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<blockquote data-quote="Tony Vargas" data-source="post: 6900715" data-attributes="member: 996">The Druid is (or at least was) one of my favorite classes from AD&amp;D.&nbsp; Greatly under-appreciated, back then, IMHO.&nbsp; I had a lot of fun with 'em.&nbsp; Heh.&nbsp; So, the Druid is based on the priest-class of the Celtic cultures of Europe around the time of the Roman empire (and, heavily, upon a largely apocryphal revival in 19th century England, a bit of Alistair Crowley, and some neo-Paganism that actually got started back in the 60s).&nbsp; Historically (what little is known of their history), the Druids were tribal priests or shamans, seers, sages and judges.&nbsp; According to later collections of Gaelic folk tales they also trained Bards.&nbsp; Bards are in essence a sort of Druid sub-class (indeed, the original 1e PH Bard studied with Druids and cast Druid spells).&nbsp; In addition to training Bards, 'writing' on Ogham wands, keeping oral history and acting as judges, Druids were attributed some magical powers.&nbsp; Most significantly was probably divination, followed closely by shape-changing (not just themselves, like D&amp;D Wildshape, but others, like D&amp;D Polymorph - typically by tapping the subject with a wand, BTW).&nbsp; Peripheral to that, maybe Druids, maybe something less religious like a sorcerer, were abilities like conjuring illusions.&nbsp; Conjuring/controlling fire &amp; lightning or summoning animals or sylvan creatures are D&amp;D-Druidisms that don't have a lot of basis in even the sketchy, mostly made-up in the 18th-20th century, 'history' of Druids.&nbsp; The connection with fire might have stemmed from the Roman accounts of the notorious 'wicker man' sacrifice in which they claimed the Celts would burn human sacrifices.&nbsp; The rest simply from extrapolating 'nature magic,' perhaps.A Circle that practiced divination and prophesy would be a very appropriate.&nbsp; Also pretty reasonable.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Tony Vargas, post: 6900715, member: 996"] The Druid is (or at least was) one of my favorite classes from AD&D. Greatly under-appreciated, back then, IMHO. I had a lot of fun with 'em. Heh. So, the Druid is based on the priest-class of the Celtic cultures of Europe around the time of the Roman empire (and, heavily, upon a largely apocryphal revival in 19th century England, a bit of Alistair Crowley, and some neo-Paganism that actually got started back in the 60s). Historically (what little is known of their history), the Druids were tribal priests or shamans, seers, sages and judges. According to later collections of Gaelic folk tales they also trained Bards. Bards are in essence a sort of Druid sub-class (indeed, the original 1e PH Bard studied with Druids and cast Druid spells). In addition to training Bards, 'writing' on Ogham wands, keeping oral history and acting as judges, Druids were attributed some magical powers. Most significantly was probably divination, followed closely by shape-changing (not just themselves, like D&D Wildshape, but others, like D&D Polymorph - typically by tapping the subject with a wand, BTW). Peripheral to that, maybe Druids, maybe something less religious like a sorcerer, were abilities like conjuring illusions. Conjuring/controlling fire & lightning or summoning animals or sylvan creatures are D&D-Druidisms that don't have a lot of basis in even the sketchy, mostly made-up in the 18th-20th century, 'history' of Druids. The connection with fire might have stemmed from the Roman accounts of the notorious 'wicker man' sacrifice in which they claimed the Celts would burn human sacrifices. The rest simply from extrapolating 'nature magic,' perhaps. A Circle that practiced divination and prophesy would be a very appropriate. Also pretty reasonable. [/QUOTE]

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