D&D 5E Animism in D&D

[Haldrik]

I am trying to figure out how to represent a "nature spirit" in D&D.

For example, there is an important mountain. The more important the mountain is to the culture of the human inhabitants, the more salient, powerful, and "present" the spirit of this mountain is. The mountain has an active personality, and is a person.

Probably, a psionic worldview works best, where the mountain has a psionic presence, and is a mind. The mountain has a mind, that can interact with the minds of the human inhabitants. Especially by dreams, visions, and even strange physical encounters as if the mountain is a human-like person. The mechanics of psionics explains this kind of interaction well.

What is interesting is, the mind of the mountain can manifest physically as if a human. This human is a kind of avatar of the mountain, projecting out of the mountain to do activities that are of concern to the mountain.

In other words, this "human" seems almost identical to a D&D "summon" spell. The spirit takes on a physical form during combat, but if reaching zero hit points, the physical form dissipates, and the spirit returns home from where it came. Essentially, the psionic mountain "conjures" itself into a physical form.

It seems, this human form can last indefinitely. Sometimes the spirit of a mountain can live among humans for an entire lifetime, even have children with a human. The children seem like humans that are "gifted" magically with various aspects of the mountain. Maybe strength, maybe beauty, etcetera. At the same time, the mountain spirit can − at any time − feel homesick and want to return to living the life of a mountain. If reaching zero hit points, the body vanishes, or perhaps turns to stone, when the spirit reverts back to the mountain.

A nature spirit can be a player character concept. The playable aspect is a "conjuration", that functions moreorless like normal human, albeit there are telltale signs, such as mountainous-Strength, stony-Constitution, memory-Intelligence, willpower-Wisdom, and majestic-Charisma, along with a proclivity for "mindful" magical abilities. Nevertheless, the conjuration can be comparably balanced with the power of a human, especially a heroic human. Nature spirits vary in personal power, and any D&D level advancement is possible.

The mountain character is a specific mountain. The conjuration adventures any distance away, just like any other human. When the conjuration reverts back to a mountain, the character is simply "removed from the grid", and is back "home" doing downtime.

Probably, killing the conjuration of a mountain feels less than nice to the mountain. The mountain spirit probably needs time to restore (refresh or reform). It might be that a "dead" mountain character functions similarly to a dead human character, whose soul might go elsewhere or possibly still lingering nearby. The dying rules for a mountain character function moreorless normally. Except, there can be a fun twist. Perhaps the dead mountain conjuration petrifies to stone. The Revivify spell would leave the stony corpse where it is, but fully form a new conjuration of the mountain.

Something like this for animistic nature spirits.

 

[Cadence]

I am trying to figure out how to represent a "nature spirit" in D&D.

For example, there is an important mountain. The more important the mountain is to the culture of the human inhabitants, the more salient, powerful, and "present" the spirit of this mountain is. The mountain has an active personality, and is a person.

Probably, a psionic worldview works best, where the mountain has a psionic presence, and is a mind. The mountain has a mind, that can interact with the minds of the human inhabitants. Especially by dreams, visions, and even strange physical encounters as if the mountain is a human-like person. The mechanics of psionics explains this kind of interaction well.

What is interesting is, the mind of the mountain can manifest physically as if a human. This human is a kind of avatar of the mountain, projecting out of the mountain to do activities that are of concern to the mountain.

In other words, this "human" seems almost identical to a D&D "summon" spell. The spirit takes on a physical form during combat, but if reaching zero hit points, the physical form dissipates, and the spirit returns home from where it came. Essentially, the psionic mountain "conjures" itself into a physical form.

It seems, this human form can last indefinitely. Sometimes the spirit of a mountain can live among humans for an entire lifetime, even have children with a human. The children seem like humans that are "gifted" magically with various aspects of the mountain. Maybe strength, maybe beauty, etcetera. At the same time, the mountain spirit can − at any time − feel homesick and want to return to living the life of a mountain. If reaching zero hit points, the body vanishes, or perhaps turns to stone, when the spirit reverts back to the mountain.

A nature spirit can be a player character concept. The playable aspect is a "conjuration", that functions moreorless like normal human, albeit there are telltale signs, such as mountainous-Strength, stony-Constitution, memory-Intelligence, willpower-Wisdom, and majestic-Charisma, along with a proclivity for "mindful" magical abilities. Nevertheless, the conjuration can be comparably balanced with the power of a human, especially a heroic human. Nature spirits vary in personal power, and any D&D level advancement is possible.

The mountain character is a specific mountain. The conjuration adventures any distance away, just like any other human. When the conjuration reverts back to a mountain, the character is simply "removed from the grid", and is back "home" doing downtime.

Probably, killing the conjuration of a mountain feels less than nice to the mountain. The mountain spirit probably needs time to restore (refresh or reform). It might be that a "dead" mountain character functions similarly to a dead human character, whose soul might go elsewhere or possibly still lingering nearby. The dying rules for a mountain character function moreorless normally. Except, there can be a fun twist. Perhaps the dead mountain conjuration petrifies to stone. The Revivify spell would leave the stony corpse where it is, but fully form a new conjuration of the mountain.

Something like this for animistic nature spirits.

Is there anything in the PF Kami that gives a start? The Jinushigami is the one that goes for an entire mountain. It feels like an entire mountain should be awfully powerful a PC though (as opposed to a hill or stream or big tree). Kami, Jinushigami – d20PFSRD

My other thought would be to see if there was anything in the half-elemental/half-human races like the genasi or elemental racial variants ( Elemental Racial Variants :: d20srd.org ) that could work. Is an incarnate mountain at all similar to a half-earth elemental when it manifests?

 

[TheSword]

I think you’re talking about a Genius Loci. A manifested spirit of a location. There was a spell in 3e that conjured one as an elemental guardian. There was an epic level monster in the Epic Level Handbook. Darksun has the spirit of the land, which was an epic level Druid transformed into a nature spirit.

It’s a cool concept. Also similar to that expressed in Guardians of the Galaxy 2!

I would make it a regenerating elemental spirit that if destroyed returns after a predetermined time has passed, one hour or at dawn for instance. Have a focal location somewhere in the area that has a ‘heart’ destroy that and the spirit is destroyed, might be a clear water pool Or a crystal outcropping. Have the land itself and the creatures within defend the heart.

Genius Loci – Spell – D&D Tools

Spirit of the Land - Darksun 5e monstre

Genius Loci :: d20srd.org

 

[Haldrik]

Is there anything in the PF Kami that gives a start? The Jinushigami is the one that goes for an entire mountain. It feels like an entire mountain should be awfully powerful a PC though (as opposed to a hill or stream or big tree). Kami, Jinushigami – d20PFSRD

My other thought would be to see if there was anything in the half-elemental/half-human races like the genasi or elemental racial variants ( Elemental Racial Variants :: d20srd.org ) that could work. Is an incarnate mountain at all similar to a half-earth elemental when it manifests?

I am unfamiliar with Pathfinder. I can say, D&D does "nature spirits" less well, because the "plane" of Feywild is too far away, and the fey spirits are too disconnected from the features of this world.

It is important to emphasize, a particular mountain is a person, a particular tree is a person, and so on.

So, the minds need to be part of the material plane. That is also why psionics works well. Because psionic minds can be in this world, and still roam this world.

Genasi cannot work as a nature spirit. The character must be an actual mountain, literally, or a specific wellspring, literally, or so on. The mechanics must be in place to represent how a mountain interacts with the world around it. The character has to be able to revert back home to the mountain form. On the other hand, something like a genasi might represent the offspring of a human and a mountain.

Indeed, a mountain seems like a high level character. A player character would probably start "smaller" in some sense. Maybe a less significant mountain, in a remote uninhabited location. Or else, a smaller rock feature, of a mountain. It can be that two mountains project as a kind of parent, and other nearby nature spirits like a mountain stream, or icecap, or forested slope, an interesting rock formation on one of the mountains, or so on, behave as if the children of these two parents, so there is a kind of family of nature spirits who interact with each other as if a family.

Note, nature spirits can relocate. For example, there are stories about various kinds of nature spirits who left Europe and took up residence in the Americas. So, the mind of one natural feature can project outward and choose to abandon its physicality (especially if adventuring as an avatar), then become a new natural feature somewhere else (especially if it is similar to the former natural feature). I am unsure how to go about nature spirits "exchanging portfolios". But obviously, if one feature is abandoned, and other nature spirit can claim it. Also the landspirit of a house can become the "landspirit" sotospeak of a boat. Probably, a remote natural feature lacks significance to humans likewise lacks a spirit, thus the arrival a nature spirit that becomes it, implies a human community becoming concerned with this particular natural feature.

 

[Haldrik]

I think you’re talking about a Genius Loci. A manifested spirit of a location. There was a spell in 3e that conjured one as an elemental guardian. There was an epic level monster in the Epic Level Handbook. Darksun has the spirit of the land, which was an epic level Druid transformed into a nature spirit.

It’s a cool concept. Also similar to that expressed in Guardians of the Galaxy 2!

I would make it a regenerating elemental spirit that if destroyed returns after a predetermined time has passed, one hour or at dawn for instance. Have a focal location somewhere in the area that has a ‘heart’ destroy that and the spirit is destroyed, might be a clear water pool Or a crystal outcropping. Have the land itself and the creatures within defend the heart.

Genius Loci – Spell – D&D Tools

Spirit of the Land - Darksun 5e monstre

Genius Loci :: d20srd.org

I dislike the terminology of "genius loci", because it is synonymous with "local gods", the god of a particular location, which is polytheism, thus in some ways the opposite of animism. For example, a Greek nymph is a goddess, and has nearby local humans who worship it.

Still it is an aspect of polytheism that preserves some proximity to its ancient animistic origins.

It is extremely important to understand, that there is no "worship" in animism. The relationship between a human and a nature spirit, is moreorless identical to the relationship between one human and an other human. Some humans might be more eccentric than other humans, but these are fundamentally human relationships.

 

[Cadence]

I am unfamiliar with Pathfinder. I can say, D&D does "nature spirits" less well, because the "plane" of Feywild is too far away, and the fey spirits are too disconnected from the features of this world.

It's bascially 3.5 D&D.

It is important to emphasize, a particular mountain is a person, a particular tree is a person, and so on.

So, the minds need to be part of the material plane. That is also why psionics works well. Because psionic minds can be in this world, and still roam this world.

Genasi cannot work as a nature spirit. The character must be an actual mountain, literally, or a specific wellspring, literally, or so on. The mechanics must be in place to represent how a mountain interacts with the world around it. The character has to be able to revert back home to the mountain form. On the other hand, something like a genasi might represent the offspring of a human and a mountain.

I was more just picturing a template (either the Kami or the Genasi) to give you things to think about for the rules for when they're incarnate. It sounds like you have the story elements you want down.

 

[Haldrik]

A nature spirit an actual physical feature within the landscape, skyscape, and waterscape of nature.

Also, a nature spirit is weirdly dependent on humans. The human culture that gives mental attention to a natural feature "creates" a nature spirit. For example, to the degree that a culture can meaningfully distinguish one tree from an other tree, it likewise creates a distinction between the mind of tree and the mind of an other tree. Or one stone is recognizably different from an other stone. Thus each stone has its own spirit.

But if a culture fails to distinguish between features, and the features lack "significance", then likewise there are no nature spirits for it.

I seems like each nature spirit player character also adopts a nearby local community or even specific human family. The nature spirit can be fond of these humans and be a guardian of them. For example, a neat boulder in the farm of a human, might protect the family of the farm, because of a good deed that one of their ancestors did. Or the nature spirit can be annoyed with these humans and be adversarial against them. Or both, in a complex human-like relationship. So there is an ingame relationship happening.

The thing about a rock is, the rock is normally happy being a rock. And kinda just sits there. But sometimes the rock is curious about a particular human, or sometimes the rock is motivated by relationships with other natural features.

 

[Haldrik]

I was more just picturing a template (either the Kami or the Genasi) to give you things to think about for the rules for when they're incarnate. It sounds like you have the story elements you want down.

The thing is, a nature spirit who physicalizes can seem like a completely normal human. So even a human with a feat as a reasonable way to represent a "conjuration" of nature spirit. At the same time, the choice to go full-on superhuman magical person is also fine. The D&D "zero to hero" advancement works fine for nature spirits too.

I view elves as "conjurations" of sunrays that sometimes shine and sometimes hide. Plants love and need sunlight, but these elves are a skyey phenomenon. In this case, the elf who is a projection of sunlight resembles a human, but might seem to be noticeably different from a normal human, and might have a heritage that is different form a human heritage. It is also possible that some sunrays project into the form of a swan or whatever, with little to do with a human, albeit a swan is sometimes less useful as a player character. (Huh. I am just realizing the probable origin of the "familiar animal" concept.)

There is no need for a specific template for nature spirits, but if a player wants a specific template, that seems doable. Also, it seems like different aspects of nature might "tend" toward certain characteristics. I assume a mountain or rock would be strong. I assume fire would be beautiful. Stuff like that. So a "suggestive" template might be useful.

 

[Haldrik]

Is there anything in the PF Kami that gives a start? The Jinushigami is the one that goes for an entire mountain. It feels like an entire mountain should be awfully powerful a PC though (as opposed to a hill or stream or big tree). Kami, Jinushigami – d20PFSRD

My other thought would be to see if there was anything in the half-elemental/half-human races like the genasi or elemental racial variants ( Elemental Racial Variants :: d20srd.org ) that could work. Is an incarnate mountain at all similar to a half-earth elemental when it manifests?

Thanks for the link. I will look it over to give a more helpful consideration of it.

 

[Cadence]

A nature spirit an actual physical feature within the landscape, skyscape, and waterscape of nature.

Also, a nature spirit is weirdly dependent on humans. The human culture that gives mental attention to a natural feature "creates" a nature spirit. For example, to the degree that a culture can meaningfully distinguish one tree from an other tree, it likewise creates a distinction between the mind of tree and the mind of an other tree. Or one stone is recognizably different from an other stone. Thus each stone has its own spirit.

But if a culture fails to distinguish between features, and the features lack "significance", then likewise there are no nature spirits for it.

I seems like each nature spirit player character also adopts a nearby local community or even specific human family. The nature spirit can be fond of these humans and be a guardian of them. For example, a neat boulder in the farm of a human, might protect the family of the farm, because of a good deed that one of their ancestors did. Or the nature spirit can be annoyed with these humans and be adversarial against them. Or both, in a complex human-like relationship. So there is an ingame relationship happening.

The thing about a rock is, the rock is normally happy being a rock. And kinda just sits there. But sometimes the rock is curious about a particular human, or sometimes the rock is motivated by relationships with other natural features.

In today's MtG story Nissa drew out what she called an elemental by paying attention to it - nature spirit might fit better. Power not exactly proportional to size though. I'm not sure how often they self emerge.

Nissa crouched down to one of the ferns. Its leaves were as large as she was, but its flowers were tiny, delicate, and blue.

"How is it possible for plants to thrive here?" Nahiri asked, coming up behind her.

Nissa smiled. "You'd be surprised at how many things thrive in unlikely places on this plane."

"How—"

Nahiri began to speak again, but Nissa tuned her out. She rested a hand on the top of the fern, like a parent's hand on the head of a child. She closed her eyes and felt its life under her fingers, felt its struggle and its pride in surviving in such a foreboding place. Nissa smiled at that strength and that pride. And she called it forth.

She heard Nahiri give a gasp as the elemental emerged into existence. It was a tall thing, twice her height, green and vibrant as its life force, its head a mass of fronds with small chains of blue flowers entwining its arms and neck.

"What is that?" Nahiri said, taking a step back.

"A friend," Nissa said as the elemental knelt so it was almost eye level. She wasn't about to explain that before she became a planeswalker, before she joined the Gatewatch, these were the first creatures to accept her as she was.