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2015-03-10, 01:11 PM (ISO 8601)
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Can someone make sure I'm understanding the spell Awaken correctly?
As a thought experiment, I decided to create a province ruled by a sentient tree. Think the Swamp, in Avatar: The Last Airbender. But slapped with an Awaken spell. Logically, it actually makes a lot of sense. Trees live longer than people do. Thousands of years. They can have memory of events from ages long past. And the way Awakened is worded, the Awakened creature would be friendly to its creator. Making it a benevolent ruler. Anyway. The logic, and the lore behind that logic I'm set on. It's the specifics of how Awaken works that I need clarification with.
1. Does a tree have a Constitution score? Or, because it's basically a Construct, is that null? It does use the Plant subtype rules and not the Construct ones, right? Meaning the HD and Saves need to be adjusted?
2. Can an awakened tree get class levels? Specifically, I want it to be a Cleric.
3. All these Plant HD. It gets skill points for those. But, does it get "advancement" like a normal character does? As a Gargantuan creature, that's 32HD. Should he have feats and attribute points related to that? I'm not really familiar with the rules behind racial HD.
4. Can I apply templates to it? What templates can I put on a giant plant?
5. The description for Awaken says that:
The awakened animal or tree is friendly toward you.
6. How do the answers you would get from speaking with an Awakened plant be different from those you get using "Speak with Plants" on a regular tree? Does one necessarily have a better memory, or clarity of thought? Are there rules for this somewhere?
7. Does Dispel Magic end Awaken? I think because the duration is "Instantaneous" the answer is "No," but I wanted to make 100% sure.
If I could get a few answers, I'd really appreciate it.
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2015-03-10, 01:35 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Can someone make sure I'm understanding the spell Awaken correctly?
1. A tree does not have a Constitution score, and Awaken does not grant it one. An awakened tree is a plant with a Constitution nonability. It is Plant type so you'll need to adjust HP and saves, yes.
2. If it goes out and adventures, there's no reason an awakened tree (as an intelligent creature) can't gain levels.
3. Feats are a function of HD, so the plant would gain these (the animated object doesn't because it has no Int). The attribute scores, however, are not gained because they're part of the creature's existing stats.
4. Any acquired (not inherited) template that says it can be put on a plant.
5. Every intelligent creature has an alignment (I would make the trees Neutral Good, like treants, but there are no rules on this). However, "friendly" is not an alignment but an attitude, which even nonintelligent creatures have.
6. An animated object has better senses than a tree (since the default assumption for a creature is that they can see, while none such exists for objects). An intelligent tree will also be able to make conclusions and follow abstract trails of thought, so it will be more helpful than a regular tree, which might not even understand events on a day to day timescale. There aren't really rules for any of this since Speak with Plants basically leaves it up to the DM to determine how it works.
7. You're correct - Dispel cannot undo Awaken, nor any other Instantaneous spell. Once an Instantaneous spell has worked, the magic is gone, so Dispel can no more undo Awaken than it can cure the damage from Fireball.
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2015-03-10, 02:02 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Mar 2010
Re: Can someone make sure I'm understanding the spell Awaken correctly?
1. No, the awakened tree does not have a Constitution score despite being of the plant type. No, the awakened tree still uses the HD and saves from being an animated object/the construct creature type (but its Will save will definitely be higher because it will have a higher Wisdom modifier). It's the same confusing thing like those human barbarians summoned by a horn of valhalla that are constructs...
2. Yes. But it will have to earn those class levels, just like player characters or NPCs earn their class levels.
3. It does not have plant HD, despite being of the plant type. However, it does gain skill points (2+Int modifier) for having an Intelligence score. The awakened tree will not be able to gain bonus hit dice of the construct type. But it can gain class levels. Yes, it will have feats because it has an Intelligence score. No, it will not gain increases to ability scores based on its (existing) number of HD. It would gain increases to its ability scores when it gains class levels.
4. Unless your character has some special feat, or the tree has some special properties, then no, you (as a player character) cannot apply templates to it.
5. All creatures have alignments, even ones with no intelligence scores (they normally however always default to true neutral / neutral). Creatures with an Intelligence score could have any alignment. It is very likely that the awakened tree would first have a neutral alignment, and then perhaps shift to another one depending on its own experience and path. The line about the awakened animal or tree being friendly to you has nothing to with its alignment (if your NG druid would awaken a tree that for whatever weird reason immediately starts with a chaotic evil alignment, it would still be friendly to you and inclined to serve you as per the spell).
6. Generally, an awakened tree will now be able to make more sensible comments with its new Intelligence and Wisdom score (even if you rolled a 3 for both) than a tree without those ability scores. It now also gains senses similar to that of a human, so it would probably now be able to understand colors and smells and the passage of time and such.
7. No, dispel magic does not end the awaken spell.
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2015-03-10, 02:11 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Dec 2014
Re: Can someone make sure I'm understanding the spell Awaken correctly?
Flickerdart is correct on all counts, I just want to add a little on the topic of con scores. You are, as DM, well within your rights to give plants a con score, even before the Awaken spell. After all, trees are living beings - treating them as objects doesn't quite make sense, especially in this case, where you are taking away all the other object-like properties of trees. In my opinion, it suits trees to have very high con scores, and significant natural armour and DR.
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2015-03-10, 02:36 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Mar 2008
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Re: Can someone make sure I'm understanding the spell Awaken correctly?
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2015-03-10, 02:39 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Jan 2015
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Re: Can someone make sure I'm understanding the spell Awaken correctly?
Alright, cool. Thanks.
Does anyone know of templates that I can apply to an Awakened tree? It's only Type:Plant, right? With no subtypes?
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2015-03-10, 02:40 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Mar 2014
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- Chicago
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Re: Can someone make sure I'm understanding the spell Awaken correctly?
If the tree is a thousand years old and has roots that stretch for several miles in every direction (like in ATLA), it would make sense that the tree could just gain experience from living that long. It wouldn't necessarily need to adventure and kill things. Just acting as the heart of the forest would be enough.
At least, that's how I would rule it.
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2015-03-10, 02:50 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Aug 2010
Re: Can someone make sure I'm understanding the spell Awaken correctly?
Actually, under the Plant type:
Originally Posted by srdAvatar by TinyMushroom.
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2015-03-10, 03:44 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Apr 2012
Re: Can someone make sure I'm understanding the spell Awaken correctly?
If, in your thought experiment, you're a player, then the most you could usually do is maximize the 'Awaken', empower it, and so on, to get the most out of your new benevolent ruler's mental scores.
If, in your thought experiment, you're the DM, then you could add quite a few templates to it, even inherited templates... maybe the tree you actually awakened mated with a dragon or something, and your new benevolent ruler is actually their progeny.
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2015-03-10, 04:00 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Mar 2008
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Re: Can someone make sure I'm understanding the spell Awaken correctly?
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2015-03-10, 04:09 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Jan 2015
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Re: Can someone make sure I'm understanding the spell Awaken correctly?
I thought I had tagged this DM Help. Oh well.
My funny, high-powered group sailed to a province that has no information in any sourcebook I can find. They were the setting for a novel that I don't have time to read. So I'm making it up. And I decided that the ruler is a tree. Because I was looking for an interesting form of government on Wikipedia, found "Plantocracry," and decided it was a crying shame that didn't mean "Governance by plants."
So, yeah. I'm looking to make an almost demigod-like, Lawful Evil sentient tree. Because I think they'll get a kick out of it. Our one real "agreement" is that I don't homebrew anything. And they don't, either. They have full use of any book in an attempt to make the most broken, power-hungry and fun characters that they can think of. But I have to play by the same rules. Hence looking for templates that I can legally apply to a sentient tree.
Do any exist? Or am I just out of luck?
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2015-03-10, 04:25 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Apr 2007
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- A dungeon
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2015-03-10, 05:50 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Mar 2008
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2015-03-11, 05:00 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Nov 2011
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Re: Can someone make sure I'm understanding the spell Awaken correctly?
Since you asked about dispelling, FWIW the feeblemind spell would presumably affect an awakened creature, in effect un-awakening it. The following is my interpretation (don't call it a houserule :) ) after having read about this issue somewhere on this forum:
"Awaken cannot be used to counter the effects of feeblemind directly, though a formerly-awakened creature subjected to feeblemind can be re-awakened (with new rolls for its Intelligence and Charisma).""This civilization has not yet fully recovered from the shock of its birth — the transition from the tribal or 'enclosed society,' with its submission to magical forces, to the 'open society' which sets free the critical powers of man." - Karl Popper, The Open Society and Its Enemies, 1945
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2015-03-11, 06:13 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Apr 2012
Re: Can someone make sure I'm understanding the spell Awaken correctly?
At worst, feeblemind brings intelligence and charisma down to 1, reversibly. Even if it brought it to zero, that's still different from '-', a non-ability. Because of that, and because there is a lot more going on with the awaken spell than mental abilities, I think that other tread came to the wrong conclusion.
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2015-03-11, 05:33 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Mar 2010
Re: Can someone make sure I'm understanding the spell Awaken correctly?
Hold on...
1. A Creature is a thing with both a Wisdom and Charisma score that can take actions.
2. Living Creatures have a Constitution score.
3. Nonliving Creatures are either Undead or Constructs (or Revenants, but those are non-core, and the unfortunate result of not reading the Undead type correctly).
4. Unless specified otherwise, Ability scores are 10.
5. Awakened Trees are Living Creatures of the Plant type.
6. Therefore, Awakened Trees have a Constitution score of 10.
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2015-03-11, 05:43 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Mar 2010
Re: Can someone make sure I'm understanding the spell Awaken correctly?
The spell's description overrides logical and/or plausible arguments if awakened trees ought to have a Constitution score or not.
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2015-03-11, 06:30 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Oct 2010
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Re: Can someone make sure I'm understanding the spell Awaken correctly?
If you want to make it a powerful Cleric or Druid without all those pesky class levels, Pathfinder has you covered: Cleric Creature | Druid Creature
Plague Doctor by Crimmy
Ext. Sig (Handbooks/Creations)
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2015-03-11, 07:45 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Mar 2010
Re: Can someone make sure I'm understanding the spell Awaken correctly?
The line "except that it gains the plant type" implies that the specific rule that it has the characteristics of an awakened object does not apply to the general rule of plant traits. The need for a specific rule about senses is further, if minor, evidence of this.
EDIT: After some more thought, I feel the question is whether plant traits are added to, xor replace, construct traits, which I can't seem to find rules for.Last edited by tordirycgoyust; 2015-03-11 at 08:04 PM.
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2015-03-11, 08:09 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Mar 2008
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2015-03-11, 08:23 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Mar 2010
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2015-03-11, 08:42 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Mar 2008
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Re: Can someone make sure I'm understanding the spell Awaken correctly?
That's not a rules citation, that's just saying the same thing again. There are two things you haven't explained:
1: Why, despite the tree having the stats of the animated object sans mental scores, it should have a Constitution score too;
2: Why the animated tree should be awarded the 10/11 array for one ability score only.
Specific trumps the general rule. Living creatures have CON scores is a general rule. Awakened trees don't, because they are not described to acquire one.
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2015-03-11, 08:52 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Oct 2008
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- Xin-Shalast
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Re: Can someone make sure I'm understanding the spell Awaken correctly?
Tree? *shrug* Nothing that would interact with a tree's constitution score to my recollection.
An Awakened Tree, on the other hand, needs a Constitution score as a creature with the Plant type, but, ultimately, that's up to you as the DM because the RAW isn't clear.
Much like how the RAW isn't clear on the matter of what happens when a dog wears a +2 Int item.
Yes. They don't have a listed LA or CR adjustment, though, so you have to adhoc that.
Grey area. A creature with 32 HD would have the ability score increases assumed to already have been factored into its ability scores. Seeing as how a Gargantuan Animated Object(because that's what an awakened tree uses as its base) has 16 HD by default, you only count the ability score increases for those last 16 HD.
The Awakened Tree should have feats for all of its HD, though.
Any templates that can be applied to it may be applied and you can always find a way to apply templates as the DM.
An Awakened Tree is a creature. Creatures have alignment. Ergo, Awakened Trees have alignment.
Potentially better grammar, more complex sentiments and concepts can be processed and communicated back and forth and a sophont has the ability to learn and understand and internalize and generalize from information it has received, though how effective this is varies based upon the mental ability scores.
Instantaneous = no.
Do you see any scenario where you'd want to have the answer be otherwise for drama that would actually lead to increasing player engagement or fun? It seems more liable to lead to negative play experiences to me.
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2015-03-11, 09:04 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Can someone make sure I'm understanding the spell Awaken correctly?
Well. The original idea was to have just a NORMAL plant in charge of the entire country. But then I got to thinking. Could one of those even understand complex questions? Global politics? Morality, and memory? So I went to using an Awakened one.
I think it would be funnier if it was a normal plant. And they had to talk to it using Speak with Plants. But if a typical tree isn't mentally competent enough to rule a country, I have to Awaken it. Which has upsides, and downsides. Upside, it can basically be Treant from Golden Sun. Downside, they can't kill it by simply lighting it on fire. Because with 300+ HP, it would take even this party 4-5 rounds to down him. All while getting beat on by a tree. Which I have to admit would be kind of funny. But I kind of wanted to keep the option of actually overthrowing the plant king as an option to them.
So that's kind of where this line of questioning was going. I'm trying to decide which one I'm going to use. It looks like either way, I'm going to have to make a judgement call, because there's no clear RAW answer to all these questions that I have. Which, after 15 YEARS, you would think someone would have noticed by now. But, anyway.
In your best judgement, would a plant ruling a country need to be Awakened in order to do a sufficient job? Or is it possible a normal tree could do just as well?
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2015-03-11, 11:15 PM (ISO 8601)
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2015-03-11, 11:37 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Dec 2013
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Re: Can someone make sure I'm understanding the spell Awaken correctly?
Well, there's head of state and head of government. Are you OK with there being a corrupt council of Druids who are in charge of casting Speak with Plants and presenting laws to the King Tree for approval? And with these druids "interpreting" the will of the King Tree to mean whatever they want it to mean?
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2015-03-12, 12:25 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Can someone make sure I'm understanding the spell Awaken correctly?
If you want there to be a magical tree which is intelligent and wise but immobile and just a tree beside from its ability to think and reason and talk and listen, you could also just do that.
Just have it physically resilient enough that it won't die from a stiff wind or would require something specific to kill it and you should be good.
Or if you just wanna use awakened tree or even Treant stats for a quick idea of what it can do if it gets in a fight you can also have an option for them to get rid of it via treachery instead if you want them to offer them that path or they start to seek it out, too.
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2015-03-12, 12:52 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Nov 2013
Re: Can someone make sure I'm understanding the spell Awaken correctly?
If you opt to give your tree leader class levels, I'd opt for druid3/wu jen3/mystic theurge4/arcane hierophant10
Scale down the level as desired, but both classes can have very strongly nature-themed class features. And of course the wu jen spell arboreal transformation would be awesome for them to have (it turns enemies that fail their saves into treants that serve you).
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2015-03-12, 06:39 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Apr 2012
Re: Can someone make sure I'm understanding the spell Awaken correctly?
You could use a tree shaped druid.
You could use a person somehow PAOed or wished into a tree, then talk to them with 'speak with plants'.
You could have the tree person be cursed into tree form, and spoken to with 'speak with plants'.
The person in tree form, whoever they may be, could also be psionic and be able to talk to people nearby like Justin Tree from Xanth.
The person in tree form, whoever they may be, could also be druidic, and be able to talk to animals and plants all around them, possibly using them as spies and having an entire second kingdom, like the Black Hands encountered in Knights of the Dinner Table.
It could be a tree you decide is smarter and more noble than other trees because of its age, its looks, or maybe it's from a Celestial or Lawful plane (or both).
It could secretly (or not so secretly) be a dryad tree.
It could be any one of a number of evil intelligent trees from the various monster manuals and books, but happens to have the cold subtype for easier burning.
You could awaken it, but have it be a tiny tree, like a ficus (for added irony). Hit dice of trees is a factor of size, so this one would be very easy to burn down, even if it moves around a bit. Mental stats wouldn't be affected. In fact, this might be the only way to burn down an awakened tree, because they get quite a bit of hardness the bigger they get. You could probably stand to give it a few druid levels so it could talk to other plants again, and animals too.Last edited by Bronk; 2015-03-12 at 06:41 AM.
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2015-03-12, 07:37 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Dec 2014
Re: Can someone make sure I'm understanding the spell Awaken correctly?
Regular trees lack wisdom and charisma scores, therefore they cannot percieve the environment and do not have a sense of self and others. In other words, the tree has no idea of 'judgement', 'country' or 'job', and arguably no idea of any of the other words in any of the sentences presented on this forum or elsewhere. That tends to get in the way of government, really.