D&D General Dryad thought experiment

[Guang]

So there's a forest with animals, fey creatures, and lots of dryads especially. Then the sky darkens, Mt. St. Helens erupts and covers the entire forest in mud, or a Tunguska event flattens it. However it happens, the trees are killed, buried, and maybe petrified or something.

Obviously all the dryads were killed instantly. But what if they weren't? What would dryads be like, a thousand years after such an event, still connected to their dead-but-preserved trees? Insane and angry, yes, but what else? Would there be physical changes? How would their abilities be different? Would they be some form of undead, ghosts or something else? Is there such a thing as undead fey?

 

[The Green Hermit]

According to the MM, if a dryad's tree is destroyed, they go mad. If an entire forest was destroyed, you could have a very large population of insane dryads running around.

But another consideration is the time factor. Even a year after Mt St Helens seemingly destroyed everything, life was returning. The area is now reforested and in many ways thriving. It's not the same as it was before the eruption, but life is tenacious. In a century or two it's likely there will be no indication (from the surrounding forest) that there was ever an eruption.

So, in many ways it could look like a normal forest but would be haunted by these spirits. According to the lore, powerful fey sometimes bind lesser spirits to trees as punishment for falling in love with a mortal. So I would play up the forest having a reputation for aiding spurned lovers (at a cost) or a place where the heartbroken go never to be seen again.

Then it just becomes how difficult you want things to be. People that were drawn to the forest could be similar to The Lost from Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes or a variation of vampire spawn that feed off of emotion instead of blood. The dryads could be similar to banshees. Perhaps the dryads came together and "resurrected" their trees and there's now some variation of what is basically an undead Treant.

Lots of ideas, but I'd focus on the sense of loss and mourning. Depending on how the dryads were created they were punished forbidden love and then lost their beloved trees. Giving me all sorts of interesting ideas!

Also, since Mt. St. Helens has been rumbling again for 16 years now, you could throw in some sort of PTSD for the dryads.

 

[Oofta]

Another option is that the tree they are connected to survives as a lava tree (Volcanology photoglossary: lava trees.)

The MM only states that they would experience pain. But maybe instead of turning crazy, they are desperate to rebuild the forest, but these a group of pesky salamander have been attracted to the area. If only there was a brave party to help take care of them.

I think it's going to depend of version. In 5E "If the tree is ever destroyed, the dryad descends into madness." I do like the idea of lava trees though, with the dryads trying desperately to protect their trees only to have them turn into lava trees.

 

[MarkB]

I think it's going to depend of version. In 5E "If the tree is ever destroyed, the dryad descends into madness." I do like the idea of lava trees though, with the dryads trying desperately to protect their trees only to have them turn into lava trees.

Just mind your pronunciation, though. Just one slip-up and "lavatree" becomes a running joke, while your scenario's tension goes down the toilet.

 

[Richards]

And then you might as well flush away the chance of retaining any level of seriousness - it'll be wiped right out.

Johnathan