Right! The game doesn't delve into the details of what happens in these scenarios because it assumes the game you want to be playing is Dungeons & Dragons, where clerics live up to their deity's expectations and druids will not wear leather armor.
You've already said that you're fine with "cannot wear" as opposed to "will not wear," which is an issue of semantics, no?
Yes it is. And as you chose that restriction yourself in the first place, I don't see how that is a big problem.
They still effectively restrict how to play your character. It's a difference of degree at most.
Yes, and I think pretty much everyone agrees that this would be a better way to do it.
No, because can not and will not mean very different things. Also, it would still be a poorly constructed rule if it said “can not” because it would still fail to lay out what happens if you try. But at least it would be a statement about what the character is capable of instead of what they’re willing to do. The latter dictates for me my character’s thoughts and decisions. The former just informs me of a limitation of my character’s abilities.
I agree. It's VERY niche and something I have never encountered as either a player or DM.If the player must, I guess.
Thankfully "my druid wears metal armor because reasons" is something I've never had to navigate as a Dungeon Master.
I think it's important to remember that there's precedence in the source fiction for fallen paladins, that's why there are outlined options. The same is not true for the druid.
Personally I’m leaning toward a conspiracy from the Elven Chailmail Makers Consortium (TM) to boost their sales back in the days when druids where the rage. Like the « leaving your umbrella open indoors brings bad luck » superstition actually results in your umbrella rotting and forcing you to buy another.
You don’t see a problem with a class you have to sign away your player agency to be allowed to play?
No, they don’t. They describe how a typical member of the class behaves (which, incidentally, is what I interpret the metal armor restriction to do as well. It’s only if you interpret it as a rule about what PCs of the class can do instead of a description of how members of the class typically behave that it creates an agency problem).
Yes, that definitely is true and probably the reason why the rules ended up being written differently. I don't think the designers expected people to agonise over the traditional druid armour restriction.
