Any good books depicting druids? Other sources of inspiration?

[dejarnjc]

Hi everyone, I'm looking for further inspiration and flavor for my druid character.

I've begun reading the Iron Druid series, finished the first book, and it's OK but not written that greatly and not a great source of inspiration. Any other books/series that you might recommend?

[RSP]

I think Terry Brooks Shannara books are a good basis of non-wild shape druids, though be forewarned: I read those books in high school so my recollection of them might be off, as HS was awhile ago.

[nickl_2000]

Terry Brooks also recently release a new trilogy in the same universe where the first book is called the High Druids Blade. It's a pretty decent series, although as the last person said, it's non-wild shaping.

[Ninja_Prawn]

Beorn and Radagast the Brown from Tolkien's work are pretty druid-y, though obviously the books aren't about them.

Looking in this thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?417134-Describe-5e-classes-with-pop-culture-references), people have suggested Animorphs and Beast Boy, Poison Ivy and Swamp Thing (who are all comic characters, I believe).

Other than that, I can't think of anything.

...but the way it's used could still provide some inspiration for druids.

https://68.media.tumblr.com/af4f4f9455830fa0b4296cff4652dfae/tumblr_opam222cHy1t0wfado1_540.gif

[dejarnjc]

people have suggested Animorphs and Beast Boy, Poison Ivy and Swamp Thing (who are all comic characters, I believe).

Yeah, shapeshifting type stuff is easy to find, I'm more interested in classical portrayals of druids or at least something fairly akin to the D&D theme. The Shannara books are OK, I did read them as a kid but IIRC, the druids in that series are basically just magicians by another name.

[Greylind]

In The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Forestal of Garroting Deep is basically a classic Neutral druid.

[DizzyWood]

The old Moonshae series was rather druid heavy if I recall correctly, it was an FR novel from the TSR days

[hamishspence]

There's always Asterix the Gaul, for pre-"shapeshifter" druid portrayal (Getafix).

[Chugger]

I know right? Playing druid in dnd can be as tedious as hanging out with one of those annoying real life ultra-greenies who wants everyone else to return to the stone age (while they continue to drive a car, use A/C, and are otherwise quite materialistic). Yes, of course, sensible environmentalism is cool, but when that word "sensible" is challenged (as it is all the time) things get fuzzy fast.

Anyway, why not an anti-druid - not a nice environmentalist who whines and wheedles and pleads us not to cut trees or step on daisies - but a hardcore, vengeance-drive, bloodthirsty eco-terrorist? Of course that seems like the kind of person a party would be sent out to apprehend or kill...um...but um...yeah, this is not easy, is it?

Okay, when I was a teen I read LotR and was blown away. Then a friend told me, "I didn't like LotR (it was too hard, too long, too many big werdz) - you should read Terry Brooks "The Sword of Shanana!" It's so much _better_!!!" And um ... yeah, I was expecting "better" and got not even in the same ballpark or country as LotR. Brooks is not a gifted story-teller. He's a simple man, and you can tell by looking at his maps. Whereas in LotR we had mighty or intriguing names like Mirkwood, Gondor, Mordor, The Shire, Lothlorien, and so on, in Brooks world we have The Green Forest, the Blue Lake, The Running River, the Southeastern Mountains, and the Medium-Small Village ... i.e. no music or inspiration in the place names. And no "music" in the story or characters, as far as I could tell. Maybe I'm being too harsh - maybe by lowering the bar for you, you'll expect SoS to be so awful that you'll find it okay and find a way to enjoy it (maybe I didn't like it because it was very much not what my friend had said it was).

Real Britonic Celt Druids, according to the Romans, were savages - were frightening pagans who sacrificed healthy young people to dark gods to get various boons in battle and so on. This modern idea we have of druids being modern day John Muirs or Ed Begley Jr's might be silly. I have trouble playing a moon druid because I can only think of modern day "Furries" and wince ... and try not to vomit...

(aw Furries are nice people and don't hurt anyone (usually), why am I so cruel?! What's wrong with me?)

So um... good luck with this. I know I haven't helped here, but maybe I've stirred the pot so much that a usable idea presents itself to you.

[Rynjin]

The Obsidian Trilogy (Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory) is really good. The follow-up series is okay too.

[Gwalchavad]

Stephen Lawhead does druids pretty well in his Pendragon series, especially the second book Merlin.

[ImproperJustice]

The video game by Spiderweb Software called Nethergate Ressurection has a heavy Roman vs. Celts theme and the spellcasters are Druids.

The Shanara series has already been covered.

I think Moana is a good Coastal Druid, and various other Disney Princesses could fall into this category.
The trick is the fine line between Druid and Fey Warlock.

[Mitth'raw'nuruo]

http://www.dancarlin.com/hardcore-history-60-the-celtic-holocaust/

Just about everything we actually know about the Celtic Kingdoms & Empires.

To add to Chugger's post. The Celtic people Sacked Rome early in their history, and Rome never lost their fear of them.

[Chugger]

http://www.dancarlin.com/hardcore-history-60-the-celtic-holocaust/

Just about everything we actually know about the Celtic Kingdoms & Empires.

To add to Chugger's post. The Celtic people Sacked Rome early in their history, and Rome never lost their fear of them.

That's right. The French named an old battleship after the Celtic leader who sacked Rome in the way-back. Iirc it was before 300 B.C.

Thanks for the link!

[Tetrasodium]

The Iron druid (https://www.goodreads.com/series/52837-the-iron-druid-chronicles) by Kevin hearne are very good. Also even though WotC can't be bothered to mention eberron stuff in the PHB & other core books, there are also gatekeeper druids (http://keith-baker.com/dragonmarks-8-3-13-the-gatekeepers/), wardens of the wood (http://eberron.wikia.com/wiki/Wardens_of_the_Wood) & a few other druidic sects that are actually interesting as opposed to obnoxious.; but that would require admitting eberron exists & require understanding eberron rather than throwing hands up to exclaim eberron goes "against the shared lore" (https://twitter.com/mikemearls/status/883891093829332992) & it's much easier to just ignore it while forcing yet another ill fitting concept onto eberron while chanting "if it exists in d&d it has a place" than need to consider what that place should be or if something should be done different for eberron

[Armored Walrus]

Merlin in the animated Disney movie The Sword in the Stone is pretty druidy.

I can't think of the series, now, but I know I read a series of historical fiction novels that dealt with the role of druids in Celtic society as the keepers of the laws. Since they were the ones that were trained to remember all of the laws of their people, they ended up being lawyers/judges/investigators. The books were pretty cool. I'll see if I can track down what they were called.

Edit: Looks like just about anything by Morgan Llywelyn would be a good place to start.

[Vingelot]

Douglas Monroe's Merlyn books could be worth a read.

[SaurOps]

There's always Asterix the Gaul, for pre-"shapeshifter" druid portrayal (Getafix).

In keeping with that, just about anything can be used as an example medium, because what D&D has made a druid out to be is extremely far-reaching, vague, and has no bearing at all with what they were in history. For example, one of Baba Yaga's caster classes is druid, lending to yet more blurring of the line with an isolationist hermit of a wizard and a druid.

[Thrudd]

Yeah, you aren't really going to find much depicting D&D style druids outside of actual D&D fiction like Forgotten Realms. What they have evolved into in the game the last couple decades is not particularly drawn from other sources but organically developed based on ideas gamers had, I think. There is also a possibility that people who have been writing books since D&D came out would not want to mimic what is found in the game, exactly - many fantasy authors likely being familiar with D&D in some capacity.

If you want a depiction of a "wild-shaper", there is the movie "Krull", which I don't think anyone has mentioned yet. The character has the power to transform into different animals, which he does at a couple points in the movie.

[SaurOps]

Yeah, you aren't really going to find much depicting D&D style druids outside of actual D&D fiction like Forgotten Realms. What they have evolved into in the game the last couple decades is not particularly drawn from other sources but organically developed based on ideas gamers had, I think. There is also a possibility that people who have been writing books since D&D came out would not want to mimic what is found in the game, exactly - many fantasy authors likely being familiar with D&D in some capacity.

If you want a depiction of a "wild-shaper", there is the movie "Krull", which I don't think anyone has mentioned yet. The character has the power to transform into different animals, which he does at a couple points in the movie.

D&D tends to treat that power as an after thought or rubbish bin candidate, though. And that "turn into an elemental" thing that the Circle of the Moon has? Not helping. It comes from out of nowhere with regard to the circle's concept, too.

[archetypex]

Some suggestions:

The Druids: Magicians of the West, by Paul Rutherford
Merlin, by Norma Lorne Goodrich
The Druids, by Peter Berresford Ellis
The Encyclopedia of Celtic Wisdom, by Caitlin and John Matthews

The above are all historical/mythological accounts. For something purely fictional, I'd recommend Marion Zimmer Bradley's _The Mists of Avalon_, which mixes elements of both what we know of historical Druidism and Alexandrian Wicca.

[Sirithhyando]

You could read the cleric quintet.
It's mostly about a cleric, but Pikel Bouldershoulder is a fun dwarf druid to read about.

[Aett_Thorn]

You could read the cleric quintet.
It's mostly about a cleric, but Pikel Bouldershoulder is a fun dwarf druid to read about.

Oo oi!

I know that most here don't like RA Salvatore's writing, but Pikel is such a fun character.

[Aaron Underhand]

I remember first reading The Beast Master by Andre Norton, that was always my idea of a druid... in a Sci Fi setting!

[ZorroGames]

I remember first reading The Beast Master by Andre Norton, that was always my idea of a druid... in a Sci Fi setting!

This. Damn, now Druid is in my head...

[2D8HP]

With the big caveat that I haven't read it, perhaps the 1967 novel:

Ritual (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ritual_(1967_novel)),

.which was the basis for 1973's

http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7057/1167/320/wickerman%202.2.jpg

The Wicker Man (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wicker_Man)

.which I would not be at all surprised if it was what inspired Arneson and Gygax's to have "Druids" in D&D, keeping in mind that before Druids were a character class they were among the "monsters".

From Gary Gygax in the February 1976 issue of The Strategic Review (http://annarchive.com/files/Strv201.pdf)

"Druids serve only themselves and nature, they occasionally make human sacrifice, but on the other hand they aid the folk in agriculture and animal husbandry. Druids are, therefore, neutral — although slightly predisposed towards evil actions"

http://lh6.ggpht.com/mitchaskari/SN9Kj5-_N2I/AAAAAAAAGsM/f6v1q8cQDGY/s1600/illus2%5B2%5D.jpg

[No brains]

I remember some basically 'druidic' themes in the Elfquest comics. I think you can even find most of them for free online these days.

The elves' 'shaping' power gives an interesting perspective on nature and magic, especially once Winnowill comes around.

[JellyPooga]

The Kuakganni from Elizabeth Moons' Paksenarrion Trilogy (Sheepfarmers Daughter, Divided Allegience, Oath of Gold) are a pretty good depiction of D&D style Druids, even if the only one featured plays little more than a bit-part. As an aside, she does a pretty damned good job of showcasing Paladins, Clerics, Fighters, Rogues, Wizards and even addresses Alignment in a sensible manner. For not being an official D&D novel, it's pretty D&Desque!

[greenstone]

The Kuakganni from Elizabeth Moons' Paksenarrion Trilogy
+1 to that suggestion.
The Paladin's Legacy series (http://www.elizabethmoon.com/books-paksworld.html#fealty)goes into more detail about the various groups.

[evolutionXXVII]

Not sure about books, but there are some interesting depictions of druids in anime. I recommend watching Princess Mononoke (movie) and Wolf's Rain (series).

[SaurOps]

Not sure about books, but there are some interesting depictions of druids in anime. I recommend watching Princess Mononoke (movie) and Wolf's Rain (series).

I'm pretty sure that the former doesn't really have any examples, since it's on a very, very different wavelength apart from D&D. The latter I would also find unlikely, since it involves wolves that appear as humans with some kind of quasi-illusionary abilities trying to survive in a post-apocalyptic world with a fair bit of leftover scifi gadgetry.

[Mith]

...a series of historical fiction novels that dealt with the role of druids in Celtic society as the keepers of the laws. Since they were the ones that were trained to remember all of the laws of their people, they ended up being lawyers/judges/investigators. The books were pretty cool.

This idea makes me really excited to read the books. I hope you find out what they are called.

[The Shadowdove]

R.a. Salvatore's the cleric quintet has a few druids as well as a secondary main character that is a dwarven druid coming into his power.

[evolutionXXVII]

I would definitely agree that both of these examples are
on a very, very different wavelength apart from D&D.

That being said, I think they make excellent "other sources of inspiration". They both feature characters whose power is a gift from nature, and make interesting character studies.