D&D 3E/3.5 [3.5] Would a half-dragon treant still have plant traits?

[Empirate]

Note that in the stat block it says "LE Huge Plant (augmented plant)" - which is obviously not only wrong, but entirely bollocks. I believe that those "'elite' opponents" articles (along with other articles from the WotC homepage) don't really count as hard evidence.

I'd say the text given in the Half-Dragon template description is pretty clear:

A half-dragon uses all the base creature’s statistics and special abilities except as noted here.

And also:

Special Qualities

A half-dragon has all the special qualities of the base creature, plus darkvision out to 60 feet and low-light vision.

Furthermore, templates do not automatically confer the new creature type's traits, and especially don't automatically overwrite the base creature's traits, as is also evident in the following statement common to a lot of template descriptions:

Size and Type

The creature’s type changes to dragon. Size is unchanged. Do not recalculate base attack bonus or saves.

 

[TanisFrey]

It would be a baseless psychological fear, as fire-breathing half-dragons are conveniently immune to fire.

I was to be humorous but, to be serious I was referring to the offspring being afraid of fire do to the fact as a plant it fears fire but it can breath fire.

Looking at the Treant, Treant :: d20srd.org
and looking at the Half-Dragon, Half-Dragon :: d20srd.org
A half-dragon (red, brass or gold) treant, would be both immune and vulnerability to fire. There are two traits are directly in opposition to each other. A creature should not be both immune and vulnerability to the same energy type. I would say that these should whip each other out in some manner. It could be just to remove the immunity and the vulnerability or leave the vulnerability intact and give it an energy resistance of 50.

 

[Empirate]

In this case, the immunity overwrites the vulnerability, albeit in merely mathematical ways: 1.5 times nothing is still nothing.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

So I'm very curious as to how such a union of creature came about.

SOMEbody got drunk and woke up with splinters.

 

[Particle_Man]

I think I read somewhere that immunities overwrite vulnerabilities but alas I cannot remember where.

Didn't find anything while looking at the d20 SRD but did find this:

"Unless a template indicates otherwise, the new creature has the traits of the new type but the features of the original type."

Improving Monsters :: d20srd.org

So that would seem to indicate that the half-dragon treant loses its plant traits. I think.

 

[Theo R Cwithin]

Good catch. I guess it depends if the phrase in the half-dragon template "A half-dragon has all the special qualities of the base creature, plus..." falls under the general template qualifier "Unless a template indicates otherwise...."

Why are you doing this? Could you just go with whatever matches the flavor you want? For ex, a draconic assassin vine that has splintery wooden flesh and sports reptilian scales and spiky flowers keeps the plant traits; whereas one that bleeds when cut and lashes out with fleshy paws and a glistening tongue slick with dragonspittle might lack the plant traits. As a monster, encountered for the duration of a single encounter I doubt it'd make much difference.

If this is for a PC or longish-term NPC accompanying the party, then I can see why you'd need to be careful, though.

 

[Particle_Man]

Basically, my character got reincarnated in a wacky place. Actually I just came back as a "regular" treant but half-dragon was an option on the DM's table and I was curious as to what that would have meant. Another player's character came back as a half-dragon centaur (100' flight speed for the win!).

So basically it was pure curiosity as to whether there was a definitive answer in the rules. Obviously the solution, if it came up, would be "ask your DM".

Actually my DM was very generous, as, while I don't get racial HD, I can base my trample ability on my class HD, and also don't have any ECL issues. I can't animate other trees, though.

So on the one hand I am a 12th level crusader treant in a 11th-12th level party. But at that level, the beat sticks (oh, the puns just cannot stop) are not as much of a DM headache as the pure wizard half-elf, so I think it is ok.

The plant traits sure are nice for a fighter (dr 10/slashing and immune to crits, for starters). The only regret is that some of the buffs don't work any more, as I am immune to morale and mind-affecting stuff. Oh, and sometimes being Huge can be a tad inconvenient.

 

[Jacob]

Apparently yes.

Elite Opponents: Treants

In this article, the half-dragon treant is conspicuously missing the plant traits, while in the article below, the author wonders if undead traits would cancel out the plant traits, and decides taht the former would override the latter anyways, so it is a non-issue.

Elite Opponents: Creatures That Cannot Be II

So yeah, some templates just don't work as well on certain creatures.

I adore a lot of the articles WotC has made for those columns. Many a good idea I would like to try out at some point, including Epic Level Monsters.

SOMEbody got drunk and woke up with splinters.

I plead the fifth.

BUT!!! I will say the idea of a Half Dragon Assassin Vine never came to mind until last week when I was toying with a Encounter Generator, and it crated a group of them plus one that breathed fire. Now that's just cool. One of the many things I've been missing in my game is Dragons and Plants.

Plants are pretty special in how you add them in, but dragons can be anywhere and mate with anything, making almost anything alive a Half Dragon...*ahem* What I could possibly do in order to hint PCs onto the presence of a full fledged dragon is to have Half Dragon offspring littered around the landscape of where they are. I've only done this once so far, but need to start implementing again.

 

[Chainsaw Mage]

I just have to say I LOVE the thread title. It truly sums up, in a brief, elegant phrase, the gonzo direction that 3.x took D&D.

 

[Aeolius]

So I'm very curious as to how such a union of creature came about. I can get a Half Dragon Mind Flayer, but this makes me confuzzled.

I have a similar NPC in my all-animal campaign concept: Nature of the Beast

"Malgris (green dragon) met his fate, in the form of a seemingly innocuous barkburr.... Within moments, Malgris was transformed into a massive oak tree... Near death, the dryad chose to bond with the massive oak... Their spirits unwittingly joined, Malgris and Autumn shared the oak, until it became apparent that the dryad was with child... From the heart of the oak, the druid Hoggan walked. Bearing wings of brilliant emerald, Hoggan retained a portion of the dragon's blood he had once known. "