Would a deityless druid lose spellcasting in the abyss/hells?

[RoboEmperor]

They draw their magic from nature right? So... what about places without nature?

[DeltaEmil]

Unless the specific layer of that lower plane specifically interferes with divine magic or they're in a dead magic area, a divine spellcaster can cast divine spells wherever they are, no matter if they're favored souls, paladins, clerics, druids, rangers, or whatever.

[Toilet Cobra]

This is exactly the sort of cool idea that should never be applied to a player. It makes sense, it engages the druid's lore, and it adds verisimilitude to the world. It makes the abyss feel different and unique and dangerous and seem like something other than just another dangerous dungeon area, which is all great for a game that takes a trip there.

It also will probably result in a one-druid riot if you spring it on your player.

I would absolutely use this to trap an npc druid in the abyss that the players meet/rescue/fight/hear tell of somewhere down the line. But if it was a player, I'd just tell them that the foulness of the abyss made a poor conduit for their powers, and if they stayed too long they'd find their ability to call on nature's magic diminishing.

[Necroticplague]

They draw their magic from nature right? So... what about places without nature?

Why would Hell be a place without nature? The forests of hair and mountains of ribs are just as much nature as trees and rocks back on the material. Sure, its made of Evil, but by that logic, the forests of arborea are also invalid because they're made of Good.

And on a different note, Druids who don't worship a god of nature worship nature itself, much like how a cleric can worship a concept. So even without nature being around, they should still be able to get power from worship.

[RoboEmperor]

Why would Hell be a place without nature? The forests of hair and mountains of ribs are just as much nature as trees and rocks back on the material. Sure, its made of Evil, but by that logic, the forests of arborea are also invalid because they're made of Good.

And on a different note, Druids who don't worship a god of nature worship nature itself, much like how a cleric can worship a concept. So even without nature being around, they should still be able to get power from worship.

I think druid spells work a bit differently than clerics. Druids who don't worship deities are "one with nature" (PHB), which suggests they draw divine magic from the nature spirits or something rather than nature granting them spells, just like how a wizard draws magic from the weave. Except Faerun, where the gods actively block mortals drawing magic from nature.

I always pictured abyss/hells filled with dead trees rather than evil trees, but now I'm not so sure.

Dunno if mountains count as nature.

How about deep underground in some dungeon made of metal or stone? So you're cutoff from nature, but is still in the material plane?

[Milo v3]

I think druid spells work a bit differently than clerics.

I wouldn't say that, since clerics can gain their power from the concept nature rather than deities in the same way druids can get power from deities.

Either way, there is no rule even suggesting that they lose their powers outside of a natural setting and the fact that none of the planes are listed with planar traits weaking druid magic would imply that they don't weaken druid magic.

[RoboEmperor]

Either way, there is no rule even suggesting that they lose their powers outside of a natural setting and the fact that none of the planes are listed with planar traits weaking druid magic would imply that they don't weaken druid magic.

So if druids are "one with nature", I guess they can generate their own divine magic? Since nature makes divine magic, and druids are "one with nature", so the nature inside of them can fuel their magic? I'm assuming in order to be "one with nature" they're fused with nature spiritually in some way.

I'm just trying to make some fluff that explains why druids don't lose their ability to cast spells in a non natural setting XD.

[Milo v3]

I'm just trying to make some fluff that explains why druids don't lose their ability to cast spells in a non natural setting XD.

Same reason clerics don't lose their ability to cast spells when not ten feet away from their god.

[Necroticplague]

I always pictured abyss/hells filled with dead trees rather than evil trees, but now I'm not so sure. Why would there be dead trees in the Abyss? That would imply normal trees were there first (thus, nature), and then killed off. Even a dead tree is still a part of nature as its material is recycled in an an endless continuum. To provide examples of plant is the abyss; feindish codex one has the layer Twelvtrees, which is pretty much what it sounds like (albeit, trees with sacrificed celestials inside, who's death-rattle still echoes today, which emnate an aura of incredible evil), and layer 176 includes both a relatively normal forest called The Scarwood, and a slightly more exotic one made out of flesh where the trees have poisonous maws called the Drooling Jungle.


Dunno if mountains count as nature.

How about deep underground in some dungeon made of metal or stone? So you're cutoff from nature, but is still in the material plane?

How is being underground cut off from nature? Even within the confines of such an area, the rocks themselves are part of a nature that can be communed with (talk to stones is a druid spell, after all), and the dank corners would host innumerable insects and fungi all forming their own tiny ecosystem.

[Crake]

I'm just trying to make some fluff that explains why druids don't lose their ability to cast spells in a non natural setting XD.

The same way clerics draw their powers from their god, cross planar, druids can draw power from nature across distance and planar boundaries. Nothing else to it.

[Psyren]

Nature isn't just trees. It includes the elements too - air, water, earth, and fire, the latter two of which are abundant in the lower planes.

But even if you placed a druid in a frictionless vacuum, then (assuming they could survive and speak), why would that interfere with their casting? Nothing in the druid entry says nature has to be at hand when praying for spells; they just have to revere it, which can be done even if they can't see it at that moment.

[Red Fel]

The same way clerics draw their powers from their god, cross planar, druids can draw power from nature across distance and planar boundaries. Nothing else to it.

This.

If you have to fluff it, say that the Druid is drawing power from the cosmic ideal concept of Nature, capital-N, which he reveres. Not as a deity, but simply that he reveres Nature - not just its literal manifestations in the form of trees and bunnies and cattle mutilated by coyotes, but in its totality, in the very concept thereof. As a result, even when removed from natural environs (you'll not that there's no requirement that Druids lose their spells when in cities) the Druid is still connected to this concept of capital-N Nature, and draws power therefrom.

[RoboEmperor]

So you guys fluff nature as some sort of super-organism-deity. Alright thanks! That could work.

[Crake]

So you guys fluff nature as some sort of super-organism-deity. Alright thanks! That could work.

Personally I fluff it as more like the concept of "gaia" or "mother nature". In my world its a global consciousness of the planet itself, that all spirits actually come from and eventually return to. It's a bit more complicated when you involve outsiders and heaven and hell, but that's all irrelevant to this thread

[Telonius]

But even if you placed a druid in a frictionless vacuum, then (assuming they could survive and speak), why would that interfere with their casting?

Because nature abhors a vacuum? [rimshot] :smallbiggrin:

[Psyren]

So you guys fluff nature as some sort of super-organism-deity. Alright thanks! That could work.

I fluff it as an abstract ideal, just like any other cleric who worships an ideal.


Because nature abhors a vacuum? [rimshot] :smallbiggrin:

...I hate you. :smalltongue: