Druids and Wood Weapons

[Kyramus]

From the SRD

A druid who wears prohibited armor or wields a prohibited weapon is unable to use any of her magical powers while doing so and for 24 hours thereafter. (Note: A druid can use wooden items that have been altered by the ironwood spell so that they function as though they were steel.)

Elves
Proficient with either longsword or rapier; proficient with shortbow, longbow, composite longbow, and composite shortbow.

This hopefully ends this discussion. You can rule 0 things, but by the SRD/by the book. ELVEN DRUIDS are proficient with either longsword or rapier and with any bow.

Do they use it? Probably only on the most dire circumstances, or diety willing.

This is analogous to a person that knows how to cook hard boiled eggs. He knows how to do it, but he doesn't always cook it. What if he was allergic to eggs? He can still make hard boiled eggs but he probably won't, or won't eat it.

 

[Christian]

This hopefully ends this discussion. You can rule 0 things, but by the SRD/by the book.

I doubt that'll necessarily end things. By the book, an elven druid could use a wooden rapier affected by an Ironwood spell without penalty. Given that this is (a) spectacularly stupid, and (b) contrary to the intent of the rule as stated by the designer, I don't think it's out of the scope of the Rules forum to discuss this interpretation that the Ironwood exemption should only apply to armor ...

(By the way-an Ironwood bow? What would that have, a 2500 pound pull? )

 

[Kyramus]

(Note: A druid can use wooden items that have been altered by the ironwood spell so that they function as though they were steel.)


If they used ironwoord versions, then they don't loose their powers. Again it's stated on the SRD that if the wooden items that have been altered by the iron wood spell, a druid CAN use them.

 

[Caliban]

(Note: A druid can use wooden items that have been altered by the ironwood spell so that they function as though they were steel.)


If they used ironwoord versions, then they don't loose their powers. Again it's stated on the SRD that if the wooden items that have been altered by the iron wood spell, a druid CAN use them.

That was intended to mean armor, not any weapon.

I've seen Sean K Reynolds confirm this, and it makes sense in context with the spell.

It doesn't matter what material a druid's weapons are made out of, he's limited to those specified in his druid oath. He can use scimitars made out of metal, plastic, bone, or solidified toxic waste. Likewise, it doesn't matter what a longsword or bow is made out of, their oaths don't allow them to use them.

Ironwood doesn't change this. It just makes it out of really hard wood. Druids can wear any armor as long as it's not made out of metal, which means that ironwood plate mail is perfectly acceptable.

The simplest solution is to rule 0 the druid oaths into something more reasonable and consistent.

 

[Jondor_Battlehammer]

(By the way-an Ironwood bow? What would that have, a 2500 pound pull? )

Cool! You may have just given our Barbarian/Dragon Dicpl. his +10 mighty composite.

 

[Shard O'Glase]

Correction. It was Jonathan Tweet and not Skip.

And I know people will whine that it isn't official but then every munchkin wants their cake, eat it too, and still have left overs.

Or maybe they are just trying to make something decent out of an incredibly retarded rule.

 

[Pielorinho]

Things a druid can't use:

-A rock (unless she loads it in a sling first)
-A greatclub (although a normal sized club is okay)
-A falchion (although a one-handed scimitar is okay)
-A kama (although a sickle is okay)
-A net (though it be woven out of vines)
-A blowgun (though it be bamboo with frog poison-tipped darts)
-Any larger- or smaller- sized version of their weapons (which makes it difficult for giant or fey druids)
-Arguably, natural weaponry.

The worst one, IMO, is the fact that a druid can't throw a rock at someone without losing her powers for the day.

I figure this is the number 1 rule for changing in any campaign with druids. There are two reasonable changes I've seen:

-Druids can use any simple weapon, as long as it's made out of natural materials. Forged metal is specifically not a natural material; alchemical stuff is also unnatural.
-Druids are proficient in the normal list of weapons; they may use weapons off of this list if feats or other classes grant them access to them.

Daniel

 

[Kae'Yoss]

Things a druid can't use:

-A rock (unless she loads it in a sling first)

Hm.. if you count THAT as a weapon. I'd say it's just something you throw. Not exactly a weapon. IMHO, a druid wouldn't lose his powers if he attacked with a bread knife.

-A greatclub (although a normal sized club is okay)
-A falchion (although a one-handed scimitar is okay)

Well, size does matter. I think that they're not supposed to run around with some two-handed aberration of a weapon.

-A kama (although a sickle is okay)

Well, that's an outlandish, foreign weapon. It doesn't behave for your proper druid to use such a weapon.

-A net (though it be woven out of vines)

OK, this could fit in there

-A blowgun (though it be bamboo with frog poison-tipped darts)

The Problem here is that AFAIK there are no blowguns in D&D, or, strictly speaking, the Core Rulebooks. It's in additional books, so they can't write something like "Druids can also use the blowgun. For stats on the blowgun, please buy XYZ".

-Any larger- or smaller- sized version of their weapons (which makes it difficult for giant or fey druids)

Where does it say that? You still need weapon proficiency(scimitar) for that huge scimitar, so it should count as one. The problem is similar to the blowgun issue: normally, there are only medium-sized or small druids, since there are no smaller or bigger PC-races. But I think that they could use the weapons that they are proficient with, even if they aren't the standard size, provided the druid isn't standard size either. I would require that the relative size's the same. So a halfling druid could get a small scimitar and use it, the ogre druid could use a large one. But I'd not allow the human druid to use a large scimitar.

-Arguably, natural weaponry.

I don't think they count as weapons, so the druid can make unarmed attacks or attacks with natural weapons without breaking the oath.

The worst one, IMO, is the fact that a druid can't throw a rock at someone without losing her powers for the day.

see above



Well, I wonder where the list comes from, originally. How did the scimitar appear on it.

But I think that the druid isn't to screwed up weapon-wise: they have the scimitar, a decent weapon, and they may also use their god's favored weapon, which is the thing they may want to use anyway.

 

[Tetsubo]

See my earlier reply. My Rule Zero solves all of these issues.

 

[Crothian]

Rule Zero in my current campaign:

Druids are not restricted to the weapons selection in the Players Handbook. The only restrictions as far as weapons are concerned are that they must be made from natural materials. Bone, horn, wood and stone. Bows are also allowed. Armour is restricted to light and medium and must also be made from natural materials. Though I am willing to entertain a greater selection than offered by the Players Handbook. Wooden items that have been enchanted by the ironwood spell are allowed.
The 6th level Ironwood spell now applies to all rigid organic materials. Example: bone, teeth, shell, hooves, horn, etc.

Nice, simple solution. I like it