Dryad, Duskthorn

Family: Dryad

Medium fey, chaotic

Armor Class 17 (natural armor)
Hit Points 77 (14d8 + 14)
Speed 30 ft.

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
10 (+0)	20 (+5)	13 (+1)	14 (+2)	15 (+2)	24 (+7)

Saving Throws Con +3, Wis +4
Skills Animal Handling +4, Deception +9, Nature +6, Perception +4, Persuasion +9, Stealth +7
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 15
Languages Common, Elvish, Sylvan, Umbral
Challenge 3 (700 XP)

Special Traits

• Innate Spellcasting. The dryad’s innate spellcasting ability is Charisma (spell save DC 17). She can innately cast the following spells, requiring no material components:
  • At will: dancing lights, druidcraft
  • 3/day each: charm person, entangle, invisibility, magic missile
  • 1/day each: barkskin, counterspell, dispel magic, fog cloud, shillelagh, suggestion, wall of thorns
• Magic Resistance. The dryad has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.
• Speak with Beasts and Plants. The dryad can communicate with beasts and plants as if they shared a language.
• Tree Stride. Once on her turn, the dryad can use 10 feet of her movement to step magically into one dead tree within her reach and emerge from a second dead tree within 60 feet of the first tree, appearing in an unoccupied space within 5 feet of the second tree. Both trees must be Large or bigger.
• Tree Dependent. The dryad is mystically bonded to her duskthorn vines and must remain within 300 yards of them or become poisoned. If she remains out of range of her vines for 24 hours, she suffers 1d6 Constitution damage, and another 1d6 points of Constitution damage every day that follows- eventually, this separation kills the dryad. A dryad can bond with new vines by performing a 24-hour ritual.

Actions

• Dagger. Melee or Ranged Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft. or range 20/60 ft., one target. Hit: 7 (1d4 + 5) piercing damage.
• Longbow. Ranged Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, range 150/600 ft., one target. Hit: 9 (1d8 + 5) piercing damage.

About

A duskthorn dryad is a striking woman with obvious fey features and skin the color of slate, often found in the shade of an ancient tree. Clothed in vines and leaves, it can be difficult to tell where one leaves off and the other begins.

About

Creeper Vine Spirits. Duskthorn dryads are spirits tied to thorn-bearing creeper vines. They seek out dead trees and use them as a home for their vines to cling to. They can travel through trees to escape their foes but must stay near their vines.

Create Guardians. Duskthorn dryads use their vines and the plants in their glades to defend themselves, animating enormously strong vine troll skeletons as well as ordinary skeletons, children of the briar, and other horrors. These defenders are linked to the tree and vines that animated them, are controlled by hearts within the tree. If the hearts are destroyed, the servants wither or scatter.