Yewheart (5e Race)

Yewheart

“	There is not always a good guy. Nor is there always a bad one. Most people are somewhere in between.	”
—Patrick Ness, A Monster Calls

Physical Description

Much smaller version of this. Photo from A Monster Calls (2016)

At a glance, yewhearts look humanoid. But when you look again, and you will look again, you'll see a wooden monster, with branches growing out of its back and head and vines crawling all over its body. Yewhearts appear to be wooden plant beings that have a humanoid shape, accentuated with a mess of tangled and knotted branches poking out everywhere. They are believed to have eyes set deep within their body, peeking out through the cracks in their thick bark. Most yewhearts grow to be as tall as a human adult, though there are plenty who are shorter. Many yewhearts have thick bodies with age, as they start out reed-like when young and tender.

History

The yew tree is the source of much magic. Since ancient times, many parts of the tree are known to have properties tied to healing and magic. Its berries are used in healing potions; its bark has protective powers; and its leaves have medicinal purposes. And it has another secret: its Heart. After a thousand years, and then every century after, the yew tree "births" a yewheart, a creature made from the yew's very center. It is created a whole, and it is the embodiment of the yew tree's desires. It will stay with its parent tree and serve its wishes until the next yewheart is born. After this, the old yewheart will take a single seed from the parent and strike out on its own, searching for a unique place to plant it.

Society

Yewhearts are as rare as yew trees and rarely meet other yewhearts. It is believed that yewhearts and yews all are connected in the world. Therefore, when they do meet, the connection is instant and they will assist each other in any way they can. On the rare occasion when two yewhearts fall in love with each other, they will find a location they wish to spend forever in and plant themselves there, fusing into a yew tree of their own. These yews are known to be larger and stronger than normal yews.

Yewheart Names

Yew trees have long and complicated names, but yewhearts have very simple ones. Each yewheart has a one-syllable name that is a piece of the parent's name. For example, if the parent's name is Yonhoguwakatemlor... (etc) then the yewhearts names, in order of birth, might be Yon, Hog, Gu, Wak, Ka, Tem, and so on. Few yews have lived long enough to use all syllables of its name, but when they do, they start naming again at the beginning.

Yewheart Traits

I Am Groot A race of tree-like humble humanoids.
Ability Score Increase. Your Constitution score increases by 2, and your Strength and Wisdom scores each increase by 1.
Age. After Yewhearts emerge from their Yew tree, they live with their parent for about 100 years before they move on. They live as long as their parent tree, meaning if the tree dies, they do too.
Alignment. Yewhearts tend to stay neutral, leaning only towards lawful. Like any race, there are still some that go above and beyond for good, or out of their way for evil.
Size. Yewhearts stand between 6 and 9 feet tall, their branches reaching even higher. They weigh around 240-400 pounds. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 25 feet.
Timber. You have disadvantage on saving throws against fire damage.
Strong Bark. While not very nimble and your form making wearing armor impossible, you have an ever-resilient coating of bark that protects you from harm. You do not benefit from armor but can still benefit from a shield. Your Armor Class is equal to 11 + your Constitution modifier. This base AC increases to 12 at level 6, 13 at level 11 and 14 at level 16.
Plant Down. You can expend half your movement speed to lay down your roots. You are considered restrained when you do so but you have advantage on checks against being moved or knocked prone and, as a bonus action, you can regain a number of hit points equal to your level + your Constitution modifier while rooted. Using this trait also restores any lost limbs over time. Once you use this trait to regain hit points, you cannot regain hit points this way until you complete a short or long rest.
Plant-Like. Your creature type is plant and humanoid. You do not need to eat or sleep, as long as you spend at least 4 hours in sunlight a day. In addition, you require twice as much water as a creature your size.
Nature's Child. You are proficient in your choice of the Nature or Survival skill.
Berry Tree. You can produce berries from your branches to sustain your companions. As an action, you can cast the goodberry spell once. You cannot do so again until you finish a long rest.
Languages. You can speak, read and write Common and Sylvan.

Random Height and Weight

Base Height	Height Modifier*	Base Weight	Weight Modifier**
5′ 8''	+3d12	230 lb.	× (2d4) lb.
*Height = base height + height modifier **Weight = base weight + (height modifier × weight modifier)

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