Awakened Tree 5e: Stats, the Awaken Spell and Fighting a Tree

An awakened tree is a CR 2 Huge Plant with AC 13, 59 hit points, a 20-foot speed and one attack: a Slam with 10-foot reach that hits at +6 for 14 bludgeoning damage. It resists bludgeoning and piercing damage and is vulnerable to fire, so the party's choice of damage type decides this fight more than anything the tree does. It exists because someone cast Awaken on an ordinary tree. The 2024 stat block keeps every combat number but drops the False Appearance trait and gives the tree Common plus one other language.

Table of Contents

• •Awakened Tree Stat Block (2014)
• •The Awakened Tree in the 2024 Rules
• •Where Awakened Trees Come From
• •How an Awakened Tree Fights
• •Running an Awakened Tree Encounter
• •How Players Beat an Awakened Tree
• •Awakened Tree Encounter Ideas
• •Frequently Asked Questions

Awakened Tree Stat Block (2014)

The 2014 tree has False Appearance: while it stays motionless it's indistinguishable from a normal tree. No Perception check finds it. The party learns which oak is alive when it swings.

The Awakened Tree in the 2024 Rules

Without False Appearance, a 2024 tree hiding in a grove is a Stealth question rather than an automatic ambush. Its Stealth is just its Dexterity modifier, −2, so an alert party will usually notice which tree is wrong.

Where Awakened Trees Come From

The SRD describes the awakened tree as an ordinary tree given sentience and mobility by the Awaken spell or similar magic. Awaken is a 5th-level spell (Bard and Druid in both editions) with an 8-hour casting time and a consumed agate worth at least 1,000 gp.

• •2014: targets a Huge or smaller beast or plant with no Intelligence score or Intelligence 3 or less. It gains Intelligence 10, one language the caster knows, and the ability to move its limbs and roots. It's charmed by the caster for 30 days or until the caster or companions do anything harmful to it.
• •2024: the target can be a Beast or Plant creature with Intelligence 3 or less, or a natural plant that isn't a creature, which becomes a Plant creature. The Charmed condition lasts 30 days or until the caster or allies deal damage to it, and afterward the tree chooses its own attitude.

Both versions say the GM picks the statistics, with the awakened tree and awakened shrub as the examples. Every awakened tree has a creator who spent 1,000 gp on it, and that's a story hook in itself.

How an Awakened Tree Fights

One big swing a turn. Against AC 16, +6 hits on a 10 or higher, 55% of the time, for about 7.7 damage a round. That's modest for CR 2. What makes the tree dangerous is its durability against the wrong damage types.

Reach and position. The 10-foot reach lets it hit a character who walks past. With 20 feet of speed it won't catch anyone who runs, so it works best guarding a fixed spot: a path, a gate, a druid's circle.

The resistance wall. A party of a mace-wielding cleric, an archer and a spear fighter does half damage with most attacks, and the 59 hit points act like 118. Slashing weapons and most spells hit it normally.

What it thinks. Intelligence 10 makes it as clever as an average person. It talks, it bargains, and it remembers. A tree that has stood in one place for two centuries may also know things nobody else does.

Running an Awakened Tree Encounter

Under the 2014 Dungeon Master's Guide guidelines (used by our encounter calculator), two trees are 900 XP, ×1.5 for a pair = 1,350, which is Hard for four level 3 characters (Hard 900, Deadly 1,600). A ring of 2014 trees with False Appearance and a few awakened shrubs makes a better fight than the numbers suggest, because the party can't tell which trees to burn.

How Players Beat an Awakened Tree

• •Fire. Vulnerability doubles fire damage. A Burning Hands for 3d6 (10.5 average) becomes 21 on a failed save. A Fire Bolt averages 11 per hit.
• •Blight. In 2014 the tree makes the Constitution save with disadvantage and the spell deals maximum damage: 64 on a failed save, which kills it outright, and 32 on a success. In 2024 a Plant automatically fails the save and takes 8d8 (36 on average). See Blight.
• •Slashing over bludgeoning and piercing. Axes and swords do full damage.
• •Dexterity and Charisma saves. Both are −2, its weakest.
• •Talk. It speaks. Unless its creator ordered it to fight to the death, it can be reasoned with.

Awakened Tree Encounter Ideas

The orchard's revenge. A lumber camp has been cutting into a druid's grove. Three awakened trees now stand among the stumps at night, and the loggers say the forest is "walking." The druid who awakened them died a decade ago, and they've had no orders since.

The witness. The only creature that saw a murder on the old road is a 2024 awakened tree that speaks Common and Sylvan. It will testify, but only if the party moves a boulder off its roots first.

The borrowed garden. A noble paid a druid to awaken the trees of her hedge maze as guards. The 30-day charm ended last week. They've decided they don't like her.

Frequently Asked Questions

What CR is an awakened tree?

An awakened tree is CR 2 (450 XP) in both the 2014 and 2024 rules, with AC 13 and 59 hit points.

What is an awakened tree weak to?

It's vulnerable to fire damage, which deals double damage to it, and it resists bludgeoning and piercing. Slashing weapons, fire spells and Blight are the best tools against it.

Can an awakened tree talk?

Yes. In 2014 it knows one language its creator knows. In 2024 it speaks Common plus one other language. Both have Intelligence 10.

Does the 2024 awakened tree have False Appearance?

No. The 2014 tree has False Appearance, making it indistinguishable from a normal tree while motionless. The 2024 stat block removes that trait.

Is an awakened tree the same as a treant?

No. An awakened tree is an ordinary tree made sentient by the Awaken spell (CR 2). A treant is a far stronger creature (CR 9) with its own magic, including the ability to animate other trees.

Stat blocks: System Reference Document 5.1 (2014) and 5.2.1 (2024), Wizards of the Coast, CC-BY-4.0. Tactics, encounter math and ideas are Loreify's own.