Character Crunch: Treefolk

Treeants are awakened trees that dwell in ancient forests. They grow to the size of great trees and are some of the mightiest champions of the natural world. Druidic, fey, divine forces or nature itself animates trees that have the spark of potential to become a treeant. After much meditation, they form a human-like face and limbs. Treeents protect the wild from woodcutters, hunters and others who would harm the inhabitants of its home

Queen Tytanya felt that her gardens were remiss; unlike the ancestral forests of the old iaurdin or in the sacred groves still tended by the sylvanar, the gardens nurtured and cultivated in urban environments by the great elves lacked the protection of treeant guardians. She was envious for the watchful eyes, the deep thrumming voices, and the heavy footsteps of treeants that she remembered from her time with the sylvanar. But massive treeants do not fit into the confines of urban development. And so, as with any problem faced by the Queen, she turned to researching arcane means to recreate the same results from the natural realm on a smaller scale. Despite some reservations from the garden druids of Grand Saeffura, the Queen gets what the Queen wants.

Under her guidance, the druids cultivated saplings from fallen treeants that, with magical assistance, formed a new, smaller and more tame type of treeant; the treefolk.

With careful cultivation, they were able to limit the size of these treefolk to restrict them to the height and size of most humanoids. They are plenty tall, most standing between 6.5 and 9 feet tall at full size, that still make them a sight in the gardens of the elven elite in the cities of Saesun. Unlike treeants that have many seasons to learn and draw upon nature for their knowledge, treefolk are raised by a mix of gardeners, druids, and other treefolk. They are raised to be top notch gardeners and serve as a trophy in any prized garden. Most treefolk are gifts from the royal gardens, on behalf of the Queen herself, to noble households.

Some imperial citizens are suspicious that they serve the Queen herself, as do most of her "creations", but the simple and easy-going nature of treefolk, caring for their gardens, has put most of these suspicions to ease.

Treefolk are seen as harmless, since they've been successfully domesticated, by most iaurdin but that doesn't mean that treefolk don't go wild.

They are raised, more or less, so that their life revolves around the garden they are given. But what happens if the garden is destroyed or displaced? What if they go berserk when some hooligan destroys their favorite shrub or tree? What happens if the treefolk become more interested in more and more gardens outside of their own and go seeking new horizons? What if they feel like returning to nature? What if they want to break the chains of bondage? What if they fall in love with a person? What if they want to protect an owner? What if they want to fight for something?

By perverting the nature of treeants, they iaurdin think they took something they understood and created something they could control. But, in reality, by changing the nature of the thing they understood, they have lost understanding of it.


Treefolk are no longer as beholden to nature as their treeant ancestors. They are something completely new. Would you like to explore the nature of your relationship with nature? Then try to play a treefolk.

What will win? Nature or nurture?

Ability Score Increase. Your Constitution score increases by 2 and your Wisdom increases by 1.
Age. Treefolk reach adulthood within ten years and can live for hundreds of years.
Alignment. Most treefolk are easy-going and are usually content as long as they can protect and care for their gardens. Their nurturing nature mixed with the adherence to order cultivated by the iaurdin means that most treefolk are lawful good. As treefolk adventurers, they often go against the grain by abandoning the obedient existence forced upon them by the elves.
Size. Treefolk are dwarf-sized treeants and, rather than being large or huge, they are considered Medium. They stand between six-and-a-half and nine feet tall.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Natural Armor. You have tough bark as skin. When you aren't wearing armor, your AC is 16. You can use your natural armor to determine your AC if the armor you wear would leave you with a lower AC. A shield's benefits apply as normal while you use your natural armor.
Photosynthesis. Despite requiring water, you don't require normal food. Instead, you feed off of minerals, that you can draw from the air or soil and sunlight, which you take in through your leaves, eyes and mouth.
Tree-ish. Treefolk don’t need to sleep. Instead, they meditate deeply, remaining semiconscious, for 4 hours a day.While meditating, you can dream after a fashion; such dreams are actually mental exercises that have become reflexive through years of practice. After resting in this way, you gain the same benefit that a human does from 8 hours of sleep.
False Appearance. While not wearing armor or clothing, if a treefolk remains motionless, it is indistinguishable from a normal tree.
Long-Branches. Increase your reach by 5 feet.
Strong-Branches.  You count as one size larger when determining your carrying capacity and the weight you can push, drag, or lift.

Song of the Forest.  You can cast the Plant Growth and Speak with Plants spells once with this trait. You regain the ability to use this feature when you take a short or long rest.
Dry-Wood. You are vulnerable to fire damage.
Languages. Treefolk are very quick learners of nature languages and have been taught elven by their cultivators. You can speak, read, write and understand Common, Druidic, Elven and Sylvan.