A Gentleperson's Wager: Druids in the PHB1

[Li Shenron]

Actually, the Bards of 1st edition AD&D had druid spells and were known to be allied with Druids. Also, real world Druids and Bards were parts of the same religion.

Your opinion is biased on the last 2 editions of D&D with the Bards alliance with arcane magic. While it made some sense to make this shift in 2E, there seems to be something...amiss...with Bards in 3E. I don't think I am alone in thinking it's time for another reboot.

I'm certainly biased by the last 2 and 1/2 editions, but aren't you biased by 1 edition only, which is 20+ years old?

 

[Aloïsius]

I'm certainly biased by the last 2 and 1/2 editions, but aren't you biased by 1 edition only, which is 20+ years old?

Not only 1 edition, but 5 century of history (-500 to the destruction of druidic organisations by Cesar )

 

[Li Shenron]

Not only 1 edition, but 5 century of history (-500 to the destruction of druidic organisations by Cesar )

Ok... I guess I should pick up some history books then. But even if they were part of the same religion, I have some serious doubts that they were the same person.

 

[Aloïsius]

Ok... I guess I should pick up some history books then. But even if they were part of the same religion, I have some serious doubts that they were the same person.

Druid was a generic term for the clerical class. It was about religion, sacrifice, justice, teaching, poesy, divination...
The Bards were a subcaste : they were about poesy and song, elogious or satirical.
The Vate was a diviner and a medic. Women could be Vates. The Gallisenae, on the Brittany Isle of Sein, were Vates. They had a vow of virginity, the power to shapechange in animal form, to make divination and to calm the tempest. This is according to Pomponius Mela, a roman geograph.

So, yes, bards were druids.

 

[JamesP]

I am not emotionally capable of voting in this poll, because even though I don't think it likely, I desperately want the druid in the PHB1.

Ditto.

 

[ZombieRoboNinja]

I see this the other way around... Druids are the pinnacle of cleric specializations, the other domains should be redone to more appropriately reflect that specialization... and do away with the dull and boring, non-specialized cleric.

Clerics of Obad-Hai have druidic ablities
Clerics of Dol Dorn focus on martial strength and power
Clerics of Mystra have arcane casting abilities
...
Each cleric speciality shaped by the calling to which they follow.

Bring back spell spheres and make the Cleric talent trees provide domain ablities!!!

We have the technology, it can be done!

I agree completely.

Make the "domains" give actual significant class abilities and interesting unique spells. Like, the Nature domain could give wildshape as a class ability, and the Animal domain could give an animal companion - there's your 3e druid right there.

Anyway, my guess is no druid in the 4e PHB, for the same reason sorcerers don't make the cut: they're just too similar to another base class (clerics in this case), and most of their coolness can and should be effectively absorbed into that class.

A lot of people are arguing that clerics are completely different, flavor-wise, than druids. I personally think that's because those people are imagining the Cleric class too narrowly. You know that "clerics of a cause" stuff that gets ridiculed so often? That's EXACTLY what a druid is, a cleric of "Nature" (as opposed to a cleric of the GOD of nature).

 

[Exen Trik]

Druid was a generic term for the clerical class. It was about religion, sacrifice, justice, teaching, poesy, divination...
The Bards were a subcaste : they were about poesy and song, elogious or satirical.
The Vate was a diviner and a medic. Women could be Vates. The Gallisenae, on the Brittany Isle of Sein, were Vates. They had a vow of virginity, the power to shapechange in animal form, to make divination and to calm the tempest. This is according to Pomponius Mela, a roman geograph.

So, yes, bards were druids.

Now I want to stat up a Vate class when the 4e druid comes out.

I looked up the wiki entry on it, it didn't say anything about them being female specific. Sounds perfect for a healing orientated druid though. They used both medicine and mystical healing, and they even created the worlds first hospital, for crying out loud!