im sitting outside with no tasks rn so heres some random woodsy world building ideas you're free to use for your dnd stuff (tho pls dont do a plagerism and try to sell em in a book or smthn):
yknow how trees are kinda just lines that split over and over? like one big line from the ground, split into branches, split into sticks, split into twigs, and even leaves are twigs split into stems that split into veins. well reverse that for some freaky alien forests, where the ground is littered with millions of vine-y plants that join together, forming trunks that go up and merge with each other and merge with each other the higher they go. could basically be a bunch of organisms sharing resources/'body', or for extra freaky points, theyre no longer separate orgamisms and instead become a hive mind or something
nocturnal flowers that attract nocturnal moths/bugs pollinators by glowing. theres no way imthe first to think of this but i really like it so its here
the above idea but mushrooms that glow underneath the caps, again so their spores get out and shit
tiny trees that are just as hard and woody, but theyre tiny. maybe theyre hella wide, or maybe they're to scale
more plants that inexplicably grow sideways
shelf fungi that swirl around a tree like vines, not just popping up but a continuous fungi slowly creeping around this dead vertical tree
flowers, but instead of soft petals they're wood. maybe bc theyre year round or serve a different purpose, but they're sturdy like trunks and grow bigger out of thicker branches instead of being where leaves grow
trees or plants with reflective bark/leaves/parts that directs sunlight to leaves/photosynthesis zone
predatory fungi for extra scary points. fungi that will circle a tree near the base and slowly try to choke it/cut it down. its slow so its not everwhere, but you can see it occasionally and its just like. freaky. magic users or alchemists or doctors or chemists or villains could probably invent something gnarly with them
land barnacles that snare tiny bugs with little harpoons. if they're literally just like barnacles evolved for land they can probably store a lot of water inside like a coconut (see hank greens "everything is fish"/" fish dont exist" video). again, big if you wanna be freaky.
in general turning sea-unique creatures into land or air creatues. a floating tree octopus would be wild and awesome. you could say their balloon lookin noggins are full of a gas they produce as waste thats lighter that whatever airs in your atmosphere, not making them go up infinitely per se, but making them able to float down gently like an old balloon
woody/tree plants that grow sets of special holes that are basically lil fuckin animal calls on them, trying to draw in pollinators or other symbiotic relationship creatures. similarly, squiggly trees where every now and then a branch just goes round and round and round, making a convenient nest base.
MORE! CARNIVOROUS! PLANTS!!! venus fly traps are cool, as is pitcher plant, but what would a carnivorous woody/tree plant look like? venus fly trap esque leaves? a hollow top of the trunk like a pitcher plant? flowers that close? or maybe it grows onto something else and eats it. maybe roots try to get things and just hold it there or pull it into the ground to richen the soil with nutrients. maybe theres ferns that suck blood like leeches, maybe sharp undergrowth scrapes little bits of skin cells as things brush agsinst it or get scratched.
moss but its like velcro with them tiny hooks. or maybe its a fungi and it eats dead stuff caught in it
sky waterfalls where the source is just clouds. like instead of raining, clouds and watervapor join together into bigger abd bigger droos in the sky, but in the specific atmosphere they're notheavy enough to fall individually and float, combining and combining until big waterfall-ish splashes come down
trees that grow flower petals individually from their bark instead of flowers. maybe sone flower pollenation bits grow at the base of the petal too. maybe this is because the air at branch/leaf level limits life or pollinators so they stay low, or maybe this species just fills a new niche of ground pollinators
