Dragon Encounters

Discover better nature-themed quest ideas—and learn how to turn dryad encounters into lethal fights with Entangle and stealth tactics.

How to Use: Dryad and Nature Quests

The obvious purpose for a dryad is as a quest giver, for nature related quests. I don’t normally do quests (I feel enough quest ideas exist online), but most people have limited ideas when it comes to a nature quest, so I decided to submit my own.

Common Pitfalls of Nature Quests

Aside from generic quests (stop the villain. It so happens that this villain is destroying nature, but otherwise he’s identical to any other villain) most nature quests are one of two options.

The first is to tell the players that they have to be careful not to hurt any trees / other plants / animals. In nature, however, these things happen all the time. There are actually more types of carnivores animals than otherwise, and trees are routinely destroyed in landslides, forest fires, floods and more. (Many of which aren’t caused by humans).

Aside from that, penalizing the players for destroying wildlife feels weird when 99% of the time it doesn’t matter, but now we’re in a nature environment so it’s a capital crime.

The other idea that I imagine comes up is to prohibit types of damage that are extremely destructive to the environment. In other words, fire, possibly lightning, possibly poison.

The problem is that this penalizes exactly half your players. The ones playing as spell casters, specifically. A plot that imbalances your party is anything but wonderful. Worse. Most spellcaster players that I know depend heavily on a few spells per character build, so either you’ve severely handicapped the player, or you’ve set up a meaningless restriction that basically means nothing.

Improved Nature Quest Hooks and Objectives

With that said, here are four types of nature quests I might suggest:

• The villain is the one with a potential destructive environmental presence, and the players have to take them down without making it worse. Think of a boat loaded up with oil. Mid battle, the boat starts to approach the rapids. Similarly, a warehouse loaded with poison that threatens to catch fire mid-battle.
• In a sandbox campaign, or a very open quest, have the people cutting down the forest be part of a large corporation (or working for a powerful lord). If they stop them, they’ll make a dangerous enemy. (I think these appeal to me because I feel that environmentalists too often don’t consider the full price of their actions.)
• If you want to test the players on their way to a dryad, put a valuable fruit where it will be hard to get to it without chopping down a magic sapling, or killing a tiger. Giving a potential reward, and a possible but difficult way to get it makes it tempting even when they know there’s a consequence if they kill the sapling or tiger.
• For a roleplaying crowd only: Have the dryad send them to retrieve a rare animal. Have the animal prove skittish, picky in its diet, or otherwise inconvenient to take care of. Let them decide how to coax the animal and keep it alive. Again, this isn’t an adventure challenge, but a roleplaying one.

More Creative Uses for Monsters

Goodberry as a Reward

When the dryad sends them on a quest, it will likely cast Goodberry for them as a preemptive reward, then give them something more useful as the actual reward. (Quest knowledge is often used, or the key ingredient to make a rare potion).

Per Tasha’s rule on modifying spell descriptions, it would be RAW to change the berries into grapes or apricots, to make the spell seem more unique to the dryad. You could also modify the description so that the dryad makes them grow from an adjacent tree into her hand. Using larger fruit could also help explain why it takes a full action to eat one (if using 2014 spell rules. In 2024 rules, it only takes a bonus action.)

Combat Encounter 1: Hit, Run, Entangle (difficulty 3)

The dryad is clearly not meant to be a combatant. It doesn’t have the HP or AC to be a fighter, and it doesn’t have the spell selection it would need to be a spellcaster. Still, let’s see what we can do with it.

Setup and First Round Feint

I suggest a small glade, lined with bushes and fragrant trees, with grass covering the floor. Place a large majestic tree at one end. The glade will be long but not too wide, and will gently curve instead of running straight. The dryad will need room to maneuver.

At the beginning of the combat, the dryad will motion to her animal companions too attack while ducking for cover herself. (If she doesn’t get out of sight fast, she will almost certainly be killed.) Her animals will fight for a single round, then run away. Hopefully, we can get the players to spread out.

(As a side point, the limit of three animals is clearly meant to restrict the dryad to three animal companions. The writers didn’t take into account that charm will lead into the animals becoming tame, even without the dryad being able to talk to animals. What this means is that the fey charm is still available, if you want it.)

Entangle Tactics

The third round will be the dryad casting Entangle, while sending the animals back into the action and using tree stride to get behind the party. Entangle makes the area into difficult terrain, so even if the players make their STR checks to avoid getting restrained, they’ll still have to get back. Circling the affected area will take almost as long as walking through. Still, making circling difficult is why I suggested the area not be too wide.

After that, the dryad’s strategy will depend on which version of Barkskin you’re using, 2014 or 2024.

Barkskin 2024: In this edition, Barkskin no longer takes concentration, allowing the dryad to use it at the same time as Entangle. With this, the dryad is probably strong enough to attack the spellcasters. Even with Entangle, you will need to animals to help occupy the melee. (The dryad cast Barkskin while running, during the first round.)

Barkskin 2014: In this edition, Barkskin requires concentration, which means the dryad can’t use it without losing Entangle. Without it, the dryad is horribly vulnerable. Your best bet is to send other animals in to fight the spellcasters from behind. The dryad can spend its turns running in and out of the battle, and trying to trip the spellcasters. If she ends her turns behind cover, she might have a chance.

Alternatively, you could use multiple dryads. Have one cast the Entangle, and the others can use Barkskin on themselves and then engage the spellcasters.

Treetop Battle Postion

The obvious place for the dryad casting Entangle to hide would be on top of a tree, where she can observe the battle and recast Entangle to reposition it as needed. (Tree Stride says that the dryad appears next to a tree, and I don’t see any reason to say in the air right on top of a sturdy branch shouldn’t count.)

Being atop a tree also opens up a new strategy in the form of wasp nests. Have the dryad in the tree move about, smashing one wasp nest a turn and dumping it onto your PCs. (I would treat a wasp nest as a swarm of insects that automatically loses 5-10 HP [or 2-3d6] a round [in addition to player dealt damage, due to the swarm dispersing.])

For more Entangle ideas, see Vine Blight

Combat Encounter 2: Hunted by a Dryad (difficulty 4)

If a dryad can’t take them down in direct combat, she has one more recourse. Move Without Trace is a stealth enabling spell, and tree stride also makes trailing inside a forest easy (especially as the dryad can circle them, or let them get ahead, and then use the fact that she can ignore cliffs and obstructions to easily overtake).

The dryad will follow until she can predict where they’ll be, or wait until they make camp, then use her fey charm and talk with animals to enlist a pack of wolves or wild dogs, (goading them into chasing her if nothing else works) and lead them to the PCs.

The dryad’s Entangle will make what would be a simple combat extremely tricky, especially as she can cast it up to three times. She does have a few other options, such as to dislodge a log they used to cross a chasm after half the party is across, or showing up suddenly to trip one of them or to hit the spellcaster and disrupt his concentration, but this is probably the best bet.

If they defeat this encounter, you might bring the story to a close by having an enraged dryad jump into their midst via tree stride and try to finish them off. Arguably suicide, but in a manner that qualifies as believable.

Summary: Six Creative Uses for Dryads

• The dryad’s most obvious use is to send the players on a nature related quest. I suggest a boat carrying oil. Midway through the fight, the boat moves toward the rapids. If they can’t steer the boat to safety mid-battle… Uh-oh!
• In a sandbox, have the dryad give them a quest to protect the forest, with the threat being a nobleman’s workers, with the nobleman being able to make trouble later if they bother him now.
• Have the dryad give goodberries when they agree to help. Make the reward seem more unique by switching the type of fruit, and describing how the dryad makes it grow from a nearby tree. (All RAW, according to spell modifying rules in Tasha’s.)
• When a dryad is going to attack them, have her retreat with animals to defend her. Hopefully, this will encourage them to split up. Then the dryad can use Entangle on the front ranks, and use tree stride to get behind them and attack the spellcasters.
• The dryad’s tree stride should be able to get her into the branches of a nearby tree. Have her use that vantage to knock wasp nests down onto them while her animal allies fight below.
• For maximum low-level threat, have a dryad follow them quietly, then bring a pack of wild dogs or wolves onto them when they make camp. Also, cast Entangle from hiding right when the attack arrives.