D&D 5E So what are the other druid subclasses?

[Yaarel]

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.

Heh. Basically, Circle of the Cauldron.

 

[UnadvisedGoose445]

I think Circle of the Beast and Circle of Shamanism/Spirit would be appropriate and awesome. Land kinda covers a lot of niches honestly. The purely plant based Druid could have a solid bit of design space too though.

 

[Charles Rampant]

Druid is not a class that I've seen very often. The proposed Spirit class seems fun and relevant, but potentially quite tough to write. They seem keen to avoid subclasses that force the DM to deal with extraplanar stuff - even the Warlock has no built in expectation of meeting outsiders. I really like the Beast Circle idea, but the big difficultly would be to make it more than just a Land Druid with the Animal Friendship and Awaken spells.

 

[TheCosmicKid]

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.

Heh. Yeah, out of all the core D&D classes, the druid may be the one that least resembles its historical namesake.

I am unsure the Druid class can make a Charisma build work.

There's practically no rule change easier than swapping a spellcasting ability. One of my players is playing an Int-based paladin: I just waved my hands and said, "Your paladin stuff is Int based".

There are still animistic traditions in Western cultures. For example, birthday celebrations.

*sigh* You know, the more random things you claim are "animistic", the less people are going to think that term has any real meaning.

 

[Tony Vargas]

Heh. Yeah, out of all the core D&D classes, the druid may be the one that least resembles its historical namesake.

The 1e PH at least hedged that the Druid class was based on what druids 'might have become' or something like that. I suppose it doesn't hurt that so little is known of the actual historical druids, either.

Not that any D&D class much resembles it's historical namesake (if any).

I am unsure the Druid class can make a Charisma build work.

The 1e Druid had both WIS and CHA as prime requisites. Swapping the casting stat would be easy, with minimal consequences. Adding a second important sat (as in 1e) to compete with CON & DEX and everything, risks 'MAD,' I suppose.

 

[77IM]

I don't usually give a crap about historical accuracy, but the talk of druids as celtic priests, historians, scientists and judges is really intriguing. I could envision a "Circle of Civilization" (or maybe "Circle of the Opposable Thumb" ) that has abilities similar to the Knowledge domain; things like History skill and alchemist's tools proficiency, spells like identify and zone of truth. Their flavor text would be that they seek out the best of both worlds (civilized and natural) in their quest for spiritual awakening. Also, by force of pure logic, they would be capable of wearing metal armor.

 

[Lanliss]

Heh. Yeah, out of all the core D&D classes, the druid may be the one that least resembles its historical namesake.

There's practically no rule change easier than swapping a spellcasting ability. One of my players is playing an Int-based paladin: I just waved my hands and said, "Your paladin stuff is Int based".

*sigh* You know, the more random things you claim are "animistic", the less people are going to think that term has any real meaning.

I did the same thing with Sorc in my games. No one has gone for Sorc yet, but when they do the stat will be Con, because that actually makes sense. Seriously, how is "magic in your blood and bones" translated to charisma?

 

[TheCosmicKid]

I did the same thing with Sorc in my games. No one has gone for Sorc yet, but when they do the stat will be Con, because that actually makes sense. Seriously, how is "magic in your blood and bones" translated to charisma?

Okay, that's a dangerous move, because Con means hit points. The mental abilities are pretty much interchangeable, but switching to a physical ability has serious mechanical consequences.

On a more subjective note, I don't see how anything but Charisma makes sense for a sorcerer. It's the arcane energy of creation infused into your soul, not a particularly robust immune system. If I were playing a sorcerer in your game, I'd ask you to change it back.

 

[Lanliss]

Okay, that's a dangerous move, because Con means hit points. The mental abilities are pretty much interchangeable, but switching to a physical ability has serious mechanical consequences.

On a more subjective note, I don't see how anything but Charisma makes sense for a sorcerer. It's the arcane energy of creation infused into your soul, not a particularly robust immune system. If I were playing a sorcerer in your game, I'd ask you to change it back.

So "Blood of a Dragon" doesn't at all sound like it should have something to do with Con? But it makes complete sense for a Sorc to bargain for their abilities like the Warlock?

I think Con makes sense because the Sorcerer is dragging this magic from his own body, not an outside force. And I am not too worried about a caster that takes more than a couple of hits to kill, so the bonus HP does not bother me.

 

[Li Shenron]

Historic- The Circle of the Beast: A subclass to give the druid an animal buddy as a class feature. The Ranger has one. The druid could get one with the caster and pet image and not the warrior and pet format. Focusing on buffing the beast with magic.

Another Class- The Circle of the Shaman: A subclass based on the Golden Khan shaman, the Spirit shaman, and the 4e Shaman. The druid could gain the company of a spirit guide or companion and focus of spiritually magic.

Other Media- The Circle of the Sun: A subclass which represents the druids found in many video game rpgs. Focusing heavily on damage, rooting, and healing magics and not one versatility or melee combat. Displaying the vitality and wrath of the Sun.

So what are your thoughts on the druid's other ways of being? Am I off the mark on my ideas?

I wouldn't be particularly interested in any of the above, except maybe the Shaman (but I am not fully bought into the idea that is should be a type of Druid...), but that's just me, strongly opposing pet-based characters, and having had enough of blasters.

But overall I agree there is still plenty of room for Druid subclasses.

Personally I'd like to see the following being developed:

- a "beastmaster" Druid, but not in the sense of having a personal pet, instead in the sense of being a master of befriending, controlling, summoning, and generally interacting with animals

- a "plantmaster" Druid (despite the similar concept name, totally different from the previous) who would be focused on battlefield control through spells that animate & control plants, as well as capable of using plants for creating potions and charms, and possibly wildshape into plant creatures

- a "weather" Druid, self-explanatory

- a "star" Druid, representing some ancient arcane art of "connecting the dots" of time and space, being able to communicate with the ancestors, predict or influence the future, know the destiny of people, maybe even time-travel in a limited way

- a "sea" Druid, but not merely as an additional option for land druids (Coast already covers druids with affinity to seas/oceans/lakes/rivers), instead a truly underwater druid, which I don't think would be fully covered by bonus spells; I'd expect this to have some at-will abilities to operate freely underwater (e.g. permanent Water Breathing, at-will Water Walk, swim speed etc.) as well as some new ideas for unique water-based abilities