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Why the Druid Metal Restriction is Poorly Implemented
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<blockquote data-quote="Ohmyn" data-source="post: 7624003" data-attributes="member: 6999115"><p>Clerics? Valor Bards? Any other caster that puts in the effort to get a shield and light or medium armor? Heck, it's just as easy, and often easier, for full casters to get AC of their tank, than it is for martial classes like the Monk or the Rogue to do the same.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>And that rule has been further clarified in the Sage Advice as to what it means. It is made clear that there is nothing preventing them from doing so, and that there is no penalty if they do. It's only a choice, and players are free to ignore the typical choices of their class. Of course the DM can deny people ignoring a story aspect of their class, but that's true of anything, so it's kind of lazy to point to in a question of official rulings.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>A vegetarian is defined as someone that doesn't eat meat. A Druid is not defined as someone that doesn't wear metal. Not wearing metal is simply a choice that some or most Druids make, but just not wearing metal is not what makes them a Druid. Monks will not wear armor because they lose the monastic abilities they have trained, but they don't stop being a Monk when they put on armor. That's just one element of the class's story that's typical in the game world, but PCs are special cases, and choosing not to abide by it does not make the character explode.</p><p></p><p>DMs are free to punish Druid players that wear armor if that's what they wish, but that's true of anything. The point is that there is no mechanical restriction if they choose to do so, as per the official rules, so penalizing them for doing so is a house rule of the DM.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Nothing in the rules state that, and the response in Sage Advice clarifies it as a preference in the lore and not a requirement. You can rule it that way, but it does not say that anywhere.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>That's not really a line for rules clarification as it's true of literally anything. The clarification in the Sage Advice was that there is nothing that prevents a Druid from wearing metal armor besides personal choice, and there is no penalty in the game system for Druids that do so. Just because they stated that the DM can decide otherwise does not mean that is not the rule as written. Your DM can rule that if you have an INT of 18 that you're too intellectual to be a Half-Orc Barbarian, or that by wearing armor you abandon all of your monastic training as a Monk and must abandon the class. The DM is in their right to do this, but that doesn't make it a core rule.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>The issue is that the first camp doesn't understand it for what it is. The first camp says that because it says they <em>will not</em>, they <em>can not</em>. The Sage Advice stated that they can, because there's nothing in the game system that stops them. It's a typical preference of Druids, but not a mandatory one, because unlike previous editions, there's not a penalty for it. They were very clear on this.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #333333"></span></p><p><span style="color: #333333"></span></p><p><span style="color: #333333">It doesn't have to be proposed to the errata because it is already covered in the Sage Advice, which is just as official as the errata.</span></p><p><span style="color: #333333"></span></p><p><span style="color: #333333"></span></p><p></p><p>But it's not a strong class. Few tables have a Druid. In fact, I'm pretty sure the numbers show it's by far the least played class in the game. If it was mechanically powerful, people would play it. The Moon Druid is quite powerful through levels 2 and 4 when many other classes have yet to really develop, but that's about all the Druid has going for it. Sure, it's not terribly unplayable, as 5E is mostly balanced in the sense that you're never useless (unless you take strides to be), but whatever purpose you're looking to fill as a Druid, other classes do it better. In fact, if you just want to role play the Druid, you'll be better off as a Nature Cleric of the Old Faith, unless you solely want to shapeshift as a Moon Druid.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Ohmyn, post: 7624003, member: 6999115"] Clerics? Valor Bards? Any other caster that puts in the effort to get a shield and light or medium armor? Heck, it's just as easy, and often easier, for full casters to get AC of their tank, than it is for martial classes like the Monk or the Rogue to do the same. And that rule has been further clarified in the Sage Advice as to what it means. It is made clear that there is nothing preventing them from doing so, and that there is no penalty if they do. It's only a choice, and players are free to ignore the typical choices of their class. Of course the DM can deny people ignoring a story aspect of their class, but that's true of anything, so it's kind of lazy to point to in a question of official rulings. A vegetarian is defined as someone that doesn't eat meat. A Druid is not defined as someone that doesn't wear metal. Not wearing metal is simply a choice that some or most Druids make, but just not wearing metal is not what makes them a Druid. Monks will not wear armor because they lose the monastic abilities they have trained, but they don't stop being a Monk when they put on armor. That's just one element of the class's story that's typical in the game world, but PCs are special cases, and choosing not to abide by it does not make the character explode. DMs are free to punish Druid players that wear armor if that's what they wish, but that's true of anything. The point is that there is no mechanical restriction if they choose to do so, as per the official rules, so penalizing them for doing so is a house rule of the DM. Nothing in the rules state that, and the response in Sage Advice clarifies it as a preference in the lore and not a requirement. You can rule it that way, but it does not say that anywhere. That's not really a line for rules clarification as it's true of literally anything. The clarification in the Sage Advice was that there is nothing that prevents a Druid from wearing metal armor besides personal choice, and there is no penalty in the game system for Druids that do so. Just because they stated that the DM can decide otherwise does not mean that is not the rule as written. Your DM can rule that if you have an INT of 18 that you're too intellectual to be a Half-Orc Barbarian, or that by wearing armor you abandon all of your monastic training as a Monk and must abandon the class. The DM is in their right to do this, but that doesn't make it a core rule. The issue is that the first camp doesn't understand it for what it is. The first camp says that because it says they [I]will not[/I], they [I]can not[/I]. The Sage Advice stated that they can, because there's nothing in the game system that stops them. It's a typical preference of Druids, but not a mandatory one, because unlike previous editions, there's not a penalty for it. They were very clear on this. [COLOR=#333333] It doesn't have to be proposed to the errata because it is already covered in the Sage Advice, which is just as official as the errata. [/COLOR] But it's not a strong class. Few tables have a Druid. In fact, I'm pretty sure the numbers show it's by far the least played class in the game. If it was mechanically powerful, people would play it. The Moon Druid is quite powerful through levels 2 and 4 when many other classes have yet to really develop, but that's about all the Druid has going for it. Sure, it's not terribly unplayable, as 5E is mostly balanced in the sense that you're never useless (unless you take strides to be), but whatever purpose you're looking to fill as a Druid, other classes do it better. In fact, if you just want to role play the Druid, you'll be better off as a Nature Cleric of the Old Faith, unless you solely want to shapeshift as a Moon Druid. [/QUOTE]
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