you may recognise this from a previous post of mine; i have edited it a bit and stuff, and although most of this stuff isnt written in stone yet (or properly baalnced) it does give you a good idea of a celtic druid, adn thus if you simplified/got rid of certain class features, added in a bit more about spirits and such, you could have an awesome class going.
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okay, here is my rant regarding WotC chopping up the idea of nature priests into Lycanthropic guys with weird flavour additions, such as changing one apearance at will (thank you A Thousand Faces, via level 13), with spells and a pet wolf. Plus, the weapons allowed in no way corresponds with real-life tales of druids (some druids are mentioned using bows etc (although the ironwood spell can make up for this)
Regarding specifics, i dont like the whole idea of Wild Shaping. This should ability should only be reserved for Bearsarks and Ulfhednar (two real-life Norse prestigue classes [insired from real life] that follow the tales of Beserkers [a base class that i use in the stead of the Barbarian] who, while in a rage, can transform into fearsome wolves (the Ulfhednar) or bears (the Bearsarks). Other than that, The ability to change shape is a Lycanthropic ability, of which tales can be read about from all over the world (Were-boars from Greece, Loup-garou from France, and the hilarious Were-Hare from certain North American groups) Thus, to get a "true" druid class, one shouldn't look too long at the PHB druid.
obviously, i ahve been doing a bit of research, adn have found a few intersting details regarding druids. Most of this was found in "The Oxford Dictionary of Celtic Mythology" (i give it 2 thumbs up)
-There was a druid named Figol (of the Tuatha De Danaan [a race of tall, beautiful, light-haired people. they were warrios and magicains, and some have attributed their desciption with JRR Tolkiens concepts of "elves") who promised to "rain fire from the sky" to kill invading Fomorians (a race of giant. primordial, demonic raiders who came from the sea to invade. this definitively gives druids some major damage dealing spells, etc, adn helps to set the mood, for no-one crosses an angry druid
-Another mentionable was a Druid named Eliavres of whom was a Druid-Sorcerer (i think it sounds like a cool character concept)
-Feth Fiada was a Druid ability to summon a fog which made those under it undectable. I think that in gaming terms, you could start off with a basic ability (ie, undetechable Alignment while in the fog) then improve it (ie those within a radius, whose size [the radius's] depends on the caster levelof the druid [to clarify, any sound within this area is not transmitted outside the radius, so those even five feet away from the outside of this radius couldnt hear anyone inside it, adn also, when this ability is gained, could not detect alignments]) and eventually, invisibility (as per the spell, only within the radius, also the silence adn un. align, ability) also, a limit to the times one couls use this per day would be appropriate
-also, i should note, that Feth Fiada's also referred to magical veils that druids and, presumably, non-druids could don to gain the same ability as the actualy fog. Hello "Craft Wonderous Item"!!
-other noteables of Druids include the fact that they werent subject to taxes (if you haev those in your game) they were not required to do battle (sorry, the BAB just dropped to "poor"), had authority over divine worship (spellcasting, etc) they ran the show at sacrifices (it is noted that even human sacrifices might have occured; but only to criminals and such) they were also judges of sorts (some skills there, like sense motive, etc) and they taught their sacred knowledge to pupils. Furthermore, they were healers and were associated with mistletoe for that power adn the druids also considered it unlawful to build temples to the gods or to worship them within walls.
Essentually, a druid is a nature priest (or priestess, the order of the druids wasnt a sexist one) who has a few different abilities at his disposal.
so, the historically correct Druid Class would probably look something like this:
HD = d8
BAB = 1/2 HD (as Wizard)
FORT and WILL good, REF bad
Spells Per Day/Known - as Druid
NO spontaneous casting of "summon" spells.
Animal Companion should stay and Wild Empathy too
Purity of Body (Poisons) and Purity of Body (diseases) should be brought into game play
Keep Trackless Step (maybe usuable only within the Feth Fiada?, or maybe as is?)
bring in the Woodland Stride ability from the Ranger class
and have the Feth Fiada as a class ability, but note: this could become too powerful at higher levels, so dont allow players to cast "meteor swarm" (for ex) from with the confines of the Feth Fiada. If spells are cast within the Feth Fiada, then they should automatically fail, and the Feth Fiada is dispelled and cannot be summoned for another 24 hours. The idea is to be a bit steatly with this, adn times of use/day should help to balance use of this, but i havent yet made specifics.
Weapon and Armour Proficiency: Druid have proficency in all shields (except tower shields, non-metal only) light and medium armours (non-metal only) and (in no specific order) the Dagger, Club, Quarterstaff, Sling, Sickle, Scythe, Short and Long Bows, Greatclub, morningstar, darts, and any one-handed spears
as for class skills go for (6+INT mod)x4 at first level, and 6+Int mod at allother levels, and clas skills should be as follows: Climb, Concentration, Craft, Diplomacy (again, i call it Persuade in my world), Handle Animal, Heal, Intimidate, Jump, Knowledge (all sub-skills) (again, i call it Lore in my world), Listen, Profession, Ride, Sense Motive, Spellcraft, Spot, Survival, Swim and Use Rope.
