Woodborn

Woodborn are living constructs born from primal magic with bodies of wood. The first woodborn were created by an organization of druids, who were looking for mindless constructs to assist them with mundane tasks. They never expected for the woodborn to gain sentience.

Woodborn have varied appearances depending on the type of tree they were made from. Some are short and stout with thick bark, and others are tall, thin, and light.

Wooden Nature

Woodborn are humanoid in appearance, with two arms and two legs. Their skin is bark, and their hair is made of leaves or vines, depending on the type of tree they were born from.

Woodborn are created as fully formed beings. They don’t grow any further once awakened, and they process new information quickly. A newly created woodborn already has the basic skills and knowledge of a young adult.

Woodborn are sexless, but may have a gendered body depending on who created them. Some woodborn forgo a gender identity, while others seek out trusted woodborn druids to shape their body into a shape they prefer, instead of the one created for them.

Wisdom of Age

Woodborn are capable of living for hundreds of years. Unlike trees, they do eventually stop growing. The type of tree they are born from determines their maximum lifespan. It is not uncommon to see woodborn over 100 years old.

A woodborn’s age and unique upbringing give them a different outlook on life than other humanoids. They think of the long-term repercussions of actions, using their accumulated wisdom to make the best choices they can.

History of Strife

Woodborn were created as manual laborers by their druid creators. The first woodborn were simple automatons, possessing no mind of their own. However, over time they began to exhibit free-willed thinking and sentience. Their creators initially treated these as malfunctions, but over time it became clear that the woodborn were intelligent creatures.

A schism arose between their creators, debating between keeping them as slaves and granting them independence. This lasted for years until the woodborn decided to take matters into their own hands. The woodborn realized that, even though they live a long time, the people in power would never change anything without an external force, because they had no impetus to do so. The woodborn provided that external force and have claimed the city as their own. They consider it theirs, since it was their hands that built it in the first place.

Woodborn Names

Older woodborn created for service often have names related to their purpose, like “Gardener” or “Planter”. Younger woodborn name themselves after types of trees, flowers, or aspects of nature.

Example Names: Acer “Ace” Rubrum, Willow, Root, Shade, Climb, Reach, Green, Fall, Great Planter.

Woodborn Traits

Woodborn share certain traits as a result of their constructed heritage.

• Ability Score Increase. You gain a +2 and +1 bonus to two different ability scores of your choice, or +1 to three different ones.
• Age. A typical woodborn is between 2 and 200 years old. The maximum lifespan of a woodborn depends on the maximum lifespan of their origin tree, but they can live for hundreds of years.
• Size. A woodborn’s size is Medium. Most woodborn stand between 5 and 7 feet tall.
• Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
• Wooden Nature (Major Feature). Due to your wooden body, you gain the following benefits. You don’t need to eat, drink, or breathe the same amounts of food or air that other creatures do. You gain sustenance from the sun and can subsist on very small amounts of water. You can go without air for up to 24 hours before beginning to suffocate.
• Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and Sylvan.

Origins of Sentience

It was not an accident that the woodborn gained sentience. Something about the way they were built would always result in them gaining sentience; the druids just never noticed. The exact reason is left to you, but some ideas include:

• They were created from the trees of bonded dryads.
• Soul gems were used as the animating energy.
• The wood from treants was used in their creation.

Origin Tree

The type of tree you were born from grants you additional features.

Choose one of these origin tree options: Fruitful, Ironwood, and Willow.

Fruitful

Fruitful woodborn are filled with primal magic that manifests as magical fruit or nuts. The fruit they grow is filled with healing energy.

• Restorative Fruit (Major Feature). You can grow fruit that contains primal, restorative magic. A creature that consumes the fruit as an action regains hit points as if you had cast the cure wounds spell on them. Wisdom is your spellcasting ability for this spell. You can only use this ability once and regain the ability to do so when you finish a long rest. If a fruit has been removed from your person, the magic remains until you finish a long rest. Because woodborn have no mouths, you can consume the magic in your fruit as an action, gaining the benefits yourself. The level of your cure wounds spell is equal to your proficiency modifier.

Ironwood

You were born from hardwood trees, and your body reflects this toughness. You can hunker down to withstand powerful forces.

• Rooted Resistance (Major Feature. You can endure attacks that would knock over lesser beings. When you take damage, you can use your reaction to gain resistance to that instance of damage. After you use this trait, you speed becomes 0 until the end of your next turn. You can’t use this ability again until you finish a short or long rest.

Willow

The tree you were born from was supple and flexible. You have inherited the ability to bend and twist more than other woodborn.

• Bend with It (Major Feature). You may reroll a saving throw you just made, but you must take the second result. You must use this before you find out the result of the roll. Once you use this ability, you can’t use it again until you finish a short or long rest.

Minor Features

Choose two of the following minor features.

• Attuned to Nature. You know the druidcraft cantrip.
• False Appearance (Minor Feature). While you remain motionless, you are indistinguishable from a wooden statue. If you remain motionless for at least 1 minute, your clothing and equipment takes on the appearance of wood, and you can look like a small tree.
• Ironwood Armor. Your skin is made from nearly unbreakable wood. When you aren’t wearing armor, your AC is 13 + your Dexterity modifier. You can use your ironwood armor to determine your AC if the armor you wear would leave you with a lower AC. A shield’s benefits apply as normal when you use your natural armor.
• Darkvision. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.
• Fluent. You can speak, read, and write two additional languages of your choice.
• Naturalist. You have proficiency in the Nature skill.
• Nimble Movement. Your base walking speed is 35 feet.
• Trained Tools. You have proficiency in two tools of your choice.