An oaken defender is a rare and enormous plant creature that is the embodiment of nature's rage, arising to defend the sacred groves of dryads when they come under threat. [2] They are found in the Eldeen Reaches . [3]
Description
After emerging from the soil, it has the form of a gigantic slab of plant matter with a roughly saucer-shaped body usually reaching 15 feet (4.6 meters) in diameter and a mass of 5 tons (4,500 kilograms). Its body is like wood, similar to an exposed root, but is usually encrusted with soil and vegetation, making it seem like nothing less than the earth itself come to life. Its body bristles with sharp spikes, as long as small spears and it has six flexible branch-like tendrils emerging from it at regular intervals, which could be used as arms or legs as needed. [2] [4] On its upper surface, it displays a sort of wooden face, vast and wrathful. The eyes are bulges sensitive to both light and heat, allowing it to sense its surroundings as well as any creature, and its mouth is a jagged crack more than capable of devouring its foes. [4]
A buried oaken defender is marked only by a 'faerie ring' of mushrooms around part of the grove. These are not mushrooms at all, but growths on the tendrils poking above ground [4] This ring can be up to 30 feet (9.1 meters) wide. [3] Grass, shrubs, bushes, and other plants grow over it and conceal the spikes. [2] [3]
Personality
An oaken defender is in fact a peaceable being who thinks of itself as a living bulwark in the defense of the wilds. Yet they are supremely confident and without mercy in that defense, and attack as the dryads require. While the majority are good by nature, some are more neutral , and a few that serve corrupted dryads are quite evil. [4]
Although solitary by nature, they are closely linked with the dryads and their grove. This is both a physical link, as they are sustained by those they defend, and a spiritual link, owing to their emotional and psychic bonds. Moreover, although they spend most of their time asleep and are so far apart, they have a kind of dream link with other defenders, wherever they are, so they have a subconscious awareness of each other's feelings and concerns. Otherwise, they have little in the way of community with one another. [4]
An oaken defender has no name, but when needed, it adopts a title based on its locale and the dryads it guards. One that lives in a grove by a lake that was home to two dryads could be called Twin Sisters Shore, for example. [4]
Activities

For nearly the entirety of its existence, an oaken defender slumbers just below the ground of a grove that is home to a dryad, while grass and bushes grow over it and shroud its spikes. Nevertheless, it is constantly in empathic contact with the dryad, so it can immediately act in her defense against hostile trespassers, and holding back only when mollified by the dryad or another fey being. Afterward, it quickly returns to the earth and its long rest. Hence, they are only ever seen when fiercely defending a grove. [2]
The oaken defender would be aided by the dryad, and potentially by treants and other forest defenders if any happen to be nearby. Militant dryads may even provoke conflicts with innocent travelers near their groves, knowing the defender will join their side regardless. [2]
Abilities
It has all the traits and immunities of a plant creature, is highly robust and resilient, and is resistant to attacks from non-magical weapons. It can burrow through the ground, however slowly, and is well-hidden from sight once it is settled in the earth. With low-light vision and darkvision and tremorsense to 60 feet (18 meters), little escapes its notice. [2]
An oaken defender possesses an empathic link with the dryads that belong to its grove. Though this, it can sense what they feel and need. This link works up to 900 feet (270 meters) away. [2]
Moreover, an oaken defender can sense the location of another of its kind, anywhere on the same plane , similar to a discern location spell. This works at all times and they are all familiar with one another, at least so far as this power is concerned. [2]
Combat
As soon as the dryad or its grove is threatened, the oaken defender bursts out of the ground and undergrowth to attack trespassers, waiting only for the majority of them to come in reach of its tendrils. [2] It usually climbs upwards out of the ground, but if buried within a hill or river bank, it may emerge sideways if needed. [2] It fights without mercy and according to the dryad's needs in the battle. [4]
In combat, it slams targets with its tendrils and gores them with its spikes. When facing one or two foes, it moves on four limbs and wallops with the other two, while when facing many foes, it stays in place and whirls around at all of them. It makes good use of its incredible strength and enormous size, striking with the greatest force and cleaving through the ranks of its opponents. [2]
Ecology
Just like the dryads, oaken defenders dwell in temperate forest environments. [4]
While it slumbers, an oaken defender absorbs nutrients via its tendrils, which sprout mushroom-like growths on the ends and protrude above the ground to collect rainwater. Moreover, the trees of the grove grow delicate roots into the outer layer of the defender's hide, providing it with additional nourishment with the support of the dryads. However, after it is roused to fight, a defender is voracious, devouring slain foes and giving chase to those that flee. [1]
An oaken defender grows according to its age, the size and health of its grove, and how many creatures it has consumed. Some can reach gargantuan size. However, a defender can grow small or even shrink if its grove is stressed, as it prioritizes the dryad's and the trees' health above its own, and will even let itself starve to save them. [4]
An oaken defender is a genderless creature with a unique method of asexual reproduction. Once it reaches a thousand years of age, the defender receives an acorn from the dryad's tree and incubates it inside a follicle within its body. The defender absorbs additional nutrients from the grove and supplies these to the acorn, until it grows into an embryonic defender within an egg-like seed or cyst. It grows for another century, until it is approximately a quarter the size of the adult; the enlarged cyst causes its body to be noticeably distended. The dryads care for the aged defender, give it comfort, and say their goodbyes. [4]
Finally, the young defender bursts out of the body of the old, which necessarily dies, having sacrificed itself. The dryads help the young one acclimate and settle into its new life and duties, taking the place of the old one. The remains of the slain defender provide enough nutrients for the young one to soon have a growth spurt. Occasionally, there are not one but two acorns, and the second young oaken defender will depart and take up within a new grove. [4]
Habitats
Oaken defenders may be found in the Eldeen Reaches, particularly in the western Towering Wood , where there is a manifest zone linked to Thelanis . Here, oaken defenders are especially large and abundant. [3]
Relations
Oalian , the awakened greatpine druid , is thought to communicate with the oaken defenders of the wood via their dreams. Elders among the Wardens of the Wood also keep up a psychic contact with them in order to enhance the defense of the woodland. [3]
History
It's possible that the proximity to Thelanis, the Faerie Court, in the Towering Wood is what gave rise to the first oaken defenders. According to one legend, the Gatekeeper druid who awakened the greatpine Oalian also created the oaken defenders. [3]
Appendix
External Links
- Oaken defender article at the Forgotten Realms Wiki , a wiki for the Forgotten Realms campaign setting.
References
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 (July 2006). Monster Manual IV . ( Wizards of the Coast ), pp. 106–107. ISBN 0-7869-3920-6 .
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 (July 2006). Monster Manual IV . ( Wizards of the Coast ), p. 106. ISBN 0-7869-3920-6 .
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 (July 2006). Monster Manual IV . ( Wizards of the Coast ), p. 108. ISBN 0-7869-3920-6 .
- ↑ 4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 4.10 4.11 (July 2006). Monster Manual IV . ( Wizards of the Coast ), p. 107. ISBN 0-7869-3920-6 .