Jiggawatts
Adventurer
Of the proposed ideas, I really like Sun, Beast, and Spirits. I also agree that they need a Circle of Blight option that acts as the druid counterpart to the Death domain and Oathbreaker paladin.
D&D 5E So what are the other druid subclasses?
I'm A Banana
Potassium-Rich
Eberron's "Gatekeeper" druids make a pretty good subclass - I used that for this thing.
Kind of overdue, honestly - it's MORE the druid thing, and the druid as the class image has a frickin' tiger with them.
Very different classes, but the druid makes an ideal Shaman, whatever kind of shaman you're going for, I think.
This seems a bit weaker. I like the idea of a "sun"-focused druid just fine, but the mechanical focus seems wonky. "Damage, rooting, and healing magics" are things that all druids can do, and "more of that!" doesn't feel distinctive enough to me. BUT, sun-focused powers (radiant damage, fire damage, even undead-turning or whatnot) on the druid chassis would be nice and thematic, I think!
Would you say that a warlock is the better chassis for Shamanism then? There aren't really any other Charisma heavy classes that fit really, at least not as full casters.
It's more of the fluff pulling the crunch.
The Sun brings warmth (buffs)
The Sun brings illumination (light)
The Sun brings life (healing)
The Sun also burns and drain life turning the land into sand and the beasts to dust. (FIRE DAMAGEZ!!!!)
CIRCLE OF THE SUN
Those of the Circle of the Sun are keepers of the natural balance. These druid do this by focusing on their perceived starting point of the natural cycle, the Sun. The circle travels the world to the harshest parts of the wilderness. In their eyes, the Land druid's is fed by the Sun and the Moon druids get their light from the Sun.
These druid strive to maintain the balance of the Sun. To the cold, they provide Sun's warmth. To the dark, they provide the Sun's light. To the weak, they provide to Sun's vigor. And to oppressors, they provide the Sun's fire.
SUN'S LIGHT
When you choose this circle, you learn the light cantrip.
etc etc
Yaarel
He Mage
I feel weird calling shamans ‘warlocks’. Heh, Im sure some of them would be offended. In the context of D&D mechanics, it is a reasonable fit. The ‘pact’ is a friendship and partnership between the shaman and a nature spirit or a community of nature spirits.
Animism never ‘worships’. There are still animistic traditions in Western cultures. For example, birthday celebrations. This is an ancient and sacred custom. You show love for your family and friend by honoring him or her on their birthday. There is an ‘holy offering’, a birthday present. There are even weird mystical traditions, like blowing out candles on a birthday cake and making a wish.
Yet.
Nobody is ‘worshiping’ any body. All of this is purely symbols of love and friendship, for a loved one.
It is the community that is holy. Humans too are a kind of nature spirit.
This is how animism works.
Hriston
Dungeon Master of Middle-earth
What comes to mind from a historical perspective is a sort of Circle of Blood that seeks to cleanse the land by spilling the blood of transgressors. Sort of the classic human-sacrificing druid meets ecoterrorist. It could also incorporate the idea that the cycle of life requires blood to continue or the world could end.
Tony Vargas
Legend
The Druid is (or at least was) one of my favorite classes from AD&D. Greatly under-appreciated, back then, IMHO. I had a lot of fun with 'em.
Heh. So, the Druid is based on the priest-class of the Celtic cultures of Europe around the time of the Roman empire (and, heavily, upon a largely apocryphal revival in 19th century England, a bit of Alistair Crowley, and some neo-Paganism that actually got started back in the 60s). Historically (what little is known of their history), the Druids were tribal priests or shamans, seers, sages and judges. According to later collections of Gaelic folk tales they also trained Bards. Bards are in essence a sort of Druid sub-class (indeed, the original 1e PH Bard studied with Druids and cast Druid spells). In addition to training Bards, 'writing' on Ogham wands, keeping oral history and acting as judges, Druids were attributed some magical powers. Most significantly was probably divination, followed closely by shape-changing (not just themselves, like D&D Wildshape, but others, like D&D Polymorph - typically by tapping the subject with a wand, BTW). Peripheral to that, maybe Druids, maybe something less religious like a sorcerer, were abilities like conjuring illusions.
Conjuring/controlling fire & lightning or summoning animals or sylvan creatures are D&D-Druidisms that don't have a lot of basis in even the sketchy, mostly made-up in the 18th-20th century, 'history' of Druids. The connection with fire might have stemmed from the Roman accounts of the notorious 'wicker man' sacrifice in which they claimed the Celts would burn human sacrifices. The rest simply from extrapolating 'nature magic,' perhaps.
A Circle that practiced divination and prophesy would be a very appropriate.
Also pretty reasonable.
Yaarel
He Mage
Historically, the Druids were a caste of sages. In the sense of proto-scientific scholars, along with sporatic traditions relating to druids, it appears that most of the ideas that we have about ‘magical potions’ may derive from druid concepts.
It is easy to view druids as a kind of potion-brewing alchemist.
It is easy to view druids as a kind of potion-brewing alchemist.
MechaTarrasque
Hero
I used to think that beasts as a type were the "safe" type, basically being able to do things that animals can do in the real world (with the slight exception of the giant bugs, but there were giant bugs at one point in prehistory), but after the craig cat from storm king's thunder and the changes to the ranger in the latest UA, I am starting to think WotC has changed its position on beasts. If so, I wonder if there will be a revised version of the moon druid to be more like the UA (new) ranger: say 6 critters to wild shape into at level 2, add X more each level. You would make it competitive by changing the math a bit--instead of round down, round up, but limited like this: at level 10, you gain 2 (or whatever) CR 4 shapes, but none of the new shapes swim or can fly, at level 11, you gain 2 (or whatever) CR 4 shapes that can swim, and at 12 you gain 2 (or whatever) CR 4 shapes that can fly. You trade versatility for power: for 2 out of 3 levels (including the last 2) you are more powerful than the old moon druid.
What does that have to do with the druid subclass forum? Outside of being a new subclass, there is no reason to limit it to beasts (since your limit is now a specific set of creatures), so you could have variants with plants, swarms, even abberations (anti-druid).
Just a thought.
What does that have to do with the druid subclass forum? Outside of being a new subclass, there is no reason to limit it to beasts (since your limit is now a specific set of creatures), so you could have variants with plants, swarms, even abberations (anti-druid).
Just a thought.
Similar Threads
D&D General
6 Core Classes: You are in charge
