D&D General What is Druidism in your game?

[Voadam]

I think druids would make a great D&D stand in for a Bjornaer Magus if you wanted to do Ars Magica in D&D.

 

[Voadam]

I've considered using the druid class as the chasis for a viking pirate spellcaster character concept.

Scimitar becomes cutlass.

The spellcasting is Vanir tradition spell casting.

 

[Yora]

Druids are shamans.

There's nothing more elaborate than that about them in my campaigns.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Druids have been a part of D&D for a long time but been left fairly vague as to their faith, traditions, and nature.

How do you conceive of them in your game?

Are they priests? Nature champions? Nature Guardians? Witches? Nature magic spellcasters without religious aspects? Theistic or non-theistic? One tradition or multiple ones? Are they a mechanical chasis for different concepts?

Definitely not priests of any gods, in spite of the concept's origin. My Druids are a mix of animistic priest and guardians of nature, usually with a bit of witch mixed in.

 

[Irlo]

Druids are intermediaries. They protect civilization and nature from the worst excesses of the other.

 

[Tonguez]

I've been thinking of dumping the Elemental Planes and instead have Elementals as native spirits of the Prime Material Plane - the heart of fire within the egg of stone, quenchd by ocean waters and sealed in vaporous firmament. These elements interact to create Life which is where Druids come in. They venerate the elemental Life of the world and gain power from its spirits

 

[Li Shenron]

Druids are perhaps the coolest class precisely because they are difficult to explain.

 

[jgsugden]

Druids have been a part of D&D for a long time but been left fairly vague as to their faith, traditions, and nature.

How do you conceive of them in your game?

Are they priests? Nature champions? Nature Guardians? Witches? Nature magic spellcasters without religious aspects? Theistic or non-theistic? One tradition or multiple ones? Are they a mechanical chasis for different concepts?

I have 5 types of magic: Supernatural, Divine, Nature, Arcane and Psionic. Supernatural are those things like ghosts that are not tied to specific mechanics, but are clearly magical. Divine, Arcane and Psionic are pretty straight forward.

Nature Magic comes directly from the Positive Eneergy Plane (PEP) and the Negative Energy Plane (NEP). They're tied to the fundamental life force of the universe that flows out of the core of the PEP, through the universe, and down into the NEP (and simultaneously, out of the NEP and back to the PEP). This flow touches all things and establishes the "Weave" through which Arcane and Divine magic is delivered as well.

Nature magic doesn't come from a God. It comes from the life forces of the universe itself. The Druid doesn't ask for power, but instead pulls it. Fey and Shadows are associated with this because the Feywild and Shadowfell exist between the PEP/NEP and the Prime Material Plane (PMP). Beasts and elementals are tied more accutelty to the fundamental forces of the universe, and thus have a natural tie to this balance. I also have a number of homebrew spells and subclasses that tie into Primordials, Giants and Dragons, as they are three types of creatures that evolved as a 2nd tier link back to the basic forces of the PEP and NEP.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Druids are intermediaries. They protect civilization and nature from the worst excesses of the other.

That's more how I see Rangers, but that works too.

 

[CleverNickName]

Druids have been a part of D&D for a long time but been left fairly vague as to their faith, traditions, and nature.

How do you conceive of them in your game?

Are they priests? Nature champions? Nature Guardians? Witches? Nature magic spellcasters without religious aspects? Theistic or non-theistic? One tradition or multiple ones? Are they a mechanical chasis for different concepts?

I imagine them as the keepers of ancient knowledge and elemental magic. Like this: