D&D 4E 4e-->5e Wilden conversion: angry tree demands JUSTICE!

[Piratecat]

We have a wilden in our epic-level 4e party, and I'd like to convert her to 5e. Here's my first stab at the race. Gone is the daily shift between aspects; instead, wilden are split between tough and agile aspects. I'm stealing gratuitously from other races, particularly elves. The original wilden can be seen here.

Comments completely welcome.

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Wilden Traits

Ability Score Increase. Your Wisdom score increases by 2.
Size. Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Darkvision. Accustomed to twilit forests and the night sky, you have superior vision in dark or dim conditions. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can't discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.
Forestborn. You have proficiency in the Nature skill.
Fey Ancestry. You have advantage on saving throws against being charmed, and magic can't put you to sleep.
Deep Roots. If you take a short or long rest on soil once a day, you do not need to eat or drink.
Languages. You can read, speak and write Common and Elvish.
Subrace. There are two main types of Wilden, Stalwarts and Hunters.

Wilden Stalwarts

Ability Score Increase. Your Constitution score increases by 1.
Wilden Weapon Training. You have proficiency with the longsword, shortsword, longbow and shortbow.
Rooted In Place. If pushed, you may make a DC 10 Strength (Athletics) ability check to stay in place.
Forest Magic. You know one cantrip of your choice from the Druid spell list. Wisdom is your spellcasting ability for it.

Wilden Hunters

Ability Score Increase. Your Dexterity score increases by 1.
Wilden Weapon Training. You have proficiency with the longsword, shortsword, longbow and shortbow.
Relentless Pursuit. Once per short rest, you may Dash as a bonus action.
Forest for the Trees. When amongst other plant matter (such as trees or brambles), you can attempt to hide even when only lightly obscured by foliage, heavy rain, mist, and other natural phenomena.

 

[Morrus]

It saddens me that I am unfamiliar with this race. Is it a Groot-type affair?

I quite like the extra info 5E tends to give under "size". A sentence or two there would me useful for me.

Is the race bark-covered? I wonder if some minor barkskin effect might be appropriate? Though I appreciate this is a conversion, so that might not be suitable.

Damn autocorrect. Apologies for any incongruous wording!

 

[Piratecat]

It was in one of the damn 4e splatbooks. The link I gave leads to a decent description of the mechanics, if not all the description. They are apparently newly brought into the world to fight aberrations... not that we play it that way.

 

[Morrus]

Ah, gotcha. I missed the link! Not as Grooty as I was imagining!

Your version of it actually makes more sense to me than the original. I like it!

Those racial powers at the link are odd. I can't picture what's going on there. One of 'em's a teleport, too. I'm guessing you've chosen to tone all that down a little?

I see what you mean about the aspects - so they transform depending on their aspect, with destroyers becoming jagged, hunters becoming camouflaged, and ancients having.. white leaves? I think you made the right choice there. I still feel like the Stalwart version needs some kind of natural armor/bark, but that's a minor quibble. The Hunter's camouflage is handled neatly.

The way I'd do it (and feel free to ignore this) is to keep the three versions, and slip the druid spell over to the Ancients/Secrets version and give the Stalwart some natural armour. That's completely right off the top of my head, though, so it might not work when in place.

 

[Piratecat]

I probably should do three versions but I was pressed for time. And I agree -- those three powers are just thematically weird. I mean, I love the idea of a dryad-like nature avenger, and I like the idea of the creature being able to change its aspect every day, but the result was kind of weird. I can't remember the last time my player changed her aspect, so I'm feeling pretty good about making it two or three separates sub-races.

One possibility for the stalwarts is resistance to blunt weapons. That may be too powerful, though. I didn't initially pick barkskin , mostly because it just lasts an hour, but it does overlap with armor. Might be a great alternative.

EDIT: for stalwarts, I could get rid of weapon training AND forest magic and add resistance to blunt weapons, or I could replace forest magic with Barkskin. Thoughts?

 

[AverageCitizen]

I found this googling for Wilden conversions to steal for my Sylvari (GW2) copy race. Nice work.

I think the Stalwart's "Rooted in Place" ability might not fit the mechanical direction of 5e, since forced movement is usually resisted by a strength save anyway. I think it was Ari who went through and counted how often each save comes up, and IIRC strength saves were a very distant third (con and wis were first and second, respectively), so it probably wouldn't break the world to give the Stalwarts advantage on strength saves. Food for thought.