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

[Shadowdweller00]

not every setting shares the same baselines as FR.

• Eberron: The setting deliberately and explicitly had gods & deities an unprovable thing to the point that the creator Keith Baker has even said things like how that mybe they do maybe the don't unprovable state even extends to high powered celestials & such
• Dark Sun: ROFL... I'm not even sure where to begin. On top of going from a (maybe) multi-sphere spanning magically advanced civilization that engaged in things like geo/stellar-engineering(pristine tower powered by the sun & caused it to change color) they also created many of the different races present before a genocidal cleansing war resulted in the current post apocalyptic state of things. The gods are either dead banished or in hiding with good reasons to stay there.
• Ravenloft: The Dark Powers will cherish your innocence & delight in providing juuuuust enough reinforcement of that belief to savor the inevitable spiral into despair & resulting crisis of faith.

That is all true, but I'm not entirely certain what point you are trying to make?

Eberron - Somewhat distant or vague deities, but still clerics, druids, and obviously divine magical effects. Example: The Undying.

Dark Sun - There are elemental powers that grant divine magic. Druids get their powers from local spirits (e.g. animism). Metal armor taboo isn't very relevant here

Ravenloft - The Dark Powers ARE the divine forces. Can't recall how the setting handles druids that get trapped there. If there's any difference at all.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

Happy 100, I see no consensus has been reached!

I think someone said about 20 pages back the only consensus is that it is not clear if it is or is not a rule...but he/she/they got beat down and out of the thread a while ago...

 

[Maxperson]

That is all true, but I'm not entirely certain what point you are trying to make?

Eberron - Somewhat distant or vague deities, but still clerics, druids, and obviously divine magical effects. Example: The Undying.

Dark Sun - There are elemental powers that grant divine magic. Druids get their powers from local spirits (e.g. animism). Metal armor taboo isn't very relevant here

Ravenloft - The Dark Powers ARE the divine forces. Can't recall how the setting handles druids that get trapped there. If there's any difference at all.

The point is that the taboo can be broken just as easily as a vegetarian eats meat when necessary. The designers have said so. It's not hard for them to do it, they just choose not to if it isn't an emergency.

 

[Chaosmancer]

Since fantasy Druids are as much based on Native American peoples as they are on Celtic Druids, how did they make all their leather goods without poisoning the land? Or did they?

I'm not an expert, but looking around reveals that they had many different methods. Some were simpler (as in, the single part of the process I'm talking about), like soaking the hide in a solution of water and ash to create alkaline solutions. Others used burnt lime rock.

But, here is a question, would the tanner in the city that the Druid bought the leather from use those methods, or a faster more chemical method? Or do druids only wear leathers that they've made themselves?

 

[tetrasodium]

That is all true, but I'm not entirely certain what point you are trying to make?

Eberron - Somewhat distant or vague deities, but still clerics, druids, and obviously divine magical effects. Example: The Undying.

Dark Sun - There are elemental powers that grant divine magic. Druids get their powers from local spirits (e.g. animism). Metal armor taboo isn't very relevant here

Ravenloft - The Dark Powers ARE the divine forces. Can't recall how the setting handles druids that get trapped there. If there's any difference at all.

The undying are powered by positive energy from Irian(a plane with a manifest zone in Arenal) not divine power. Yes elemental priests exist but they aren't really the same as clerics. The Dark Powers are most certainly not divine powers, druids get a bit of mention in the 3.0 RCS where their link to nature provides a bit of a shield from the

Spoiler: unspoken pact

but they are vulnerable in other ways including influence from dark lords & The Dark Powers on nature.

The point was that pointing to the source of powers as it exists in settings like FR is going to break down as you move to other settings. Coincidentally they are settings that the no metal armor trope is the most jarring

 

[Faolyn]

Ravenloft - The Dark Powers ARE the divine forces. Can't recall how the setting handles druids that get trapped there. If there's any difference at all.

The Dark Powers aren't gods and it's always been deliberately unclear if they replace the gods entirely or merely filter them. The books have included hints such as clerics who arrive from other worlds and who say that their god's voice sounds different or distant after they came to Ravenloft. 100% home-grown deities like Ezra grant spells, but again it's hard to tell if there really is an Ezra (or a different deity that grants spells in Ezra's name) or if the DPs do it. Since clerics of Ezra are legitimate clerics, not warlocks, then if the Dark Powers grant spells, then they're something akin to gods.

 

[Chaosmancer]

Wrong. You tried to bring up some people's willingness to violate taboos when in distress IRL as somehow being significant. In a fictional, magical world where we have powerful magical forces and individuals who derive magical powers from their religious practices, it is idiotic to presume that the consequences for violating the rules of those religious practices (or ability to "just make up for it later") would be even remotely comparable to RL.

And what is the consequence listed in the PHB for breaking a religious taboo?

 

[Chaosmancer]

Druidic powers have ALWAYS been based on religious beliefs. In 1e, druids were a cleric subclass. Even in 5e, this is explicitly spelled out in the class description in the PHB. Including notably that they receive spells "either from the force of nature itself or from a nature deity". Considering that "the force of nature itself" is also the D&D equivalent / alternative of a god, such as an animist religion might venerate...yeah, there's a god involved.

There are no gods involved in the druids of my homebrew world, or in Eberron. Or in Ravnica.

The Ashari druids from Tal'Dorie also weren't directly connected to the the nature goddess, if memory serves me, but were a people devoted to the elements.

So, a homebrew world and three official campaign settings were saying "yes, there is a god invovled in your druid's life, powers and beliefs" would be completely wrong.

But Gygax had no such compunction.

Not to be rude... but considering the guy is dead and had nothing at all to do with the design of DnD since 3rd edition... why do I care what compunctions Gygax had? He has nothing to do with the game beyond the impact he had back in 1e and 2e.

 

[Yaarel]

In animism, the features of nature are living minds all around.

I never understood why some people assume people "worship" nature beings.

When I live in an apartment building, I know there are persons with minds all around me. LOL! I dont "worship" them! I just say "hi" if I happen to run into them, and sometimes have a good friend who is a neighbor. Maybe I knock on the door of a stranger if there is a party or a problem.

Nature beings are about coexistence. There is no worship. The goal is to have a peaceable constructive community that includes all of the nature beings, including the type of nature beings that are humans.

The main job of a shaman is find ways to resolve conflicts to keep the community functional. For animism, the environmental community − the neighborliness and the hospitality − is the sacred "cosmic force". Not any particular nature beings, per se.

 

[Maxperson]

Not to be rude... but considering the guy is dead and had nothing at all to do with the design of DnD since 3rd edition... why do I care what compunctions Gygax had? He has nothing to do with the game beyond the impact he had back in 1e and 2e.

1e only. Gygax was out before 2e started being worked on.