posting this here because the only person at risk of seeing is the dm: how would you play out a character being slowly cursed to turn into a tree?
for clarification: this is a mechanics question of “how do you get slowly turned into a tree while still being a somewhat useful member of the party” question not an emotional “how do you react to getting cursed” question
maybe it gradually decreases your walking speed and DEX? But probably increases your AC, the way barkskin does.
Believe it or not, this exact thing happened in my game. As the DM, I resolved it like this:
Every long rest, the cursed character makes a DC 16 Constitution (or Charisma, depending on the flavor of the curse) saving throw. On a failed save, the character progresses to the next step of the curse. At the moment they are cursed, they are at step 1.
Their hair turns green.
Their skin turns a grey-brown and they gain the affects of a permanent casting of barkskin. They occasionally find twigs in their hair.
They gain an aversion to food, such that eating or drinking anything other than water requires a successful DC 15 Constitution check.
Twigs sprout from their arms and legs. They become fond of light and wary of the darkness. Any hit points they gain during a long or short rest are halved if the rest did not take place in bright light. They become vulnerable to fire damage.
Roots creep down from their feet, dropping their walking speed by 10 feet. They become very fond of the natural ground. They gain a level of exhaustion for each hour they spend on “manmade” floors; each of these levels can be removed by spending an hour rooted in place in the ground. They gain the ability to cast goodberry once per short rest.
They sprout branches, making it impossible to wear armor, footwear, headgear, or gloves. Their walking speed drops to 10 feet per round. Their Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma scores cannot exceed 12. They learn Sylvan.
They transform into a tree at dawn.
The curse came with a jaunty poem, too, which cryptically explains what’s going to happen over the course of the transformation, so the party knows how much to worry about it:
First mane alike a shade of grass, Then skin begins to glow like brass. On second morn thy taste shalt go, Then out of light thy shalt feel low. On fourth thy roots shall touch the ground, And berries spring forth at thy sound. On fifth sunrise thy will grows weak, And woodland tongues thy tongue shall speak. When sunlight breaks on morning sixth, Thy fate is sealed, to earth transfixed.
