My Druid is boring!

[Emerald]

I am playing a 9th level Druid in a campaign. I have been playing her for 1 1/2 years. She was my first real PC and I did not give her any back story or motivation, which did not bother me in the beginning, but now I am getting to the point that I almost want to scrap her and start a new character. But first I want to try and salvage her. I however am coming up blank and thought I would put this to the experts here at EN World. I am wanting to spice up my druid for right now there is no reason for her to be in the party but the plot has gotten so far in that I need something generic I can place into a wide varitey of settings. I am looking for concepts that can be introduced with little background and will smooth out into an exisiting campaign. Here are the important elements so far:


This is an evil heavy party.
This is a role playing heavy group.
This is a homebrew, core books only.
This is a city based adventure, with lots of politcal intregue.
There is very little combat.

 

[Keith]

I don't know...if nothing has come up in a year and a half of roleplay-heavy gaming for your character to become absorbed in, the problem may not be a lack of background. That helps kick a character off, but usually you become most involved with whatever emerges in the campaign. What kinds of goals do the evil folk have? Maybe what you could do is really go to town (ah...so to speak...wrong choice of words) on the rustic aspect of the Druid; if they are stuck in a city all the time, perhaps they decide to try and re-naturalize it a bit. Not a brilliant idea. Is it possible that the whole group lacks goals? That does tend to be the case when people try evil- "well...we're evil...now what?"

 

[Nifft]

Is your Druid evil, too? If so, at 9th level you gain an awesome ability: Venom Immunity. You can become a harvester and trafficer in venom for assassins throughout the land.

You are also an excellent spy: you can turn into a dog (or other Small animal) and wander by various people.

Tell us more about your Druid and her (or his) motivation -- or your interest in participating in the campaign. Do you want to be an evil Druid? If so, I've got some suggestions -- but if you want to be good or neutral, that can work too.

-- Nifft

 

[Silver Moon]

A druid...boring? I find that hard to believe. I find that druids can be one of the most interesting chracter classes to play. I would suggest you start by developing some background.

In one campaign I play a druid from an African-based setting. There's enough information online about African culture that with a minimum of research you could have someone distinctly different from the typical western-based fantasy setting.

I have had another druid who saw himself as the party's main warrior, and used spell combinations to make it so. One example was when a pack of griffins attacked the party. He used Entangle to grab them, followed by Spike Growth to then dispatch them. Various other druid spell combinations can also be used for very lethal results.

In another campaign I used a water-based druid (she was half sea-elf) that was quite helpful on campaigns along the coast or at sea.

And all that is before you go into the animal transformation abilities and use of animal allies (or even plant allies). Druids are great!

 

[Polydamas]

Hmm...an evil druid in a city?

Your recon is now complete. Time to beginning undermining this town and driving the inhabitants out. This will hopefully allow the land of the city to be reclaimed, and force the populace to adopt a more "natural" lifestyle.

Take your time and don't indulge in silly overdramatic plans. A compentent administrator in waste management replaced with a corrupt one, looser laws on quarantine....slowly sew the seeds and reap your grim harvest.

Remember, druids are patient...very patient.

 

[LostSoul]

Driuds are great spies in the city. They can talk to animals and plants. Think about how great it would be to be a fly on the wall - or a potted plant - in the right room.

Throw in some background now. Come up with some kind of spin on your character, run it through with your DM, and ask him to put a lot of that into the next adventure. If you're thinking about ditching the character, hopefully he'll go with it.

 

[Larry Fitz]

Emerald looks out from atop the small hill at the man made scar of the city. The companions she has cultivated are perfect. The time is right,. So begins the scourging of this blight. It may take years, but nature is patient. It may cost lives, but nature is merciless. It may require sacrifice, but nature, above all else, nature is worthy.

Emerald will start with helping her friends sow a little chaos here, a little chaos there. The city is the very embodiment of order, so a little chaos, even a lot of chaos, is justified. She will bring famine. Crops are man's attempt to tame nature. Nature should not be tame. Livestock is man's attempt to control the wild. The wild will not be controlled. She will bring pestilence. Let her small friends the vermin hold sway for a time, let them teach the people what a kindness death can be.

Emerald looks out and she smiles, she can see in her mind's eye how this place once looked, and will look again. The bodies of the starving and diseased usurpers will fall to the ground and nourish the land. Their buildings will crumble and be worn away, or torn down and scattered.

Death is not feared by nature, death is part of life's cycle, it is nature's ally and lover, a lover whose cold embrace will carry the city and its people beyond their destructive and unnatural ways. Death yearns for these people, and death comes for them now, and for them, death will have a new name, death will be ... Emerald.

 

[jgbrowning]

You could always try wild shaping into a

*drum roll*

Boring Beetle!

*ta da!*


joe b.

 

[Nightfall]

Emerald, just a wait a while and see about picking up the Player's Guide to Clerics and Druids by S&SS. Might give you something to work with.