D&D 5E WOTC Possibly Removing "Druids" for Religious/Cultural Sensitivity Reasons

[The Myopic Sniper]

And neo-pagans aren't also appropriating "druid" from ancient history?

They are, but I am guessing that some make a delineation between adopting the term for your communal and sincerely held religious belief system and in a corporately owned mass marketed table top game.

The other issue that might be more concerning for WOTC in the long term are the parts of modern Celtic Heathenry who identify as "Druids" who also overlap with far right and white supremacist movements. While a fairly small minority in that sphere, they could also become a public lightning rod if they spawn their own Varg Vikernes.

 

[DarkCrisis]

All the classes you need are

Fighter
Cleric
Thief
Magic User
Elf
Dwarf
Halfling

 

[Joshua Randall]

Fighting-Man!

 

[overgeeked]

And neo-pagans aren't also appropriating "druid" from ancient history?

I wouldn’t say appropriating, no. Can modern Celts appropriate from the ancient Celts? I doubt it. If that is possible, then a whole lot of modern cultures have appropriated from their ancestors. Which doesn’t pass the sniff test.

The Celtic Revival is where most of modern views on druids stem from. There’s very little that’s historically attested to and what is there is from the Romans, not the druids themselves. No written records and all that.

The Celtic Revival gave us things like modern druidry (yes, that’s really what it’s called), mostly based on the forgeries of Edward Williams, aka this guy…

Iolo Morganwg - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

What we actually know about druids is a short paragraph of text, no more.

 

[Vaalingrade]

Oh no, someone might be being thoughtful even if they aren't even committing to an action!

But not, seriously barbarian first. Then maybe druid can decide to be honest and just be 'shapeshifter' with a system that's actually thought out.

 

[bedir than]

WOTC is considering removing "Druid" and "Shaman" creature types in M:TG and I imagine if it is on the radar for Magic that it is possibly being discussed on the D&D side as well. Certainly, if they think this is an issue in the long term, nipping it in the bud by changing the class name in 2024 would be better than letting the issue fester. I know that D&D isn't going to revive the "Shaman" class (or as a subclass) at any point due to cultural appropriation and similar issues, but I haven't heard much objection from neo-pagans over the years about the Druid as a class in the game. That could also impact the World Tree Barbarian if they are trying to avoid too much overlap with real world European traditional religious practices.

https://aetherhub.com/Article/WOTC-Is-Considering-Not-Using-Druid-Or-Shaman-Creatures-Anymore

Wizards potentially removing MTG creature types like Druid for religious reasons - Dexerto

With Witch a non-starter as a type, will Druid and Shaman soon be on the chopping block at Wizards of the Coast?

www.dexerto.com

Any thoughts?

It's important to note that the site that claims that this is happening is using a quote that doesn't say it's happening and that's it's the Magic side of the Wizard Tower, not the D&D side of the Wizard Tower.

Do we have any evidence that the cultural consultants work on both sides of the Tower? NO. We in fact have evidence that they do not, based on the Hadozee disaster

 

[jgsugden]

We survived the transition from Magic-User to Wizard and Thief to Rogue. If this comes to pass, we will survive the transition from Druid to Warden (or whatever they select to use to replace it).

Given the clan use of the terms, I would not be too surprised if they removed the references to Wizard from the game eventually...

 

[Lanefan]

A much better reason for renaming Druid is to separate it from the one specific real-world culture it comes from, given that pretty much all cultures and species in D&D can and-or do support the (currently-named) Druid class.

 

[Cordwainer Fish]

Celtic Heathenry

That's sort of like saying "wooden brass".

who identify as "Druids" who also overlap with far right and white supremacist movements

No, just no.
Please try to at least throw slurs at the right sort of neopagans.

 

[Umbran]

And neo-pagans aren't also appropriating "druid" from ancient history?

What neo-pagans are doing does not speak to what WotC should (or shouldn't) do.