Treant

Publication history

Treants appear to have been inspired by the talking trees of many of the world's folklores, as well as the Ent from J. R. R. Tolkien's world of Middle Earth. See tree (mythology) for more information. The name "treant" comes from combining "tree" and "giant," and is usually pronounced /|tree-ant/.

Treants are based on Ents from Tolkien's work. The creature was called an ent in the original Dungeons & Dragons, and its name was later changed to treant.

Dungeons & Dragons (1974-1976)

The ent (treant in later printings) was one of the first monsters introduced in the earliest edition of the game, in the Dungeons & Dragons "white box" set (1974), where they were described as tree-like creatures able to command trees, and lawful in nature.

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st edition (1977-1988)

The treant appears in the first edition Monster Manual (1977), where it is described as combining the features of both humans and trees, and dwelling in forests and indistinguishable from trees, and can cause trees to come to life and move.

The treant was detailed in Dragon #79 (November 1983), in the "Ecology of the Treant". The rivertree treant variant appeared in Dragon #108 (April 1986).

Dungeons & Dragons (1977-1999)

This edition of the D&D game included its own version of the treant, in the Dungeons & Dragons Expert Set (1981 & 1983), The treant appears as a player character class in Tall Tales of the Wee Folk in the "DM's booklet" (1989). The treant was also later featured in the Dungeons & Dragons Rules Cyclopedia (1991).

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd edition (1989-1999)

The treant appears first in the Monstrous Compendium Volume One (1989), and is reprinted in the Monstrous Manual (1993).

The lyrannikin (black treant) appeared for the Greyhawk campaign setting in From the Ashes (1992).

The evil treant and the undead treant first appeared for the Ravenloft setting in Monstrous Compendium Ravenloft Appendix (1991). The evil treant (blackroot) first appeared in Monstrous Compendium Ravenloft Appendix II (1993). All of these creatures were reprinted in Ravenloft Monstrous Compendium I & II (1996), and the evil treant (blackroot) also appeared in The Shadow Rift (1996).

The Athasian treant appeared for the Dark Sun setting in Ivory Triangle (1993).

A chaotic evil treant appeared in Encyclopedia Magica Vol. 1 (1994). The frost treants appeared in Dungeon #61 (September 1996).

Dungeons & Dragons 3.0 edition (2000-2002)

The treant appears in the Monster Manual for this edition (2000).

The elder treant is introduced in the Epic Level Handbook (2002).

Suggestions for combat with treants are provided in Dragon #283 (May 2001).

Savage Species (2003) presented the treant as both a race and a playable class.

Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 edition (2003-2007)

The treant appears in the revised Monster Manual for this edition (2003).

The corrupted treant appears in Dragon #350 (December 2006).

Dungeons & Dragons 4th edition (2008-2014)

The treant appears in the Monster Manual for this edition (2008), along with the blackroot treant. The treant reappears in the Monster Vault (2010) along with the bramblewood treant and the treant grove guardian.

Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition (2015-)

The treant appears in the Monster Manual for this edition as a 'huge plant'. Treants are usually neutral good in alignment and have a challenge rating of eight. Normally treants speak their own language, but they can also speak Common and Sylvan. Usually, treants can speak a few words in almost any other language. Usually all that can be is 'Get away from my trees!'

Description

Treants are sentient trees with human characteristics. They are typically portrayed as protectors of the forests and antagonists to industrialization and despoiling of nature. They are typically allies of druids and fey, opposing malicious races such as orcs.

Miniatures

The treant appears in the D&D Miniatures: Giants of Legend set (2004). The blackroot treant appears in the D&D Miniatures: Against the Giants set (2008).