D&D General what are druids?

[Quickleaf]

serously what are they supposed to be?

how are you supposed to role-play something which is so vague as to what it even is?
how do you build them into a setting if they are so little descriptive?

I get they are to do with nature and turn into animals but it seems lacking in function?
how do they even come about who are they different from nature clerics' past abilities.
and why do the subclasses feel so uninspired.

they feel like they are missing something?

The answers, like all things in life, can be found in the Complete Book of Druids for AD&D.

 

[cbwjm]

The answers, like all things in life, can be found in the Complete Book of Druids for AD&D.

Yeah, it's weird how good that book is. I was like "How can I find love?" and the Complete Book of Druids provided the answer.

 

[Divine2021]

A lot of ancient writers couldn’t exactly tell you what a Druid was either, so you’re not alone in the confusion. Caesar thought them natural philosophers who were also involved with human sacrifice, but your mileage may vary.

 

[Minigiant]

Druids are spellcasters of nature spells.
That's it.
Nature clerics only get a tiny bit of nature spells. 10 at most.
Nature Entree vs Nature side dish

Why is it hard to see?

1. The focus of most PHBs was only recreating nature spells from the past when nature spells wasn't really a thing.
2. The focus of most spell supplements in official and 3pp works is on supplementing wizards.

Where are

1. Mass Regeneration
2. Wooden Claws
3. Echolocation
4. Bear Arms
5. Terraform
6. Forced Hibernation
7. Allergy Cloud
8. Flock of Doom
9. Impenetrable Pelt
10. Foul Vapors
11. Haunted Forest

Like 90% of D&D, the flavor of it's aspects are not explored until the IP holder is disparate for content to fill books

 

[Quickleaf]

Druids are a culture or a sub-culture because they have their own language.

Their culture seems to be organized into various circles of mystical initiation - but it’s unclear how these interact or overlap.

Because it’s a secret language, it’s likely they have bad history with the dominant culture OR they are up to bloody sacrifice that other folk condemn. Could go either way.

They can appear as any beast! So that farmer tending the chickens and Old Snappy is behaving unusually? Never can rule out a Druid in your midst.

Druids don’t use metal to harm other beings. Why? You’ll need to plumb the depths of your own creativity, but maybe metal in this setting has origins directly anathema to that of your druids.

There are some realllllly old Druids, or at least there is the potential for that (if they haven’t been killed off), who remember things that happened seven generations ago - their perspective is likely much longer term than the typical human and potentially longer than most elves even.

Herbalism is intensive to Druid practices, and certain plants have special or mystical connotations for Druids such as mistletoe and spruce.

 

[stuffnsuch]

I will say that Druid is the class I tailor most for my campaign world ... and I do so to give it a more defined role.

In my setting, Divine, Arcane and Nature magic are all delivered through the Weave. The Arcane is taken, the Divine is sent, but Nature is accepted as if drinking directly from the stream rather than grabbing it in a bucket or having someone deliver it.

the weave begins at the heart of the Positive Energy Plane and flows through everything and into the Heart of the Negative Energy Plane. It is life and death as a continuity. As the spellcasters most in touch with this conduit, druids in my setting are devoted to maintaining the conduit through balance, and also capitalize on both ends of the spectrum. To that end, I have a few homebrew subclasses for druid that tie into death, reaping and even undeath (in an anti-paladin sort of way). I also added a number of death and necrotic energy related spells to their list.

My druid organizations are mostly devoted to using the natural flow of magic to preserve the Weave. That generally means ending things like undead that disrupt the weave. That means preserving life forces within regions by keeping nature healthy. Some are founded in dark times and exist only to support the Light ... while others originate during positive times and seek to dampen the light to maintain balance. Other druids are not beholden to any organization or creed - they just figure out how to tap into the magic and use it for their own ends. They generally damage the weave and become foes of the druid organizations that support the balance.

I find that does a lot to balance the class and give PCs specific ideas of how their PCs might fit into the world.

I'm very curious about your darker druid subclasses if you've ever posted them anywhere

 

[cbwjm]

There are some realllllly old Druids, or at least there is the potential for that (if they haven’t been killed off), who remember things that happened seven generations ago - their perspective is likely much longer term than the typical human and potentially longer than most elves even.

I often forget about this feature, a druid who reached 18th level in his 40s/50s could still be around 300 years later! An elven druid could have thousands of years of lived history. Does this change the hierarchy of the druid circles? In 2e it wouldn't have as they'd already be outside the druid hierarchy, but imagine a king having to go before a conclave of elder druids to seek information to save his kingdom. These could be people who were there when his ancestor founded the kingdom, it has great story potential.

 

[I'm A Banana]

what are druids?​

Miserable little piles of secrets.

I tend to use them as kind of the shaman to the cleric's priest. Clerics are in churches and work with priests and bishops and the like to minister to communities through houses of faith. Clerics look inside a community, helping the people who make it up. Druids are individuals who may be important in a given group but who kick their religion more by vibes and hallucinagens. Their circles are loose networks of affiliates, not really concerned with dogma or sin. Druids look outside a community, mediating with fey and beasts and plants on the weather on their behalf.

 

[jgsugden]

I'm very curious about your darker druid subclasses if you've ever posted them anywhere

I do not believe I have.

I have Reapers that guard the moment of death (opposing undead and drawing new opportunities from the end of a life). Anything that dies within 15 of them get the benefits of the Ceremony spell that prevents you from rising as undead for 7 days. They can 'counterspell' healing and spells that deal necrotic damage.

I have Elementalists that explore the connection between the Elements and nature. They can wildshape into Elementals at 2nd level. They are a second melee druid option (like Moon Druid) that provide more of a controller vibe. They deal less damage, but do more to control the battlefield with walls, geysers, winds, etc...

I have Plague Druids that deal in disease. They're better as NPCs, but they can suddenly inflict foes with late stage diseases.

I also have a very Fey oriented druid that takes chaotic magics from the Feywild. They're a bit redundant mechanically with the Archfey warlock in some ways, but they do not have the ties to a patron so they play differently. They can align with Dark Fey and choose some really dark abilities similar to Hags.

The Reapers and Elementalists have each seen play for a prolonged period. The Plague Druids were used to create foes. The Fey druids are pretty common as NPCs as they have a Grove near an important city and guard a path to the Feywild, but despite being near the top of a few player's lists, they have not seen play as PCs.

 

[Tonguez]

IMC Druids commune with the Spirit of Nature, which is a living manifestation of the material realm, rather than a god Nature is similar in nature to Fey (indeed she may be the Ultimate Fey). Druids don't cast spells instead the commune with nature spirits and manifestation their aspects, shape changing is an expression of such manifestation