New Feat: Treesinging

[Colt]

Treesinging: A spell-like ability that grants the user the ability to 1/day control a tree's growth, and to grow anything desired as long as it is made of wood. After singing the tree, it takes 1d100 minutes for the tree to complete the growth.
Requirements: Elves have no level requirement, Any other race, min. Lv. 5 any other race, class druid, min. lv. 3.

I got inspired by Eldest this morn, and decided to make this. Eldest is the sequal to Eragon by Christopher Paolini. Responses are encouraged.

[Seffbasilisk]

seems a bit broken. I'd say it would make simple things, but for complex you'd need more

[Ragnarok]

There is a treesinging feat in the Wheel of Time RPG. I don't know if it works for what you want, but I thought I'd point it out.

[Jothki]

There is a treesinging feat in the Wheel of Time RPG. I don't know if it works for what you want, but I thought I'd point it out.

That's what I thought of first too when I read this. It seems to be essentially the same thing as in the WoT books. Never seen the RPG version, though.

[Spuddly]

Rather than make me think of fantasy books, this feat made me think of how some gardners like to play music for their plants (or talk or sing to them) to make them grow.

[The Glyphstone]

I thought this would be a feat like the Wood Elf spell from Warhammer Fantasy...sort-term forest animation...

[Rykaj]

It sounds more like a druid spell rather than a feat to me

[Colt]

i was thinking of making it a spell... i've never made a spell though, so i'd need help, i've never played an arcane...

[Sciurusaurus]

I'd suggest that the feat is tied to a relevant Craft skill. Either make up the Treesinging Craft skill (if you want to make it easy on the treesinger), or simply use the Craft skill a mundane attempt would use. Of course, using Treesinging would free up the time to actually make the item (since you sing to the tree, and the tree does the work).

By using the Craft skill to get the results, you also avoid situations like : "I sing to the tree to build a palace. It will at most take 1 hour and 40 minutes. Score!", since the Craft skill has guidelines for progress. Then you could skip the 1d100 minutes and simply state that the tree grows until the growth is complete.

Remember, though, that it would be a little quicker than doing it yourself, as the tree has (unless you are far from equator in winter) longer growth time per day than a normal person has effective working hours. I'd suggest giving the tree(s) a +50% Craft speed.

Edit : While this would not be entirely correct with the way it is done in Eragon/Eldest (but then again, the Elves of D&D aren't the same as the Elves of Eragon/Eldest), I would suggest this as prerequisites : must have access to the Warp Wood spell

Edit2 : If you like my suggestions, but would like to keep the Elves' natural affinity for this you could give them a +2 racial bonus on the Treesinging check (which would allow them to treesing stuff quicker, and to sing more complex stuff than other people would be able to)

[Sciurusaurus]

As for making it a spell, the two natural "benchmark" spells for this would be Warp Wood and Stoneshape.

Warp Wood is a 2nd level Druid spell which lets you alter the shape of wood, but not make anything specific out of it, it simply warps the wood.

Stone Shape is a 3rd level divine spell/4th level arcane spell which lets you shape stone into desired, but not finely detailed, shapes. If the shapes includes moving parts, it has a 30 % chance of failure.

thus, a Treesinging spell should be at least 4th level (this would be for a either pure Druid spell, or a divine spell... an arcane equivalent should be at least 5th level).

based on this, here is my suggestion for a Treesinging spell (the % in the spell are semi-random, so they might need tweaking. The time for the aura to fade is taken from the Detect Magic spell) :

Treesinging
Transmutation
Level : Druid 4
Components : V, DF
Casting Time : 10 minutes
Range : Close
Target : 1 (non-sentient) tree
Duration : Instantaneous
Saving Throw : None
Spell Resistance : No

You can coax the tree into growing you an item you desire. The item can either be a part of the tree (a house/rooms) in which case the item still lives, or the tree can "shed" the item, in which case does not live. A still living item cannot use more than 50 % of the tree's mass. A shedded item cannot use more than 10 % of the tree's mass. While the process of changing the tree is magical, the tree and items are not, and the changes are permanent. A dispel magic will not return an item to normal after the magical energy has faded (1d6 minutes)

Edit : the post was sent prematurely, so I had to finish it :P

Edit 2 : The point of specifying that an item still lives, is that it will repair minor damages by itself (small scratches, a forced open door etc), but major ones may require further treesinging (a hole chopped in the wall)