It says the protector tree isn’t large enough to block movement so you can go through its space freely. That doesn’t mean I can occupy the same space as the tree though, right?
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Correct, it doesn't.
It's Medium (w/ caps so it's the game term, not "average tree") so it's occupying its space like a Medium creature would. Being inactive, a creature can move through its square w/o hindrance, much like moving through an ally's square. The language about it not being large enough to hinder is to verify no impeding since it'd be iffy otherwise.
If you had a Reach weapon & narrow enough corridor/enough trees, you could make a pretty decent barrier for its spell level. Enemies couldn't exit the tree's space into yours, so they'd have to stop on the other side and chop the tree. Excess damage vs. the tree would go wasted. That 1st level spell could buy you their MAP-less attack, maybe even a round.
A Large enemy makes it more useful (wonky), since you'd only need one tree in a 15' corridor and one PC behind it, perhaps a step back even if they don't want to trade blows yet (assuming both have Reach and the monster has issues w/ space).
Thank you!
I do have a tangential question now. The tree has AC and HP so obviously it can be attacked and targeted. However, it still isn't a creature, correct? Much like walls created by wall spells, we assume it can be attacked, but normally, strikes and many other attacks only target creatures. Is the fact that these non-creatures get an AC that signals them to be attackable?
Just a thought I had when you made me realize a bunch of things we attack aren't creatures so we technically can't. Some things call it out like escaping from Black Tentacles but not everything does (like this and walls for example).
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Over-focusing on the targeting line of the Strike action (especially when there's a barbarian feat that only affects what happens when you Strike targets) has always resulted in nonsense results. I'd advise not doing that.