"Dark" druid

[ibn4n]

I was hoping some folks could help me turn a concept for a druid into something that works within 4e. The "theme" would be the dark side of nature. Did you ever go walking in the woods at night and indulge in imagining there is something malicious about the woods themselves? Not just an animal stalking, but the actual forest. I kinda want to capture that feeling in a character.

The only real limitation is that it has to be a druid and a wilden (its an existing character... the DM is fairly cool about letting us change things, but my race/class are story points now). But I could multiclass if that makes something work. Also my wilden wasn't born in the feywild (he "awakened" in the natural realm as a normal plant that slowly gained sentience) and doesn't have the hive mind of the wilden. The reason for that has yet to be explained, but I don't mind dipping into the Shadowfell for ideas... a character that melds both realms.

I have a Bottled Twilight and a Gloaming Shroud (the bottle is kinda redundant now that I have the cloak) as a start. We have house rules regarding dim light/hidden that lets me get CA. I had to take a feat to get that, but I noticed that some of the multiclass feats allow you to take stealth, so that'd allow me to double dip if the secondary class helps with the theme.

I could ramble on, but this is already long enough. Thanks for any help you guys can give!

[Inevitability]

Refluff. Refluff refluff refluff.

That is the key to this. Pick a druid power, take it apart, change the fluff and put it back together. Wild shape is not wild shape, it is your Wilden changing into a feral and dark form (For extra mystery, make it so that he doesn't remember what he did while in that form). Chill Wind is a spooky wind that brings unnatural cold with it. Call of the Beast may invoke the same shadowly feral form in your targets as Wild Shape does in you.

If you have a nice DM, ask him to swap out some damage types. Necrotic is generally seen as pretty weak, so having Chill Wind deal Necrotic instead of Cold damage shouldn't be a problem for many DM's.

[ibn4n]

Refluff. Refluff refluff refluff.

That is the key to this. Pick a druid power, take it apart, change the fluff and put it back together. Wild shape is not wild shape, it is your Wilden changing into a feral and dark form (For extra mystery, make it so that he doesn't remember what he did while in that form). Chill Wind is a spooky wind that brings unnatural cold with it. Call of the Beast may invoke the same shadowly feral form in your targets as Wild Shape does in you.

If you have a nice DM, ask him to swap out some damage types. Necrotic is generally seen as pretty weak, so having Chill Wind deal Necrotic instead of Cold damage shouldn't be a problem for many DM's.

Thank you! I feel a bit silly for not thinking of that. I DM a side-story in the game to give our primary DM a break sometimes, and I re-skin monsters and abilities for that all the time. I have no idea why I never thought to apply the same thing to my character.

[Mando Knight]

...Trees? Why did it have to be trees? (http://hydra-media.cursecdn.com/dota2.gamepedia.com/d/de/Timb_respawn_02.mp3)

You don't need to change elements, you don't really need to change the flavor... you just need to play it up. Most people laugh when they hear of a dwarf's hatred of trees, but they've never seen what a forest on the move can do. The strength to crush stone, the roots leaving you stumbling about in the dark, the implacable durability... and there are trees everywhere. (http://hydra-media.cursecdn.com/dota2.gamepedia.com/1/1d/Timb_begin_01.mp3)

[unwise]

In my game, the 'wilden' is actually a dryad with a rather unique origin. To cut a long story short, what you could do is have the character be a plant that grew over a mass grave in a dark fey tainted forest. His awakening is from the ghosts of the fallen, more than the feywild leaching through.

[Doctor Kumquat]

If you're looking for something with a bit more crunch to it, I might suggest picking up the Blightbeast paragon path if/when you get to paragon tier. It's more focused on wild-shape moves, but it adds lots of necrotic damage and serious flavor to your kit. Aside from that, there are plenty of entangle-style powers that can have the forest go on offense itself.

[Echobeats]

In my game, the 'wilden' is actually a dryad with a rather unique origin. To cut a long story short, what you could do is have the character be a plant that grew over a mass grave in a dark fey tainted forest. His awakening is from the ghosts of the fallen, more than the feywild leaching through.

I like this; you could have occasional flashbacks from the memories of the ghosts that gave him sentience.