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Maelynn
2018-04-29, 05:52 PM
For a quest I'm creating I need to know what the consequences are for chopping down a tree that has a Dryad bound to it.

The MM states that such a Dryad "descends into madness". And... well, that's it.

My searches have only yielded 3.5 rules and homebrew stuff, so I reckoned I'd ask here.

What happens to a Dryad when her tree is chopped down? Will she turn hostile? Will she start warbling about flying bunnies and the taste of the colour nine? Will she take revenge only on those who did the cutting? Will she kill herself?

StorytellerHero
2018-04-29, 06:16 PM
Here's an example of a dryad gone insane.

Feeling the pain of loss lingering like a constant massage of rusted, jagged blades inside her core, the dryad used her magic to entrap unfortunate travelers wandering into her territory. She harvested the bones of many men, women, and children to build a new tree, feeling a slight reprieve from suffering every time she added a new piece to the morbid structure.

Armored Walrus
2018-04-29, 06:17 PM
What happens to a Dryad when her tree is chopped down? Will she turn hostile? Will she start warbling about flying bunnies and the taste of the colour nine? Will she take revenge only on those who did the cutting? Will she kill herself?

Sounds like you have your first four entries on your rollable table ;)

I've got a few more;
She animates 100 square feet of the forest and goes on a rampage.
She causes every axe in five square miles to animate and attack its owner.
She dies with her tree and merges with it, becoming an undead treant. (or something like the Golthias tree)
She curses her glade and it begins to produce shambling mounds.
She curses her forest and from now on any wood cut from this forest will immediately petrify, becoming useless for building or for fuel.

Honest Tiefling
2018-04-29, 06:21 PM
I imagine it's very vague so the DM can build an encounter. I do love the idea of the Dryad building a new tree, but I think one cannot simply ignore the classic homicidal rage.

There is also the idea that the Dryad might take a page from Poison Ivy's book and try to turn people into plants. I mean, less people, more trees, right?

Mith
2018-04-29, 06:23 PM
I also like the idea that an old Dryad is reincarnated as an adult Green Dragon as a creature of vengence against the village that the wood cutter is from.

Armored Walrus
2018-04-29, 06:26 PM
She binds her soul to an entity of ultimate corruption. from this day forward any metal object that enters this forest rusts to uselessness in 1d20 hours.

Ventruenox
2018-04-29, 08:52 PM
I misread the title of this thread as "Dryads gone bad" and was expecting a very different theme to the discussion.

Angelalex242
2018-04-29, 11:32 PM
I misread the title of this thread as "Dryads gone bad" and was expecting a very different theme to the discussion.

That's also a plot. "Everyone's husbands disappeared! Go find out why!"

JakOfAllTirades
2018-04-29, 11:37 PM
I realize it may be contrary to the 5E "canon" for both creatures in the Monster Manual, but I'd have a Dryad who died as a result of having her tree killed rise again after a short time as a Green Hag.

Mith
2018-04-30, 12:14 AM
I realize it may be contrary to the 5E "canon" for both creatures in the Monster Manual, but I'd have a Dryad who died as a result of having her tree killed rise again after a short time as a Green Hag.

That probably works better than my Dragon idea. Hags are Fae-ish creatures anyways.

A nymph would become a Sea Hag with similar reasoning.

Angelalex242
2018-04-30, 12:25 AM
That probably works better than my Dragon idea. Hags are Fae-ish creatures anyways.

A nymph would become a Sea Hag with similar reasoning.

If only we had 5e Nymphs

Wryte
2018-04-30, 01:23 AM
If only we had 5e Nymphs

That should be simple enough.

Let's see. Take a dryad's stat block. Give it a 30 ft. swim speed and Amphibous, turn its Tree Stride into Water Stride by changing it from moving from tree to tree to moving from point to point in a body of water, and refluff its spell list so Entangle summons sea weed, Barkskin turns her skin to ice, etc.

Maelynn
2018-04-30, 02:49 AM
Ah, I didn't realise it would be so open to interpretation. This is good... very good.

You see, I had been toying with the idea of making her tree an Awakened one, created by a Druid who felt remorse: the Dryad was bound to this tree because of her affection for him, and he wanted to give her back her freedom. Except she was content in this wood and stayed put. The tree has been slumbering peacefully for years, turning the tale of the Awakened Tree into a folk story that many believe is just that... until the day it finds itself 'attacked' by lumberjacks. The party will have to face the dilemma of stopping a murderous tree... at the expense of an innocent Dryad.

Shame she hardly has any good attacks, that doesn't make her much of an opponent even if she were to go berserk. Although she does have charm... oho, I think I'm going to let one of the Druids from the nearby grove join the party in order to stop the tree, only to have him charmed by the Dryad. That should make the fight a bit more interesting. :D

Honest Tiefling
2018-04-30, 11:38 AM
Shame she hardly has any good attacks, that doesn't make her much of an opponent even if she were to go berserk. Although she does have charm... oho, I think I'm going to let one of the Druids from the nearby grove join the party in order to stop the tree, only to have him charmed by the Dryad. That should make the fight a bit more interesting. :D

Fey don't need no stinking rules. You want to give her attacks? Give her attacks as is appropriate to what the encounter is and what the story is. What, is the party going to complain that the fey don't follow the rules and are TOO chaotic?

For extra funsies, maybe the dryad is keeping the forest in order and stopping OTHER fey from coming in and doing what evil fey do best. Or is hiding an evil artifact. Or is just making sure bears don't come in and eat the villagers.

Ivor_The_Mad
2018-04-30, 11:47 AM
Here's an example of a dryad gone insane.

Feeling the pain of loss lingering like a constant massage of rusted, jagged blades inside her core, the dryad used her magic to entrap unfortunate travelers wandering into her territory. She harvested the bones of many men, women, and children to build a new tree, feeling a slight reprieve from suffering every time she added a new piece to the morbid structure.

Well thats dark. I was just going to say she would probably start running around screaming things like "THE GOPHERS ARE ATTACKING!" or "NOT THE GRAPES". I like your option a bit better.
Edit: Alternatively you could roll a bunch of random madness. Maybe 5 levels or so.

xroads
2018-04-30, 01:27 PM
Shame she hardly has any good attacks, that doesn't make her much of an opponent even if she were to go berserk. Although she does have charm... oho, I think I'm going to let one of the Druids from the nearby grove join the party in order to stop the tree, only to have him charmed by the Dryad. That should make the fight a bit more interesting. :D

Give her class levels. A warlock with pact of the Fey would be perfect. In a fit of madness she makes a pact with an entity from the Unseelie Court, granting her several levels of warlock. Throw in a few fae or nature flavored minions, and suddenly you have a threatening mad dryad.

Or maybe she goes the opposite direction. Nature has failed her so she makes a pact with an eldritch abomination.

Or maybe she makes a pact with an undead power. As part of the deal not only does she gain warlock levels, her awakened tree is brought back in undeath.

Armored Walrus
2018-04-30, 01:32 PM
Why give her levels? Just give her the spell/attack you want her to have. She's not a PC. :P

JakOfAllTirades
2018-04-30, 02:04 PM
Well thats dark. I was just going to say she would probably start running around screaming things like "THE GOPHERS ARE ATTACKING!" or "NOT THE GRAPES". I like your option a bit better.
Edit: Alternatively you could roll a bunch of random madness. Maybe 5 levels or so.

Nothing says MaDnEsS! like Wild Magic run amuck. Give her some levels in Sorcery and trigger lots of Wild Magic surges by DM fiat. Should be interesting.