D&D General Nature Clerics vs. Druids?

[MGibster]

Druid: "I am Nature!"

Nature Cleric: "I am wearing plate."

Druids often wear leather armor which, like plate, is created by harvesting a natural resource and using it to manufacture something that's very artificial.

I think the biggest difference is that a cleric acts as an intermediary between the divine and its followers. This isn't always played out in D&D games, but clerics should be involved in things like enforcing orthodoxy, interpreting and/or making religious edicts, and performing rites for the benefit of worshipers from time to time. For examples, a cleric of nature might tell the people how to thank their god properly, might interpret religious text, and lead a ceremony at the start of hunting season to ask their god for a good harvest. A druid, even one who worships the same nature god as our cleric, isn't really concerned with ministering to worshipers. Instead, the druid works with nature in the manner their god requires.

There's probably some overlap though. A druid who is responsible for maintaining a sacred grove can likely count on assistance from a cleric dedicated to the same god.

 

[MGibster]

Long ago we simply renamed Druids as Nature Clerics, made them divine-based, and never looked back.

Also, the name 'Druid' is very much tied to a single culture (Celtic) and thus often appears to be very out of place.

In my last home brew creation (monstrosity), I decided that people as a whole looked at all spell casting as a manifestation of the divine. Whether we're talking about a cleric, druid, wizard, or sorcerer, your character was viewed as a holy person by the masses. The more educated persons viewed the wizard as someone who unlocked the secrets of the universe, a sorcerer had divinity in their veins, and clerics/druids were favored by their gods. Even warlocks had aspects of the divine though they were generally distrusted as it was believed they traded their souls for power.

 

[Davies]

Also, the name 'Druid' is very much tied to a single culture (Celtic) and thus often appears to be very out of place.

Oh so horribly true. I generally prefer the RoleMaster name for this archetype, "Animist". Even that might be a bit too modern.

 

[Voadam]

Different traditions.

Greek cleric of Demeter, Roman cleric of Ceres.
Celtic/Gaulic druid.

Generally clerics are from the pantheon or the more civilized pantheon and connected to temples and churches.
Generally druids are more connected to older more barbaric cultures, to nature more directly rather than a pantheon's gods or where you can have both for a nature god they are the more nature versus people oriented aspects of the religion.

Clerics are a public cult/religion, druids are generally the old faith, sometimes a secret society, more of an outsider.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

A lot of people in this thread have been saying that Druids don't have to worship a deity, but clerics do, but that isn't true in D&D 5e. In 5e, clerics don't have to worship a deity, they can worship a process of the multiverse (like death, life, nature). Druids in D&D 5e do draw their power from nature spirits and deities, but don't have to worship them.

So, how I would distinguish between the two is that nature clerics worship nature or a nature deity, while druids are the embodiment of nature, drawing power from certain aspects of it (the moon, the land, death, fire and rebirth, etc).

 

[Krachek]

The domain feature have place the cleric in multiple overlap with other classes.
a nature cleric is a bit of Druid,
an arcane cleric is a bit of wizard,
a trickery cleric is a bit of a rogue,
and so on,
in fact cleric is the only class that can be used in a single class setup, and still having the possibility to give the favor of all other classes.
and Dm that want sharp frontier between classes should make a cleanup before starting its game.

 

[Minigiant]

A lot of people in this thread have been saying that Druids don't have to worship a deity, but clerics do, but that isn't true in D&D 5e. In 5e, clerics don't have to worship a deity, they can worship a process of the multiverse (like death, life, nature). Druids in D&D 5e do draw their power from nature spirits and deities, but don't have to worship them.

So, how I would distinguish between the two is that nature clerics worship nature or a nature deity, while druids are the embodiment of nature, drawing power from certain aspects of it (the moon, the land, death, fire and rebirth, etc).

I think the key difference is that nature cleric don't simply and soley worship nature. There are other aspects like the relationship of civilization and nature, "man"'s place in nature, and the glorification of nature. This is how nature gods get in as it's not all about nature. Nature clerics woship the HUNT or the HARVEST. Humaniod aspects and relationships with nature.

Druid don't do that. It's 100% nature. The wolves, trees, fey, and people are equals.

 

[cbwjm]

It was easier in 2e since nature gods tended to just have druids as their specialist priests. I have the following as things that they each represent depending on how I want to run things.

Civilisation vs. Wilderness
Nature priests are follows of civilised gods of agriculture or taming the wilderness so that people can thrive. Druids teach ways for people to live in harmony with nature.

New Gods vs. Old Faith
Druids follow the old faith whereas clerics are followers of the new gods. This would be like the Romans coming in and stomping on the tribes who follow the old ways and bringing in their new gods.

Priests vs. Shamans
Sometimes nature clerics are from more civilised societies whereas druids are tribal shamans. This ties into the new gods vs the old faith above.

Same God, Different Focus
I have a goddess called the Earthmother. She has both nature clerics and druids following her. The clerics are more active in settled areas whereas the druids are out tending to the natural world.

 

[Zardnaar]

Clerics are a bit more militant than the druids who are more mystical.

 

[Aaron L]

A Nature Cleric worships a God of Nature. A Druid worships Nature.