Thursday, November 4, 2010

Character Race: Treant

Wise and long lived, these fey creatures are guardians of the forests and the wild places of the world. Sometimes, when they are very young, these tree-people will venture out into the world to explore it, or to defeat an evil that threatens their homes.

RACIAL TRAITS
Average Height: 4´ 2˝– 7´ 2˝
Average Weight: 150–520 lb.
Ability Scores: +2 Constitution, +2 Wisdom
Size: Medium
Speed: 5 squares
Vision: Normal
Languages: Common, Elven
Skill Bonuses: +2 Nature, +2 Insight
Nature's Health: You have one additional healing surge per day.
Firmly Rooted: You can use Firmly Rooted as an encounter power.

Firmly Rooted ✦ Treant Racial Power
Digging your root-toes in, you hunker down and stand your ground.Encounter ✦ Immediate Reaction when effected by a push, pull or slide
Target: Personal
Effect: You are not moved by the push, pull or slide that triggered the power.

Nature's Stilness ✦ Treant Racial Power
Composing yourself and standing still, you become indistingushable from a normal tree to the untrained eye.
Encounter - Standard Action
Target: Personal
Effect: As long as you stay still, you are indistingushable from a normal tree. An opposed Nature Skill Check is required for a observer to notice your true nature.



Play a Treant if you want . . .
✦ to play a tough character who is connected to the natural world
✦ to play a wise champion of nature
✦ to be a member of a race that favors the cleric, fighter, shaman, and warden classes.


Physical Qualities
Treant resemble humanoid trees, with two thick legs ending in many root-like toes, two arm-like branches with twiggy fingers, and generally with leaves and foliage sprinkling their bodies and as hair and beards. Young treants can be anywhere from 4 feet to 7 feet tall, and quite heavy due to their woody bodies.

Playing a Treant
To a Treant the natural state of the wilderness is home. Not hunted by predators, they are not combatative in the way most other humanoids are. Generally the only threat to their lives comes from those other humanoids, either by the destruction of their natural habitats or directly. Not requiring food or shelter the way most races do, they are generally uninterested in wealth and posessions beyond the simple things they need to live. Ocassionally, a young treant will have a curiosity about the world and will go wandering, generally unnoticed by those they pass among.

Treant Characteristics: Most treants are slow, thoughtful, sedentary, in tune with nature and the wilderness, solitary, and traditional.

Male Names:  Treebeard, Quickbeam, Fangorn, Leaflock, Finglas, Skinbark, Fladrif, Beachbone, Bregalad,

Female Names: Fembrithil, Wandlimb

Treant Adventurers
Three sample Treant adventurers will appear in upcomming posts.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nice treatment, I think I may use this.

One thing though, I know its not the 4E way to have disadvantages, but it seems to me that a Treant should be somehow vulnerable to fire.

Adam A Thompson said...

Thanks for the kind words.

I really wanted to capture the feel of Tolkien's ents and pour that essense into a playable race.

One optional rule you could use is to give them +2 to Armor Class and vulnerable 5 fire. It's not particularly 4e, but it fits the feel for the Ents.