Rootwalkers

From: Fletchers Folly

Rootwalkers are sentient plant creatures that roam the corridors and chambers of Fletcher’s Folly, particularly the Elemental Garden. They appear as humanoid figures made of intertwined roots and branches, with faces carved into their bark-like skin. Rootwalkers are imbued with the chaotic essence of the dungeon, granting them mobility and a primitive intelligence. They can blend seamlessly into the forested environment of the dungeon, ambushing unwary adventurers. Rootwalkers are capable of manipulating the plant life within the dungeon, using vines to ensnare or branches to strike at their foes.

Lore of the Rootwalkers:

Rootwalkers are believed to have originated from the heart of Fletcher’s Folly, a consequence of the chaotic magic that suffuses the dungeon. Legends tell of an ancient seed, imbued with the raw essence of chaos, that took root not in soil but in the very foundation of reality itself. From this seed sprouted the first Rootwalker, a guardian not just of the dungeon’s flora but of the chaotic balance within.

These beings are more than mere plants; they are the dungeon’s will made manifest, protectors of its secrets and enforcers of its whims. The faces etched into their bark are said to be the visages of past intruders, absorbed and transformed by the dungeon’s magic. Rootwalkers wander the corridors and gardens, a constant reminder of the dungeon’s ever-watchful presence.

Over centuries, Rootwalkers have evolved, developing a symbiotic relationship with Fletcher’s Folly. They are custodians of the Elemental Garden, tending to its bizarre flora and fauna, and act as a natural defense mechanism against those who would plunder the dungeon’s treasures.

Tier One Stats for Rootwalkers

• Size: Medium
• Type: Plant, Sentient
• Hit Points: 30
• Armor Class: 14 (Natural Armor)
• Speed: 20 ft., Climb 10 ft.
• STR: 14 (+2), DEX: 10 (+0), CON: 15 (+2), INT: 6 (-2), WIS: 11 (+0), CHA: 5 (-3)

Skills:

• Stealth: +4 (additional bonuses in forested or overgrown environments)
• Nature: +2

Vulnerabilities:

• Fire: Takes double damage from fire-based attacks.
• Disease: Susceptible to diseases affecting plants.

Attacks:

• Vine Snare: Melee Attack, +5 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d8 + 2) bludgeoning damage, and the target is grappled (escape DC 12). While grappling the target, the Rootwalker cannot use Vine Snare on another target.
• Branch Strike: Melee Attack, +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 8 (1d12 + 2) bludgeoning damage.

Strategy: Rootwalkers utilize their camouflage to blend into their surroundings, lying in wait for an opportune moment to strike. They prefer to ambush their prey, using Vine Snare to immobilize a target before closing in for a Branch Strike. In the Elemental Garden, they might manipulate the terrain to their advantage, using other plants to hinder or harm their foes.

Tags: Guardian, Plant, Ambusher, Elemental Garden Dweller

Rootwalkers embody the chaotic and protective nature of Fletcher’s Folly, serving as both caretakers of its bizarre ecosystems and formidable guardians against unwelcome intruders. Their presence adds a layer of dynamic interaction with the environment, presenting adventurers with challenges that require both combat prowess and clever problem-solving.

Engagement in Battle:

Rootwalkers engage in combat with a blend of stealth, strategy, and the natural weaponry at their disposal. Their initial tactic often involves ambushing adventurers from concealment, utilizing their innate camouflage to blend with the dungeon’s flora until the perfect moment to strike. They prefer to target isolated members of a group, using their Vine Snare to immobilize and separate them from their allies, making them easier to dispatch with powerful Branch Strikes.

In combat, Rootwalkers demonstrate a primitive intelligence, capable of recognizing and targeting the most immediate threats. They use the environment to their advantage, manipulating nearby plant life to create barriers, entangle foes, or even wield as improvised weapons. This environmental manipulation not only showcases their connection to the dungeon’s chaotic essence but also serves to disorient and wear down their opponents.

Environment:

Rootwalkers are predominantly found within the Elemental Garden of Fletcher’s Folly, a region of the dungeon where the chaotic magic is particularly potent, giving rise to an ecosystem of bizarre and vibrant flora. The Elemental Garden serves as both their home and their charge, with Rootwalkers acting as its guardians against intrusion.

This environment is rich with magical and elemental energies, influencing the behaviors and abilities of the Rootwalkers. The dense vegetation and varied terrain offer them ample opportunities for ambush, making every step through the garden a potential risk for adventurers.

Usage of Remains — The remains of a Rootwalker, though seldom left behind, are highly valued for several purposes:

• Crafting Material: The wood from a Rootwalker’s body is tough and infused with residual chaotic magic, making it an excellent material for crafting magical implements, weapons, and armor. Items made from this wood might carry minor enchantments or increased resilience.
• Alchemical Components: The sap and leaves of a Rootwalker contain potent magical properties that can be extracted for use in alchemical concoctions. These components might enhance potions with regenerative properties, resistance to magic, or temporary boosts to physical attributes.
• Ritual Use: For practitioners of magic attuned to nature or chaos, the remains of a Rootwalker can serve as powerful focal points for rituals. They might be used to commune with plant spirits, enhance spells related to growth or decay, or even summon guardian spirits of similar nature.

However, harvesting and utilizing these remains come with inherent risks, as the chaotic magic within them can be unpredictable and potentially dangerous if mishandled. Artisans and alchemists who work with such materials must take precautions to contain and harness this volatile energy safely.

When adventurers encounter a Rootwalker within the mystical confines of Fletcher’s Folly, especially in the vibrant chaos of the Elemental Garden, their senses are enveloped in a rich tapestry of natural and arcane stimuli.

• Visual
  • What’s Perceived: The Rootwalker’s humanoid form, crafted from intertwining roots and branches, blends with the garden’s dense flora. Its bark-like skin and the face etched within stir with ancient wisdom and a hint of menace.
  • Description: This blending of form and flora creates a startling moment of realization as the creature shifts, revealing its presence.
  • Positives: The beauty and intricacy of its natural form can inspire awe and a deepened connection to the natural world.
  • Negatives: The camouflage can lead to sudden, unsettling encounters, catching adventurers off guard.
• Auditory
  • What’s Perceived: A gentle rustling, akin to leaves in a soft breeze, accompanies the Rootwalker’s movements, interspersed with the creaking of wood as it flexes and shifts.
  • Description: These sounds, while soothing, carry an undercurrent of power, a reminder of the creature’s strength and its mastery over the plant life around it.
  • Positives: Provides an auditory cue to the Rootwalker’s movements, potentially alerting observant adventurers to its presence.
  • Negatives: In a forested or overgrown environment, these sounds can easily blend into the background noise, masking the creature’s approach.
• Olfactory
  • What’s Perceived: The air is rich with the scent of fresh earth, moss, and a faint hint of sap, which intensifies near the Rootwalker.
  • Description: This blend of aromas evokes the essence of the forest floor after rain, imbued with life and growth.
  • Positives: The scent can be grounding, enhancing the connection to the natural environment.
  • Negatives: May be overpowering in close proximity, especially if the sap scent becomes too strong.
• Tactile
  • What’s Perceived: A palpable sense of vitality emanates from the Rootwalker, the air around it thrumming with latent energy.
  • Description: Contact with its bark-like skin or being ensnared by its vines can feel invigorating yet unnerving, as if touching raw nature itself.
  • Positives: The creature’s vitality can invigorate those attuned to nature, offering a fleeting sense of enhanced energy.
  • Negatives: The strength of its grasp reveals the formidable power behind its seemingly gentle exterior.
• Gustatory
  • What’s Perceived: For those rare few who may come into direct oral contact with the Rootwalker, its sap has a complex flavor profile—bitter yet with an underlying sweetness reminiscent of wild berries.
  • Description: This taste is as complex as the creature itself, embodying the dual aspects of growth and decay inherent in nature.
  • Positives: Offers a unique, if unconventional, taste of the wild, untamed magic of Fletcher’s Folly.
  • Negatives: The bitterness can be off-putting, and consuming plant creatures’ parts is not typically advisable.
• Extra-Sensory Perception
  • What’s Perceived: An instinctual recognition of the Rootwalker’s ancient, guardian spirit. This connection might manifest as a fleeting sense of understanding or empathy towards the natural world.
  • Description: Beyond the physical senses, one might feel a deep, almost spiritual acknowledgment of the Rootwalker’s role within the ecosystem of Fletcher’s Folly.
  • Positives: Provides an insight into the interconnectedness of all life within the dungeon, enhancing respect for its guardians.
  • Negatives: This profound connection can be disconcerting, challenging one’s preconceptions of life and sentience.

Encountering a Rootwalker is a multi-sensory experience that goes beyond the physical, touching upon the deeper, mystical essence of Fletcher’s Folly and its ancient guardians.

Whisper of the Rootbound Sentinel

In the eldest of days, before the stars were named and the earth knew the tread of feet, there stood the Rootbound Sentinel. Born of earth’s deepest wish and sky’s fleeting dream, it was neither tree nor man, but both, guarding the secrets of the earth with a silent vigil.

Tales speak of a wanderer, heart laden with sorrow and eyes seeking solace, who came upon the Sentinel in a garden where time slept and shadows danced. The wanderer sought the wisdom of ages, a balm for a soul torn by loss and wearied by journey.

The Sentinel, whose whispers were the wind and thoughts the deep hum of the earth, regarded the wanderer. In its gaze, the wanderer found not answers, but questions; not peace, but a path forward.

For nights and days, the wanderer sat with the Sentinel, speaking not with words but with silence, listening to the language of leaves and the stories of stones. And when the wanderer rose to leave, it was with a spirit not lightened of burdens, but strengthened to bear them.

As the wanderer departed, the Sentinel bestowed a gift—a single leaf, green and vibrant, an echo of the garden’s eternal spring. This leaf carried the essence of life’s unending cycle, of loss and renewal, a reminder that from endings spring new beginnings.

Moral of the Story: In the embrace of the Rootbound Sentinel lies the wisdom that true strength is not the absence of sorrow, but the courage to grow through it. For in every ending, there is a root waiting to sprout anew, and in every silence, a whisper of hope.

Suggested conversions to other systems:

Call of Cthulhu (7th Edition)

Rootwalker

• STR: 70
• CON: 80
• SIZ: 60
• DEX: 25
• INT: 30
• POW: 50
• HP: 14
• Build: +1
• Damage Bonus: +1D4
• Armor: 3 points (bark skin)
• Attacks: Slam 45% (1D8+damage bonus), Grapple (with vines, as per Manoeuvre)
• Skills: Stealth 65%, Nature 75%
• Special Abilities:
  • Blend with Nature: Can become nearly invisible in natural surroundings.
  • Command Over Plants: Can manipulate nearby plant life to hinder or attack.
• Sanity Loss: 0/1D6 to see a Rootwalker move.

Blades in the Dark

Rootwalker

• Type: Supernatural Being
• Tier: II
• Attributes: Insight 2, Prowess 3, Resolve 1
• Special Abilities:
  • Natural Camouflage: Gets +1d to all rolls for stealth and surprise attacks.
  • Thorned Grasp: Can immobilize a target; requires a Tinker roll of 4+ to escape.
• Harm: 3 (Slam), 2 (Grapple)
• Armor: 1 (Natural Bark)
• Weakness: Fire deals double damage.

Dungeons & Dragons (5th Edition)

Rootwalker

• Medium elemental, neutral
• Armor Class: 13 (natural armor)
• Hit Points: 52 (7d8 + 21)
• Speed: 20 ft., climb 10 ft.
• STR: 16 (+3), DEX: 10 (+0), CON: 16 (+3), INT: 6 (-2), WIS: 11 (+0), CHA: 5 (-3)
• Damage Resistances: bludgeoning, piercing
• Senses: Blindsight 30 ft., Passive Perception 10
• Languages: understands Sylvan but doesn’t speak
• Challenge: 2 (450 XP)
• Abilities:
  • False Appearance: While motionless, the Rootwalker is indistinguishable from a normal tree.
  • Vine Grasp: Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 13 (2d8 + 4) bludgeoning damage. The target is grappled (escape DC 13).
• Vulnerabilities: Fire damage

Knave

Rootwalker

• HD: 4
• Armor: 13 (natural bark armor)
• Attack (Bite/Slam): +4 to hit, 1d8 damage
• Attack (Grasp): +4 to hit, target is immobilized, takes 1d4 damage per turn until escape
• Special:
  • Camouflage: Can blend into natural surroundings, requiring a WIS roll to detect.
  • Weakness to Fire: Takes double damage from fire.
• Morale: 10

Fate Core System

Rootwalker

• High Concept: Sentient Guardian of the Elemental Garden
• Trouble: Vulnerable to Flames
• Aspects: Master of Camouflage, Whisperer to Plants, Ancient as the Dungeon Itself
• Skills:
  • Great (+4): Physique
  • Good (+3): Stealth, Fight
  • Fair (+2): Notice, Will
• Stunts:
  • Grasping Vines: Once per scene, can automatically immobilize a target, requiring them to overcome a Great (+4) difficulty with Athletics to escape.
  • Nature’s Ally: Can use Stealth to create advantages related to the natural environment once per scene without spending a Fate point.
• Stress: ❑❑❑❑

Numenera & Cypher System

Rootwalker

• Level: 4
• Health: 16
• Armor: 2 (natural bark)
• Damage Inflicted: 4 points
• Movement: Short
• Modifications: Stealth as level 5 in natural environments. Attacks at level 5 when using vines.
• Combat: Can entangle a foe (as per the Onslaught ability), hindering their movement and inflicting 2 additional points of damage per round until they break free.
• Special Abilities:
  • Camouflage: Can blend into its surroundings, becoming nearly invisible.

Pathfinder (2nd Edition)

Rootwalker

• Creature 3
• Perception: +7; darkvision
• Skills: Athletics +10, Stealth +9 (+11 in natural environments)
• Str: +4, Dex: +0, Con: +3, Int: -2, Wis: +2, Cha: -3
• AC: 18; Fort: +10, Ref: +5, Will: +7
• HP: 45; Weaknesses: Fire 5
• Speed: 20 ft., climb 10 ft.
• Melee: [one-action] Vine +10 (agile), Damage 2d6+4 bludgeoning
• Special Abilities:
  • Entangling Vines: [two-actions] (attack) The Rootwalker can launch vines to grapple and immobilize its target, requiring a DC 18 Athletics check to escape.

Savage Worlds

Rootwalker

• Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d4, Spirit d8, Strength d8, Vigor d8
• Skills: Fighting d8, Stealth d10, Notice d6
• Pace: 5; Parry: 6; Toughness: 9 (2)
• Special Abilities:
  • Entangle: Can use an action to entangle a target, making them Bound. The target can make a Strength roll at -2 to escape.
  • Camouflage: Gains +2 to Stealth rolls in natural environments.
  • Vulnerability (Fire): Takes double damage from fire.
• Armor: 2 (bark skin)

Shadowrun (6th Edition)

Rootwalker

• Type: Awakened Plant
• Body: 5
• Agility: 2
• Reaction: 3
• Strength: 6
• Willpower: 4
• Logic: 1
• Intuition: 3
• Charisma: 1
• Edge: 2
• Essence: 6
• Initiative: 6 + 1D6
• Armor: 12
• Skills: Stealth 4, Unarmed Combat 5
• Powers:
  • Natural Weapon (Vines): STR-based Damage (Physical), AP —.
  • Camouflage: Can use Stealth to hide in natural environments, acting with surprise against opponents.
• Weaknesses: Vulnerable to fire-based attacks, taking additional damage.

Starfinder

Rootwalker

• CR: 3
• EAC: 13; KAC: 15
• HP: 40
• Fort: +4; Ref: +4; Will: +3
• Defensive Abilities: Plant immunities; Weaknesses: Vulnerable to fire
• Speed: 20 ft.
• Melee: Slam +8 (1d6+5 B plus grab)
• Special Abilities:
  • Entangle: Can cast entangle as the spell once per day.
  • Camouflage: Can blend into natural surroundings, granting a +8 bonus to Stealth checks.

Traveller (Mongoose 2nd Edition)

Rootwalker

• Characteristics: STR 8, DEX 6, END 7, INT 5, EDU 0, SOC 0
• Skills: Stealth 1, Melee (unarmed) 1, Athletics (strength) 1
• Armor: Natural Armor (3)
• Attacks: Slam (1D6+2), Entangle (special – target must make STR or DEX check to escape)
• Traits:
  • Camouflage: Blends into natural environments, providing a bonus to stealth checks.
  • Plant Immunities: Immune to poisons, gases, and mind-affecting effects.
• Weaknesses: Takes double damage from incendiary and thermal weapons.

Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay (4th Edition)

Rootwalker

• M: 4
• WS: 33
• BS: —
• S: 35
• T: 40
• I: 25
• Ag: 20
• Dex: —
• Int: 28
• WP: 31
• Fel: —
• Wounds: 18
• Skills: Outdoor Survival 45, Stealth (Rural) 50
• Talents: Hardy, Terrifying, Natural Weapons (Slam)
• Traits:
  • Entangle: Targets hit by its attacks must succeed on a Strength test or be rooted in place, unable to move.
  • Camouflage: Can use its Stealth skill in any natural environment without penalty.
• Special Rules:
  • Vulnerable to Fire: Takes additional damage from fire-based attacks.