Evil Druids

[PlusSixPelican]

Aftet popping into another thread, I wanna sheet an evil Druid for use as an NPC/Antagonist kind of thing. However, I know nothin' about Druids...so, uhm, let's build a druid! First off, they're NE because that's the only Evil alignment Druids do. Other than that, go nuts. If you want to helps, that is.

[Andvare]

Okay, you are probably going to give a bit more info, like, oh, what level? Also, what level of powah! And do you want any evil flavour?

[Urpriest]

I'd go with a casting focus. Grab either Aberration Wild Shape or Dragon Wild Shape for an evil-looking defensive form (Will o'the Wisp or Shadow Dragon respectively), then focus on battlefield control and summoning spells.

[Menteith]

I should have my statblock for a modified Ghostlord (from the Red Hand of Doom campaign module) around here somewhere. Necropolitian Shifter Druid 13 (Racial Sub levels 1, 4) with a heavy summoning focus. I used Greenbound Summoning (which changes his animal summons into Plant type creatures)to spice up his summons; I fluffed it that they were twisted thorns and vines binding the rotting corpse of the creatures together. I'll see if I can find the full info for him.

[PlusSixPelican]

Oh, on the levels, uhm...honestly haven't decided. Probably ~7 or an epic-level (like, 22). Or both! xD

[Ravens_cry]

Think eco-terrorist, but with magic.
Also, druids have a surprising amount of fire spells, including ones that actually catch things on fire.
"The world shall burn and be cleansed of all filth and wickedness." sounds like a good start.

[PlusSixPelican]

But Ms./Mr. Sunflower (I'm namin' them [name] Sunflower. xD) likes wickedness and 'all-natural' flilth. Note: They're probably going to be smelly.

[Yorae]

Think eco-terrorist, but with magic.
Also, druids have a surprising amount of fire spells, including ones that actually catch things on fire.
"The world shall burn and be cleansed of all filth and wickedness." sounds like a good start.

Or you could do the opposite and go Blighter.

[Ravens_cry]

But Ms./Mr. Sunflower (I'm namin' them [name] Sunflower. xD) likes wickedness and 'all-natural' flilth. Note: They're probably going to be smelly.
Card Carrying Villain seems like a terrible waste of potential for this.

[hamishspence]

Play up the "Nature is cruel and uncaring" aspect- not necessarily cackling villainy, just cold, predatory, and so forth.

[Sheogoroth]

I've always liked the idea of an evil druid channeling something big.

A bearded figure, clothed in tatters stands before you- from head to toe, he is bathed in filth. His beard is crawling with lice.
He levels his bloodshot, crusted eyes with you and emits a bloodcurdling howl, foaming at the mouth. He begins chanting incoherently, and as he chants you notice there is a crescendo in the croaking of the swamp frogs, louder and louder until- FROG KONG!

Also give him a totem of some evil nature diety and have it throw off waves of mind affecting juju.


My DM threw something like this at us once and it was quite epic indeed.

[hamishspence]

He begins chanting incoherently, and as he chants you notice there is a crescendo in the croaking of the swamp frogs, louder and louder until- FROG KONG!

This pic from MM2
http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/mm2_gallery/88268_620_136.jpg

is the closest I've seen to Frog Kong in D&D so far.

[Serpentine]

I made a god specifically with Evil Druids in mind, if it helps or gives ideas:

Asteleben, God of the Darker Side of Evolution

http://fc06.deviantart.net/fs51/f/2009/292/7/8/92_by_FarukTaskini.jpg/bmi_orig_img/92_by_FarukTaskini.jpg
Asteleben
http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h287/serpentine16/NatureGodSymbol.gif
Thresher, Scourge of Infants, The Ordeal, The Improver of Lines, The Perfector of Species.
Greater Deity
Primordial Divinity: Nature, Death, Violence (in that order)
Symbol: Two sickles attached end-to end.
Home Plane: Laboratory-Reserve in The Grey Waste
Alignment: Neutral Evil
Portfolio: Evolution, natural selection, eugenics, social Darwinism, bigotry, racial anthropology, nature, ecology, predator-prey relationships, life, death, reproduction, survival of the fittest.
Worshippers: Rangers, druids, barbarians, eugenicists, believers in a “master race”, biological scientists and experimenters.
Cleric alignments: NE, LE, CE, TN.
Domains: Animal, Competition, Death, Destruction, Endurance, Life, Plant, Strength, War
Favoured weapon: Sickle.
Asteleben embodies the darker side of nature. He resembles an aging gardener or farmer wearing practical, well-worn clothes, the sort of man who would pluck weeds and throw them on the compost without a second thought, or who could pick out weak lambs from the flock to be slaughtered. He looks like an ordinary man who is both willing and capable of performing the grittier duties of keeping a healthy flock, except that his “flock” includes all living things.
Dogma
Asteleben teaches that through the death (or failure to reproduce) of individuals the species as a whole is improved. The removal of the weak and undesirable elements strengthens the whole. It is both inevitable and necessary that the fit survive, and the unfit perish. It is the way nature works, and the way it constantly improves itself. As nature does in her forests, so Asteleben’s worshippers must do in their communities.
Clergy and Temples
The few temples of Asteleben that exist have a hierarchy based on merit, determined by, more or less, the ability to take and hold authority. The temples themselves often feature altars for the sacrifice of any imperfect animals or people, and sometimes facilities for experiments in breeding.
Most organised worship is incorporated into a whole society, the religious leaders often literally having the power of life and death over individuals. Such communities usually practice some sort of child testing and condoned infanticide, and imperfect individuals are rarely tolerated – if they are allowed to live or to enter the community, they are never allowed to breed.
Rulers desiring to rule a pure, superior people, more ruthless breeders of animals and plants, and druids with an interest in the evolutionary forces of nature are among Asteleben’s more prominent worshippers. His clergy tend to prefer dark earthy colours, such as dark green, brown or red.
Personal Attributes
Druid/Ranger
Wields two sickles.Also, probably less likely to be helpful, but I've got some homebrew Druid variants (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=171732) (that just happen to need playtesting ;D).

[Ravens_cry]

Play up the "Nature is cruel and uncaring" aspect- not necessarily cackling villainy, just cold, predatory, and so forth.
Exactly. Their only passion is their cause.
If Nature can not reset the balance, they will, by any means necessary.

[PlusSixPelican]

Not a card carrying villain, more like Poison Ivy, but with less showering. Like, definitely evil-evil with evil sauce and evil on top, just a Druid. Possibly smuggles stolen goods through their forest. xD No one would think to look there.

[Urpriest]

Another thing Druids are really excellent at is winter-themed stuff. Grab Frostburn and take a look around: Blizzard can swamp armies and bury towns, while some of the higher level spells plunge an area into permanent winter. Even the lower level stuff surrounds a Druid with a 20% miss chance whiteout for hours per level, that only the Druid can see through.

[Feralventas]

Evil druid is certainly viable, but are you looking for an Evil druid or a Villianous one?

TN and CN could make great villain druids; acting as the contrary force to civilization, wrecking dams, over-growing fields with weeds, and encouraging predatory creatures toward sentient-populated areas.

[PlusSixPelican]

Both! Either NE or CN. Honestly Chaotic Neutral feels like a villain who's just less predictable.

[Venger]

Aftet popping into another thread, I wanna sheet an evil Druid for use as an NPC/Antagonist kind of thing. However, I know nothin' about Druids...so, uhm, let's build a druid! First off, they're NE because that's the only Evil alignment Druids do. Other than that, go nuts. If you want to helps, that is.

Evil druids are some of the most rewarding characters you will ever roleplay, either as a player or as a DM.


I'd go with a casting focus. Grab either Aberration Wild Shape or Dragon Wild Shape for an evil-looking defensive form (Will o'the Wisp or Shadow Dragon respectively), then focus on battlefield control and summoning spells.

Vermin wild shape is also good for an unsettling feeling. nothing matches the horror your PCs will experience seeing you wild shape into a leechwalker.

If you do end up making him necropolitan (I personally suggest against it. a living immortal, as explained below, is a more compelling character) don't forget corrupted wild shape from libris mortis. wild shape is keyed off polymorph, so doesn't work if you are undead (liches aside; specific trumps general, but if you're shooting for CR7, that's out. if you're going for CR22 don't waste a feat, liches explicitly are allowed to use polymorph effects on themselves)


Think eco-terrorist, but with magic.
Also, druids have a surprising amount of fire spells, including ones that actually catch things on fire.
"The world shall burn and be cleansed of all filth and wickedness." sounds like a good start.

Ecoterrorist is the exact word I was going to used. In a more general (and specific) sense, the pivotal thing in making this character interesting is making him/her a Well Intentioned Extremist (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/WellIntentionedExtremist) If you are a fan of batman comics, Ra's Al Ghul is a perfect example of this. It is also true of him in the movies to a lesser extent, but they don't play up the environmentalist angle as much as is usually portrayed in the comic books. this is due largely to his immortality in the comics being explicit, whereas in the movies, overtly supernatural elements are more or less eschewed entirely.

Druids do eventually become immortals of sorts. At level 7, you're capable of casting reincarnate, so there is absolutely no reason why this character could not be hundreds if not thousands (or tens of thousands) of years old, like Ra's Al Ghul.

This would give them a unique perspective of seeing trends of history that people with normal lifespans are essentially oblivious to (especially in a medieval setting where the average person's grasp on history is not as strong as it is now due to records, information, literacy, etc, so seeing it personally would really make you a lot more knowledgeable)

you could try to stop a burgeoning city from building an extension because of a fault line that is only active every 100 years. if the construction crews wouldn't listen to reason, dismissing you as a crazy old man, then more direct intervention may be needed. after all, a few lives are worth the horrors you would prevent from unfolding.


Card Carrying Villain seems like a terrible waste of potential for this.

the way you'll pull this off is by making sunflower's POV be understandable, but something that the PCs still want to stop. druids regarding cities as "herds" that must have a finite size to keep from depleting nearby resources (food/water/etc) makes sense, as does the druid introducing predators/disease to keep the population in check (via SNA/wild empathy to let loose wolves/bears to pick off a few weak, sick, elderly, etc from the "herd" as things should be)

in this case, his line of thought makes sense and adheres to its own internal logic (he's not being a chaotic derp) but it's still something PCs would probably want to stop.

good luck

[Tvtyrant]

This pic from MM2
http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/mm2_gallery/88268_620_136.jpg

is the closest I've seen to Frog Kong in D&D so far.

There was the Froghemoth in AD&D, it can be ported over (I did it, files on a dead comp though). Comes out to be CR 9 or so, with big tentacles for grappling.

[Feralventas]

There was the Froghemoth in AD&D, it can be ported over (I did it, files on a dead comp though). Comes out to be CR 9 or so, with big tentacles for grappling.

http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/aberrations/froghemoth

Paizo brought it back.

As for various druidic villians...Druids can chose to embody and support nature of other planes and locations.

As noted above, there are good options for Aberration-associated druids for corruptions of nature in Lords of Madness (extra limbs, warped forms, and Aberrant Wild-Shape.) This sort of character has probably lost touch with reality as we understand it, and might have either gone completely mad and started using their powers to try to re-create the ever-changing chaos of the Far Realms in their own home, or are operating on behalf of one of the numerous entities beyond the material realms and understandable planes. Check out the Alienist PrC for this aspect.

Fiendish druids operate on the natural laws and ideals of the lower planes; survival of the fittest isn't just a concept, it's a sacred process by which the creatures of the lower wilds and lawless lands become stronger. Fiendish templates, Abyssal Heritor and Fiendish Heritage feats are all good options for this.

Druids, being Clerics of the Forrest in their origin, could also simply be worshiping the more predatory aspects of nature; hunters, killers, parasites and the like. Taking a dip into Warblade before going Tiger Claw Master might work well in combination with Wild Shape.

Particular Elemental focuses could be dangerous as well. Aquatic druids looking to flood the world in favor of the Leviathan. Air druids seeking to bring storms. Earth druids looking to raise mountains. Fire druids looking to burn everything to a charcoal briquette.

Blight druids for those who want to wreck the natural order and cause harm for regular druids and civilized folk alike.

Lotsa stuff.

[Roguenewb]

Aberration druids are sooooo much fun. I would have preferred Undead Druids or Construct druids, to really go for the inversion, but there is really no support for it. Plus, aberrations have the dark nature aspect, which is fun as well.

My favorite build for this idea? Druid 5/Sorcerer 1/Arcane Heirophant 4/Fleshwarper 10. If you control it right you get druid 17, Sorcerer 6 casting. On top of that, you and your Companion Familiar recieve a bunch of permanent aberrant modifications. You get 3 wild shapes/day, up to large size, and you get to make a bunch of grafts.

I played this guy as a druid who fell to the belief that aberrations had the strength to allow nature to fight back against the encroachment of civilization. He thought that aberrations were the natural life of the future, and he treated animals as has-beens, left behind, obsolete beasts that had failed Gaia, and that now it was the aberrations' turn. I used a fair amount of optimization on my dude, but you don't have to. I used a fleshraker with all the aberrant bonuses and took Assume Supernatural Ability (Eye Rays) and (Quickness) to go to town with Beholders and chokers. But you don't have to...

[hoverfrog]

Have a look at Eberron's Druid Sects. The Child of Winter would suit you quite well. Alternatively a CN druid would fit the Greensingers or Faerie related. They aren't cruel or evil, it's just that humans are so fragile and unable to do the most basic things with magic, like fly.

[Giegue]

Have you ever heard of the Blighter PrC? If you want to make a druid who's more of a typical black magic-using villain and less of a eco-terrorist type you can't go wrong with the Blighter. It has a small but very evil list thematically. It gets to play around with undead creation, can channel negative energy, gets spells dealing with filth and the ruination of nature ect... Overall it is basically the "anti-druid", and unlike a standard druid actually gets power from nature's destruction. However, word of warning, if you do go the blighter route, be careful not to turn your guy into a Captain Planet villain, this is something that can easily be done unintentionally with a blighter RP-wise.

[Lord_Gareth]

Blighter's also kinda a terrible class, though, and has difficulty using a lot of its features given the whole bit where it's gotta destroy woodland to do so.

If you don't mind homebrew, I made a PrC that might fit for you - the Children of the Mausoleum (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=116191).