A Druid that is not a Druid

[Linker2k]

Hello!

Long time no post, but i wanted to share an idea i have for the next campaign i'll start to play:


The character will be a weak orphan (steve rogers first avenger style) that runs from home and learns how to harvest nature power to earn power himself, he does not adore nature, does not believe in nature's balance, just harvest nature magic to become more poweful.

He travels the world looking for exotic creatures, magic items and anything that can grant him power (a kind of Sylar from Heroes), he is a con artist (has Charlatan, persuasion and deception), he changes names and personalities from town to town, some times as the servan of a famous adventurer, some times as a rich guy, some times as a trader.

The twist here is that the nature power that he has been harvesting starts to "infect" his core, so slowly he will start to turn to nature (Venom style), slowly will feel more attracted to green areas.


I know it goes against all what the "druid" description stands for, but i really liked the Human Way of taking from nature what i need to compensate from my lacks.

He also has AD so he carries a lot of books to remember most of the details on the things he investigates.

STATS

Half - Elf

STR: 8
DEX: 16
CON: 10
INT: 9
WIS: 18
CHR: 16


Moon Circle Druid


Thanks for reading, i'm not native english speaker so i apologize for the spelling errors.

Any toughts?

EDIT: I put 10 on CON because i want a weak phyisical character, the DEX is high mostly to hide and steal (i'm using Dexterity not Agility)

[JeenLeen]

Sounds like a cool concept, and I can see it working if your GM is okay with a somewhat evil (or just evil) character like this. You should make sure they don't mind you using the Druid class, but I wouldn't have any objections based on that. Maybe take away Druidic as a known language if you want to compromise.

Stat-wise, looks decent. Wildshape makes your physical stats useless when you need to be beefy for combat, and you can use a cantrip to use Wisdom instead of Strength with a quarterstaff, so you can be decent in melee even while in human form.

One downside I see is that having a lot of books could compromise your disguises. If your journals are stolen, someone could figure out who you are. There is a feat that lets you create a cypher, but it is based on Int so it wouldn't be hard for others to decode whatever you write. A solution would be to keep Druidic as a language known and use it to write your journals. Very few would be able to read it.

You may also want to multi-class into Rogue in order to get Expertise, so that you will succeed at deception more often. It is weaker overall than straight Druid, but that weakness could reflect your non-standard form of gathering power. I could see getting Expertise with Deception and Persuasion. But you have good Charisma, so you might not need it.

EDIT: if you start as a level 1 Rogue then multiclass into Druid, you will have a net gain in skill and weapon proficiencies (though I think you will lose proficiency with at least one weapon and the Herbalism Kit). From your backstory, this probably only works well if you start at level 3 or so. Half-elf is a nice race for your build since it gives bonus proficiencies.

[Linker2k]

Yes it's going to be Lawful Evil

[brainface]

I like this. An idea I've been pondering for a character is that the druids class abilities, wildshape especially, really match witches and magicians from folklore--the crazy old hermit/baba yaga in the woods you absolutely don't want to mess with, that doesn't at all champion nature so much as haunt around and be creepy (and maayyybe eat a baby or two.)

[gkathellar]

Cool idea. You could play around with this a bit by exploring why he has access to nature's power - perhaps, on some level, his naked desire for its power reflects the violence and merciless competition of the natural world, and amounts to an abstract sort of worship?

[Shining Wrath]

I get a Winter Court Fey vibe from this character. He's attuned to nature, but especially to the Death side of the life-death cycle. He thinks of himself as being like unto the tiger in the brush, or maybe the leech on the ankle; taking what he needs from others in accordance with the ancient laws of predator and prey.

Such a one might work well in a party, so long as he recognized the others as not-prey. Fellow pack members, as it were. It would help if someone else was clearly Alpha....

[Herobizkit]

From the Unerathed Arcana articles:

Druid Circle of Blight

http://hedgegm.blogspot.ca/2014/12/d-5th-edition-druid-circle-circle-of.html

[Sigreid]

Nothing wrong with this. Sometimes you find god/your calling. Sometimes god/your calling finds you. I don't think it rebels against the druid concept in game at all really.

[Arkhios]

From the Unerathed Arcana articles:

Druid Circle of Blight

http://hedgegm.blogspot.ca/2014/12/d-5th-edition-druid-circle-circle-of.html

That's not from Unearthed Arcana articles. At least the link doesn't say so, and I couldn't find the article where it might have been.
Seems like a 3rd party homebrew to me.

[Linker2k]

That's not from Unearthed Arcana articles. At least the link doesn't say so, and I couldn't find the article where it might have been.
Seems like a 3rd party homebrew to me.


Also the 90% of why i choose Druid on this character is the powerful shapeshift that he uses to compensate his sh"#$y body.

[Herobizkit]

That's right, my mistake.

It is one of three free Druid archetypes from the DM's Guild that were "approved" / highlighted in May's Unearthed Arcana.

http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/may-dungeon-masters-guild-review

I believe the Circle of the Deathbloom was also referred to as "Blighter" in the fluff, but I again may be mis-remembering.