Druid vs. Druid

[Plane Sailing]

Whoa! Hold on righ there, Nancy! -- the druid HAS her OWN forest?!

Theres nothing wrong with that at all - who says there has to be one-size-fits-all druids anyway?

Cheers

 

[Ridley's Cohort]

Flavorwise I think a Druid Alienist would make for a marvelous opponent, although mechanically it is a bit weak.

Or perhaps a Druid with dark fey influences or connections to to Unseelie court.

 

[Mycanid]

Perhaps something you might consider would be a druid blighter who is located in the modern (i.e. 3.5 timeline - after all these absurd wars with iuz and what not) kingdom of aerdi and in cahoots with some aspect of ivid the undying's "court" in a plot to destroy or undermine the authority, time, power, whatever of the druidess leader in the ancient aerdi wood?

Or something similiar along those lines. Seems Aerdi is one of those ignored lands ... but a lot could take place in there.

The "Ivid the Undying" unpublished supplement is on wotc's website, btw....

 

[Pat]

There's a long tradition of druidic duels in Dnd, whether they're settled by claw, spell, or scimitar... or by wisdom and wit. If the conflict escalates, there might be pressure from higher-ranked druids to settle it in a more formal manner. An excellent example is the very creative and (largely) non-violent competition for the position of Grand Druid in Zad's Savage Sword of Meepo story hour. Here are links to the three parts:

http://www.enworld.org/showpost.php?p=1484893&postcount=336 (prelude)
http://www.enworld.org/showpost.php?p=1496699&postcount=337
http://www.enworld.org/showpost.php?p=1548346&postcount=340

-Pat

 

[Snapdragyn]

I'd suggest something similar to the Child of Winter sect from Eberron -- a druid who believes that the many races of beings (& their abuse of magic?) have damaged the natural world beyond repair, & that only a 'clean slate' can allow Nature to return to its pure state.

This purist (or his/her superiors) would be seeking to destroy -- everything -- to clear the way for this to occur. They would view druids not of their sect as well-intentioned but deluded into thinking that what currently exists can truly be called 'nature' & is worth preserving, & view them as obstructing the natural path to death & rebirth. Initial interactions might involve some requests for meetings & friendly overtures, seeking to convert your character to their purpose. When these fail (if they do), then she is branded an enemy who must, regrettably, be destroyed.

Play up the 'reasonable' & 'nice' side of the opponents -- they do not want anyone to suffer, nor do they enjoy killing; they simply see destruction as inevitable & necessary. If your players would go for the real gut-wrenching twist, set up the eventual opponent as a love interest first before pushing things into conflict & war.

 

[technophile]

Why not just have the evil druid issue a challenge, whoever loses leaves the forest? There doesn't need to be a convoluted plot. Perhaps there is a place within your druid's forest, that the evil druid wants access to so she can cast a ritual?

 

[Voadam]

Old school D&D druidic leadership challenge by combat.

Evil druid vs. good druid. One wears a black trench coat and hat, another wears a white trench coat and hat. Lots of traps involving fire runes and falling tree limbs.

Druids of opposing aspects of nature or nature gods. In FR it could be Miellikki vs that cold goddess. In GH go with the elemental evil cults for one as a possibility versus Beory.

Ecoterrorist versus sell out druid.

Alternately must stop the ecoterrorist druid.

One druid dedicated to becoming a perfect predator (Nature red in tooth and claw and all that) who believes druidic orders must cull their weak. The PC is important enough now to be tested with failure meaning becoming bear food.

 

[Storyteller01]

Flavorwise I think a Druid Alienist would make for a marvelous opponent, although mechanically it is a bit weak.

Or perhaps a Druid with dark fey influences or connections to to Unseelie court.

Read Arcana: Societies of Magic. They have a PrC built along this vein.


The short version: The reality is a hoax, a sham, laquer applyied by false gods when they came and took over. The original world, called preternature, is a dark primal world in which only the fittest survive.

The remenants of this 'core' exists, and is accessed as if it were an alternate plane similar to the etherial.

society, civilizations, churches, etc are hardest to access this realm whereas untoouched lands, forests, praires (lands closest to the preter realm in nature) make access easier.

The druid seeks to bring this old world back, and sees your forest (for whatever reason; maybe its close enough to a city to use as a headquaters) as the perfect staging ground.


Note: The PrC also comes with a template that the druid gains at 10th level. While techinically neutral evil, the preternatural creatures existed before the current values systems. The authors recommend (and I agree; it's played holy he[doublehockeysticks] on players) that they be played without alignments. It wreaks havoc on casters who use alignment specific spells.

 

[Enkhidu]

In my homebrew, I have two druidic factions that compete constantly. Both are basically Neutral organizations that are based on the same basic principles, but the rivalry often gets violent, as they compete for hunting grounds, faerie mounds, sacred groves, and the like. Worse, they both trace their origins back to the same founder, though each claims to the "true" heirs to her legacy. Now in my campaign, one faction (the Circle) has a more lawful bent and tends toward "druids as spellcasting masters of nature," while the other (the Ring) is more chaotic in nature and relies more heavily on wildshaping (and counts a great deal more nature's warriors and warshapers among its members), but I don't think you'd need to go to those lengths to set up a good druid villian.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that you don't necessarily need (or want!) an eeeevil druid as an antagonist.

 

[Timely Drought]

If the PC isn't part of a druid organization, then you could have a single druid aligned to a faction (such as the Children of Winter), have his own plans for the area. The PC could be faced with deveral solutions: join the faction if she's in agreement with their goals, and use their inner workings to get the rival druid to bugger off (trial by combat? get a patron in the organization that has enough influence to order the rival out of her forest?). Or simply defeat the rival and potentially gain the wrath of his faction. Or perhaps join a druid faction opposed to her rival's and turn it into a faction war (or just threaten to do so and perhaps have the rival cower off if he's not up to escalating the conflict to that level).

Something's wrong with the entire scenario. You should punish the druid as soon as possible and disallow any of her class abilities until she learns a hard lesson about the world around her.

And then slap yourself a few times for allowing this to happen.

I sure hope this is an attempt at humour.