Awakened Trees Questions.

[RUMBLETiGER]

A statement on the third page of This Thread got me thinking.

I must admit, I've neglected the tree application of the Awaken spell. I realize that a Treant is a different creature than an Awakened Tree. The Treant has a decent DR, the ability to animate other trees, a vulnerability to fire, etc. An Awakened Tree is based around the Animated Object, and I have a few questions about how this might work:
-First off, is the stats of the Animated Object based off the tree size?
-If so, can a tree as large as the Giant Sequioa be Awakened? If so, we're looking at a Colossal+ sized creature. How about something like Pando?
-The land speed of an Animated Object is based off of the number of legs that object has. How does one determine the number of legs on an Awakedn Tree?

 

[TKDB]

-First off, is the stats of the Animated Object based off the tree size?

Yes, the stats of an animated object are always based on size.

-If so, can a tree as large as the Giant Sequioa be Awakened? If so, we're looking at a Colossal+ sized creature. How about something like Pando?

Assuming you can make the Will save required by the Awaken spell, yes. Which would be a pretty tall order for a Colossal creature -- DC 42. Whether you can animate a clonal aspen colony as a single enormous creature would probably be up to your DM. Personally, I wouldn't allow it unless perhaps you could Heighten the Awaken spell to epic level.

-The land speed of an Animated Object is based off of the number of legs that object has. How does one determine the number of legs on an Awakedn Tree?

Personally, I'd say it has no "legs" for the purposes of movement as an animated object, since that gives it the same speed (10 ft) as trees animated by a treant's Animate Trees SLA. However, you could make the argument that the roots count as multiple legs, giving it 30 ft land speed, or that they collectively are about as effective as having two legs, giving 20 ft speed. DM discretion, really.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Reminded me of this:

Here's an interesting fact: Aspen Trees are a clonal species- they can spread by runners. One of the largest organisms on Earth is an Aspen grove in Utah’s Wasatch Mountains that has 41,000+ trunks.

That inspired this:

No Man's Land:

5000 years ago, a druid (whose name is lost to humanity...) of great power picked a large and remote island devoid of human life as his home, choosing a grove of aspen trees his most sacred space. At some point, he chose to cast Awaken upon one of the aspen...and the entire grove came to life! He had forgotten that Aspen spread by runners...the entire grove was actually one plant- and now it had a mind equal to his own. He trained it in the ways of the druids.

Eventually, death found the druid, but his greatest student lived on. Eventually, the Aspen grew enough in power that it began to experiment with Awaken itself. First, it made other Aspen and a few other mighty trees as self aware as it was, forming the Green Council, each a druid, cleric or mage in its own right. They, in time and in turn, granted awareness to some of the animals of the forest...bringing them into a society ruled by the Green Council, each day's food created by powerful magics.

As decades passed, the island became a great druidic haven, but still unknown to man.

1000 years ago, Man came...and he was not ready for what he found. The animals and trees welcomed those who resembled the one who had made their haven possible, but the ignorant sailors who found the island hunted for food for their journeys, and were driven back by the island inhabitants. The sailors returned to civilization to tell tales of the mysterious island to the East, where both animals and trees thought and fought as if men.

The Counci's research of the civilized world (directly and through its awakened, shapechanged agents) has brought them much information about the destructiveness of man...and also solutions as to how to fight back. Those shapechanged agents often lived lives among the so called civilized men, bringing their children, natural shapeshifters, back to the island. The Council did much the same.

Now, the island is inhabited by more than trees and awakened animals. Alongside them now live natural shapechangers and other curious hybrids of man and beast or beast and plant...all members of an insular society on the island.

And they are leery of Mankind's intent.

(In game terms, the island is inhabited by Awakened Trees of the Green Council (each with 20 levels of some combination of Druid, Cleric, Wizard or Sorcerer, some with Epic levels); Awakened animals (any class, Rangers and Druids most common); Anthropomorphic Animals (see WOTC's Savage Species); Shapeshifters (see WOTC's Eberron, but instead of being linked to Lycanthropes, they are linked to Druids); and Woodlings (see WOTC's Monster Manual III).

 

[frankthedm]

Yes, the will save is going to be an issue. Remember each casting costs the caster 250 XP whether the will save succeeds or fails. So even if the caster wants to shoot for a natural 20, it will cost plenty of XP and plenty of time.

[MENTION=6674868]RUMBLETiGER[/MENTION],

Treant has DR, animated tree has hardness and potentially takes energy damage as an object, which means the awaken'ed tree will vary in power depending on the DM.

 

[RUMBLETiGER]

Could this tree be multilegged?

Hm...not sure why it's not resizing smaller. Sorry about that.

 

[Loonook]

Awaken the Children of Gaea
Epic Spell Seeds (Life)
Spellcraft DC: 36
Component: V,S,M,F
Casting Time: 10 Days.
Duration: Permanent (Until Discharged)
Saving Throw: See Text.
Spell Resistance: Yes (Harmless).
Seed: 27 + 30 (3 extra targets), +60 (Reduce DC -30 of caster Awaken checks*), -18 (10 minutes), -9 (10 days) -54 (6 5th Level Druid spells cast by Druids of 9th level or higher (Awaken))
Requirements: Caster and Acolytes must be Druids in the service of Gaea. The Spirits of the Children will become angry if summoned for any purpose that is not a direct threat to Gaea.
Focus: The Circlet of the Mother, worn by the Archdruid of the Cradle of Gaea.
Material Component: The willing sacrifice of four Druids of 7th level or higher, bound to the Children, who must survive the entire Ritual period without food or drink.

This spell awakens the 4 Children of Gaea. Four sequoia that have lived since the dawn of Man, the Children are Colossal+ Paragon Objects (45HD). I winged a few of the DCs bumps based on existing, but I feel that a good chance to kill the minor casters involved with the Backlash and requiring a solid but not implacable Spellcraft DC should assist in making it a spell used in preparation for war and only when absolutely needed.

I figure four 1080 HP, 36 SR, 40ish AC trees hitting for 4d6+35 who can move as fast as horses would be a solid animated object. Of course these would be the largest examples; tune the spell down to call forth multiple Colossals (DC in the 60s), and perhaps this spell could link to that one, lowering the required DC for successful castings as you 'understand' the magic of the trees. I also made it befittingly 'epic', requiring the sacrifice of four druids to call the Children to their ancient vessels as the material component .

Slainte,

-Loonook.

EDIT: Completely forgot that Seed: Life is instantaneous (so no need for the *5) and backlash is per round of casting () so I bumped the DC drop to make it much easier to pass for the Awaken check, and increased the casting time to 10 days (preventing a spontaneous casting of the spell to temper it somewhat), and bringing the DC waaaay down for use by pretty much any Epic caster who meets the pre-reqs.

 

[TKDB]

-54 (9 5th Level Druids with Awaken prepared)

Are you sure you don't mean 5 9th level Druids? A 5th level druid can't prepare Awaken (a 5th-level spell).

 

[Loonook]

Are you sure you don't mean 5 9th level Druids? A 5th level druid can't prepare Awaken (a 5th-level spell).

That would be the case... Very important to correct as the listed pre-req (having Awaken prepared) precludes the error as being incorrect...

Slainte,

-Loonook.

Edit: Corrected a major issue with Backlash (been awhile since I generated Epic Spells), added "component" and "focus".

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Just because:

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hn1iIbIzfWw&feature=youtube_gdata_player]Rush - The Trees (Official Music Video - 1978) - YouTube[/ame]

 

[kitcik]

Sorry, but...

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnlCCZ2cmJo]trees by Marty Casey - YouTube[/ame]