D&D General What is Druidism in your game?

[Voadam]

From nature, animistic energy etc.

Mages get access via logical understanding of the forces of magic, bending it their will with incantations, and Druid get it from their connection to nature and the fay/animistic spirits within. Clerics get it via a connection to a deity or the simple power of their faith, and Sorcerers have access to it via (effectively) inherent mutant powers, and with little thought attached.

I am a fan of the 3e/Rolemaster power source divide between Arcane/Divine/Psionic magic.

For my game divine magic is its own power type and power source and all divine magic comes from using it directly, not being granted it by specific beings. The big mortal traditions of tapping it are cleric and druid spellcasting, which come at the power source from different angles so you have shapeshifting as part of the common druidic magic tradition and channeling divinity as part of the common clerical magic tradition even if these are concepts that might not be the best fit for whatever conceptual use the class is being applied to, such as a priest of an elemental lord.

Paladin and Ranger divine magic would be less common spellcasting traditions but also there, and certain monsters and outsiders tap divine magic more inherently or directly without the spellcasting framework.

One theory would be an Elemental Chaos/Inner Planes versus Astral Sea/Outer Planes division of divine magic power source to explain the difference between druid and cleric type divine magic.

4e also had druids gaining their power from the primal spirits of the world as a separate thing from both Gods and Elementals and that is a conceptual framing option as well.

 

[Voadam]

In my Oathbound Wildwood PBP game on a big picture scale it was set on a wilderness continent with a divine overlord ranger druid who gates in peoples and monsters from the multiverse to see survival of the fittest occur. On the actual game level the party was in a village of Dover (dog-people) who had their own racial gods (the tribal queen was a divine champion hunter of their hunting goddess) but there was also a Dover druid and his apprentice as advisors for the tribe.

Later on the group came to know about a treant druid who acted as a patron and quest giver and ruled his own territory, and a druid who had turned into a living regenerating vine being to protect an artifact. I had plans for both the elven community to have their own druid and a black dragon to be in charge of another circle.

The goblins had their own traditions but no druids.

The theme I was working to develop was that druidism was a diffuse but widespread organization that crossed many tribal and species boundaries, but not all. Druids could be in charge or very much a support minority, but they wanted to be lots of places.

 

[Baron Opal II]

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?

Shamans - the first tradition that figured out how to interact with the personalities in the spirit world and how to protect the mortal world from them.

 

[Baron Opal II]

So it's okay to wear mithril, copper, bronze, adamantine, etc. armor?

For me, yes! You have to be trained to wear heavier armor, but iron, adamant, and star iron inhibit the flow of magic. Bronze, silver, hepatizon, and molybdon do not.

 

[Maxperson]

For me, yes! You have to be trained to wear heavier armor, but iron, adamant, and star iron inhibit the flow of magic. Bronze, silver, hepatizon, and molybdon do not.

That works out well if you go with Druid magic being related to the fey, but the taboo is "metal," not iron. As written it would be all or nothing. Not that I think the fey connection is a bad one. It's just not what I use for my game.

 

[Baron Opal II]

Oh, sure. Go with the vibe that works for you. But I have no scruples against changing things.

 

[Baron Opal II]

Otherwise you are stuck with the older edition issue of what happens when Gandalf the Wizard picks up a sword and swings it at a goblin? If wizards can only use staves and daggers the DM is left on their own to come up with both mechanical impacts and narrative explanation.

Well, by the book he's at -4 to hit.

 

[Voadam]

Well, by the book he's at -4 to hit.

Depends on the book.

Some just say what weapons are permitted and what cannot be used (OD&D, B/X, AD&D) others provide clear lines between proficiency and non proficiency with applicable mechanical impacts (3e, Pathfinder, 4e, 5e).

 

[Baron Opal II]

Depends on the book.

Some just say what weapons are permitted and what cannot be used (OD&D, B/X, AD&D) others provide clear lines between proficiency and non proficiency with applicable mechanical impacts (3e, Pathfinder, 4e, 5e).

AD&D PHB, and I think no xp for the encounter. But I might be wrong on the second part.

But, at this point, I've let my inner pedant loose since I'm tired. I'll go put him back in his corral.

 

[Voadam]

AD&D PHB, and I think no xp for the encounter. But I might be wrong on the second part.

But, at this point, I've let my inner pedant loose since I'm tired. I'll go put him back in his corral.

I think you are thinking of 3e where classes give specific weapon proficiencies and the non-proficiency penalty is -4.

Possibly the switch classes rule from the 1e PH on page 33 for the latter part about losing xp.

"When the character opts to cease his or her old profession and become a new class, the character retains the number of hit dice (and the commensurate hit points) due to a character of the level of his or her class. However, all other functions of the character are at 1st level of experience, for that is his or her ability in the newly espoused class. Furthermore, if, during the course of any adventure, the character resorts to the use of any of the capabilities of functions of his or her former class, the character gains no experience for the adventure. Having switched classes, the character must perform strictly within the parameters of his or her new profession. Reversion to the former class negates all experience potential for the new class with respect to the course of recent activities, i.e. the adventure during which original profession functions were resorted to."

In the 1e AD&D PH I could not find a -4 penalty rule in the discussion of "CHARACTER CLASSES TABLE II.: ARMOR AND WEAPONS PERMITTED" page 19, non-proficiency penalties on pages 36-37 (which a magic user would get a -5 on say a dagger the class permits them to use but which they were not proficient in, or a druid would get a -4), or in the combat section starting on page 104. Similarly I did not find that type of rule when looking at the sections on Armor, Armor Class, and Weapons or the Combat section in the 1e DMG.

AD&D is notoriously arcane in its placement of rules so a flat -4 rule might be hidden elsewhere but if so I did not find it. I remember when I was playing 1e thinking that there should be a better description and guidance than permitted or not permitted weapons.