[William]

In an article I wrote for Pyramid, I provided a racial template for a sessile tree race:

Racial (-208 points)

Attributes: ST 0 [-100]; DX 0 [-200]; IQ 11 [20]; HT 10 [0]

Secondary Attributes: Dmg 0d/0d (1d-1/1d+1 with TK), BL 0 lbs (20 lbs with TK), HP 20 (Size, -30%) [28], Will 11, Per 11, FP 10, Basic Speed 2.5, Basic Move 0 [0], SM +3

Social Attributes: Treetongue (Native/None) [-3], TL0 [-15 in a generally-TL3 world]

Advantages: 360 Degree Vision (Magical, -10%) [23]; Deep Sleeper [1]; DR 2 (Semi-Ablative, -20%) [8], Doesn't Breathe [20], Doesn't Eat or Drink [10], Extended Lifespan 3 [8], Injury Tolerance (Homogeneous, No Eyes, No Head, No Neck) [57]; Resistant (environmental syndromes) [15]; Sanitized Metabolism [1]; Subsonic Hearing (also normal human range; Magical, -10%) [5]; Telekinesis 10 (Magical, -10%) [45]; Telecommunication (Telesend) (Magical, -10%; Racial, -20%; Broadcast, +50%) [36]; Temperature Tolerance 4 (15 to 110 degrees) [4]

Disadvantages: Cannot speak (Mute) [-25]; Dead Broke [-25]; Dependency (fertile soil and sunlight, very common, daily) [-15]; Fragile (Combustible) [-5]; No Legs (Sessile) [-50], No Manipulators [-30], No Sense of Smell/Taste [-5], Numb [-20], Phobia (Fire) (12) [-5]; Vulnerability (Fire (Common), x2) [-30]

Features: Affected by Plant spells (though not Animate Plant); awake for 2/3 of the year and hibernate in winter; subject to diseases and poisons, albeit mostly different from those of humans; Taboo Traits: Fixed ST and DX [0]

Skills: Brawling-10 (DX/E) DX+10 [39]

Variants: The Size Modifier, Temperature Tolerance, and Extended Lifespan are all selected for typical oaks or pines found in temperate environments. GMs may prefer that tree PCs sleep daily rather than yearly; this may lead to difficulties re-establishing contact with a party on occasion (a difficulty alleviated if the entire group are trees), but will allow the PC to be active in winter. Substituting Innate Attack (TK), a new innate attack specialty, for Brawling will reduce basic damage, but will allow mage PCs to buy spell-attack skills from their racial default instead of from 0. An intriguing line of cultural development could use this as the base skill for a martial art (Tree Kei?) that makes good use of the fighter's bodiless state, complete with holds, throws, and even a related Trained by a Master advantage and exotic techniques like Power Blow and Pressure Points.

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And an adventuring tree variant, which undergoes a ritual process that allows them to project their consciousness:

Adventuring tree (+258, for a total of a 50 point template):

CF: Add one foreign cultural familiarity [1]

Language: Add one language, spoken and written [6]

TL: Increase to campaign normal [15 for a TL3 campaign]

Advantages: Buy off the Racial limitation to Telesend [6]; add Magery 1 [15]; and Warp (Magical, -10%; Projection (affect substantial) -0%; Blind, +50%; No Strain, +25%; Reliable 10, +50%) [215]

Such trees can move, speak, and use their TK at their point of view, while remaining invisible. They face an obvious set of challenges in interacting with the world. I suggested that those that did this usually pick up magical abilities through rune magic, carving their own bodies with permanent rune symbols and thus making themselves into rune tokens. A particular tree will presumably have the usual affinities of their species for the Ogham runes of the tree-lore, if you use this.