Dear Science Side (particularly the Drendrology Side or Xylology Side) of Tumblr,
I am making a dryad for a homebrew rpg, and I want to know which tree (or other plant, cause I can make the argument for most plants) to make my dryad of.
There is nothing off the table here. I’m not just looking for the hardest tree or whatever, basically every aspect of the tree could be important here.
Some notes on game-based useful characteristics, though once again, nothing’s off the table.
1. Dryads have an innate weakness to fire, which can be mitigated if they are a fire-resistant tree.
2. They don’t have any in-game armor, so the durability of their wood (and bark?) is a key factor in their suitability for combat.
3. They can root themselves in the ground to heal, so their preferred soil can be a factor.
4. They naturally spread seeds that will quickly grow into plants that they favor.
5. They have the ability to heal anyone but them-self at short range, and it would be really cute to do that by feeding someone a fig or something.
6. Real-life factors aren’t the only ones, if there is a mythology behind certain kinds of trees, that is cool too.