Playable Treefolk Race: Floran (PEACH)

[Steel Mirror]

Well, you haven't steered me wrong yet, ocel. I'll change it to be rerolls on a 1, and I'll playtest that with my group next time we meet. It's not nearly as strong as it used to be, and I did like how it used to be, but Floran are objectively a strong race so really this is a much needed rebalance. It just took me a while to admit it!

As for Vegetative Nature, I did like your suggestion for that, but I realized that most long rests are going to happen at night, not while the sun is shining, so forcing the floran to take a long rest in the sunlight sort of messes with the general party dynamic. The change would certainly be flavorful, but I think the current version works pretty well, doesn't require shifting rests around to accommodate the floran or necessitate a bunch of careful bookkeeping or anything, and yet still provides a situational benefit that will be much appreciated when it does occasionally come into effect. Does that make sense? I'm thinking of keeping the current text just for simplicity.

[ocel]

I'll change it to be rerolls on a 1, and I'll playtest that with my group next time we meet.

Excellent. Please let me know how your playtest for it goes when you're done.

As for Vegetative Nature, I did like your suggestion for that, but I realized that most long rests are going to happen at night, not while the sun is shining, so forcing the floran to take a long rest in the sunlight sort of messes with the general party dynamic.

While I understand that a long rest during the day might prove inconvenient for a party of adventurers, I can't help but wonder if it's the same for a short rest.

[Steel Mirror]

Excellent. Please let me know how your playtest for it goes when you're done.

Will do!

While I understand that a long rest during the day might prove inconvenient for a party of adventurers, I can't help but wonder if it's the same for a short rest.

As it currently stands the ability doesn't need any sort of rest, you just need to have experienced a few hours of sun during the day and have had enough to drink. That could mean you spend a few hours sunbathing peacefully, or it could be a few hours of grueling marching and physical exertion, but as long as you get direct sunlight, you get nourished without the need to eat.

Or am I misunderstanding what you are saying?

[ocel]

Or am I misunderstanding what you are saying?

No, I understand how Vegetative Nature works; I just think that it can benefit from some change is all (like the one I proposed to you earlier).

[Grey Watcher]

I feel like there needs to be a third subrace, but I'm not sure what it would be.

You've got sort of the "face" archetype and the "brute", but I feel like there needs to be a third idea. Just can't think of what it would be.

I do like the mechanics, though.

[Steel Mirror]

Another archetype, eh? I'm game, if I can think of something that sounds interesting.

Like you say, we've got a face and a brute...should I try for something more mystical? A tree-whisperer perhaps? A subrace that can manipulate plants directly?

Would a blighted floran be an interesting concept? A member of the race that, through mystical plague, or injury, or personal choice, has been corrupted by some kind of darkness, and turned against the usual slow wisdom that marks most of its race?

Could I make a floran from a different biome, perhaps? Jungle, Desert, Underwater?

[Grey Watcher]

Another archetype, eh? I'm game, if I can think of something that sounds interesting.

Like you say, we've got a face and a brute...should I try for something more mystical? A tree-whisperer perhaps? A subrace that can manipulate plants directly?

I do like this, one that's more in tune with its plant nature, despite being in the "running around like one of those crazed mammals" phase of life.

Would a blighted floran be an interesting concept? A member of the race that, through mystical plague, or injury, or personal choice, has been corrupted by some kind of darkness, and turned against the usual slow wisdom that marks most of its race?

I have mixed feelings. On the one hand its cool, on the other hand I feel like the "subrace full of evil counterparts" is pretty well-trodden ground (eg Drow, Duergar). Still, at least there's precedent. Alternatively, it could simply be Florans who like living this way and are specifically looking to avoid taking root.

Could I make a floran from a different biome, perhaps? Jungle, Desert, Underwater?

Well, you might be able to consolidate some of those into a general "harsh climate" subrace and give it powers that reflect living in an environment where water is scarce and temperatures are extreme, whether that's a frozen tundra or an arid desert. Or you could write up a whole suite of swap-out racial powers, similar to the Land Druid's swap-out class features.

[ocel]

Another archetype, eh? I'm game, if I can think of something that sounds interesting.

Like you say, we've got a face and a brute...should I try for something more mystical? A tree-whisperer perhaps? A subrace that can manipulate plants directly?

That sounds like a good idea for a subrace, Steel Mirror, but what would the rules for it be?

[Rimeraven]

Thank you so much. I was looking for ideas a +2 Wisdom race for our home game and was thinking about some sort of tree race. This is perfect thank you for all the hard work.

[Llama513]

I really love this race, and the thought of having a community, or grove of druids gathered around protecting and being protected by a gathering of Floran, whom I could see being founding members of the grove, that would be a really cool community for player's to interact with, or to have a character come from

[Potato_Priest]

Is it possible that grasping branches could be optionally used to grapple rather than shove? Normally I would be opposed to any grappling that doesn't consume an attack action, but opportunity attacks are a different matter, given that the enemy does something to provoke them. .

[Potato_Priest]

Also, what does PEACH stand for?

[Steel Mirror]

I really love this race, and the thought of having a community, or grove of druids gathered around protecting and being protected by a gathering of Floran, whom I could see being founding members of the grove, that would be a really cool community for player's to interact with, or to have a character come from

Yeah that is cool! The Floran religious beliefs would probably be fun to delve into. I bet your perspective of life and the afterlife would be very interesting when you spend centuries as an intelligent tree while the world moves on around you, but can remember being small and living fast like the rest of the animals.

Is it possible that grasping branches could be optionally used to grapple rather than shove? Normally I would be opposed to any grappling that doesn't consume an attack action, but opportunity attacks are a different matter, given that the enemy does something to provoke them. .

It does sound cool and appropriate, but my first instinct is that it sounds pretty powerful. Then again since shoves can be used to knock someone prone, a floran monk or something is already very sticky. Letting them grapple on an attack of opportunity does feel even better though, as I've seen some grappling controller/tank builds that are positively scary, and this would be sort of like half of the Sentinel feat for free (and with grappling to give allies advantage to boot). I wonder if anyone with more experience building tanky characters and/or grapplers has any input? My gut tells me it's abusable.

Also, what does PEACH stand for?

Please Evaluate And Critique Honestly. Basically, it's saying that feedback, even negative feedback, is welcome.

[Potato_Priest]

I have run hardcore grapplers, and I've also run the sentinel feat before. I can say that while grappling can be impressive, in my experience opportunity attacks are not that common, since any enemy that is going to be running away a lot probably has special abilities to avoid attacks of opportunity, and even those enemies are not particularly common, since a lot of the MM is big brute type creatures.

Additionally, Grappling does not automatically give your allies advantage against a target. To do that, you have to also knock them prone, and doing so is not without drawbacks. When I played a grappler barbarian, the main strategy was for me to grapple the melee enemies and then tank damage while everyone else shot them from afar. Had I knocked them prone, my allies would have had to move into the danger zone or face disadvantage on their attacks.

Grasping branches, as written, will probably be used to knock enemies prone 90% of the time, as it invalidates their attempt at escape by halving their speed, and if the target has already traveled far on its turn, potentially knocks them down for a whole round. That means that it's situationally worse or better than a grapple reaction attack. If it knocks them prone for a whole round, it's better than a grapple. Otherwise, it's worse.

[Steel Mirror]

Grasping branches, as written, will probably be used to knock enemies prone 90% of the time, as it invalidates their attempt at escape by halving their speed, and if the target has already traveled far on its turn, potentially knocks them down for a whole round. That means that it's situationally worse or better than a grapple reaction attack. If it knocks them prone for a whole round, it's better than a grapple. Otherwise, it's worse.

All right awesome, thanks for the rundown! In that case I agree, it doesn't seem especially crazy powerful to add grappling to the mix. Since I'm about to have a player playtest a Floran monk anyway, it seems a good time to buff the grasping branches ability and see how it works out in a game. Thanks for the opinion, and for now I'm changing it so that roothulks can grapple away.

[NovelConcept]

Hey there! I'm very new to this site (just made my account specifically to post here, actually, haha) but I wanted to say that this is a super interesting homebrew race! Very well thought out and unique! Will definitely give the race a try whenever I can.

I also - if I might be so bold - wanted to give a couple of suggestions for additional subraces, if you'd be at all interested in them! I'll go ahead and write them out here, but if you find you dislike them and would prefer to have them removed, I'll strike them off the post, haha. Conversely, if you happen to like them enough to want to include them on the front page - feel free!

Spoiler: Subrace Ideas!

Show

Floran Charwood

Tragic living testaments to the wisdom of a Floran's fear of fire, the Charwoods are the unfortunate byproduct of Florans who are consumed in flame before they reach maturity. Burned as saplings but kept alive by their innate magic, forced to live through and push past every moment of searing pain, the scars of the Charwood are oftentimes more than physical. More bent towards chaos and even evil than the rest of their kindred, the Charwoods are often seen as vengeful spirits of nature by the people who are unfortunate enough to meet those who succumb to the madness of their agony - agony that persists within the near skeletal frames of the Charwoods for the rest of their lives.
Ability Score Increase. Your Dexterity increases by 1.
Burning Hatred. You've been burned before and there's not much else it can do to you that it hasn't done already, but the remembered pain is bad enough. When successfully hit by any sort of fire damage, you fly into a barbarian-like rage for 1 round on your next turn. If the fire damage persists for more than one round, so too does your rage. Additionally, you take half damage on all fire damage, including damage from using Smoldering Embers.
Smoldering Embers. Drawing upon the fire that suffuses your very core, you can light yourself up like a human torch to illuminate the area around you at the cost of of 2d6 of self-inflicted fire damage per round that you keep it sustained. At 6th level, you can extend the fires out further to deal 2d6 damage to anyone within 5 feet of you - friend and foe alike - but add another 1d6 of self-inflicted fire damage for a total of 3d6. While it can be sustained as long as will it to or until you die from self-inflicted damage, once deactivated it cannot be reactivated again until after a short rest.

Floran Sporeling

From deep, mystic caves to the bowels of the Underdark, there exists an uncommon subrace of the Floran people known as the Sporeling. More fungal than tree-like in nature, Sporelings tend to feel disconnected from their bark-skinned cousins from the sunlit surface, and instead form tight-knit groups amongst themselves in an almost clan-like structure. Despite their vast difference in biology, their culture remains true to typical Floran nature, and their elders still do take root within their homes - growing into massive sentient mushroom-like beings, full of wisdom and their own rendition of the Song of Seasons. Unlike other Florans, however, they do not tend to shelter communities of the other mortal races (except for perhaps deep gnomes, on rare occasions), but rather serve as great leaders and guides for future generations of Sporelings that grow from their own spores, rather than wandering seeds.

Ability Score Increase. Your Intelligence increases by 1.
Hallucinogens. Once per long rest, you may exhume fungal spores from your mouth and open pores upon your body to a single creature up to 15 feet away from you. Said creature must make a Constitution saving throw (DC 8 + Prof. Bonus + Int Modifier) or be Confused for 1d4 rounds.
Superior Darkvision. You can see just as well (albiet colorlessly) in natural darkness as you can in light.
Sunlight Sensitivity. When in sunlight, you have disadvantage on all attack rolls and all Perception checks related to sight.
Fungal Nature. (Replaces Vegetative Nature and Wooden Flesh) You are not as durable nor as sun-reliant as your surface kin. Instead of four hours of sunlight, you require a daily four hours of near total darkness. Your body lacks any natural armors, but you have a minor regenerative ability allowing you to regain 1d4 hit points every 10 minutes, provided that you have at least 1 hit point. If you lose a body part, you can regrow the missing part and return it to full functionality after 1d8 + 1 days if you have at least 1 hit point the whole time. Does not stack with ring of regeneration or similar effects - use the strongest effect and override the others.
Mycelium Core. When you are reduced to 0 hit points, you must fail 4 death saves instead of 3 to truly die.

Hope you like them!

[Sariel Vailo]

Im enjoying this race of living woods i might want to play one or not. But i am groot