Really exciting to hear that there is the possibility for a monster manual of your ideas on monster twists. With designs like this trench riding a log, the other trent being a walking colony, and immensely different takes with things like the owlbear; I'd say you have something really special. Hope it does become a thing and if not at least we get these amazing videos!
I had made a custom Awakened Tree boss that that had a few fun ideas; I gave the tree Spike Growth and Thorn Rake, so the party gets brought in and then stuck. To prevent the party from just out ranging the tree I gave him a custom spell where it was an AOE attack and for everyone hit by the attack created Awakened Shrubs. But! If the party gets close enough to the tree I also added the ability to ENGULF them! This seems a little to "raid boss" in retrospect, but it's a good starting point for sure.
I think raid boss is a good direction to explore! I have been thinking about bosses with AOE attacks that go off at the end of the round in a predetermined direction to keep people moving around the battle.
I think it'd be really cool to incorporate the idea that the ents are the living forest itself, that whether spiritually, or even directly, by some root network (one of my favorite scientific theories is that myceliae from fungus actually creates a giant neural network and in a sense entire forests themselves are like giant thinking organisms) so the entire forest together decides to fight against loggers or those who have upset the natural balance of their world, by means of industrialism or environmental destruction. There are really all sorts of themed plant ideas you could use for this sort of thing, I love ents.
the spider treant combo has got some big murkwood vibes, i could totally see an adventure of a dark spooky forest with the trees and spiders teaming up!
@@mapcrow I am surprised that you did not have an ent with a murder of crows or one of the acursed and blood thirsty mocking birds. they could be of use id think
You make such beautiful artwork, and the fantastic spins you put onto established concepts and ideas are wonderful and inspiring! I have to say though, that your Treebeard voice is astounding, I think I actually prefer it to the original, it gives him this wise, cryptic, mystical, and almost jaded feel to the character. It's AWESOME! Love the work, started watching with your Dragons video, and just started binging. Awesome job all the way, man, keep up the good work.
I am really loving this series. I DM for a lot of veteran players so being able to add a spin to classic monsters is really refreshing. I’d love to see a Building Better Trolls video. They are such a classic folk lore monster and are often lurking beneath bridges. There could be a lot of fun stuff to work with.
I'm partial to the idea of a willow tree-style treant with necromancer abilities. Also: Treants that live in a mangrove swamp, so wade through the saltwater looking for interlopers.
Really like where you're going with this idea. It wouldn't even have to be large tree shapes that start attacking the village. What if at the beginning of the adventure just the bushes were coming to life. They'd be the equivalent of foot soldiers (think woody orcs) -- not too difficult to handle one on one but a horde of them would start to become overwhelming. Meanwhile as the reality of the plants coming to life sinks in, everyone keeps a wary eye on the massive old tree that's stood for generations in the middle of the town square. The swaying of the top branches are just the wind, right? Right?!
Keep going back to hear your the your version of the Ent Marching Song. It's so evocative and chilling, wooh I get chills. Would you ever consider releasing that audio specifically, I can think of many uses in my campaign.
hey, are you thinking of making a color pencil tutorial anytime soon? Really like how you layer your colors. If you aren't, do you have an artstation or something where you have all your art collected to admire? 😍😍😍 I wanna see moreeee
Thank you for the kind words!! I do have a color pencil tutorial in the works! And I need to put these up on my art station, thanks for reminding me! My username there is Kylelatino.
I like the idea of Treants being gigantic insects that are some cross between stick bugs and praying mantises,. Massive predatory bugs that look like the trees they spend time around and eat intruders to the forest.
You could further twist the spider tree thing by having the forest overrun by the spiders and the trees puppeted by them. Maybe it started out harmoniously but some outside force to the forest upset the balance. Probably related to a population boom for the spiders so maybe a nearby town cutting part of the forest and civilization driving monsters or animals into the forest to become prey threw things out of order. Maybe its the nature of what the spiders started eating that drove their behavior to become more controlling. Could even throw in some kind of scizm that developed between the old ways and the new for their species. That could set up for a forest civil war of sorts or maybe a crusade from another forest coming to the aid of the one that is besieged from within.
My first thought to enhance a treant as a threat was to play on its status as a steward of growing life. The treant can cast entangle without limit, and is surrounded by opportunistic animals- especially ravens- that take advantage of ensnared prey. Moreover, the treant slowly ambles towards its entrapped prey; if they don't escape before it reaches them, it drives its own roots into their body, siphoning away their blood to nourish itself.
The dryads I use are much like your ents with intensity but I treat them like vengeful giants that rage against towns Godzilla style They lay down dangerous vegetation in their path to despoil the artifice as they go so the ruined town becomes an adventure zone
I feel like one of the things your various images are trying to tell you here is... There isn't really just one kind of Treant or other animate tree that makes sense. Because there isn't just one kind of tree, when you think about it. Think about it - A wispy, oily Birch is going to look, feel, and act differently than a towering, girthy Redwood, and both are very, VERY different encounters from each other, and from the classical "Oak Treant". And an Acacia, alone out on the savannah, is going to have a very different view of the world, and of other trees and treants, than a pine in the middle of a taiga forest in deep winter. You could probably have an entire "dungeon" that's just a forest with wildly different types of Treants, and get a lot of interesting encounters out of that.
