D&D General Rethinking the class name "Druid".

[Snarf Zagyg]

Woah. This thread has gotten spicy!

Well, I provided two options earlier. I have two more!

3. Patchouli-scented hippy.

4. (The Class Formerly Known as Druid)

 

[Silvercat Moonpaw]

While everyone is spending such time and effort in "rethinking"...druids, shamanism, animism, what folds into what, and what makes more sense as the umbrella class, and [meaning], and [function], and, and, and...

I will simply throw in my two coppers that it behooves us all, from time to time, to remember that there is such a thing as "OVERthinking"...and that the former can become the latter in the blink of an eye.

I have the exact same reaction to many topics that get endlessly discussed of TTRPG sites.

But there's also such a thing as UNDERthinking, which the society I live in has become painfully aware we do way too much.

 

[gorice]

How about 'nature priest'?

Druids as a class were a mistake.

 

[Sacrosanct]

Woah. This thread has gotten spicy!

Yeah, I let myself get diverted into other topics other than the one point I was trying to make, that being, shapeshifting doesn't automatically mean shaman, in fact, it rarely does.

On a side note, because of this conversation and to double check what I was arguing, I reached out to a North American Indigenous group and got their feedback (since they are an impacted group for these discussions, and I try not to speak for others when they can speak for themselves).

The response I got back was "Go to each individual nation as most have their own terms they use (Indigenous nations are unique and not a hivemind), but if you have to, use Medicine Worker."

Not a single person said "shaman" was appropriate to use for describing a particular individual in North/South American Indigenous cultures.

 

[Zubatcarteira]

"Tree-Hugging Cleric"

 

[Paul Farquhar]

But there's also such a thing as UNDERthinking, which the society I live in has become painfully aware we do way too much.

You mean like, people who don't know what the role of a priest is?

 

[Greg K]

I seem to remember back at school in Religious Studies classes 40 years ago being taught that religion "advanced" from animism through polytheism, with monotheism being the "highest" form of religion.

I don't think that would wash these days!

I cringe when I hear that. Tylor's theories of societal and religious advancement were already long outdated among anthropologists when I was taking anthropology courses in the 1990s.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I cringe when I hear that. Tylor's theories of societal and religious advancement were already long outdated among anthropologists when I was taking anthropology courses in the 1990s.

Is that where it was from? It was the early 80s when I came across it, and it was taught by the Headmaster, who was not exactly up to speed with modern liberal values.

 

[Greg K]

Is that where it was from? It was the early 80s when I came across it, and it was taught by the Headmaster, who was not exactly up to speed with modern liberal values.

Possibly. He was writing about the "evolutionary development" of societies and religion and the stages of advancement circa 1870

 

[Undrave]

My introduction to druids was Asterix.

Same here! Did you see The Secret of the Magic Potion?

How about just "witch," then?

It fits with the theme of the subclasses: Circle of the Land, Circle of the Moon, etc., etc. You could even change "circle" to "coven."

Eeeeh...if you want the the folks translating D&D into other languages to hate you maybe...