Plant (Botanokinesis)

(Source: Sky High and http://layla-williams.tumblr.com/)

**Botanokinesis** is the use of plants, and plant material. Plant controllers can create, shape and manipulate plants and plant material, such as wood, vines, bushes, trees, moss, and parts of plants such as seeds, leaves, fruits and flowers.

They can use their power for defense and support by growing plants from the ground and make them sprout seeds/fruits/berries, or even to possibly use plant chemicals to heal people.

Using the plants as weapons enables users to grasp and strike continuously with vines and roots, project thorns at a distance, and quickly regenerate the withering weapons at the user’s will. They can make vines grow and climb around a target's neck, causing choking, or even strike with plants. A more subtle technique is to release damaging toxins and pheromones.

Note that most substances which are very processed cannot be controlled by a plant user, even if their base is from plants. As a result, plant controllers can control things like wood and bread, but not paper. Chocolate, however, is permissible! They can gain the allegiance of intelligent plant-spirits like nymphs and dryads and even call them into battle, but can't forcibly control their psyche.

Sometimes referred to in slang as weeds.

### **Common Strengths**

* The plant controller has less reliance on their own ability to fight, since they can control their plants to do much of the fighting even if the controller is heavily damaged.
* Plant controllers can use plants as methods of attack, both for damage and for restraining effects like rooting (Ha!) them in place, or even the use of special chemical attacks unleashed by plants.
* Plant controllers tend to be among the tankiest kineses, drawing on the essence of a tree's durability.
* Plant controllers also have defensive utility. Special fruits and herbs can be used to treat infections and heal wounds. Combined with their general summoning ability via plants, they have among the highest utility of any kinesis.

### **Common Weaknesses**

* Plant controllers tend to have as much mobility as their friends do - Not much. Most plant controllers can't outrun or outdodge their foes, having the second-lowest speed of any kinesis. Not much running power when you're rooted to the ground.
* Plant controllers rely on their plants, which are often vulnerable to damage. A plant controller needs to be especially wary of AoE damage that could take out multiple plants at a time.
* Plant controllers have ways to heal themselves from DoT effects like poison or fire, but oftentimes they can struggle with raw damage. Even the toughest tree can be felled with enough hits using an axe. Their own pure damage output is also below average, meaning they won't be able to race most foes down to 0HP with direct damage.
* Plant controllers tend not to be as strategic as the average user of other kineses since their plants don't understand complex commands and they themselves tend to put more trust in naturalistic instinct. They can properly choose which plants fit the situation, but they won't be great at seeing and exploiting the weak points of their foes.

### **Sample Abilities**

* Get creative with your uses of different plants. Direct damage, choking, rooting and even natural toxins give you a variety of ways to take out your enemies.
* You can keep yourself going through fights with a combination of tankiness and self-healing. You can even heal damaged plants by focusing on them!
* Don't just resort to plants that are rooted in the ground. Pine needles, dandelion seeds; who knows what potential powers lie in individual parts of plants?
* You can genetically manipulate plants to create entirely new species. One example could be enormous Venus Fly Traps that work on humans. Another could be flowers that emit an oil which reacts violently with oxygen to create fire, then stab themselves into enemies and burn them! Specially breed these and other unique plants to beat your enemy with unexpected tricks.
* Any other unique abilities you want to give your character!

#### **Sample Archetypes**

Feel free to take inspiration from these archetypes when making your botanokinetic. Emulate one of their styles, combine their features, or go another direction entirely!

**The Lorax** speaks for the trees, and when you don't listen, they recruit the trees to break your knees. They recruit an ever-expanding repertoire of supernatural plants to assist them in battle, and while area-of-effect damage are particularly effective against botanical swarms, these creatures provide bounties of healing, damage and restraining vines—not to mention enough garlic to make them win every fight against any vampire.

**The Force of Nature** uses their botanokinetic powers to enhance a brawling combat style with lashing thorns, grasping vine-whips, barkskin armor and healing extracts. The result is a melee to short-ranged attrition brawler who sacrifices some mass-destructive potential for sheer durability and self-reliance.

**The Reaper** is a fully-offensive fighter who struggles against high amounts of burst damage that could pluck them early, but thrives against balanced and defensive fighting styles. Their barrage of toxins and stunning pheromones distracts from the seeds they implant in their foes over the course of the fight, and when the time is right, they reap what they sow: all the seeds erupt at once, either stabbing their roots through the vital organs or literally detonating the host from the inside.