D&D 5E Can your Druids wear metal armor?

[Crimson Longinus]

maybe they got drunk and did it on a dare, what happens?

Who's drunk, the player or the character? Players should probably not be so drunk that they feel free to start cheating and character being drunk is not an excuse for the player cheating.

 

[Vaalingrade]

Druids - eschewing materials found in nature in favor of slaughtering nature and wearing the corpse since 1973.

And peeing on them. Let's not forget how leather is as much of a processed perversion of nature as metal, or how that processing was done.

 

[Maxperson]

No he's not. Words mean things.

They do! Like "won't" indicating choice.

 

[Maxperson]

Why would you? Did you as player agree to play the game by the rules? Why would you intentionally break a rule?

Druids have been allowed the choice to break that "rule" since 1e, including some 1e druids being allowed to wear metal magical chain mail. Why are you trying to change it?

 

[Vaalingrade]

No he's not. Words mean things.

I would mention the prone condition, or what 'druids' actually were, but I'm starting to think that observing how humans treat language might actually be doing you harm at this point.

 

[Crimson Longinus]

Druids have been allowed the choice to break that "rule" since 1e, including some 1e druids being allowed to wear metal magical chain mail. Why are you trying to change it?

I'm not trying to change 1e rules. I just actually can read the 5e rules and I understand what I read.

 

[Vaalingrade]

I'm not trying to change 1e rules. I just actually can read the 5e rules and I understand what I read.

It's cute the insinuate that people who are reading one another's posts on an internet forum can't read and all, but maybe just maybe they're interpreting what they read differently than you?

Kind of like what's actually happening. You read it as a rule, we read it as weird flavor text in the wrong place due to it being written like the dying dream of a British dowager on Downton Abbey.

"I say, Fabrisham, these druids simply will not wear metal armor. It is most uncouth."

 

[Oofta]

Not really. What do you do if I am the player and I say I put on that suit of half-plate?

The rules do not say I lose my Druid powers, they don't say I can't shapeshift or cast Druid spells and none of the non-proficiency penalties apply since I am actually proficient.

So what happens at your table when that plays out? You have to improvise or homebrew a rule here. No RAW has any effect in this circumstance.

If you don't want to play the games by the rules you will need to find a different DM.

 

[Maxperson]

I'm not trying to change 1e rules. I just actually can read the 5e rules and I understand what I read.

The 5e "rules" are like the 1e rules minus the mechanical penalties. It's a "rules" choice that the druid is allowed to break if he wishes.

 

[Maxperson]

If you don't want to play the games by the rules you will need to find a different DM.

There's no rule preventing a druid from wearing metal armor. At best it's a "rule" strongly suggesting the player choose not to have his druid wear it. It's like the 1e, 3e and 4e rules where the druid can ignore the rule if he wants and wear it anyway. "Won't" = choice. The only difference is a lack of mechanical penalty which I would suggest you put back in if you want the players to have a reason not to break the "rule."