[What if] Every tree has/is a dryad?

[Particle_Man]

Just thought I would spitball this idea. If every tree, without exception, is also a dryad, I assume that less trees would be cut down (because commoners, at least, are not dryad-proof). And those that do cut trees down would have to be pretty badass (also, likely pretty evil). So for good societies (and non-badass societies) how far can they go without cutting trees down? Less wood (just what they can pick up from fallen branches, etc.?) - wood becomes more expensive leading to - uh-oh, the evil badass guys again. Motivation for adventurers to protect the trees? Some sort of order of the tree spirits to keep the dryads safe (and perhaps reinforced by the ridiculously common charms?).

Thoughts?

[Arcanist]

Blighters would become more common :smallconfused: i suppose...

[Uncle Pine]

There would be more people afraid of trees (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0150.html), of course.
Then good cities would find alternative materials to build houses and walls, or grow their own trees. Evil people would just get extra xp when they go get wood :smallamused:

[Arcanist]

Evil people would just get extra xp when they go get wood :smallamused:

I like this idea and am now in full support on a world where every tree has a Dryad in it :smallamused:

[lorddrake]

I guess druids wouldn't be able to use wood anymore. Just leather, maybe...

But they can become a bear, so they don't care...

Care bear?

[Ashtagon]

Civilisation would never have developed.

No wood - no ploughs. No ploughs - no agriculture. No agriculture - no villages.

[DigoDragon]

I'm guessing "Lumberjack" would be more of a warrior class instead of a profession then?

[panaikhan]

There are other ways to make stuff, apart from trees.
Bamboo is a grass, iirc.
This is a fantasy land. Imagine bamboo with stalks 10' across with a wall 1' thick...

[JellyPooga]

It's an interesting sort of idea. Without being able to use wood as either a fuel or a building material, civilisation would probably not get off the ground without some kind of alternative. Dried dung could work as a fuel and obviously stone for building materials, but it would mean a much greater emphasis on livestock farming and architecture would be very different. Wood would become a precious item, like furs or ivory, leading to very different outlook on the quality of certain items. Weaponry would be similarly different. Spears, Bows, Axes and other hafted weapons or other all-wood weapons would be a rarity or non-existant. Either that or they'd be made of entirely different materials which could dramatically change their use (imagine the weight of an axe with an iron handle, for example). These are, of course, just details compared to the moral implications of any society that did use wood.

A more subtle variation on the idea, with all the moral implications, but less of the practical ones, would be to have each tree have a fey "tree-spirit", like a dryad, linked to it. The older the tree, though, the more powerful the fey, so young trees that only have weak spirits could be 'harvested' without undue retribution (so commoners could make a living from being a forester or lumberjack without having to be a bad-ass adventurer), but trying to cut down an old oak tree would be tantamount to suicide as the ultra-plus-dryad-of-doom tears you limb from limb.

This variation makes the possibility of a kind of Righteous Fey Tree League vs. Evil and/or Ignorant Humans set up a bit more plausable, without having to go into the details of a society that uses very little, if any wood. The humans, being ignorant of the truth and with clear conscience, plant and cut trees for their own use. They avoid the deeper forest, as a rule, because of rumour and myth that danger lies within the woods. The older, more powerful and intelligent, tree-spirits of the forest would be understandably angry at the ignorant humans of the city nearby for having the equivalent of a baby-farm on the border of their very own forest. Not only that but the short-lived monkeys build their houses, make tools and furniture out of the corpses of said babies and that's the ones they don't just burn for warmth. Monstrous! Cue drama between two otherwise good/neutral aligned societies.

[Morph Bark]

There are other ways to make stuff, apart from trees.
Bamboo is a grass, iirc.
This is a fantasy land. Imagine bamboo with stalks 10' across with a wall 1' thick...

Gonna be some sharp walls.

[panaikhan]

Gonna be some sharp walls.

Put the sharp bits on the outside, instant defence against wandering wildlife / stupid bandits.

[CTrees]

1) wait for a dry spell
2) start a grass fire
3) use wind spells to fan the flames and push it towards the nearest forest
4) run like hell
5) ????
6) Profit! XP!

[Namfuak]

1) wait for a dry spell
2) start a grass fire
3) use wind spells to fan the flames and push it towards the nearest forest
4) run like hell
5) ????
6) Profit! XP!

This is how I chaotic evil.

Dryads are only CR 3 though, so if you were in a world where average commoners were higher level than 1 (I usually put them at around level 3, actually), it would be plausible that a group of lumberjacks (warriors or fighters) could reliably cut down dryad trees, albeit with some difficulty.

[nedz]

Elephants are known for grubbing up trees to create open grassland, so Elephants are Lawful Evil.

Don't get me started on the Beavers.

Also there would be no iron since that requires charcoal for smelting; well you can use coke(coal) but thats quite a modern development.

[Occasional Sage]

Magic allows for the creation of wooden items without the felling of trees.

Also re:bamboo, you don't need fantasy bamboo for this. It is currently used to make plywood (well, plyboo anyway). And to forestall the obvious argument, plywood was developed by Egypt 3500 years ago.

Edit: faulty memory. 3500BCE, not 3500 years ago.

[Morph Bark]

Put the sharp bits on the outside, instant defence against wandering wildlife / stupid bandits.

The problem is the sharp bits are at the end. This means you can easily put the bamboo into the ground, but the edges of walls and buildings will be sharp enough to cut you with ease.

Or you could build your buildings out of dirt. Or rocks. Or ice.

[Cruiser1]

Dryads (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/dryad.htm) in every tree don't prevent civilization, they just slow down its rate of progression. People can still get wood without killing Dryads, they just have to look for fallen branches to pick up or dead trees to harvest.

Any 13th level Wizard or Cleric (or 14th level Sorcerer) can cast Summon Monster VII to bring in a Djinni (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/genie.htm#djinni), and have it cast Major Creation, where created vegetable matter i.e. wood is permanent (they cast at 20th caster level so you get 20 cubic feet of wood per summoning). As with the Tippyverse, as soon as the casters level up all limitations on civilization go away. :smallbiggrin:

[SSGoW]

Civilisation would never have developed.

No wood - no ploughs. No ploughs - no agriculture. No agriculture - no villages.

Watch the documentary "How Beer Saved the World".

Also how did civilizations in places such as oh I don't know... Egypt come to power? They have very very little wood afterall.

I wouldn't go overboard on the whole "no civilization"

[Ashtagon]

Watch the documentary "How Beer Saved the World".

Also how did civilizations in places such as oh I don't know... Egypt come to power? They have very very little wood afterall.

I wouldn't go overboard on the whole "no civilization"

Very little is not the same as none.

Also, no agriculture = no beer!

Fallen branches aren't generally useful for construction of ploughs. Certainly not in the quality and quantities that would be needed.

[Particle_Man]

Western Cedar has been harvested by taking a plank off while leaving the tree alive. So with a small enough group of people (like the Haida) and a large enough group of that kind of trees, you could harvest some wood that way. And the people could be politely asking for it, etc.

[Ashtagon]

Western Cedar has been harvested by taking a plank off while leaving the tree alive. So with a small enough group of people (like the Haida) and a large enough group of that kind of trees, you could harvest some wood that way. And the people could be politely asking for it, etc.

Would you consent to having your arm hacked off every few months, even knowing it would grow back?

Maybe these dryads would. But it seems improbable. Good creatures aren't supposed to consent to wilfully inflicting pain.

[Flickerdart]

Stone age barbarians would have fought a bitter war against dryads, punching them in their stupid dryad faces. Eventually, barbarian champions would emerge, punching more and more dryads in their stupid faces. Why do you think the barbarian weapon of choice is the axe? To chop down dryads when their fists get tired.

[Ranting Fool]

*goes off to check out dryads in MM*

Though I can see a bunch of Dwarves selling Cold Iron to the Human Commoners for those ever useful Cold Iron Axes

Not too bad for a CR 3 critter... though the first thing that springs to mind is a Clay Golem deforesting large chunks of woodland for it's Evil Wizard/Lumberjack master.

By the way how much wood are underground races meant to use anyway?

[Ashtagon]

*goes off to check out dryads in MM*


Nothing wrong with that (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/LampshadedDoubleEntendre?from=Main.IfYouKnowWhatIM ean).

[Particle_Man]

Would you consent to having your arm hacked off every few months, even knowing it would grow back?

Well according to the Haida religious belief, that is exactly what the tree spirits agree to, so long as they are asked politely, treated with respect, etc.

[EternalMelon]

Would you consent to having your arm hacked off every few months, even knowing it would grow back?

Smart Business Man: Oh hello mister tree, how would you like it if I cut off your regenerative arm so my group of early settlers can build up a prosperous nation of being the only ones with wood.

Tree: Are you crazy? Giving up my limbs for your benefit? Why would I ever do that?

SBM: Oh, Ok then, I guess I'll be on my way and not use the weapons I would of made from your body to defend this grove from the roaming pack of deadly fire wielding Lumberjack bandits.

Tree: *Grumble* Ok, fine then, but don't take too much.

[White_Drake]

Very little is not the same as none.

Precisely, every tree having a Dryad wouldn't wood to be nonexistent, only a rarity. I imagine that Dryads would be extinct before very long, given mankind's history of not really caring about the natural world, and the fact that remote villages are probably going to see the tree spirits as evil (Fangorn wasn't evil, but his forest was widely believed to be haunted).

[Arcanist]

I wonder why this thread made me think about the giving tree? :smallconfused:

[Little Brother]

Civilisation would never have developed.

No wood - no ploughs. No ploughs - no agriculture. No agriculture - no villages.>Implying herders aren't civilized.

What would Genghis Khan say about that? The Lapps weren't civilized? The Hsiung-Nu? Any of the camel/cattle herders from Northern Egypt-ish/Sudan-ish?:smallconfused:

I mean, ancient Greeks experimented with breeding snails for food. You could do that, and have clay or stone-based architecture.

[Vizzerdrix]

Hmm... I suspect bone and chitin tools would have been used for a longer period, Until someone was strong enough to harvest wood in a normal manner. Sailing wouldn't be possible. Enough wood for a ship would be too valuable. Maybe even wagons would be rare, leading to the domestication of larger critters in their place.

Warm plains is probably where most humans would have to settle and I could see giant insects being used for livestock (Chitin from beetles and ants for hauling). Maybe even combining giant spider silk with something to replace wood (like the glue in pressboard).

[nedz]

Actually I think that this would just result in a war where all the other races killed the Dryads just for their trees. It would be like modern resource wars, but instead of oil, or whatever, it would be a wood war.

It might make quite an interesting setting where Dryads hate humans etc., because there were once Dryads in all of the trees.

But then, hasn't this been done perhaps ?
I'm thinking Ents!

[panaikhan]

The problem is the sharp bits are at the end. This means you can easily put the bamboo into the ground, but the edges of walls and buildings will be sharp enough to cut you with ease.

Bamboo is curved (in it's natural state). If you make the walls out of curved sections butted together, with the curves on the inside then all the sharp edges are going to be on the outside.
Also there is nothing stopping you from edging the sections with something, to remove the sharp hazard.