Elderoot Tree
Select Subtype:
Description:
Elderoot trees are believed to be the trees brought from the faeries realms to reclaim the corrupted forests and wilds from humanoid societies. Some say these are the same as the ancient primordial eoten, though others assert they are distinct and suggets that the eoten and spriggan may be at war with these fae trees. Others claim that elderoot trees are not distinct entities, but rather that each individual is merely a branch of a single great tree growing perhaps sprouting to the surfaces from an undiscovered hollow world, or perhaps breaching a dimensional barrier from the faerie realms themselves. In any case, elderoot trees are exceedingly rare, and seem only to ever be present when there are significant faerie incursions into the mortal realms.
Though no one has ever been known to witness it (and survive), when elderoot trees appear it is suddenly - usually as if they have grown in place overnight - and often destroying large areas or structures by growing though them as if to reclaim them. A tree that would seem a thousand years old can grow from out of nowhere, destroying even fortified structures in hours or perhaps minutes.
It is believed that elderoot trees create faestruck by capturing individual humanoids, entangling them in their branches, and somehow transforming them into these strange fae-humanoid hybrids - no one has ever witnessed this and survived to confirm the rumour.
Special:
Elderoot trees are large, immobile and do not commuicate with humanoids - though they are far from defenseless. They are immune to non-magical weapons and to poisons and disease, and their senses allow them to detect any living or moving thing that shades under their branches or walks over the earth covering their roots out to twice the radius of the extent of their branches. They use spells to defend themselves, but are also generally protected by faeries. Notably, among their branches elderoot trees will have several cocoons or pods which from a distance appear to be large fruit. These pods contain faestruck, and if threatened, the faestruck will be dropped from the pods to the ground to defend the tree.
Elderoot trees can use their constrict attack to entangle and then crush opponents by applying their strong damage each turn an entangled victim fails to escape. If rendered unconscious in this way, the tree will pull the victim up into the canopy and encase them in a new cocoon, at which point they will be exposed to the Haemogalia 'disease' and begin the slow process of transformation into a faestruck.
Variants:
Ancient
Ancient elderoot trees are enormous, and can reach heights of over 100 meters, with a shaded radius (branch radius) of 50m (25h) and a root radius (for detecting approaching threats of 100m (50h). An ancient elderoot tree will have 8d8 pods growing among its branches, each containing a faestruck (random species). It can release up to 8 of these per turn to the ground, and they will begin defending the tree the following turn.
An ancient elderoot tree can attack up to 8 times per turn, either striking with its heavy branches or attempting to grab and entangle enemies and hoist them into its canopy where it will constrict them until they are unconscious then attempt to turn them into more faestruck. Individual branches holding captured victims can be severed by doing damage to them equal to the tree's Stability (these hits also damage the tree's total health).
Elder
Elder elderoot trees are very large, and can reach heights of over 75 meters, with a shaded radius (branch radius) of 40m (20h) and a root radius (for detecting approaching threats of 80m (40h). An elder elderoot tree will have 4d8 pods growing among its branches, each containing a faestruck (random species). It can release up to 6 of these per turn to the ground, and they will begin defending the tree the following turn.
An elder elderoot tree can attack up to 4 times per turn, either striking with its heavy branches or attempting to grab and entangle enemies and hoist them into its canopy where it will constrict them until they are unconscious then attempt to turn them into more faestruck. Individual branches holding captured victims can be severed by doing damage to them equal to the tree's Stability (these hits also damage the tree's total health).
Mature
Mature elderoot trees are large, and can reach heights of over 50 meters, with a shaded radius (branch radius) of 30m (15h) and a root radius (for detecting approaching threats of 60m (30h). A mature elderoot tree will have 2d8 pods growing among its branches, each containing a faestruck (random species). It can release up to 4 of these per turn to the ground, and they will begin defending the tree the following turn.
A mature elderoot tree can attack up to twice per turn, either striking with its heavy branches or attempting to grab and entangle enemies and hoist them into its canopy where it will constrict them until they are unconscious then attempt to turn them into more faestruck. Individual branches holding captured victims can be severed by doing damage to them equal to the tree's Stability (these hits also damage the tree's total health).
Sapling
While saplings are the smallest of the elderoot trees, they are still larger than more ordinary trees, and can reach heights of over 25 meters, with a shaded radius (branch radius) of 20m (10h) and a root radius (for detecting approaching threats of 40m (20h). A sapling elderoot tree will have 2d4 pods growing among its branches, each containing a faestruck (random species). It can release up to 2 of these per turn to the ground, and they will begin defending the tree the following turn.
A sapling elderoot tree can only attack once per turn, either striking with its heavy branches or attempting to grab and entangle enemies and hoist them into its canopy where it will constrict them until they are unconscious then attempt to turn them into more faestruck. Individual branches holding captured victims can be severed by doing damage to them equal to the tree's Stability (these hits also damage the tree's total health).