Terraforming a "barrens"

[DMH]

Trees do not a forest make. All the understory plants, little critters, fish and birds are going to have to be imported or allowed to colonize if there is a nearby forest.

And the species of tree could make a difference. I would pick oaks or other nut producers. This draws game animals (deer and turkey around here) and the nuts can be eaten by humanoids.

Depending on the size of the lake, the druid might want to add a marsh on at least one side- it provides habitat for birds and fish and many marsh plants are edible.

And then there is people. As soon as the forest is discovered, people wanting to log it will move in followed by merchants and other "support staff".

 

[Umbran]

And then there is people. As soon as the forest is discovered, people wanting to log it will move in followed by merchants and other "support staff".

Well, she's making one token a day. To modify your own phrase - 365 trees do not make a forest, no matter what the undergrowth is like. Any loggers worth their salt would have the whole thing down in short order, so it would not represent a resource that can be exploited for the long term. No need for the support staff, as you put it.

Given the stated diameter of the treetops, we are talking about 10 acres of land with trees - something like 8 football fields. That's not a real forest.

 

[Aeolius]

Perhaps the sorceress acquires a magical artifact that, when destroyed, has a massmorph effect on all living creatures within a certain range; transforming them all into mature trees. The trick would be to arrange for a number of creatures to be in the range of effect, possibly by orchestrating a minor skirmish.

Perhaps the sorceress acquires a golden acorn, all that remains of a fairy forest destroyed by orcs hundreds of years in the past. By planting the acorn at the proper time and performing an intricate ceremony, the woods return - growing to full maturity within minutes. The catch would be that the drow finds herself slowing transforming into a dryad.

The sorceress is a drow. She might wish to select trees that create a thick canopy, blocking the light of the sun above. A forest of endless night might contain night-blooming flowers and a host of nocturnal creatures.

Who says she needs trees? Envision a "forest" comprised of yellow musk creepers, orcwort, treants, russet mold, and other select slimes, molds, oozes, and fungi.

 

[frankthedm]

Transmute rock to mud should work nicely.

 

[Herobizkit]

@ Aeolius: Those are all fantastic ideas. I think the Drow is going to Keep Things Simple, though. She's a follower of Eilistraee; her plan is to (and we laughed about this a long time) reverse-surface raid her former home and bring the Drow into the Light, "where trees and flowers grow".

@ Umbran: Loggers are one thing that she's going to have to DEFEND herself from. In the wastelands as described, there are no trees. I haven't read ahead in the module but it's possible that the land is cursed to be so. Her trees will be the only trees in the area for quite some time.

@ DMH: Yep, the tokens produce oaks. Her initial plan was to make a small grove and lake (and I love the marsh idea) in which to make a domicile for her and her friends. It's just the way my player rolls.

 

[DMH]

How big is the barrens in term of surface area? How close is the town to the edge? A lake, by definition, has an outflowing stream or river- where would this go and how would it affect the area downstream?

And for the marsh, cattails produce upto 30 tons of edible roots per acre. Of course harvesting them would be difficult, but the results can be fantastic, esp when mixed with fish farming.

 

[Chimera]

She also wants to create a Decanter of Endless Water to terraform a lake and a river to feed the trees and keep them healthy.

This one is tricky.

Water seeps and drains into the ground, sometimes very quickly if the land is sandy. In an arid land, it also evaporates very quickly.

At the highest setting, a Decanter of Endless Water produces 300 gallons per minute, or 18,000 gallons per hour, or 432,000 gallons per day. Sounds huge and will definitely fill a swimming pool in a few hours, but a lake in a desolate country is another matter.

Let's assume a 20 acre lake to a depth of 15'. This is really small, almost too small to support much in the way of fish life. This is 97.75 MILLION gallons, taking over 226 days to fill, not counting any evaporation, drainage or use by the nearby people who are surely going to be happy to see a new, clean source of water nearby.

Reasonably, assuming that they spend a lot of time to Move Earth, Rock to Mud and other means to create a sealed lake bed, this means that it is going to take a bare bones minimum of one year to create a small lake like this, before it finds it's exit and trickles off in a small stream (not "river"), which probably runs a short distance (a couple of miles at most) before it all drains into the ground. And at that, if I wanted to make sure my surrounding neighbors were happy, support and help protect me, I'd make sure that it fed straight toward a local settlement and/or was used to irrigate some small plots along the way.

I'd also submerge the decanter, hide all traces of it and make sure that no one knew about it so that it wasn't stolen.

 

[Chimera]

All that being said, I'm so flipping tired of the standard "go, Go, Go!!!" mentality in D&D, whereby either players refuse to spend any downtime or GMs rush a plot timeline that doesn't allow for it; that I would be dancing on my chair happy to have players willing to create this kind of downtime. I'd do whatever I could to encourage it.

Heck, spend 3-5 years creating this oasis in the barren land. Expand the local settlement on the basis of the food and water provided. Add local NPC friends and allies they've gained over the years of service and development. Heck, even a couple of new students for the Druid to assist with tending the grove! No one at 'cohort' level of loyalty, but friends, allies....

...and potential betrayals for future plots.

Maybe one of those Druid students is one of the locals who is hoping to take over the place and displace this "outsider". Or maybe s/he is really in the employ of some local baddy who is hoping to steal the decanter or otherwise ruin the heroes. Maybe the local ruler is just "playing along" by allowing them to develop the place, while on his own end, setting long term plots in play to get rid of the heroes and allow him to take over!

Maybe a neighboring tribe is now jealous and wants to invade. Maybe an outside group (or other racial group) has never had any use for the area because it had no value and no resources, but now sees the oasis as a valuable jewel, ripe for the taking. Maybe a high flying, passing Black Dragon decides that this is a good place for a new lair.

All sorts of things you can do with this.

 

[Sigurd]

I think you have to step back from the obvious mechanical steps and look at the demands of setting. 365 tokens make 365 trees - not necessarily a forest.

Why don't you build an Alter as the center of a ritual spell. The ritual spell will corrupt\convert the land to a forest fit for drow. Perhaps corrupt\sacrifice a treant or two as permanent guardians of the space. Spiderify a few satyrs and maybe import a few spider eye goblins.

Your DM can arrange the tasks as adventures and you can do them as you are able. You can feed the land with the blood of your enemies.


- Sigurd

 

[Herobizkit]

Heck, spend 3-5 years creating this oasis in the barren land. Expand the local settlement on the basis of the food and water provided. Add local NPC friends and allies they've gained over the years of service and development. Heck, even a couple of new students for the Druid to assist with tending the grove! No one at 'cohort' level of loyalty, but friends, allies....

...and potential betrayals for future plots.

The area is pretty much wild. It is populated at large by the traditional trope of illiterate Barbarians, Goblin and Orc tribes, and random wolf packs (perhaps ruled by intelligent wolves/Druids/shapechanged Dragons)... plus I made the misjudgment of running an adventure from a Dragon magazine prior to this and now there's a foolishly large army of Gnolls some distance away, threatening to engulf a small village. [The adventure was only 2nd level, and the ultimate goal was to delay the Gnoll's advance until Human reinforcements arrived, which they did, and they did. Whether or not the reinforcements are enough is in my hands.]

What I'm really going to have to find is how to run a simulation like SimCity or using something like in the 1ed Oriental Adventures for daily/monthly events. It COULD actually work, especially if I make each clan distinct... hmm...