Dryad 5e: Fey Charm, Tree Stride and Running the Grove

A dryad is a CR 1 Medium Fey with 22 hit points and AC 11 (16 once she casts Barkskin) in the 2014 rules, or a flat AC 16 in 2024. She is a weak fighter and a dangerous host. Fey Charm turns one party member into her loyal friend for 24 hours, and Tree Stride lets her vanish into one tree and step out of another up to 60 feet away. The 2024 version swaps Fey Charm for at-will Charm Monster, which works on any creature type, and makes Tree Stride a bonus action teleport.

Table of Contents

• •Dryad Stat Block (2014)
• •Dryad in the 2024 Rules
• •How the Dryad Fights
• •Running a Dryad Encounter
• •How Players Beat a Dryad
• •Dryad Encounter Ideas
• •Frequently Asked Questions

Dryad Stat Block (2014)

The 2014 dryad (SRD 5.1) is a small spell list wrapped around one action that matters.

Read the AC line carefully. Her base AC is 11. The 16 only applies while Barkskin is running, and Barkskin takes an action and Concentration. So does Entangle, and so does Pass without Trace. She can hold one of the three at a time. A dryad who sees the party coming casts Barkskin first and fights at AC 16. A dryad caught by surprise either stays at AC 11 or spends her first turn on armor instead of on Entangle.

Her club is a joke (+2, 2 damage) until she casts Shillelagh as a bonus action. Then it hits at +6 for 8 (1d8 + 4), which is respectable for CR 1. Shillelagh isn't Concentration, so it stacks with Barkskin.

Fey Charm is the real action. One Humanoid or Beast within 30 feet that can see her makes a DC 14 Wisdom save or is charmed for 24 hours. The charmed creature treats her as a trusted friend to protect. She can hold one Humanoid and up to three Beasts this way at once. A target that succeeds is immune for 24 hours.

Dryad in the 2024 Rules

The 2024 dryad (SRD 5.2.1) keeps the same CR, hit points and ability scores but plays very differently.

Three changes matter at the table:

• •She can charm anything. Fey Charm only worked on Humanoids and Beasts, so a 2014 dryad had no answer to a construct, an undead or another fey. 2024 Charm Monster has no type restriction, and it applies the same Charmed condition.
• •She charms and attacks in the same turn. The 2024 Multiattack lets her lash with vines and cast Charm Monster. The 2014 dryad had to pick.
• •Only one charm at a time. Her Charm Monster lasts 24 hours but ends early if she casts it again. She can't build a bodyguard of charmed people the way the 2014 dryad could with one Humanoid plus three Beasts. Animal Friendship (at will, Beasts only) fills that role instead.

How the Dryad Fights

A dryad doesn't want a fight. She has 22 hit points and no damage resistances, and a level 5 party can take that in one round. Every good dryad tactic is about making the party fight someone else.

Charm the strongest arm first. The best target is the character who hits hardest and has the lowest Wisdom save, usually the barbarian or fighter. Against DC 14:

The 2024 numbers drop because Charm Monster gives the target Advantage on the save when the caster or her allies are fighting it. That's the hidden cost of the 2024 upgrade: once swords are out, her charm lands far less often. Charm before the fight starts, while she is still talking.

What "charmed" actually gets her. A charmed creature can't attack her or target her with harmful magic. Under Fey Charm it also regards her as a friend "to be heeded and protected", which a DM can play as stepping between her and the party. Neither version makes the target her puppet. The fighter won't swing at the cleric because she asked. He will refuse to swing at her, argue on her behalf, and stand in the doorway. That's often enough.

Use the trees as doors. Tree Stride needs a Large or bigger tree within reach and another within 60 feet. In a dense forest she is never more than one move from safety. The 2014 version costs only 10 feet of movement, so she can step through a tree and keep walking. The 2024 version is a bonus action teleport, which leaves her action free for Vine Lash or Thorn Burst. Either way, a dryad in her own grove should end almost every turn somewhere the melee characters can't reach next round.

Spend Entangle on the approach. Entangle restrains everyone in a 20-foot square who fails a Strength save. Cast it on the path the party is walking, not on the fight already happening. Restrained characters can still talk, which is the point: she wants them listening.

Damage is the last resort. A 2024 Vine Lash hits AC 16 on a 10 or higher (55%) for 8, about 4.4 damage a round. Thorn Burst from 60 feet is about 3.9. That won't kill anyone. What kills characters near a dryad is the brown bear she charmed with Animal Friendship or the friend who now guards her.

Running a Dryad Encounter

A dryad is CR 1, worth 200 XP. Alone she is a talking encounter with teeth. With Beasts or plant allies she becomes a real fight.

Using the 2024 budget (SRD 5.2.1), for four characters:

The brown bear works because it's a Beast she can charm in either edition. The awakened tree is a Plant, so she can talk to it (Speak with Beasts and Plants) but only the 2024 dryad can charm it.

The 2014 Dungeon Master's Guide guidelines, which our encounter calculator uses, put a lone dryad at Medium difficulty for four level 1 characters. That rating assumes she fights. If she charms the party's fighter and walks away, nobody lost hit points and the party still lost the encounter. Treat her XP as a reward for resolving the situation, fight or no fight.

How Players Beat a Dryad

• •Don't look at her. 2014 Fey Charm only works if the target can see the dryad, so a character who can't see her (total cover, darkness she's hidden in, a Blinded condition) can't be charmed by it. The SRD has no rule for voluntarily shutting your eyes; DM ruling: we allow it, and treat the character as unable to see for the turn (Disadvantage on attacks, attacks against them have Advantage). The 2024 Charm Monster only needs her to see the target, so this trick stops working.
• •Talk first. She is neutral, speaks Elvish and Sylvan, and wants her grove left alone. Most dryad encounters end better with a deal than a corpse.
• •Pull her away from the trees. No Large trees within 60 feet, no Tree Stride. A clearing, a burned patch or a river bank strips her best defense.
• •Expect spells to bounce. Magic Resistance gives her Advantage on saves against spells. Pick spells that use an attack roll, such as Guiding Bolt, or hit her with weapons. Her Strength and Constitution saves are +0, her weakest.
• •End the armor. Dispel Magic on the 2014 dryad's Barkskin drops her AC from 16 to 11. Breaking her Concentration with damage does the same.
• •Check the creature type before casting. She is Fey, so Charm Person and Hold Person can't target her in either edition. Faerie Fire can target her, though Magic Resistance gives her Advantage on the Dexterity save; if it lands, she sheds light and attacks against her have Advantage, which undercuts her +5 Stealth.
• •Break the charm. A charmed 2014 target gets a new save every time the dryad or her allies do something harmful to it. A 2024 Charm Monster ends the moment she or her allies damage the target. Either way, the dryad has to be careful not to splash her new friend.

Dryad Encounter Ideas

The foreman who won't cut. A logging camp is behind on its contract. The foreman keeps finding reasons the north stand can't be felled: bad ground, wrong season, rot. He's been charmed for months, renewed every 24 hours when he walks the tree line at dawn. The owners hire the party to find out why. The dryad will release him if the camp agrees to leave the stand, and she'll send the owner's horses bolting every night if it doesn't.

The witness tree. A murder happened in a grove at night with no human witnesses. A dryad lives there, and Speak with Beasts and Plants means she spoke to everything that saw it. She'll share what the oak and the owl saw, for a price: replant the hillside the killer's family clear-cut ten years ago. Record what she tells you in your session notes, because the testimony will be challenged.

Sixty feet at a time. The party chases a thief into an old-growth forest. The thief is a dryad who stole back an acorn carved from her own tree's heartwood, now sold as a curio. Every time the party corners her, she steps into a trunk and out of another. The chase only ends when they find the one clearing she must cross, or when they stop chasing and start talking.

Frequently Asked Questions

What CR is a dryad in 5e?

A dryad is CR 1 (200 XP) in both the 2014 and 2024 rules. She has 22 hit points, AC 11 (16 with Barkskin) in 2014 or AC 16 in 2024, and DC 14 charm effects.

How does a dryad's Fey Charm work?

In the 2014 rules, Fey Charm targets one Humanoid or Beast within 30 feet that can see the dryad. On a failed DC 14 Wisdom save it is charmed for 24 hours and treats her as a trusted friend. She can have one Humanoid and up to three Beasts charmed at once, and a creature that saves is immune for 24 hours.

How does Tree Stride work in 5e?

Both trees must be Large or bigger and within 60 feet of each other. In 2014 the dryad spends 10 feet of movement once per turn to step into a tree within reach and out of the second. In 2024 it's a bonus action teleport from within 5 feet of one tree to within 5 feet of the other.

Can a dryad charm elves or constructs?

The 2014 Fey Charm only works on Humanoids and Beasts, so it works on elves (Humanoids) but not on constructs, fey or undead. The 2024 dryad uses Charm Monster, which can target a creature of any type.

Does the 2024 dryad still have Barkskin?

No. The 2024 dryad has a flat AC 16 and no Barkskin, Goodberry or Shillelagh. Her spells are Animal Friendship, Charm Monster and Druidcraft at will, plus Entangle and Pass without Trace once per day.

Can you summon a dryad with Conjure Woodland Beings?

Under the 2014 rules, Conjure Woodland Beings can summon two fey of CR 1 or lower, and a dryad qualifies, though the spell says the DM has the creatures' statistics. The 2024 version of the spell creates a damaging aura instead and doesn't summon creatures.

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.