By means of this spell, the druid is able to change his or her staff from a pole of dead wood into a treant of largest size. In order to cast the dweomer, the druid must first have located a tree struck by lightning within the past 24 hours (1%-5% chance for any given tree, depending on the severity of the storm). He or she must then select a sound limb, remove it from the tree, and prepare a specially cured section. This section must be shaped and carved so as to be ready to accept the magic which the druid will then place upon it. The staff must be of ash, oak, or yew wood. Curing by sun dry- ing and special smoke requires 28 days. Shaping, carving, smoothing, and polishing require another 28 days. The druid cannot adventure or engage in other strenuous activity during either of these periods. The finished staff, engraved with scenes of woodland life, is then rubbed with the juice of holly berries, and the end of it is thrust into the earth of the druid’s grove while he or she then speaks with plants, calling upon the staff to assist in time of need. The item is then charged with a dweomer which will last for many changes from staff to treant and back again. While the staff/treant will initially be of largest size and greatest number of hit points, each 8 points of damage it accumulates actually reduces it by 1 hit die. The staff begins at 12 hit dice and 96 hit points, goes to 11 and 88, 10 and 80, 9 and 72, etc. As it loses hit dice, it becomes smaller in size, thus losing attack power as well. If and when the staff/treant is brought below 7 hit dice, the thing crumbles to sawdust-like powder and is lost. The staff cannot ever be brought upwards in hit dice or hit points, except by a wish (which restores it completely). Of course, a new staff can always be sought out, seasoned, and so forth, to begin the process anew. When the druid plants the end of the staff in the ground and speaks a special command prayer and invocation, the staff turns into a treant. It can and will defend the druid, or obey him or her in any way. However, it is by no means a true treant, and it cannot converse with actual treants. The transformation lasts for as many turns as the druid has levels of experience, ul he druid commands the thing to return to its true form, or until the thing is destroyed, whichever first occurs. In order to cast a changestaff spell, the druid must have either mistletoe or leaves (ash, oak, or yew) of the same sort as the staff.