Tenaxi [3.5 race+feats] [Crabgrass People]

[Admiral Squish]

Tenaxi

Tenaxi are are a race of grasslike living plants characterized by one word, tenacity. Tenaxi are difficult to injure, and even more difficult to permanently kill. They regrow limbs, heal wounds, and can even regrow from an apparent death to come back again and again.
Personality: Tenaxi never give up. Shaped by their harsh landscape, the tenaxi know the only way to accomplish what you set out to do is to never allow yourself to be beaten. Tenaxi are rough around the edges, and often bluntly honest, even when the situation would require a bit more finesse. Their extreme survivability makes them more likely to take risks with physical damage on the line, though they tend to be very wary of fire, as one of the very few things that can really hurt them.
Physical Description: Tenaxi are made entirely out of plant matter. Long, grasslike fibers coil around each other to form limbs, surrounding a watermelon-sized woody seed-core. The only other notable feature of a tenaxi is their eyes, which take the form of a pair of palm-sized rose-like flowers on the end of long, flexible stalks that emerge directly from the seed. The flower‘s petals serve as the iris and eyebrows, closing or opening wider depending on where they‘re focusing and how much light there is. Many tenaxi who deal with or live around humanoids will form a head of grass around these eyes to give them a range of expressions and make themselves somewhat more approachable. Some even go so far as to apply carved wooden masks to the grassy head to give them more of a face. The grass of a tenaxi’s body can come in a few different shades of green, from very dark to light, and some may have little white line down the middle of each fiber. Also, their eyes can range in color as well, including blue, red, yellow, white, purple, pink, and orange. Tenaxi are hermaphroditic, as many plants are, and they pollinate each other by wrapping their eye-stems around each other until the base of the eye-flowers come into contact.
Relations: Tenaxi have made racial enemies all through their range, their expansionism looked on in a very poor light by those whose lands they colonize. The tenaxi feel their expansion is no more evil than anyone else’s, and that if they can take one’s land, they had no right to claim it as their own in the first place. Tenaxi generally get along better with nomadic races, or ones the don’t make permanent claims to any land. Tenaxi are still newcomers to the lands outside their original grasslands and still many lack a solid understanding of humanoid etiquette and animal bodily functions like pregnancy or
Alignment: Tenaxi are usually true neutral or chaotic neutral, but they generally favor neutrality over any extreme alignment. Some are good, some are evil.

	L	N	C
G	5	15	5
N	10	20	20
E	5	15	5

Tenaxi Lands: Tenaxi originated in an isolated corner of a harsh, parched grassland, living a relatively peaceful existence as moving mounds of grass. They first made contact with humanoids by way of a group of traveling druids who settled into their area for a few months to study them. From the druids, they learned about tools, fire, humanoid languages, writing, magic, and, most importantly, the world beyond their grassland. The tanaxi then began to spread with their newfound abilities, soon taking over the entire grassland and slowly spreading further and further. Soon isolated settlements began to spring up all around the world. Those that try to dislodge them from their newfound homes find them an extremely resilient enemy.
Religion: Tenaxi religion is pantheistic, centered around a solar flower known as Lumuu. They also revere his child, Lumar, who is god of the weather, and Lumar’s assorted siblings who are in charge of specific kinds of weather. They also revere elemental gods, Rono, the earth lord, Pohlo, the water lord, Alemar, the air lord, and Kazar, the fire lord, who doubles as a god of death. It’s also worth pointing out that all their gods have no set gender. In the diaspora, some tenaxi have taken on gods from other religions, others have abandoned the pantheon in favor of revering nature as a whole, as druids, and some cling more tightly to the old ways.
Language: Tenaxi language is a strange one, made of cricket-like chips and wind channeled through the blades of their body. It’s all but impossible for non-tenaxi to speak. Tenaxi themselves learned how to speak humanoid languages from the druids, using their fibers to weave rudimentary lungs and vocal cords. Still, they speak the languages with a bit of a breathy voice, and they occasionally whistle when trying to pronounce the ‘s’ sounds.
Names: Tenaxi names are all but impossible to pronounce to humanoids. Many will still have one, but go by an adopted humanoid name in most places. These names can be human, elven, sylvan, or taken in honor of a religious or historical figure the tenaxi is interested in. Some may even have more than one adopted through their travels.
Adventurers: Tenaxi adventurers come in all flavors, but are most commonly found in the professions of barbarian, druid, ranger, or cleric. Tenaxi adventurers are highly respected by their communities, and many go on to found their own communities once they eventually settle down. Tenaxi adventurers have to be careful to make plans with their allies to recover their seed should they fall in battle, and explain the replanting process to them.

• +4 constitution, +2 dexterity, -2 intelligence. Tenaxi are highly resilient and quick, but they‘re still figuring out the finer points of civilization.
• Plant Type: Tenaxi are plant creatures, and as such, they are immune to poison, sleep effects, paralysis, polymorph, and stunning, and they are not subject to critical hits. (see vegetable body below)
• Medium Size: Tenaxi are medium creatures, and have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.
• Normal Speed: Tenaxi base land speed is 30 feet.
• Low-light Vision: A Tenaxi can see twice as far as a human in conditions of low light such as starlight or torchlight.
• Vegetable Body: A tenaxi’s body is made of tightly-wrapped vegetable matter and a central woody seed, which makes it respond to certain spells in unusual ways. The fact that tenaxi are intelligent makes them vulnerable to mind-affecting spells and abilities, unlike normal plant creatures.
  
  • A Speak With Plants spell allows one to speak to and understand a tenaxi, even if they share no common languages.
  • Plant Growth and Diminish Plants spells affect a tenaxi as Enlarge Person and Reduce Person, respectively. The tenaxi can make a fortitude save to resist the change.
  • Warp Wood deals 1d6 damage/2 caster levels to the tenaxi, which overcomes their regeneration.
  • Repel Wood will push a tenaxi, though they can make a strength check (DC 20) each turn to resist being pushed back.
• Regeneration 1: Tenaxi are extremely resistant to most kinds of damage and are able to rapidly repair almost any physical attack. Most attacks deal only non-lethal damage to a tenaxi, and the tenaxi heals one point of nonlethal damage each turn. A tenaxi takes normal damage from fire damage, dessication damage, and any effect that specifically deals damage to plant creatures (such as Horrid Wilting or Blight). A severed limb will regrow over the course of an hour.
• Rearrange: A tenaxi can rearrange it’s fibers to take on new shapes, allowing it to move in different ways. It can rearrange it’s form as a full-round action, and the change lasts until they rearrange again. Armor designed for one form does not adjust to fit any other form.
  
  • Humanoid: A tenaxi’s most common form is a humanoid shape, with two legs and two arms. While in this form, the tenaxi moves and manipulates objects normally.
  • Quadruped: A tenaxi can assume a quadruped shape, with four legs. While in this form, the tenaxi cannot manipulate objects or weapons, but increases their base land speed to 40 feet, gains a +4 bonus to checks to resist bull rush or trip attempts, and doubles their carrying capacity.
  • Shambler: A tenaxi can relax their fibers into a loose pile of grasslike strands. While in this form, they can crawl along the ground, decreasing their base land speed to 20 feet. They cannot wield weapons while in this arrangement, but they can manipulate objects, they can squeeze through spaces as though they were a small creature, they cannot be tripped or knocked prone, and they gain a +4 racial bonus to balance, climb, and escape artist checks, and hide checks made in grassy or overgrown areas.
• Seed: A tenaxi’s core is his seed, a spherical, wooden object in their center of mass, about the size of a small watermelon. If a tenaxi is reduced below 0 HP (even if the damage would normally kill them), their seed goes into an emergency mode to protect them. The tenaxi’s body is shut off, collapsing into a pile of grasslike strands which rapidly begin to turn brown, dry out, and detach from the seed. The seed is now keeping the tenaxi’s mind alive, but in stasis. The seed can remain in this state indefinitely unless it’s destroyed. The seed has a hardness of 5 and 20 HP. If the seed is planted in soil and watered with a quart of water, the seed will begin to regrow the tenaxi’s body over the next 24 hours. At the end of the period, the tenaxi’s body is regrown entirely, leaving them at ½ their maximum HP.
• Base Languages: Tenaxi, Common Bonus Languages: Auran, Druidic, Elven, Gnome, Halfling, Sylvan
• Favored Class: Barbarian
• Level Adjustment: +2

[Admiral Squish]

Feats

Overgrown:
You can grow your blades longer than other tenaxi.
Prerequisites: Tenaxi, 1st level only.
Benefit: You gain 1 additional hit point from each hit die you possess.

Greenwing
You can rearrange your fibers into a pair of aerodynamic gliding wings.
Prerequisites: Overgrown
Benefit: You add the following shape to the options when using your rearrange ability.
Winged: You can assume a winged shape, rearranging your blades into a gliding wing formation. While in this form, you can glide, moving 20 feet horizontally for every 5 feet you descend. While in this arrangement you cannot wield weapons or manipulate objects.

Hulking Form
You can grow out your fibers enough to actually be larger.
Prerequisites: Overgrown, 5 HD
Benefit: You gain the powerful build special quality, allowing you to count as one size category larger in many situations. This quality applies to any rearrangement you take on.

Reaching Form
You can reshape your blades into a longer-limbed shape.
Prerequisites: Overgrown
Benefit: When rearranging into your humanoid or quadruped form, you can chose to make the limbs longer and thinner. In quadruped form, this increases your land speed to 50 feet. In humanoid form, this increases your reach by 5 feet.

Sawgrass
Your blades are serrated at the edges, allowing you to use them to cut and slash.
Prerequisites: Tenaxi
Benefit: Your body becomes a weapon. You gain a saw blade attack that deals 1d6 points of slashing damage. You can use your saw blades as though they were armor spikes that dealt slashing damage instead of piercing.

Rapid Rearrangement
You have a special talent for rearranging, allowing you to quicker switch from form to form.
Prerequisites: Tenaxi, Dex 15
Benefit: You can rearrange as a standard action instead of a full-round action.

Lightning Rearrangement
Your talent for rearrangement makes you even faster.
Prerequisites: Tenaxi, Dex 17, rapid rearrangement
Benefit: You can rearrange as a move action instead of a standard action.

[Admiral Squish]

So, yeah, I made these guys. I had a dream I joined a play-by-post game as one of these, but I died in the first combat session. But I was so taken by the concept of a playable grass-dude I ended up having to make these guys.

Anyways, I'm hoping +2 LA will be enough to cover them as they are, I don't really wanna go any higher than that. After +2 it's just a wasteland of unplayability.

[SuperDave]

These guys are awesome, I approve completely, and I would totally play as one. I really like how completely inhuman they seem; not evil, and not (necessarily) scary, but very very different from humanoids in both their psychology and physiology. They'd fit nicely into your old Tryor setting, in my opinion.

Oh, and this quote is highly relevant:
“Crabgrass can grow on bowling balls in airless rooms, and there is no known way to kill it that does not involve nuclear weapons.”

~ Dave Barry

[Debihuman]

A speak will plants spell already allows you to communicate with plant creatures. That entry seems unnecessary.

Plant growth specifically states that "[t]his spell has no effect on plant creatures." This spell can be use offensively to prevent the creature from going through spaces that are suddenly too small. It's a good way to separate the party. Diminish plant has the same problem. There's a good reason these spells aren't supposed to work on plant creatures.

I like seed a lot but this allows a PC to worry less about death. Not sure it's worth the Level Adjustment. These should probably be vulnerable to desiccation damage. Withering seems to be a problem for them.


Regeneration 1 is lacking the description of which attack forms deal normal damage. [See Regeneration Special Ability: "Certain attack forms, typically fire and acid, deal damage to the creature normally; that sort of damage doesn’t convert to nonlethal damage and so doesn't go away. The creature’s description includes the details." Desiccation damage seems appropriate.

Debby

[Admiral Squish]

Thanks, bro! I'm glad you like them.

Speak with Plants does work like that, but I figured it would be a good idea to point it out to players.

Plant Growth/Diminish Plants does say in the spell it had no effect on plant creatures, but I wanted to be able to grow them. It happened in the dream they came from, and I figured adding a bit of combat usage to two non-combat spells wouldn't be too bad. Also, the potential for offensive growing/shrinking is already inherently a part of enlarge person/diminish person. Plus, why would you use a 3rd-level spell to do it when you can just use the 1st-level classic version on a humanoid party member?

The seed itself? I suppose it could be.

Huh? did you read it all the way through? "A tenaxi’s regeneration is overcome by fire damage and any effect that specifically deals damage to plant creatures (such as Horrid Wilting or Blight)." Dessication damage probably would work, being similar enough to horrid wilting and blight that it would count. I didn't figure I needed to specifically address anything non-core.

EDIT: Okay, I went through and clarified a couple things just to make sure it got the point across.
Also, I've been looking for a picture for these guys. Not much luck, honestly, though I did find this thing which might be one in quadruped form. I'm not sure about using it, though.

Spoiler

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