1. Races

Dryad

Travelers entering a forest might catch a glimpse of a feminine form flitting through the trees. Warm laughter hangs on the air, drawing those who hear it deeper into the emerald shadows.


Dryads are Fey maidens who act as the protectors of forests and trees.


As beautiful and welcoming as a sunlit glade in high summer, as terrifying and deadly as a winter gale sweeping through a barren forest—that's a dryad. In the space of moments.
— Galados of Celduilon

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Treebound

Powerful fey will sometimes bind lesser fey spirits to trees, transforming them into dryads. This is sometimes done as a punishment when the fey spirit falls in love with a mortal and that love is forbidden.


A dryad can emerge from the tree and travel the lands around it, but the tree remains her home and roots her to the world. As long as the tree remains healthy and unharmed, the dryad stays forever youthful and alluring. If the tree is harmed, she suffers. If the tree is ever destroyed, the dryad descends into madness.

Reclusive Fey

Dryads act as guardians of their woodland demesnes. Shy and reclusive, they watch interlopers from the trees. A dryad struck by the beauty of a stranger might investigate more closely, perhaps even try to lure the individual away to be charmed.


Dryads work with other sylvan creatures to defend their forests. Unicorns, treants, and satyrs live alongside them, in addition to druids that share the dryads’ devotion to the woods they call home.

Woodland Magic

Dryads can speak with plants and animals. They can teleport from one tree to another, luring interlopers away from their groves. If pressed, a dryad can beguile humanoids with her enchantments, turning enemies into friends. They also know a handful of useful spells.

Description

They appear to be beautiful women with delicate features seemingly made of soft wood. Their hair seems to be made of leaves and foliage that change color with the seasons of the calendar. During the spring and summer months, the hair of a dryad is lush and green, while during autumn it turns red and eventually brown in the winter.

Personality

Dryads prefer to live away from civilization, delighting in the savage wilderness away from those that seek to cut their trees. They live with respect to nature and accept the company of those that do so as well. Attractive men who are fond of nature are often taken in by a Dryad as both her mate and guardian.


Dryads are generally benign, and attempt to warn off intruders. Only those who are particularly cruel and determined to destroy a Dryad's forest see the full wrath of these Fey.

Abilities

All dryads were magically bound to a single tree. These trees served as the dryad's life force and home. They fought to the death to protect their bonded tree, as should the tree be cut or destroyed, the dryad died soon afterward. A dryad could not stray too far from her bonded tree without suffering the same fate. If a dryad left the vicinity of her tree for too long, she died.


Acorn of far travel: If a dryad spellcaster cast this spell on an acorn harvested from her bonded oak tree, she was considered to be in contact with her tree at all times, regardless of the actual distance between them. Thus she became able to travel great distances without growing sick.


In my youth, you could always find a tree sprite in the Realms if you knew where to look… and were fool enough to do so. These days they are far more rare in the Realms. The ladies of the oaks wield one of the most powerful enchantments known to men. They like to use it on men they find to their liking. And here in Arborea, where passions tend to run strong, it's even easier for their enchantments to succeed.
-Finder Wyvernspur