Talk:Dryad (4e Race)

I've changed the Dryad to have the standard Claw fighting feature on the Dandwiki but Now it seems rather weak having only two aspects that effect gameplay, as such I feel that it should have some more features though at the moment I am unsure of what those should be. --Aitharious (talk) 15:21, 7 July 2016 (MDT)

Vulnerability to Fire

Maybe something along the lines of "Vulnerability to Fire" could be added? --Green Dragon 23:26, 6 January 2010 (UTC)

Thanks for looking over the article! Adding fire vulnerability is a cute idea. I would add it, but I suspect it runs counter to 4th ed. D&D design philosophy for player races. None of the official PC races have vulnerabilities. I believe in 4th ed. they've decided to define races strictly in terms of bonuses and advantages. Of course, there's no particular reason a homebrew race need adhere to this restriction, but I'm trying to be as faithful as possible to the style of the official 4e races. I'm just going to assume that Dryads are very wet, green trees, and unlikely to catch fire. --Lysos 16:33, 9 January 2010 (UTC)

I just see trees as more susceptible to fire then others. Just imagine a wizard firing a fireball at a higher level Dryad and a Human. Although both are going to get injured the human, being flesh, is not going to light up in flames, and the Dryad being a tree is going to. Although this seems almost impossible to factor into 4e D&D because of, as you said above, the issue with races being defined only by bonuses and advantages, I feel it would add a more realistic aspect to this race. Maybe something, I just don't know. Do you see what I mean? --Green Dragon 03:16, 10 January 2010 (UTC)

You do have a point there. It's a conflict of mechanics with flavour. Hum hum. It's tempting to add "Vulnerable half level fire" --Lysos 03:36, 10 January 2010 (UTC)

I also find it kind of bothersome that 4e seems to neglect weaknesses and vulnerabilities. I wonder if there's a way that frailties can be implemented in a way that might accompany advantages. --Akherontis 03:57, 10 January 2010 (UTC)

The only place I can recall seeing a PC vulnerability is the Assassin class's shade form, which grants insubstantial and stealth benefits, but also vulnerable 5 radiant. --Lysos 20:02, 11 January 2010 (UTC)

I've added "except fire" to the tree form power for flavour purposes. It's the best I can come up with. Dryads in the monster manual aren't vulnerable to fire anyway. --Lysos 20:02, 29 January 2010 (UTC)

Speed

MrMaster changed the speed from 7 to 6, I've changed it back, as I'd rather have Dryads be a bit faster than humans, and it is not without precedent, as elves and gnolls have a speed of 7. In fact, in the monster manual, Dryads have a speed of 8. If there is a feeling that letting Dryads have a speed of 7 is over-powered, discuss it here! --Lysos 20:02, 29 January 2010 (UTC)

Seeker

Seekers are a new class due to appear in PHB3. Seekers aren't out yet, but I've taken the liberty of adding them to the list of recommended classes. As a primal class, I feel that seekers are thematically appropriate for dryads, and as one of the two builds for the class is wis/str, mechanically, dryads make good seekers. --Lysos 20:02, 29 January 2010 (UTC)

Gender

Like trees, I've decided that Dryads are technically, hermaphrodites. Dryads do have gender though in that their appearance approximates that of a humanoid of a particular sex. I've said in this article that Dryads are usually of the female gender, as the Dryads of Greek mythology were always female. But one could just as easily have it that male Dryads are common in the world of Dungeons and Dragons. The Monster Manual doesn't say either way, though the Monster Manual 2 features a Wood Woad, which just looks like an angry male Dryad. If someone felt strongly about this, they could add a list of male names and change some of the flavour text in the article. --Lysos 20:10, 29 January 2010 (UTC)