Desert Druids

[Roukon]

I have a city concept that takes place in the oasis of a large desert. This city is alive and moves around the desert at incrimental distances each day.

My thought is to have the leader of this town be a druid of some sort. As this does not really align with the normal thoughts of a druid, I was wondering if there was any variants that existed that would help my in this aspect of creation. I have checked Unearthed Arcana and did see the variants there, but neither one really set well with me. I have also heard of the Urban Druid in Dragon magazine, but that seems to be for a much larger city than I an expecting to have.

As most of my books are 1500 miles away, I would like any help that the Playground can offer.

Thanks!

Later Days,
Roukon

[OracleofWuffing]

My thought is to have the leader of this town be a druid of some sort. As this does not really align with the normal thoughts of a druid, I was wondering if there was any variants that existed that would help my in this aspect of creation.

Well, according to page 47 of Sandstorm... "Druids are common in the waste, experts at living in harmony with that harsh environment. Some druids seek to help their people survive and prosper through careful use of the waste’s resources..." I don't know if that's good enough for your players or you, but that helping-others-thing is good enough for me. It then goes on to list some features for a desert-themed druid (heat resistance, special animal companion, and a whildshape swarm thing), if you're interested.

[Jack DeCoeur]

Not sure if this is exactly what you are looking for, but the Cityscape Web Enhancement (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20070228a) has a handful of city themed ACFs for druids, which may or may not be useful.

In general however, I see no reason why a druid couldn't live within a community whilst protecting both it and it's surroundings from harm.

[Bang!]

If you don't have Sandstorm, you might want to tweak this Druid's spell list to be less blasty and more dessicatey. Swapping damage spells for necromantic debuffs could give it a bit more of a 'desert wastes' flavor.

You might also want to modify the paint jobs of your summons - the eagles/giant eagles could be portrayed as buzzards; add some lizards and giant vermin to the SNA list in place of other existing options; etc..

[Roukon]

Good ideas all. I will take a look at Sandstorm and see if that works for me. Changing up the spell list is another great idea, and I will take a look at that as well.

I have thought of kind of combining the druid with the blighter prestige class, and see what that would do. Any thoughts on that?

Later Days,
Roukon

[Chilingsworth]

I have thought of kind of combining the druid with the blighter prestige class, and see what that would do. Any thoughts on that?


Well, Blighters as printed wouldn't work in deserts: They need to have access to fertile land to despoil in order to get their spells. Also, there's the fact that they're basically polar opposites...

[gbprime]

Good ideas all. I will take a look at Sandstorm and see if that works for me. Changing up the spell list is another great idea, and I will take a look at that as well.

I have thought of kind of combining the druid with the blighter prestige class, and see what that would do. Any thoughts on that?

Not much need. Sandstorm quite literally has you covered. Lots of new deserty druid spells, alternate class abilities like sand striding and heat endurance, and there's even a list of alternate animal companions on pg 48.