Elven Tree Settlements Help

[kalos72]

I have a group that wants to rebuild an old elven tree city with the local elf clan they are allied with.

Is there any guild/article anything that described how they did it back in the day? Did they take a certain type of tree, enchant it so it grew huge or something? Is there ANY source that might help them outline the process?

I dont care what version or player written anything...just something to give me an idea.

[Maat Mons]

Dragon magazine 357 has an article called Arcane Botanica. It includes a plant called a Fey Cherry tree. It grows 500 feet tall, with 50-foot-wide trunk. No listing for how wide its branches spread, but if it keeps to the proportions of regular cherry trees, around a 350-foot diameter?

What's cool though, is the trees are supernaturally strong, magically moderate the weather under their branches, and can live indefinitely. The article implies that Elven Wizards bred them for use as dwellings.

I've always wanted to create a forest of Fey Cherries, lit with Glowvines from the same article. I'd water them with Decanters of Endless Water. The Nahre Lotus in the article is just a terrible way to get water.

[Zaile]

It's a little long, but we had a game where we inherited a keep and had to build vertically to help with population. My friend decided to modify the Quaal's Feather Token (Tree) and came up with this.

You could also use Plant Growth spell on a base Quall's token tree and use Plant Growth on however many you have to make them "overgrown" but that isn't quantified by the spell, but you can assume it at least double, of not triples in size since brush and grass grow so high and thick you can only move 5' per round.

His idea:

I came up with the idea of a tree town, kind of like Solace from Chronicles. Now as we have to
clear out some trees anyway (see: The Far Forest insert at the end of this document), as they are
sickly from the invasion of fiends, I was thinking of using an improved version of Quaal's Feather
Token (Tree).

Replace oak with weirwood in the enchantment process to create a weirwood tree. However, the tree might not be big enough to
support any more than a single small cottage. So in the campaign setting book (FR setting p. 80), weirwoods
are described as “forest giants”. Now, this probably doesn't mean redwood sized, but when one
uses the term forest giant, it usually means bigger than usual. Most species of oak range from 80'
to 120', with a trunk diameter of 5' to 8' when fully grown, so a “forest giant” would probably
range from 150' to 200', with a trunk diameter of 10' to 15'. To achieve this, I thought about
adding the Plant Growth spell to the enchantment. This should create a tree that's the size of an
adult tree, but is still young and suitable for building in. The only problem is the cost. Adding
Plant Growth adds a lot to the price (1,850gp (300gp of that goes toward a cleric or druid casting
Plant Growth), more than 4.5 times the cost of a regular Token (Tree)), and many might be unable
to afford it alone. So I was thinking that a 150' tall 10' diameter tree should be able to support a
few cottages, a couple of 3-4 room family houses, or a grand house as well as several homes on
the ground under its branches (I don't think that dwarves would appreciate living in a tree
anyway). Those homeowners could split the cost, and with 4-5 homes beneath, and 1-4 above,
they're looking a max of 200-300gp per household. Between the dwarves, gnomes, and humans,
they should be able to build houses for less than the 1,000-5,000gp listed in the DMG on page
101.

For those who don't want to have house in, or near a tree (for what ever reason) they
would be charged 400gp for a regular Token, and a weirwood would be grown elsewhere as
tribute, to keep Turlang's treants from razing the town. I doubt that there will be any takers on
that offer.

For those with the money for it (13,000gp this falls in between a grand house, an a
mansion), My character could make a Tower Tree for them. A Tower Tree is essentially the
Improved Feather Token (Tree) with Wood Shape, Wall of Stone, and Stone Shape added. This would
create a spiral shaped tower intertwined with a giant weirwood. A Tower Tree has anywhere from
4-7 floors, depending on the owner's preferences, that are roughly 20' x 20' in area.
To prevent too many trees being cut to keep warm in the winter my character can add, at
cost (250gp (30-40gp per homeowner if in a shared tree) to any of the above enchantments (or to
an individual building, an Endure Elements enchantment. This should keep the occupants warm in the harshest winters, and cool in the hottest summers.
This enchantment may, or may not extend to the houses built beneath its branches, DMs choice.
The tree itself will probably be in bloom year-round.

I was also thinking about having my character offer the Improved Feather Token (Tree) at cost
(250gp) to any willing to agree to patrol the boarders of the town (for standard boarder patrol
pay), for a specified amount of time (DM can decided what a fare amount of time and pay is).
Farmers needing farmland could buy 4 trees per acre at cost (68gp per tree), and pay back
the remaining price over time with any surplus crop yield.

[sleepyphoenixx]

RotW might have something.
I never bothered with the fluff parts so i don't know for sure, but elves are one of the races it focuses on.

[shaikujin]

Idea 1 - If you are not adverse to having some rules backing the process, then working backwards for fluff, Settlements in pathfinder can gain something called Settlement Qualities:

https://www.d20pfsrd.com/gamemastering/other-rules/kingdom-building/settlements/

There's a 3rd party quality called Living Forest on the page above.

We can assume the current settlement doesn't have that quality.

To gain an additional quality, your players can help the settlement grow into the next size category and gain a extra quality "slot". Then use that to pick up the Living Forest quality. Player help as in chipping in with gold or labor to build more structures, but fluff it as using the existing natural forest to build structures. Maybe combined with spells mention in the next idea. Once enough buildings have been built and a settlement quality "slot" opens up, it can be explained that the combined efforts and created enough critical mass for the settlement to gain the Living Forest quality (or perhaps enough for it to become self sustaining)


Idea 2 - Awaken some trees, diplomacy them to relocate to the elven settlement. What kind of elven settlement doesn't have a wise ancient talking tree eh? They will still produce seeds.

Using spells/scrolls of plant growth on the seeds would be helpful. And wood shape.

Also, there's a 3rd party Mythic ability (Mythic rules are also from Pathfinder) that makes instant spells only last 24 hours. Normally useless, but could be helpful in this case to mass awaken lots of trees, have them relocate to the settlement, then wait for the spell effects to expire after 24 hrs.

Instant forest.