Yggdrasil, The Wooden Man

[FreakyCheeseMan]

So, I had a crazy idea for my archivist, after something I read in an alchemy thread I started a while back.

Apparently there's a substance, "Live Wood," that's exactly like normal wood (including cost,) except it's still alive, and can be targeted by spells that effect plants. (Anyone know where that's from, by the way?)

My 80% fluff idea is to use Wood Shape to make that stuff into a highly detailed statue of a human, then cast "Awaken" on it, and see what happens.

Any reason this wouldn't work?

[Forged Fury]

Apparently there's a substance, "Live Wood," that's exactly like normal wood (including cost,) except it's still alive, and can be targeted by spells that effect plants. (Anyone know where that's from, by the way?)
Livewood is from the Eberron Campaign Setting. I think that is a really cool idea, actually.

[FreakyCheeseMan]

Livewood is from the Eberron Campaign Setting. I think that is a really cool idea, actually.

Wait... that means that live wood is the stuff used to make warforged, right?

*laughs*

*and laughs, and laughs*

Ok, some explanation.

My last character in this game was a warforged; however, as we're not in Eberron, and the DM ruled that (while I was allowed to play one,) living constructs are unheard of, I was a complete oddity. Other members of the party kept trying to study me, especially the Gnome with thoughts of empire.

Then I ate one too many lightning bolts in a fight, and died.

I decided to bring in a new character, since the part lacked a method of raising the dead- except, ironically, the new character I'm bringing in, the above archivist, *can* raise the dead.

The archivist, meanwhile, is of a spiritually curious/scientific bent, and made the above statue (he's yet to awaken it) in order to gain a deeper understanding of sentience and living creature's connection to the divine, through creating an entirely new creature.

And he's about to have the party walk through the door, asking him to restore life to *another* entirely new creature- which he might notice is partially made of the same wood as his own creation-to-be.

[Gwendol]

Named Dr Frankenstein?

[FreakyCheeseMan]

Named Dr Frankenstein?

Emanuel Grey, at the moment, but for this particular bit of awesome, I may try to include a frankenstein reference...

For one thing, I'm pretty sure that, as soon as he figures this out, he's going to re-shape his own tree-person (Yggdrasil- the Warforged is Jaruk) to be vaguely female.

[Keld Denar]

Yggdrasil is the world tree that grows through the Beastlands, isn't it? Like, all layers of the beastlands are really just branches of a ginormous tree?

Neat idea.

[AmberVael]

Yggdrasil is the world tree that grows through the Beastlands, isn't it? Like, all layers of the beastlands are really just branches of a ginormous tree?

Neat idea.

I do believe that is its place in the D&D mythos, but its origins are from Norse cosmology. It is the World Tree, its branches extending into the heavens, and its three roots extending across the world (or perhaps worlds in the plural, actually).

So yeah, it's a pretty cool reference.

[Mr. Zolrane]

living constructs are unheard of, I was a complete oddity.

I really like your idea on the whole, but this bit perplexed me. Living constructs aren't entirely unheard of in the standard 3.5 setting, unless there are no homunculi.

[LOTRfan]

Aren't homunculi just regular constructs? At least in core...

[Forged Fury]

Aren't homunculi just regular constructs? At least in core...Yup, the Lving Construct sub-type was first introduced with the Warforged race in the ECS, from what I recall.

[Coidzor]

Yup, the Lving Construct sub-type was first introduced with the Warforged race in the ECS, from what I recall.

Did they get it though? Or just the new ones from Eberron?

[Mr. Zolrane]

Oh, when you said "living" construct I thought you meant "sentient." My mistake. I believe in core there are several sentient constructs, the Inevitables come to mind, in addition to the aforementioned homunculus.

[Forged Fury]

Did they get it though? Or just the new ones from Eberron?I don't think so. I don't even think the new homunculi in the ECS are of the Living Construct sub-type, but rather just Constructs.

Beyond warforged and the warforged variants, I'm not sure what else has the "Living Construct" subtype.

[LOTRfan]

Mercurians do. Monster Manual V, I believe?

[Greenish]

Beyond warforged and the warforged variants, I'm not sure what else has the "Living Construct" subtype.The cube guys, I seem to recall.

[Coidzor]

The cube guys, I seem to recall.

Modrons or just exiled modrons?

[LOTRfan]

Modrons. They come in many three dimensional shapes, too.

EDIT: Just the exiled ones, which is ridiculous in my opinion.

[FreakyCheeseMan]

So, no one has any reasons why this shouldn't work, then?

Will hopefully be an interesting side-plot... the DM has put a kabosh on any followers, since the party has grown too large, but he might still get heavily involved with the plot...