D&D 5E Any good 3PP Dryads for 5e?

[doctorbadwolf]

The more Magic worlds we get, the more I wish 5e had a Dryad race. Anyone have a favorite 3pp Dryad or a favorite homebrew take?

 

[CleverNickName]

My wife allowed me to play a dryad sorcerer for her Feywild D&D campaign earlier this year. She started with the Eladrin (elf subrace) and made the following changes:

• The dryad's Magic Resistance ability replaced the elf's Fey Ancestry ability.
• The elf's Keen Senses and Trance abilities were removed.
• The elf's Languages were reworded: "Dryads speak Elvish and Sylvan. In addition, dryads can communicate with beasts and plants as if they shared a language."
• The dryad's Tree Stride ability replaced the eladrin's Fey Step ability.
• The spells on the dryad's Innate Spellcasting list were reworded, to be more in line with other elf subraces: "You know the druidcraft and shillelagh cantrips. When you reach 3rd Level, you can cast the entangle spell and the goodberry spell once (each) 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 and the pass without trace spell once (each) with this trait and regain the ability to do so when you finish a Long Rest. Wisdom is your Spellcasting Ability for these Spells, and casting them requires no material components."
• The dryad's Fey Charm ability was restricted to once per long rest.

It's not perfect, but it's pretty close and a lot of fun to play.

 

[jayoungr]

There's a nymph race with dryad as a subrace in the player's guide to Odyssey of the Dragonlords. It's free:

DriveThruRPG

www.drivethrurpg.com

 

[dave2008]

There's a nymph race with dryad as a subrace in the player's guide to Odyssey of the Dragonlords. It's free:

DriveThruRPG

www.drivethrurpg.com

And it is free!

 

[doctorbadwolf]

That’s really cool! I’ll take a look at soemthing similar. Might model it more after a dragonmarked elf subrace, but that is definitely a rad starting point.

My wife allowed me to play a dryad sorcerer for her Feywild D&D campaign earlier this year. She started with the Eladrin (elf subrace) and made the following changes:

• The dryad's Magic Resistance ability replaced the elf's Fey Ancestry ability.
• The elf's Keen Senses and Trance abilities were removed.
• The elf's Languages were reworded: "Dryads speak Elvish and Sylvan. In addition, dryads can communicate with beasts and plants as if they shared a language."
• The dryad's Tree Stride ability replaced the eladrin's Fey Step ability.
• The spells on the dryad's Innate Spellcasting list were reworded, to be more in line with other elf subraces: "You know the druidcraft and shillelagh cantrips. When you reach 3rd Level, you can cast the entangle spell and the goodberry spell once (each) 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 and the pass without trace spell once (each) with this trait and regain the ability to do so when you finish a Long Rest. Wisdom is your Spellcasting Ability for these Spells, and casting them requires no material components."
• The dryad's Fey Charm ability was restricted to once per long rest.

It's not perfect, but it's pretty close and a lot of fun to play.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Working on a Dryad based on the elf. Got most of the elf's stuff switched over.

Looking closer, maybe I should use the satyr isntead? It's Fey, has advantage against spells rather than fey ancestry (which I hate being applied to all fey PC races. It's an elf thing.), etc. IDK.

Couple ideas I have for the dryad, that I'd love feedback on.

Tree form, tree home, tree stride. Obviously they can ignore difficult terrain from roots and such. Sleep in tree form has both drawbacks and benefits? If they die, they can reform over the course of 1 year and 1 day in their tree? At level X they can do this with only 1 month? Spend a short rest in tree form to gain extra benefits?

Speak with plants and animals fully?

The spell speak with plants or plant growth 1/day at level 5? Or 1/day Tree Stride teleportation?

Ability to increase AC temporarily? The barkskin spell sucks, so I don't wanna just use that.

 

[CleverNickName]

I wouldn't make the AC increase temporary; I'd make it permanent ala the Warforged or the Dragonborn. If the character wants/needs to temporarily increase their AC, they should use class features (instead of racial) to handle that. Otherwise you are going to have a problem with bounded accuracy.

The year-and-a-day regeneration for dryads in their tree is great for storytelling and would be great for NPCs, but it might be a bit too slow to be useful for players. Also, death becomes less likely at higher levels thanks to access to resurrection magic, so shortening that reform period as level increases won't really help. I'd probably just drop this, or maybe borrow from the Revenant in UA.

For any spellcasting abilities, I'd use the High Elf or the Drow as a template. "You know the X cantrip. At 3rd level, you can cast Y once per day. At 5th level, you can cast Z once per day." Anything more than that pushes the limits of game balance...a character's race isn't intended to replace their class, and vice versa.

Anyhoo, that's my advice. I'm not a game designer, so take it with a grain of salt.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I wouldn't make the AC increase temporary; I'd make it permanent ala the Warforged or the Dragonborn. If the character wants/needs to temporarily increase their AC, they should use class features (instead of racial) to handle that. Otherwise you are going to have a problem with bounded accuracy.

yeah could give them 13+Dex natural armor or something.

The year-and-a-day regeneration for dryads in their tree is great for storytelling and would be great for NPCs, but it might be a bit too slow to be useful for players. Also, death becomes less likely at higher levels thanks to access to resurrection magic, so shortening that reform period as level increases won't really help. I'd probably just drop this, or maybe borrow from the Revenant in UA.

I definitely don’t see it as necessary that such an ability be super useful. It wouldn’t be a huge part of the power equation. Not a ribbon, but not a major ability.

For any spellcasting abilities, I'd use the High Elf or the Drow as a template. "You know the X cantrip. At 3rd level, you can cast Y once per day. At 5th level, you can cast Z once per day." Anything more than that pushes the limits of game balance...a character's race isn't intended to replace their class, and vice versa.

I’m not sure they need a cantrip, the balance template is definitely that progression. Druidcraft is cool and all, but if ditching it allows them to have treestride and plant growth and the ability to speak fully with plants and animals, it may be worth it.

Anyhoo, that's my advice. I'm not a game designer, so take it with a grain of salt.

It’s appreciated!

 

[Weiley31]

Honestly Odyssey of The Dragonlords has you covered.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Honestly Odyssey of The Dragonlords has you covered.

I mean...kinda. It’s a good take. I might settle for it, but if I gotta input all the data into ddb anyway, why not work out a version that does exactly what I want?