Dryad
Wood nymph. A fey.
Have you ever felt a moment of pure peace while resting under the shade of a verdant tree? Imagine this feeling made human. It has soft skin, the color of bark and leaves that match the season instead of hairs.
Peacefully elegant, radical ecologist, incapable of empathy.
| HD: 1 | Armor: none |
| Hit it: hard | Dodge it: normal |
| Move: normal |
It resists mundane weapons and spells (because it’s a fairy). It can speak with animals and plants, hide very well in vegetation, and enter any tree to come out from another in sight. Also, as a imaginary creature, willpower must be used for attack rolls against it instead of dexterity. Out of combat, it can cast divination, enchantment and druidic-themed magic. If slain, a dryad is reincarnated on a full moon if its tree is still alive and healthy.
Attacks (1/round)
Shillelagh. The dryad makes a melee attack with an enchanted stick (1D6). On a hit, the target is grappled to the ground.
Spellcasting. Entangle, Hypnotic Fragrance, Summon Wildlife, Wall of Thorns.
Command Woodlife. One local animal or plant in sight makes a melee attack on a target within its reach. It can save to resist.
Nature’s Lure. The dryad attempts to bewitch one humanoid or beast in sight. On a fail, the target is charmed until it leaves the forest. The charm breaks if the dryad or its allies attack the charmed person. A creature who succeeds its save is immune to this dryad’s charm forever.
Random Encounter
- Monster: 1 dryad & 1D4-1 beasts & 1D4-1 enthralled goons.
- Lair: A great ancient tree in a pristine clearing. The tree is the dryad and the dryad is the tree, hurting one is hurting the other.
OR
Omen: Nature seems to close around you. - Spoor: A living, naked person, half sunk in a tree.
- Tracks: Ethereal singing in the leaves.
- Trace: A dead, naked person, half sunk in a tree.
- Trace: A tree, kinda looking like a human silhouette.
D6 What the Monster Wants
- A human slave for every tree cut.
- Kill the community who encroach on her wood.
- Regrow the forest.
- Find love.
- Raise an army of beasts against civilization.
- Shelter threatened animals.
Salvaging the body
Dryads usually do not carry much and, once killed, it and all the nearby plants immediately dry into wooden husks. Its oak, however, provides the most supple yet sturdy wood and often hides the precious belongings of all its charmed victims.
Practicing magic with a wand made of dryad oak might give a wizard the inspiration to create a spell with the word oak.