Druidic Weapon Dogma

[Raflar]

With all the d20 publishers coming out with books with new weapons in it, I was thinking of expanding the druid's weapon list.

Does anyone know how this list came to be? What would be allowed? The actual list according to pg. 34 of PHB is: club, dagger, dart, longspear, quarterstaff, scimitar, sickle, shortspear, and sling)


From what I figure only weapons that can be 'naturally made' in the wild (spears, daggers, clubs...) and blades that are curved like a crescent moon (scimitar, sickle..) if this is the case then why not 'halfspear', 'great club', or 'falchion' (which is a 2handed scimitar really)

If anyone has any info on druidic weapon dogma could you please pass it on?

 

[CRGreathouse]

I know the halfspear has been added to the list... not sure about any others. There were about 3 left off the 1st printing...

 

[Wolfspider]

Really? I don't see this listed in the PHB errata....

Wait! I found it....dart, longspear, and halfspear. Except that dart and longspear were both already listed in my first printing. Weird.

I think druids should be able to use scythes, personally.

 

[Little_Buddha]

From what I figure only weapons that can be 'naturally made' in the wild (spears, daggers, clubs...) and blades that are curved like a crescent moon (scimitar, sickle..) if this is the case then why not 'halfspear', 'great club', or 'falchion' (which is a 2handed scimitar really)

If anyone has any info on druidic weapon dogma could you please pass it on?

Why not bows?

I think it's meant to be game balance, or "nostalgia" (like the Paladin and Monk multiclassing restrictions). I don't think there's a convincing in-game explanation apart from 'the powers druids worship forbid them to do it'.

 

[XCorvis]

The falchion is a "mid-eastern" flavored weapon, a far cry from the Celtic background of the druid. So is the scimitar, for that matter...

 

[WaterRabbit]

3E Falchion is fiction

The falchion is a "mid-eastern" flavored weapon, a far cry from the Celtic background of the druid. So is the scimitar, for that matter...

The Falchion is more of a straight bladed big knife

http://store.museumreplicas.com/cgi-bin/www11650.storefront

Here is a picture of one.

 

[Lord Pendragon]

There've been a lot of arguments about the druid's weapons list. I'd say the "reasoning" behind the weapons on the list is this: they were chosen randomly, so that the list as a whole could be a balancing factor. It isn't weak per se (the scimitar is an excellent weapon,) but it is restrictive. That serves as a "negative" to the druid class, to balance out the positives.

A story hour on these boards, (Piratecat's,) features a homebrew feat, Forbidden Weapon, which allows a druid to add one weapon to his/her Nature-approved weapons. I believe that it makes the druid proficient with the weapon as well, (therefore not requiring two feats, but just the one.) A similar idea might work here as well.

If instead you're planning on just adding weapons to the list without requiring a feat, I don't think there are really any guidelines for what weapons would make sense to be added, since there wasn't really any sense used to create the original list, save for making it restrictive, as I said before. Add whatever you like.

Myself, I'd say scythes are more druidic than scimitars, really. But that's just me.

 

[Tetsubo]

Here's a better picture of what a falchion looks like:

http://www.algonet.se/~enda/h_conyers_eng.htm

And it was definitely a European weapon.

To get back on topic I think the druids need better weapon selection as well. I think all wooden weapons should be allowed, as well as any from "primitive" cultures. Shark toothed clubs, war paddles, bola, nets, etc. I'd drop metal weapons completely. You can make a sickle from wood and flint knapped stone. I like the idea of druids being self sufficant as far as weapons making goes. using the natural materials avialable to low tech societies.

Your mileage may vary.

 

[hong]

Here's a better picture of what a falchion looks like:

http://www.algonet.se/~enda/h_conyers_eng.htm

And it was definitely a European weapon.

As far as I can tell, the D&D falchion is basically a two-handed version of the scimitar. Like most D&D weapons, it has very little to do with real life.