Awakening a tree -- Con score

[Lord Rasputin]

I'll cut to the chase. I am in a one-off Epic game, and my druid would want a few awakened trees around. How would I determine their Con score? The awaken spell gives the mental stats for an awakened tree, but says that otherwise it is an animated object, which has no Con score (because it is not alive).

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

If it's medium, give it 12 Con (or roll 3d6+2 Con). For every size category larger, add +4 Con. This is based on the treant's stats and on the stat expectations for 3.0 plants.

 

[AGGEMAM]

An awakened tree doesn't have a con score.

What's the problem with that.

 

[Lord Rasputin]

An awakened tree doesn't have a con score.

What's the problem with that.

Trees are plants, not constructs, and alive. According to the SRD, if you do not have a Con score, you are not alive; you are an object, a construct or undead. An awakened tree, while magically imbued, is still alive, and thus would have a Con score.

 

[AGGEMAM]

, if you do not have a Con score, you are not alive;

Brrr. Wrong.

Look.

Constitution: Any living creature has at least 1 point of Constitution.

Note that regular plants, such as one finds growing in gardens and fields, lack Wisdom and Charisma scores (see Nonabilities, above) and are not creatures, but objects, even though they are alive.

An awakened tree has characteristics as if it were an animated object, except that it gains the plant type and its Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma scores are each 3d6.

Don't read this things into the rules that it doesn't say you should. Awakened trees do not have a Con score. And thier Con modifier is therefore 0(zero).

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

Brrr. Wrong.

Don't read this things into the rules that it doesn't say you should. Awakened trees do not have a Con score. And thier Con modifier is therefore 0(zero).

I think Lord Rasputin is looking for advice for house rules. If you ask me, awakened trees without Con scores is just lame.

 

[Lord Rasputin]

Brrr. Wrong.

Look.

Don't read this things into the rules that it doesn't say you should. Awakened trees do not have a Con score. And thier Con modifier is therefore 0(zero).

I didn't ask for your rudeness. And not a single item you posted supports your argument; I'm well aware of the awaken spell description, as you can see from the original post. I think the Con roll being missing is an oversight (or, as Psi said, it should be an oversight). The tree has ceased to be an ordinary tree in the forest, and all other creatures of the plant type have Con scores (yes, I checked), and the tree has gained this type. Indeed, your quote mentions that they lack Wis and Cha scores, which the awakened plant would have, not Con scores.

Don't read into others' posts that other folks do not understand and you do, when other folks do understand.

I think I'll e-mail the errata folks, or the Sage, and just use Psi's quickie calculation for the one-off.

 

[The Souljourner]

Well, by the rules, it wouldn't have a con score, which I don't think is a big deal. And the spell does *specifically* say to treat it as an animated object, which, you'll note, also don't have con scores. It's entirely possible that they intended for the trees not to have con scores.

*shrug* I don't think there's any inherent logic flaw there - an awakened tree is not the same as a treant or other plant creature.

-The Souljourner

 

[nikolai]

In The Sunless Citadel there's a tree at the end. If anyone out there has the module to hand, does this have a con score and, if so, what? I'm just interested what precident there is, and this is the only 3e example of a stat'ed tree I can think of.

nikolai.

 

[AGGEMAM]

I didn't ask for your rudeness.

Well, I didn't mean to be rude. I tried to mimic a quiz show. Guess it didn't turn out as funny as I expected.

Never-the-less, the quotes I found for you really tells you all you need to know.

1) Awakened trees are treated as animated objects.

Animated objects are constructs, and constructs never have a Con score.

Construct Type: ... -No Constitution score.

2) They gain the plant type, which specifically states that normal trees (and awakened trees are still excately that physically, except for the ability to move) are objects, not creatures, even though they are alive.