Do druid roleplayers exist, or it will just mean always one style of roleplaying?

[Sergio]

I'm currently facing an issue with the roleplaying of a druid.

I can't envision how the class is supposed to be roleplayed. All the players that have played druid in the sessions I joined, play and envision the class as some kind of pseudo-medieval conservationist or animal rights activist.

Is it all there is of it? Because it seems so weird to me that that's the only way to play druid.

[BWR]

Get hold of a copy of the "Complete Druid's Handbook" for 2e. Also, read Elizabeth Moon's "The Deed of Paksenarrion" to see how a druid (and primarily a paladin) should act.

[Vinyadan]

Get a copy of Asterix, roleplay as Getafix (aka Panoramix).

[JNAProductions]

Make a character. Then, add druid to it.

Don't think "[Character] is a druid, so they should act like X."

Think "[Character] is this kind of person, so that's how they should act. Also, they're a druid."

[Fri]

http://goblinpunch.blogspot.co.id/20...ut-druids.html

[Koo Rehtorb]

Druids have never fit thematically with the entire rest of the game. I hate them.

[Berenger]

That may be because D&D made an animal-loving holy hippy forest wizard class and grabbed a cool name from history that didn't fit the concept at all. You could try to play an actual druid, a combination of judge, lorekeeper, priest, healer, magician and advisor of the king or tribal chief. Think Merlin. A person deeply connected to the culture, wellbeing and day-to-day politics of their society as opposed to a reclusive hermit that strolls through the hills and keeps a pet bear for company. This probably works best with the bard character class and a ton of ranks in Diplomacy, Sense Motive and several Knowledge skills, as the druid character class has few features useful for an actual druid. Use the druid character class for another concept. Rename it Witch of the Forest or something.

[Pleh]

Make a character. Then, add druid to it.

Don't think "[Character] is a druid, so they should act like X."

Think "[Character] is this kind of person, so that's how they should act. Also, they're a druid."

There is a limit to this. Druids, in many systems, can lose access to the class or features if they fail to "revere nature."

While your answer is good, it should be supplemented with, "talk to your DM about what requirements the setting places on druids."

In some settings, you really must be fanatical in environmental activism to become a druid. In others, it's a more flexible philosophy that comes in many forms.

Edit: not that this precludes your advice. If the character does not fit a strict adherence to druidic values, that can be a source of internal conflict for the character, which is fuel for roleplaying.

[Cealocanth]

I've seen druids done a number of ways.

• Medieval hippies that value the balance of the natural world above all else.
• Baba Yaga-esque witches who use twisted natural magics to teach nasty lessons to those unfortunate to meet them.
• Beaurocratic and aloof, living in what are essentially druidic conclaves carved into the heart of trees, using natural magic simply as a means to further the council's goals.
• Animalistic and savage, the character being more of an extension of the harshness that is nature than an extension of man.
• Extremely, deeply spiritual, worshipping nature and the natural world to the point that they fear to even step on the wrong insect.
• Chaotic meddlers who twist nature to suit their dark purposes. Work closely with the fey.
• Natural scientists who have taken to the art of natural magic in the same way many wizards take to the arcane arts.
• Adventurers who are druids, but that has about as much to do with their personality as your university major has to do with what flavor of cheescake you like.

[denthor]

Okay rarely does the opportunity present itself on this forum to be snarky and nasty. Thank you

Druids are outcast that like to get together in a circle and howl at the moon. Why else would they turn into wolves?


This happened in my game the druid went out and bought a bird cage for himself. Had my wizard carry it in town now there are two PC's in the encounter. One with spot and unoticed. He was able to heal me when the assassin shot me in the back. So the if type infiltration, disguise observation. Coordinate the attack. Have a mage cast zero level message spell.

At higher levels they can be primary front line fighter.

Mid levels they are decent healers.

Druids are freaky flavor text bards of casters that have more value then comedy.

[Darth Ultron]

Is it all there is of it? Because it seems so weird to me that that's the only way to play druid.

It is true that ''most'' people play ''one way'', and this is true with everything, not just druids.

Of course, you can play a character however you want. So a ''druid'' can be anything.

[Aliquid]

Druids have never fit thematically with the entire rest of the game. I hate them.

I think nature worshipping pagans fit thematically in a medieval fantasy world just fine. Similar to witches and shamans.

[Honest Tiefling]

Druid is a class that has some similarities across editions, but can be so different depending on your game.

It could be nature-priests, tending to the natural world and creating balance between civilization and the sacred wilderness. It could be a group of people who only seek power and mastery over nature to harness power to exert control over the world. It could be a person who practices rituals and magic to appease nature spirits, lest their wrath be turned towards the villages and towns. It could also be a person who sees that nature is falling to the axe and the flame of civilization, and seeks to emulate that which still survives in civilization, the vermin, but can never be conquered, adapting as all must do. It could also be someone who serves a capricious and fickle god of disease, who will cure or harm as suits their nature or their grand plan that will take millennia to develop. It could be someone who has turned to the old ways, using magic free of an uncaring god. It could be someone who believes that their ancestors return to the earth, and call upon them to help them in a great task.

When creating a druid, ask yourself: What is their relationship with nature? How do they view the relationship between civilization (where presumably other PCs are coming from) and nature coexisting? And then go from there.

Remember, nature is scary in DnD. Nature decided that wolves predating on humans wasn't enough, we need some dire wolves! No, no, still not enough. Maybe some plants who enslave creatures to their will? Nice, but not nasty enough. Maybe a giant murderous crab? That's a good one, but still not enough. Oh! A Tarrasque! Yes, that will fit in nicely with the environment.

Mother Nature is not a kind mother.

[Seclora]

Yes, A druid can be Fluttershy or Radagast the brown. I think that sort of person is attracted to the class, and not that the class is inherently that sort of character.

A druid can also be a local Wise Woman who tells people when they are pregnant and when the seasons will change. A tribal Shaman who guides the Coming of Age rituals and passionately recites the story of how Trickster stole Sky God's Thunder. A druid could be the author of Almanacs and keeper of the royal gardens, who gets paid well for his skills. Perhaps a Druid is someone who has been blessed by the Fae with the ability to change his form using the skins of animals. Some Druids sit on the sides of volcanos meditating on the power of the fire within the earth.

A druid is someone who derives power from Nature, and Nature is a lot bigger than hugging Trees and Rhosgobel Rabbits.

I also know people who play Druid for the seeing-eye dog. Animal Companions are a pretty big draw.

[Eldan]

I think nature worshipping pagans fit thematically in a medieval fantasy world just fine. Similar to witches and shamans.

Even more so if you go back to the roots and play a setting that isn't medieval,but anywhere from the pre-collapse bronze age to the migration era. Conan, Fafhrd, Lord of the Rings, all those classic and totally not medieval fantasy stories.

[Nifft]

I've done a Druid as a nature-wizard, as in someone who researches how to get power from nature and makes bargains with spirits & fey.

I've done a Druid as an evil pack-leader type of predator, but wearing human skin. (He wanted to dominate a region by leading a pack of fellow predators. Basically a warlord-werewolf with wintry weather-wizardry.)

I've seen a Druid played as an urban planner.

I've seen a Druid played like an anime priest: the guy who knows all about spirits & minor gods and is good at punching them.


You can do a lot of stuff with a Druid.

[Hellpyre]

My favorite druid was just a gnome who felt all worng in his humanoid form. His adventuring arc was trying to find a form that suited him properly (the answer, via Master of Many Forms, was all of them.)

If you want something distinct, decide on what drew the PC to follow the druidic class. If that happens to be a class feature, indulge in it.

[Lord Raziere]

http://goblinpunch.blogspot.co.id/20...ut-druids.html

Yeah thats pretty much the druid I would go with.

nature is savage. and people in medieval times feared nature, it wasn't a garden to them. at best druids should be the scary savage guy you go to ward away the scary animal things surrounding your village because no one else knows how. at worst, they should be the person leading the scary animals.

[Sergio]

I will read each one of your post as soon as I come back home tonight.

I will ask another questions: couldn't I play a druid as a barbarian more attuned to nature and with more in common than a barbarian itself with it?

[MrConsideration]

I played a Druid who was from a viking-inspired culture and believed openly in violence, slavery and other 'evil' things. He adventured in order to master his powers and claim treasure to reclaim his homeland from a foe. His whole philosophy was Nietzschean, might-makes-right, justified as it being natural that the strong should prey on the weak.

He felt that living among civilisation's comforts made you physically and spiritually weak, and that only pitting yourself against the elements and mastering them made you sharp.

His feudal(ish) society encompassed more of the world that most people's definition: he simply thought everyone thought it was natural to make an alpha male sea-lion your vassal.

Historical druids, filtered through the Roman propaganda machine, were judges and leaders, philosophers and poets They practised human sacrifice and controlled the oral culture of a nation. No tree-hugging hippies here.

[Necroticplague]

Is it all there is of it? Because it seems so weird to me that that's the only way to play druid.

It isn't. 'Nature', the thing the druid has to revere/worship, has many facets, and so to can a druid be varied by which facet they emphasize, just as a Cleric can be differentiated by how they worship their god, even if they worship the same one.

[LibraryOgre]

Consider, if you will, the various druidic faiths of the Forgotten Realms. Silvanus reveres wild places. Eldath peace, calm, pools of water and rest. Chauntea is an agricultural deity, concerned with growing things. Malar is nature, red in tooth and claw. Talos is the power of nature unleashed in destruction. Umberlee is the nature of the sea, rolling in the deep.

All can be druids. All are very different approaches to the standard idea of a druid.

[Keltest]

As was mentioned earlier, play your character first, and be a druid second. Your class is just a lens your character will view the world through, and its not even the only one a character has.

Its up to you to decide what being a druid means to your character, but in general they tend to be close cousins of clerics: spiritual leaders and fonts of wisdom.

But theres still a lot of room for your own personality. You could see yourself as a servant (or even slave!) of Nature, or you could guide others in interacting with it. You could be savage or peaceful, social or a loner, good or evil...

Unless your campaign has some specific constraint on druids, the only thing it really compels you to do in any way is to hang out in an area with good access to plants and animals, if at all possible, and that's mostly a matter of practicality.

[Solaris]

Yeah thats pretty much the druid I would go with.

nature is savage. and people in medieval times feared nature, it wasn't a garden to them. at best druids should be the scary savage guy you go to ward away the scary animal things surrounding your village because no one else knows how. at worst, they should be the person leading the scary animals.

I was less than impressed with that post; it left completely blank the question of non-sociopathic druids. Those are not druids that could reasonably be expected to exist. The linked article's druids are pretty thoroughly neutral evil, chaotic evil, and chaotic neutral with a side order of edgelord. That's not nature; that's the stereotype of the medieval peasant's view of nature. Our ancestors feared predators, sure, and there's a reason the enchanted wood features in fairy tales, but I daresay they understood the natural world around them a good deal better than your average person today. After all, nature gave as much as it took, and those fairy tales featured reasons to go into those enchanted woods that didn't sound like "Evil things in there need killing."

[kyoryu]

Make a character. Then, add druid to it.

Don't think "[Character] is a druid, so they should act like X."

Think "[Character] is this kind of person, so that's how they should act. Also, they're a druid."

This, but I'd say "think of a character that would think becoming a druid is a good thing".

[Malimar]

I once played a druid who was super into bugs. He revered nature, but the "bugs" aspect of nature in particular. Especially the bugs that show up on dead things, maggots and stuff. To that end, he tried to transform as many alive things into dead things as he could manage.

He also was not particularly concerned about the man-made technical definition of "bug". Begone, pedants!

[DigoDragon]

The druid player in our D&D group plays her PC like Leela from Futurama; passionate, no nonsense, loves animals, and is probably the real brains behind our adventuring group.

[Nifft]

This, but I'd say "think of a character that would think becoming a druid is a good thing".

Divine power can be a calling, rather than a the result of a choice.

You might be a character who frankly dislikes all the dirt and bugs and lack of hot baths, but your mom was a Disney Princess so animals are compelled to heed you, and your dad was a champion of such great charisma that the elements themselves respond to your emotions.

You might have been a humble farmer who got struck by lightning and lived, so now you're the appointed Ambassador to the Wild.

Maybe every 10 years the town gives a child to the Hill Witch, and your family was poor that year, so you went to the witch. Maybe you were clever enough to pick up her magic so she trained you a bit instead of just working you to death & eating your bones.

Perhaps due to unfortunate circumstances you were raised by wild Dryads and Nixies and Treebrad, the awakened tree who is kind of a jerk.

[Fri]

I was less than impressed with that post; it left completely blank the question of non-sociopathic druids. Those are not druids that could reasonably be expected to exist. The linked article's druids are pretty thoroughly neutral evil, chaotic evil, and chaotic neutral with a side order of edgelord. That's not nature; that's the stereotype of the medieval peasant's view of nature. Our ancestors feared predators, sure, and there's a reason the enchanted wood features in fairy tales, but I daresay they understood the natural world around them a good deal better than your average person today. After all, nature gave as much as it took, and those fairy tales featured reasons to go into those enchanted woods that didn't sound like "Evil things in there need killing."

That post wasn't actually about "all druids should act like this." The title is tongue in cheek, it's a specific druid for a specific setting, and I linked as example of different kind of druid than what's the op has in mind, and I believe that's the point of the druids in that setting as well, to make them different than typical druids and be villains of the setting.

[Beowulf DW]

I once played as a Druid that just wanted to cuddle all the animals he could, starting with his fearsome wolf companion, Fluffytail.

In all seriousness, though, I'd suggest reading The Red Knight, in which a druid is the captain of a mercenary company and falls in love with a nun.