Rootwardens
The Thal’Ruun are descendants of ancient druids who once walked the sunlit groves of Eldareth. During the Age of Divinity, when the Creeping Rot spread across the land, corrupting forest, soil, and sky, a circle of firbolgs and elves known as the Elaren Enclave descended into the earth in search of sanctuary. In the vast caverns below, they found survival—but not without change.
Generations passed in the dark. Surrounded by bioluminescent mosses, alien fungal groves, and the cold silence of root-choked stone, these druids adapted. Their bodies grew long and quiet. Their voices became whispers. Their oaths were carved into root and stone. Thus, the Thal’Ruun were born—not as a new people, but as an evolution of purpose.
They are the Rootwardens, guardians of balance where sunlight no longer shines. They remember the surface, but their vows lie deeper now—beneath the stone, within the stillness, between pulse and root.
Identity and Culture
The Thal’Ruun are tall, graceful beings, blending the strength of firbolgs with the refinement of elves. Their skin carries the muted tones of stone, bark, and moss, often threaded with soft fur or subtle bioluminescent patterns. Their vine-woven braids and thorn-fringed garments speak not of ornament, but of ritual. They move softly. They speak sparingly. Their presence is one of watchful stillness, like a forest on the verge of storm.
Their society exists primarily in the Murmuring Depths—a vast, fungal-lit network of caverns laced with living root-veins, echoing with the memory of ancient rites. In this silent world, they tend sacred hollows like the Thornvaults. These are not cities. They are sanctuaries—living memories of oaths made to keep the balance from slipping.
The Thal’Ruun do not view themselves as protectors of life, but as stewards of its rhythm. They believe in balance through culling as much as through cultivation. Where decay threatens to overtake, they cut. Where something unnatural festers, they smother it in moss and silence. Their rites are solemn, not because they mourn, but because they remember.
Their traditional language, Rootsong, is composed of softly spoken phrases, rhythmic syllables, and a tonal cadence that echoes the stillness of their caverns. Though they speak Common and Elvish when needed, Rootsong is used for rites, songs, and moments of truth. Its structure is simple, but its meaning is weighted — each word chosen carefully, as if echoing into stone.
They do not build temples. They grow memory. And when they act, they do so with the certainty of roots finding water.
Legacy in Eldareth
The Thal’Ruun remain largely hidden from surface dwellers. They are myth in the highlands, shadowed warnings in old forest tales, or whispered rumors among stonecutters who claim to hear breathing caverns beneath the Greyspires.
Those few who emerge into the world above do so rarely—when omens stir in the root-veins or the balance falters in places where the surface forgets its foundations. They are not emissaries. They are reminders.
Beneath Vel’Nathar, in the forgotten spaces carved before memory, the Thal’Ruun continue their stewardship. They do not ask to be understood. They ask only that the surface does not repeat what once forced them below.
They are not born of conquest or divine favor.
They are what remains when silence endures.
The Rootwardens. The Thal’Ruun.
Balance, beneath.
Rootwarden Traits
Ability Score Increase. When determining your character’s ability scores, increase one score by 2 and increase a different score by 1, or increase three different scores by 1. You can't raise any of your scores above 20.
Creature Type. You are a Humanoid.
Size. You are Medium.
Speed. Your walking speed is 30 feet.
Darkvision. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light and in darkness as if it were dim light. You discern colors in that darkness only as shades of gray.
Natural Resilience. You have resistance to poison damage and advantage on saving throws against being poisoned.
Silent Grace:.You have proficiency in the Stealth skill. While in rocky or fungal terrain, you can attempt to hide as a bonus action.
Thorned Hide. Your skin and natural growths function as armor. When not wearing armor, your AC is 13 + your Constitution modifier.
Thornshield. When a creature within 5 feet of you hits you with a melee attack, you can use your reaction to lash out with thorny growths. The attacker takes piercing damage equal to your proficiency bonus.
You can use this trait a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, shared between Thornshield and Rootform Shapeshift. You regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.
Ancestral Magic. You know the thorn whip cantrip. At 3rd level, you can cast entangle once without expending a spell slot. At 5th level, you can cast spike growth once without expending a spell slot. You can also cast either of those spells using any spell slots you have of the appropriate level.
Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma is your spellcasting ability for these spells when you cast them with this trait (choose when you select this race). None of these spells require spell components when you cast them with this trait.
Rootform Shapeshift: You can use bonus action to transform into either a ThornBat or a Root-Serpent. This transformation lasts for 10 minutes or until you dismiss using an action.
While transformed, you cannot cast spells or use weapons, tools, or other equipment. You retain your hit points and mental ability scores, and you can use your racial traits while in this form, but not class features that require speech, somatic components, or fine manipulation.
You can use this trait a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, shared between Thornshield and Rootform Shapeshift. You regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.
ThornBat Form (small beast)
Armor Class: 14 (natural armor)
Hit Points: Equal to your Thal’Ruun hit points
Speed: 10 ft., Fly 40 ft.
STR 6, DEX 16, CON same as Thal’Ruun, INT 3, WIS 12, CHA 5
Saving Throws: DEX +5
Skills: Stealth +7
Damage Resistances: Poison
Senses: Darkvision 120 ft., Echo Sense 60 ft., Passive Perception 14
Actions: Echo Pulse (Bonus Action): Detect invisible creatures within 30 ft. until the end of your next turn.
Traits: Silent Flight (advantage on Stealth checks in darkness).
Root-Serpent Form (medium beast)
Armor Class: 15 (natural armor)
Hit Points: Equal to your Thal’Ruun hit points
Speed: 30 ft., Burrow 30 ft.
STR 14, DEX 14, CON same as Thal’Ruun, INT 3, WIS 12, CHA 5
Skills: Stealth +5, Athletics +4
Damage Resistances: Poison
Senses: Blindsight 30 ft., Passive Perception 14
Actions: Constrict (melee weapon attack, +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., 1d6+2 bludgeoning damage and the target is grappled, DC 14 escape).
Traits: Burrow Camouflage (advantage on Stealth checks underground).
Languages. Your character can speak, read, and write Common and one other language that you and your DM agree is appropriate for the character. The Player’s Handbook offers a list of languages to choose from. The DM is free to modify that list for a campaign.