Wood Woad

Wood Woad can be from any forest.

• Ability Score Increase. Increase one score by 2 and increase a different score by 1, or increase three different scores by 1.
• Size. Small or Medium. You choose the size when you select this race.
• Speed. 30 ft.
• Creature Type. You are a Plant.
• Age. Wood Woads live up to 1500 years.
• Dragonmark. You have a Dragonmark of your choice.
• Natural Shield. As a bonus action you can form a shield in one of your unoccupied hands that grants you a +1 to your AC. You use a bonus action for the shield to grow back into your arm. You can only have one shield at a time.
• Plant Camouflage. You have advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks you make in any terrain with ample obscuring vegetation.
• Tree Stride. Once on your turn, you can use 10 feet of your movement to step magically into one living tree within your reach and emerge from a second living tree within 60 feet of the first tree, appearing in an unoccupied space within 5 feet of the second tree. Both trees must be Large or bigger.
• Weapon Strength. If you are proficient and wield a club or quarter staff you deal an extra 1d6 bludgeoning damage.
• Languages. You can speak, read, and write Primordial.

A wood woad is a powerful bipedal Plant invested with the soul of someone who gave up life to become an everlasting guardian. The ritual to create a wood woad is a primeval secret passed down through generations of forest-dwelling societies and druid circles. Performing the ritual isn't necessarily an evil act if the victim-to-be is a willing sacrifice. In the ritual, a living person's chest is pierced and the heart removed. A seed is pushed into the heart, which is then placed in a tree. Any hollow or crook will do, but often a special cavity is carved out of the trunk. The tree is bathed and watered with the blood of the sacrificed victim, and the body is buried among the tree's roots. After three days, a sprout emerges from the ground at the base of the tree and swiftly grows into a bipedal form.