What is a tree monster called?

Ents are a species of sensitive beings from J. Tolkien's fantasy world of Middle-Earth that look a lot like trees; their leader is Treebeard of Fangorn Forest.

What is a tree monster called?

Ents are a species of sensitive beings from J. Tolkien's fantasy world of Middle-Earth that look a lot like trees; their leader is Treebeard of Fangorn Forest. Its name derives from an Old English word for giant. Treants are imaginary beings from fantasy literature.

The name comes from the union of the English words tree (tree) and giant (giant). Of course, we can't talk about smart trees without including Treants (Basic Rules), page 35. But what about an immobile tree? These can be just as effective and scary if we think about using Sapient Trees in our games. I'm a BIG fan of some of the tree monsters found in Dragonix's Monster Manual Expanded III. If you want to find two fantastic options for immobile trees, you'll have to check out the CR 13 Dragon Root Tree (page 2) for its powerful Dragon Root Bite ability; or, you can take a look at the Executioner's Tree (page 21), which is less scary in CR 5, but it can turn out to be a difficult encounter for lower level groups.

If you're looking for a mobile tree option in this book, consider the CR 7 Noran (page 21), which uses its rock cannon and melee attacks to confront enemies. I also discovered that the expanded version of the Monster Manual contained some amazing variants of Tree Blight (page 3 and later), statistics blocks from CR Treant (page 26). Regarding Treant's large statistics blocks, see Atlas Animalia, from Metal Weave Game, and the accompanying statistics book. The Treant CR 7 Oak Treant (page 156, page 9) has some innate spells that allow it to communicate with the surrounding nature; the CR 7 Banyan Treant (page 159, page 9) has some fun abilities based on emotions and players won't be able to lie to them; the grafted Treant CR 6 (page 157, page 9), which is created by grafting parts of a Treant onto a non-wise tree; and the CR 8 Willow Treant (page 158, page 9) which has a very special connection with plants and can animate them.

You only have to look at Yggdrasil, the central sacred tree that supports the Nine Kingdoms of Norse myth, or the Mesoamerican World Tree to realize its importance. I really like this statistics block because, while the previous one is generally used to fight a druid who has awakened some trees, this one seems like the tree itself is an evil, living entity. Sapient Trees or Talking Trees are a very interesting magical trope that is used in pop culture, high fantasy and modern horror everywhere, and I've always found them very creepy. There are many examples of folkloric or mythological trees from around the world, as often the trees themselves are very symbolic of ancient knowledge, life and rebirth. Irish mythology talks about trees that can talk to a person to help them find gold from an elf, while English folklore says that willows stalk humans.

Jocelyn Caguimbal
Jocelyn Caguimbal

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