The wood woad is a plant creature resembling a big, burly, bestial man made entirely of wood and bark bearing no foliage. They carry part of a tree trunk for a shield and a large branch for a club. They are similar to treants, though much smaller.
Description[]
Appearance[]
A wood woad is a humanoid treelike creature, bearing a wooden club and shield. Its body is armored with bark. Its face is blank and expressionless, with two deep black pits where eyes would be.[1] Motes of light flicker in its eye sockets. The wood woad has a hole in its chest where a human's heart would be.[2]
A wood woad stands around six feet tall, and weighs around 300 pounds. It often has a stocky, burly build, with a circle of branch stubs around its head resembling a crown.[1] They stand with broad proportions reminiscent of dwarves, though a few grow to even greater size.[3]
Personality and alignment[]
Wood woads rarely speak.[2]
Wood woads are brutish and dim-witted, but are not actually evil, being merely protective of small patches of forests and having little interest in affairs outside of their own. If harm comes to their forest, however, they become deadly and curious opponents.
Wood woads are violent and ruthless in the defense of their forests. They seek vengeance for each tree felled, and hold all tresspassers responsible for the actions of past intruders. They are constantly enraged by slain forests.[4]
They are regarded as lawful neutral in alignment.[2]
Abilities and traits[]
Combat abilities[]
A wood woad is physically strong and durable. Its bark-covered body and wooden shield make it a well-defended combatant, resisting bludgeoning and piercing magic. It fights well using a wooden club, which functions as a magic weapon and deals exceptional damage.[2]
The wood woad can see even in the dark. Conversely, its tree-like form makes it exceptionally adept at hiding in forests or anywhere with ample plant life. [2]
Special abilities[]
A wood woad regenerates its injuries as long as it remains in contact with the ground, even if apparently slain. It is also mentally resilient, and cannot be charmed or frightened.[2]
It can also treewalk, or tree stride, stepping into one tree and out of another a short distance away. The tree used must be at least as wide as the wood woad, and it can remain inside the tree practically indefinitely. If a tree is cut down or burned while a wood woad is inside, the wood woad is killed.[1]
A wood woad can warp wood at will, which it uses to twist wooden objects and dead wood. Areas of forest occupied by wood woads often displays signs of such twisted wood where the creatures have used their ability in the past. They use this power to make walls, doors and barriers, creating obstacles for their foes.[1]
Weaknesses[]
As a wooden creature, wood woad are weak to fire.[2]
Ecology[]
Environment and lair[]
Wood woads typically inhabit temperate forests.[1] They are also known to inhabit nature-related planes such as the Feywild, locations linked to those planes, and ancient overgrown ruins.[3]
In Eberron, wood woads inhabit Eldeen Reaches, where they live in the presence of treants and make lairs near old ruins.[1] They also occupy the plane of Lamannia[5] and manifest zones linked to that plane, such as the forests of Ahdryatmin in Sarlona.[6] A few live near the Whisper Woods in northern Aundair.[7]
Life cycle[]
Wood woads are created in an ancient ritual involving the sacrifice of a living person. Unless the subject is willing to sacrifice themselves, conducting this ritual is an evil act. The ritual is often performed by druids or fey.
The ritual requires removing the heart of a living human. A seed is pushed into the heart, which is placed into a hollow in a tree. The tree is showered with the victim's blood, and their body is buried in the tree's roots. Three days later, a plant sprouts from the ground, which grows into a wood woad.[2]
The ritual's caster then commands the new wood woad to take its duty. They are often used to guard a location such as a druid's sacred grove, or to serve as a bodyguard for their creator. They continue this duty unceasingly until it becomes impossible, such as the death of the individual who they were created to protect. Thereafter they become free to seek out a new duty.[2]
Wood woads can survive seemingly indefinitely, and some are ancient. However, they can be slain.[2]
Diet[]
Like a tree, the wood woad survives on sunlight, rainwater and nutrients drawn from the soil. During periods of inactivity, the wood woad plants itself in the ground and draws sustenance from the earth.[2]
Treasure[]
Wood woads rarely carry treasure with them. They are unable to carry items when they walk between trees, other than wooden or vegetable matter. As a result, they are often encountered without treasure.[1]
However, a wood woad often keeps a hidden cache of treasure within a hollow tree or beneath a tree stump, guarded by a thick wooden door. Wood woads typically claim valuable items from opponents they have defeated, and will return to a cache to recover more powerful magical weapons when they spot tresspassers in their territory. They have a reliable memory for the locations of their caches, and can find nearby caches when necessary.[1]
A wood woad's club is simple wood, and has no magical properties when wielded by other creatures.[2]
History[]
Origins and ancient history[]
The original creator of the ancient ritual which spawns the wood woad is unknown. The ritual of their creation has been passed down through druidic groups perhaps since prehistory.[2]
Current activities and goals[]
Wood woads attack anyone who encroaches upon their terrain. They often use hit-and-run tactics, observing their enemies to see if they retreat.[1]
Society and culture[]
Organization[]
Wood woads are often solitary creatures. A colony of wood woads is typically between 3 and 6 individuals.[1]
Allies[]
Wood woads inerringly serve the instructions set by their creator when they were first made. Often, this means to protect an individual, who they will serve faithfully. Some pacts between wood woads and their masters are ancient.[2]
Free wood woads often join the service of a treant or a druid. They are particularly drawn to creatures which protect and respect nature.[2] They make quick allies of centaurs and dryads. They are occasionally tricked into allying with creatures like gnomes, eladrin, and various fey.[4]
Warlocks who make a pact with a powerful fey often use the spell summon warlock's ally to conjure wood woad guardians, who serve as loyal bodyguards and gladly suffer injury to protect their master.[8] The Moonspeaker druids of Eberron learn to summon wood woads from the plane of Lamannia.[9]
Myconid symbionts often bond with wood woads.[10]
Enemies[]
Wood woads attack those who attack that which they are sworn to protect, such as a site of nature, the inhabitants of a forest, or the wood woad's master.[2] They often come into conflict with elves due to overlap between their territories.[1]
Language[]
Wood woads speak a rudimentary form of Sylvan.[1] Some have been known to speak Common and Elven.[4]
Cultural significance[]
The legendary Faerûnian mage Elminster Aumar once wrote on the wood woad, stating that their strength and dedicated to protecting lands and people make them perfect neighbors. However, woodcutters are at danger of raising their ire.[2]
[]
Particularly large wood woad juggernauts are known to exist within some ancient elven ruins.[3]
Wood woads occasionally become druids, and learn the ability to transform into other plants.[3] Such individuals often assume positions of leadership among groups of wood woads. Some instead become rangers and learn to track and hunt intruders upon their territory, especially elves.[1]
Wood woads have much in common with dryads.[4] A folk belief holds that wood woads are the male of the dryad's species, but this is incorrect.[1]
Publication history[]
D&D 3rd edition[]
The wood woad first appeared in Monster Manual III (3e) (2004), p.196.
Wood woad are mentioned in the Eberron Campaign Setting (2004), p.97 as inhabitants of Lamannia, the Twilight Forest. Five Nations (2005), p.34 describes them as inhabiting Whisper Rock. Races of Eberron (2005), p.145 mentions them as servants who can be called by Moonspeakers, while Secrets of Sarlona (2007), p.38 describes them inhabiting the manifest zone of Ahdryatmin coterminous with Lamannia.
D&D 4th edition[]
The woad woad appears in Monster Manual 2 (4e) (2009), p.214, where it is a level 8 soldier and a fey humanoid (plant).
The wood woad guardian, a summoned creature conjured by the Summon Warlock's Ally (Fey) power of warlocks of the Fey Pact, appears in Heroes of the Forgotten Kingdoms (2010), p.227. A wood woad druid is mentioned in Monster Vault (2010), which has statistics for the wood woad juggernaut, a level 15 brute.
Wood woad are mentioned in passing in The Carrion King, Dragon #420 (Feb 2013). Wood woad appear in the adventure module Bark at the Moon, Dungeon #185 (Dec 2010), and a level 14 skirmisher leader wood woad druid in Baba Yaga's Dancing Hut, Dungeon #196 (Nov 2011).
D&D 5th edition[]
The wood woad appears in Volo's Guide to Monsters (2016), p.198.
Creative origins[]
The wood woad was an original monster created by the writers of the Monster Manual III (3e) (2004). The 2004 web article Product Spotlight: Monster Manual III describes the production of that sourcebook, which intentionally created new monsters of every D&D 3e monster type, although the wood woad is not mentioned specifically.
The word "woad" is the name a plant known as Isatis tinctoria, used in Europe since ancient times as an important source of blue dye. It is believed to have been used by Celtic warriors to paint their bodies before going into battle. Despite theories that it was used by the Picts and other groups as a tattoo ink, testing reveals that woad is an irritant and ineffective for use with tattoos.
References[]
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 Monster Manual III (3e) (2004), p.196.
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 2.15 2.16 Volo's Guide to Monsters (2016), p.198.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Monster Vault: Threats to the Nentir Vale (2011), p.106.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Monster Manual 2 (4e) (2009), p.214.
- ↑ Eberron Campaign Setting (2004), p.97.
- ↑ Secrets of Sarlona (2007), p.37.
- ↑ Five Nations (2005), p.34.
- ↑ Heroes of the Forgotten Kingdoms (2010), p.227.
- ↑ Races of Eberron (2005), p.145.
- ↑ The Carrion King, Dragon #420 (Feb 2013).