth checks while within the forest terrain type.

Stability (1 RP): Benefit: Members of this race receive a +4 racial bonus to their CMD when resisting bull rush or trip attempts while standing on the ground.

Wood Weapon Skill (4rp): half-dryad begins play with proficiency in any 2 weapons made out of wood (such as quarterstaffs, clubs and bows). In addition, Half Dryads get a +1 to hit and +1 damage from any wooden weapons they use.

Tree-speech (1 RP): Members of this race have the ability to converse with only trees as if subject to a continual speak with plants spell

Civaphobia(-1rp): Half-Dryads feel most comfortable in places that have some respect for the land and are not civilized. When within the immediate area of a settlement of a size of Small Town or larger (Over 200 people) the Half-Dryad has a -2 racial penalty on all Cha based checks.

Voice of the Earth (Ex) (-2rp): Half-Dryads retain some ties to the forest, if not much. If a half-dryad enters a zone where the ground is "poisoned" somehow (by chemical leaks, drought, lingering magical effects like blight, etc.), they must make a DC 25 Fortitude save or be sickened until they leave the zone.

Slight changes from the listing in the Advanced Race Guide are these:

1) Took out salt water as an option for the Hydrated Vitality, lowering it from a 3pt cost to a 2pt cost.

2) Made Tree-speech only for trees instead of all plants, lowering the cost from 2pts to 1pt.

3) The Wood weapon and Civaphobia are my own creations, with wood weapon being taken from the 3.5 half-dryad wiki page.

Thanks again.
CC

Type: If they're more closely related to humans, shouldn't they be humanoids and not fey?

Ability Scores: Wouldn't it make more sense that they have +2 Dex, +2 Cha, -2 Str? Or maybe -2 Con? Dryads have a high Dex and Cha. Con is their second lowest ability score.

Linguist: It makes sense that they'd have similar languages to humans, but the problem is that you later describe the race as having civaphobia. How would a typical half-dryad be exposed to such diverse amount of languages, when they typically don't live in towns and cities?

Hydrated Vitality: Makes sense. Useful, flavorful, and isn't overpowered. Like it. Especially considering you changed it so it only works on fresh water, which makes total sense.

Camouflage: Initially, I was thinking this would fit well, but you described the race as looking like a human except for having a different colored hair and some half-dryads having leaf-like hair. So how would they be naturally camouflaged when they look almost exactly the same as humans?

Stability: I don't see how this fits with the race at all. I'd just scrap it.

Wood Weapon Skill: This is flatout overpowered. While an ability related to wooden weapons makes sense, giving out weapon training for free is a no-no, especially since this works for longbows, which are one of the most powerful mundane weapons in the game. I'd scrap it and come up with a different ability. Maybe one that negates improvised weapon penalties for using wooden objects? Or maybe a bonus to crafting wooden weapons?

Treespeech: Talking with trees/plants is a deceptively powerful ability. Getting information out of inanimate objects is incredibly useful as it means you have your own personal spy network. It's a 3rd-level/4th level spell for a reason and treespeech gives it as an at-will ability. I strongly recommend changing this to a once-per-day spell-like ability and say that it only works on trees.

Civaphobia: As I explained before, this drawback doesn't make much sense considering you set up the race where they'd likely be raised by humans. I'd scrap it.

Voice of the Earth: You overvalue this drawback since it will likely never occur unless the race is played in a campaign that goes to places like the Mana Wastes or the Tanglebriar. You also don't say when or how frequent they must make the saving throw. Considering that normal dryads don't have this drawback, I'd just scrap it or change it to a penalty against disease and manufactured poison effects.

I'm disappointed there's nothing about being attuned to a tree. That's one of the neat iconic aspects of a dryad. You don't necessarily have to make something as severe as the normal dryad's tree dependency. You can do something like the 4th Edition dryad race where the tree is largely flavor.

Ty for the reply, as that was just what I was looking for in this initial draft. Sometimes we need some other eyes on our work to show us our thoughts might be off.

I will admit I pulled the stats and the wood weapons and the blight drawbacks from the 3.5 d&d wiki. Thank you for pointing out the unbalanced nature of the drawback and the weapons.

I admit to switching back and forth between fey and humanoid. And for the treespeak, I appreciate that perspective on the power of the speaks with plants, even if it were a tree only speaking with plants.

It is quite obvious 3.5 and pathfinder dryads are quite different.

CC

When I read the title and clicked, I was also hoping for a tree attunement ability. If not in the way that a dryad does, then a lower-powered ability that could be helpful to a PC in a variety of ways.

I agree with nearly everything Cyrad said for nearly the same reasons. I would lean towards abilities that are based on the original race's.

+2 Dex and +2 Cha, no penalties (maybe -2 Str if you insist).

I feel like skipping the spell-like abilities would be good, because after low level the DC will not be good.

Instead of the 3rd level spell/dryad ability, make it more in tune with a 1st or 2nd level spell. As a full-round action, the 1/2 dryad enters an adjacent tree and blends in (it gains total concealment). However, a creature can see the 1/2 dryad if it succeeds on a Perception check or Knowledge (nature) check (DC = 20 + it's Disguise or Stealth modifier).

The tree dependency can't stay obviosuly, due to PCs travelling around, and there is nothing about gaining HP by taking a bath, but you could make something like

When it melds into a tree, it gains fast healing 1 for a max of 1 round/HD. If it does not meld or otherwise have contact with water, plants, etc for an hour or more per day, it takes 2 Con damage (after healing from rest).

I wouldn't flat out give it wild empathy, because its a class feature, but you could do a limited wild empathy (d20 + Cha), and also give it a +2 bonus on Charisma-based checks to influence animals and plants (including wild empathy). This would give it a bit of a bonus bonus even if it doesn't have the right class levels.

You could keep woodcraft, but drop it to +2.

***

Humanoid type
Speed 30 (0 RP)
+2 Cha +2 Dex (2 RP)
Languages standard (common and sylvan, plus choose some others) (0 RP)
+1 natural armor (2 RP)
+2 to craft wooden things (1 RP)
Low-light vision (1 RP)
Lesser wild empathy/bonuses on Cha checks vs plants/animals (2 RP?)
Tree meld, and mild nature depandancy (2 RP?)

Just brainstorming. Good luck.

You may want to look also in Dragon Magazine 109. It's 1st edition AD&D granted, but they offer a half-satyr and half-dryad character option.

Without using it "as is" it might offer some ideas.

Dot.