What personality traits would you give an "Anti-druid?"

[Moe Ronalds]

One of the four main villains in my campaign emulates the perversion and destruction of nature. The other three villains I've been able to figure out personality traits for to make them seem a little more vile, but I don't want just another villain with a strange desire or fetish. The villain is NE if that helps you. I'm sorry to ask for help but I'm just really stumped. I want to make her different from the other three villains so if you want to know more about them just say so (they're not exactly all that original, however. )


And no "sexual" stuff please. My 11-year old sister and my vice principal's 11-year old son both play in my game. Violence however is perfectly acceptable.

 

[Micar Sin]

Info on the other villians would probably be helpful. First off, what class is this villian? Is he actually a druid or is he an anti-nature wizard? The classic thing would be to have him utilize steam-belching mechanical horrors that consume trees at a horrifying rate to enforce his plans. Or you could go the route of him modifying, say, a weed to a destructive plant that rapidly overtakes and strangles the local vegetation and leeches all the nutrients from the soil.Perhaps he also creates a menagerie of plant-horrors, such as shambling mounds, assasin vines, etc...
I will meditate on this....

 

[Byrons_Ghost]

If you're looking for a villainous druid type, I would go with more Chaotic Neutral alignment. Play up the whole random, impersonal nature of evolution, natural disasters, that sort of thing. Nature (at least in this context) isn't really malevolent- it's just violent and uncaring and crushes anyone who gets in its way.

For more sinister, NE type of druid, check out some horror movies set in natural settings, with animals as monsters, that sort of thing. Instead of being all flowers and butterflies, nature is a primeval force that predates manking, and can be called upon for vicious, shadowy powers. More recent movie examples are Dog Soldiers and the Brotherhood of the Wolf; older ones would be the Howling or the Omen- mostly a "black magic" story, sure, but Damien's frequent control of animals, and use of them to do his will, is pretty creepy.

BTW, the "nature as a malevolent presence" theme also figures prominently in all those Hawthorne and Poe stories your lit teachers should be forcing you to read.

 

[Knightmare]

Ummm. “the perversion and destruction of nature” and The villain is NE.

To make her more vile, the two suggestions have been to give her a desire to turn the natural into the unnatural.

Mincar Sin has a good idea. Sounds a little like El Seed for the comic “The Tick”
summary here Still a good concept.

I would also suggest the Island of Dr. Moreau to go along with Byrons_Ghost suggestions.

“personality traits”
She may have the belief that the natural world is just the fuel for the unnatural world. She would have a better than you attitude. Any unaltered state is just beneath her.

She could be one who gets joy in the misery of other. Her desire to taint, what others find please in, could be her driving force. Pretty maze gardens turn in to Hunted Maze gardens.


Instead of an anti-druid, maybe just an Evil druid.
Nature is it not just plants and animals but Natural Order. As a Neutral Evil Character, She may think the balance is tilted to much Good. Natural Selection is being thwarted because week creatures that can be easily keep are protected by society. Strong creatures, which pose a threat to society, are sought after to be killed. Natural ageing is being stopped by people, who don’t want to face their own natural death.
Her beef is with society forcing nature into conform to it rather than them conforming to nature.

O.K after reading the evil druid not vile enough.

Sounds like a cool game. Let me know how it goes.

 

[Painfully]

Kniightmare touched on a good point. The best anti-druid would be a former druid. An individual who has strayed from the "true path," sort of thing, not unlike a fallen paladin.

So now you have an ex-druid. Think of what might have caused him or her to stray. Perhaps the other druids chastised him for being overzealous in some way. Perhaps the evil druid has developed bigger plans that involve complete control of the local lands, and to exclude all civilization within his territory. Or maybe he sees druidic tradition as being too soft, and not aggressive enough in it's pursuits.

Use predator types of animals for companions. When the evil druid is eventually confronted by a "true" druid, a magnificent battle of the animals could be the result. Imagine the party stumbling across the battlefield a day or two after the fight--they'll only be able to wonder what the heck happened there!

Perhaps a colony of treants have become controlled by this dark druid. Or a good colony of treants have collected to find help in conquering this evil foe.

Monstrous beasts and abomination type monsters are always considered, "not natural" IIRC, so use lots of these for companions.

I use a druid as one of my key NPCs, but won't go into details here lest my players go pokin around. E-mail me if you'd like to hear more.

painfully@mindspring.com

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The destruction of nature is a little harder to come up with. If you can come up with some specific motivation for it, it would help out a great deal in coming up with more.

 

[Zeevico]

I believe there is a good PrC for the simulation of such an anti druid-the Blighter from Motw. You might be interested in looking into it

 

[Nifft]

Evil Druid

I'm playing an evil Druid in our group's evil campaign. He's a NE worshiper of Auril (the evil goddess of winter). He acts much like a normal Druid within the party -- healing, caring for his Animal Companion, etc.

Here's how he's evil:

- He values strength, in a might-makes-right sort of way. He sees himself as the "alpha-male" of his party, and will care for other party members so long as they don't seem to take power from him.

- He hates the stench of "civilization". Thinks those who live within it are "vermin of a filthy hive".

- Loves his terrain (Arctic, Tundra, Tiaga, Glacier, etc.) and weather over all others. He sees the North as a "clean place" where the weak are weeded out. He will actively try to destroy other terrains if it means expanding his favored terrain.

- Has no compunction about killing those outside the party. "The weak are meat for the strong. Such is Nature's way."

Hopefully some of the above will be useful seeds for growing your own evil Druid!

-- Nifft

 

[LostSoul]

I'd probably make him LE and have some kind of control issues. He wants to be able to control every aspect of his life and nature seems to chaotic so he must control it. He wants to beat it down and put up some things that he has some measure of control over - like people.

Although this character wouldn't hate nature, but he would need to be able to control it. So he might have gardens of perfectly sculptured plants that are self-aware that he controls. He whips these plants into obidience.

Maybe he's like this because he was raised by a druid who abused him. Or perhaps he was abused by a hag. Or some other sort of wilderness creature caused him pain. And now he's striking back, now that he's got the power to do so.