A Look at Druid Alignments

[Hussar]

((This was something I wrote some time ago. The recent thread on Druids made me go dig it up and I thought I'd post it here.))

Throughout the history of Adnd, druids have been viewed as true Neutral. True, some leaned in one alignment direction or another, but druids were always supposed to retain their objectivity. With 3e, that has changed. While druids may still be true Neutral, they can also be another other Neutral alignment, thus losing their objectivity. What follows here is my view of how variously aligned druids view the world.

Lawful Neutral – The LN druid sees nature as a grand order with definite rules. Spring follows Winter, creatures are born, live and die. Everything in nature obeys certain rules and it is the druid’s role to enforce these rules. A LN druid is probably the most proactive of all the druids. He is more capable of making long term and very complex plans for the future than any other druid. Take his grove for instance. A LN druid’s grove would probably most resemble a garden, with the druid taking great pains to create a perfectly sustainable forest. Remove the dead wood and allow new growth, allow or influence beavers to dam a stream and redirect water. Aid various species in the grove to create a perfect balance between predator and prey. Maintain order within the bounds of his land.

Neutral Good – A NG druid, on the other hand, reveres the nurturing and aesthetic properties of nature. She sees her place in nature as lending a helping hand to those in need. Her grove will likely be in a secluded place, away from larger dangers, where she can help to heal and minister to sick or dying animals. In her grove, there would be few if any predators, and her primary goal will be to ease the suffering caused by outside forces.

Chaotic Neutral – A CN druid is the epitome of the capriciousness and creativity of nature. The flash flood, the forest fire that brings new growth, the late freeze which kills new growth. All are the same to the CN druid. His grove would be a mass tangle of riotous growth. He is the least involved in the maintenance of his grove. Let it grow as it wills, he says. Everything is good. He could also be the experimenter of druids. Using his abilities to change and alter creatures, not in an attempt to improve, but merely to see what happens. His grove will likely be filled with both animals and magical creatures.

Neutral Evil – A NE druid lives for the malice of nature. The cat playing with it’s prey. The wolverine destroying any animal unlucky enough to get in its way. The feeding frenzy of a school of sharks. All these things are meat and drink to a NE druid. She believes only in the strong surviving, and, of course, she is at the top of the food chain. She delights in setting one group of predators on another to make the victor stronger. Animals in her grove are going to be lean, vicious and very, very strong. And, as her animals grow stronger, she can expand her sphere of control to ever-larger areas, creating more competition and thus even stronger animals. Her grove is a violent and highly dangerous place and woe on the poor little girl who takes cookies to her grandmother and ventures into this wolf’s den.

 

[Thia Halmades]

You forgot True Neutral: This Druid is most likely to appear almost as a retiree; they are at absolute peace with the ongoings of their forest. They take no pains to alter it, they don't interfere with its production. If anything, they would be hard-pressed to consider much of any natural phenomena to be in the least bit problematic. They are wholly aware that nature is self-balancing, and remaining at one with that balance is their primary objective.

Moving this Druid requires non-natural interference. Aberrations, armies plowing through the glen, abominations, these things will raise the ire of the Druid because they aren't part of the 'natural' order of things; they're disruptive. Armies of men can trample a forest as swiftly as a Tarrasque, and all without the benefit of being a natural disaster.

Looks good, though, well said. I especially like the LN variant, controlling nature to force it to conform to the law as they see it. Well played.

 

[smootrk]

I like your extrapolations. Consider this part of my campaign now. Thanks

 

[DM_Matt]

Does anyone else think that Chaotic Evil should be a valid druid option? What about those druids who believe that all civilization is a threat to nature or an abomination of some sort and must be destroyed. Trying to destroy everything so that the world returns to its natural state is pretty validly druidic and definately CE. Also, what about predator druids who worship the concept of survival of the fittest. I know they fit under this neutral evil formulation, but is that not more accurately a CE viewpoint?

 

[Thia Halmades]

By the argument I posit for alignments: An alignment is a snap shot of a personality matrix. It doesn't define what you do, all the time. Lawful Good people can go to war; why couldn't an NE druid? It's really a matter of how you want to swing it. If you want to play by-the-book, then the Druid happens to be NE, and uses their powers to raise an army and pour them down on their enemies, Princess Mononoke style. Nothing really prohibits anyone from going to war, so long as they believe they're justified.

 

[Hussar]

A question that occurs to me is how would these different alignments view experimenting with nature? After all, given arcane and some divine magic, you can alter, change, modify and recreate pretty much any species you like. How would druids of differering alignments view such activities.

BTW, I didn't forget true neutral. I figured that true neutral had pretty much been done to death and didn't need to be covered. But, I like your take on it as well.

As far as the druid who crusades to destroy civilization, pretty much any alignment could do this except maybe Neutral Good. The NE druid would do it in the fastest, most destructive way possible, possibly using earthquakes and firestorms to destroy cities. Lawful Neutral might also do the very same thing, although they would be more likely to try to work with others to come to a balance.

Scarred Lands has some excellent takes on druids if you want more inspiration.