Blighter fix

[Sto]

So a recent thread has me thinking about Blighters. I love the PrC dearly but it's really meh. So I've come up with a few ideas that might be able to make it viable.

First: make your spells per day "equal to that of a druid of your combined druid and blighter levels" and maybe update the spell list.

Second: allow it to prepare spells in a wasteland area. That way you aren't hosed in a desert. Also give it some way to desecrate the ocean.

Third: give it the feature that Blackguard and BoVD ur-priest have and let druids keep things from their druid levels and swap levels out at level 11 and later.

Fourth: maybe give it some form of undead animal companion. Probably fluff it as the druid's original companion animated.


Comment with your ideas and criticisms. I know that the last one might not be a good idea, should I also give undead wild shape the ability to turn into zombies?

[Saintheart]

Well, the thing is, what are the iconic things about the Blighter that we like and what is it about the character that makes people avoid it like the plague?

The concept is basically that the Blighter's an anti-druid. They destroy nature rather than tend to it. Druids of all stripes - including evil, supposedly - despise undead and these guys embrace it.

The reason people don't take it is mainly because it rips away most of the druid's strengths - summoning, flexible wild shape, wide class spell list - and replace it with a few per-day plinking spell-like abilities and a spell list that's pretty short and doesn't have a lot of utility to it. (Note that it does give some spells, like Flame Strike, one level before to try and make up for this. It doesn't.)

So what would go a fair way to replacing these things?

I'd say if you're going to cut the flexibility of wild shape you pretty much have to give at least undead wild shape back but maybe extend that concept. Where a default druid can wild shape into a creature of the elemental type, maybe the Blighter can Wild Shape into an undead creature of the Blighter's selection which then takes on a chosen elemental subtype (since I don't think you can put two types on a creature).

As to the spell selection - one funky suggestion might be that henceforth the blighter's affront annoys Mother Nature so much that it twists what spells off what lists he can cast. Henceforth he cannot cast a druid spell unless and only unless it has the [Evil] descriptor ... and indeed he can cast any spell, arcane or divine, so long as it has the [Evil] descriptor (There will probably be ways to plunk the [Evil] descriptor on your spells, but a quick check on sources suggests the [Evil] spell list isn't really that long and has a lot of flavourful stuff in it, including the full Summon Undead I - IX, but doesn't include stuff like Divine Power and whatnot.)

The loss of the animal companion isn't helpful, but opening the spell list up to a decent selection of arcane and divine spells I think compensates for it.

[eggynack]

I've always felt like a lot of the flavor of the blighter could be accomplished without using the class itself. The most basic method is just picking up a couple of levels in talontar blightlord. It leaves you as basically a druid, but with a bunch of decay flavor. If you want something more complex, the sample build in my handbook is specifically a sort of anti-druid. The mechanical goal is as much aberration and undead stuff as is possible. Thematically, you wind up using the druid to do a bunch of stuff usually considered antithetical to druids. Which is nice.

[Silly Name]

There is one peculiar issue with the Blighter class: over 10 levels, you get the casting capacity of a 17th-level druid (which is fair, since, cheese notwithstanding, you need at least five levels in Druid to access the class). But, since this is a PrC, you can't further advance your spellcasting with Blighter. That is, if you take Blighter 10, and then start taking levels in another PrC that advances divine spellcasting, you'd only increase your CL, but never get new slots. Now, this isn't a terribly weakening situation as you aren't really losing a bunch of slots compared to a level 20 druid, but it does pose the issue of having to take a new base class if you want to keep getting more spell slots.

The proposal of advancing spellcasting as "combined druid and blighter levels" would be a work-around for this issue.

Regarding Undead Wild Shape, I would add the possibility of turning into a shadow or other incorporeal undead creature. Druids get elementals and their nifty powers, so I think it fair if a Blighter gets a similar power.

[ATHATH]

Do note that there is a trick regarding the Blighter's requirements- you must merely have, at some point in your existence, been able to cast 3rd level Druid spells and have been an ex-Druid.

Make an elan (the race, not the OotS character) that was an ex-Druid 5 in their previous life (before they became a level 1 character again as part of the elan-ification process, as stated in the entry for elans (IIRC)). Now, in this life, you'll just need to get Profession (Herbalism) and 5 4 points of BAB to hop into Blighter.

Do remember that Blighters can cast Corrupt and Sanctified spells.

As for houserules to improve the Blighter... make the Undead Wild Shape scale based on your Blighter level + 5 (not just your Blighter level) and count as Wild Shape for prerequisites, feats, spells, etc. Give them Rebuke Undead, again based on their Blighter level + 5. I dunno what else to do; it's 7 AM in the morning here, I still haven't slept, and I'm out of ideas (about this).

[Silly Name]

Make an elan (the race, not the OotS character) that was an ex-Druid 5 in their previous life (before they became a level 1 character again as part of the elan-ification process, as stated in the entry for elans (IIRC)). Now, in this life, you'll just need to get Profession (Herbalism) and the 5 points of BAB to hop into Blighter.

If you can get your DM to agree to that, you should also make sure to ask them to give you all their possessions, because you clearly have either a Diplomacy bonus the size of the Sun, or are dealing with the most gullible person to ever play D&D.


As for houserules to improve the Blighter... make the Undead Wild Shape scale based on your Blighter level + 5 (not just your Blighter level) and count as Wild Shape for prerequisites, feats, spells, etc. Give them Rebuke Undead, again based on their Blighter level + 5. I dunno what else to do; it's 7 AM in the morning here, I still haven't slept, and I'm out of ideas (about this).

Rebuke Undead also seems like an useful ability for the Blighter... But I think i would be fun if they could get a way to Turn Plants.

[liquidformat]

So the first issue I see with Blighter is that you don't get your undead wild shape ability until level three which really sucks. Furthermore when you are in undead wild shape you can be turned or rebuked since your type changes which is a concern. Also I believe you are entering at level 6 if you are purely a druid, you could also take a full bab 2 level dip and practiced spellcaster.

So with all that said, here are my thoughts. Adding zombie to your undead wild shape should be fine the only advantage it gives you is flying capability and the limits of zombies balance themselves. Undead wild shape should start at level 1 and stack with your druid levels to determine size and number of times per day. Add in incorporeal wild shape at level 5 or 6 to replace plant, I would stay away from granting shadows or any other form that create spawn, thematically perhaps keep with the undead animal theme and allow animal ghosts or ghost brute with the caveat that ac bonus comes from wis instead of cha maybe? Also gaining aberration wild shape at level 10 to replace elemental wild shape seems reasonable.

As far as spells go I like the ideas stated before stacking levels with druid and evil descriptor spells is nice, though I wouldn't limit it just to evil descriptor spells. Since destroying forests is a big part of the blighter theme adding in a lot of the spells from sandstorm seems reasonable. Spells like entangle seem like they could still be used just fine with refluff on the caster's part. Also perhaps going through stormwrecked and cherry picking some of the dark water spells and what not, though an aquatic themed blighter seems to beg for its own unique variant.

Rather than adding a companion maybe look at upgrading some of the existing abilities. It could be cool to change Deforestation to a x/day, maybe based on wis or cha score or just class levels, that functions as turn plant for any intelligent plants and still keep current function. Blightfire could be changed to be half fire half desiccation damage and have it scale with level. That would make it more versatile, more powerful, and still stick with the same theme.

[Sto]

Elemental wildshape seems to be a big contender for "thing the Blighter is really missing out on". My solution is to give it necromental wildshape. We should also make sure that wildshape stacks with your druid level, like casting should. In fact, most of a Blighter's abilities can be based off of "a druid with your combined Blighter and Druid level".
I don't know if giving it rebuke undead will be a problem, I'd just be cautious about Divine Meta Magic when expanding the Blighter spell list. I agree that it needs expansion, but as I'm AFB I can't go through the Spell Compendium to find good spells.

[eggynack]

Elemental wildshape seems to be a big contender for "thing the Blighter is really missing out on".
Not really sure why that would be the case. It's not that great, as abilities go. The loss of plant forms is significantly more impactful. Those forms can be super weird, and myconid sovereign and yellow musk creeper in particular offer some zombification capacity.

[Grim Reader]

Generally, the problem with the Blighter is considered to be the ex-Druid and previous Druid spell-casting requirements. The easiest fix is just to be a bit lenient with the RAW but not RAI ways around that.

If you actually want to change something, just change the requirements. Without the Druid bit, you need +4 BaB and nongood alignment.

[Nifft]

Make it a variant Druid, not a PrC at all.

That way it can have 20 levels of full Druid spellcasting over 20 levels, instead of over 10.

[Quertus]

So, why not both? Or all?

Make an ex-Druid version, that adds druid levels for purposes of calculating spell casting, undead animal companion, and undead wild shape.

Make a Druid variant that gets different abilities.

Make a 10-level Ur-Priest style prestige class.

And make something that is its own class, that doesn't care about Druids.

[Nifft]

So, why not both? Or all?

Make an ex-Druid version, that adds druid levels for purposes of calculating spell casting, undead animal companion, and undead wild shape.

Make a Druid variant that gets different abilities.

Make a 10-level Ur-Priest style prestige class.

And make something that is its own class, that doesn't care about Druids.

Sounds great.

When will you deliver these for our perusal?

[Quertus]

Sounds great.

When will you deliver these for our perusal?

You know, I've never gotten to use the phrase "how about never? Does never work for you?" before. :smalltongue:

I'm neither terribly familiar with the class, nor people's reasons for wanting it. But I guess I could stub out what I'd want. I'd want a Druid who recognizes that undead are a part of nature.

For the ACF, add Bone or Corpse template to the animal companion (which doubtless weakens it), grant undead shapeshifter (or remove it altogether, or replace it with Turn/Rebuke), and add a few undead-themed spells to their spell list. Maybe the whole Dread Necromancer spell list, just to keep it simple (even though it probably doesn't all actually fit the theme).

So, how bad is it so far?

EDIT: yes, I know, I didn't make someone who was anti-nature, because that's not what I find interesting. So... 8 versions of the class?

[Nifft]

You know, I've never gotten to use the phrase "how about never? Does never work for you?" before. :smalltongue: Looks like you just answered your own question, then.

This is why not both.


I'm neither terribly familiar with the class, nor people's reasons for wanting it. Ah, is that why you thought it'd be trivial effort to just do both?

Feel free to take some time to ... Bone up on it.

Once you've Raised your knowledge, we can have a more Animated discussion -- a Spirited debate -- rather than this barren and salted field of ignorance.

[Quertus]

Looks like you just answered your own question, then.

This is why not both.

Ah, is that why you thought it'd be trivial effort to just do both?

Feel free to take some time to ... Bone up on it.

Once you've Raised your knowledge, we can have a more Animated discussion -- a Spirited debate -- rather than this barren and salted field of ignorance.

Wow. Nicely done. "I see what you did there"?

Sadly, I'm not sure it'll help.

Let's pretend I'm your typical nerd programmer who doesn't get all the hype around sports-ball. As such, I'd be a poor choice as, say, a sports-ball radio commentator, sports-ball journalist, sports-ball fund raiser, etc.

Understanding why someone cares about sports-ball is a non-trivial endeavor for someone like theoretical me. "Everyone else" just gets it, what's theoretical me would need to research some upper level psychology for a few years to build an understanding of the fundamental building blocks of the phenomenon in order to "get" it.

It's the same thing for the Blighter.

I don't get why anyone would care about a the metagamey anti-nature dysfunctional Blighter prestige class.

Now, I do understand why someone would care about a Golgari undead-themed "undeath is a part of nature" Druid like class. Someone who cares about nature and the undead.

So, unless the Blighter fans are all like, "yeah, that sounds cool", that is the reason I respond with the fact that this is a great opportunity for me to pull out "how about never?".

Still, I suppose I could post a more thought-out Golgarian than just "Druid // Dread Necromancer gestalt", and consider adding a more Blighter flavor, like, "as an additional cost to cast your spells, you must kick a puppy".

[liquidformat]

I always lean more towards a druid variant or just turning blighter into a 20 level base class since the fluff behind blighter doesn't really seem to work. It is supposed to be the anti-druid version of blackguard, however, the fluff for blackguard actually makes sense.

Standard paladin starting becoming disenchanted with Lawful Stupid after understanding how the world works. Then evil demon or devil uses that bit of questioning to send him down the dark path. That makes sense and works well.

Druid suddenly gives up on nature and decides it is better to burn it all down? Ya no not seeing the leap there, however, crazy druid-esc sect bent on destroying nature seems reasonable. If I wasn't about to go on a trip I would create one of each, will see if I have time once I get back. I already have some homebrew stuff for review sitting in the wings...

[Ellrin]

Wow. Nicely done. "I see what you did there"?

Sadly, I'm not sure it'll help.

Let's pretend I'm your typical nerd programmer who doesn't get all the hype around sports-ball. As such, I'd be a poor choice as, say, a sports-ball radio commentator, sports-ball journalist, sports-ball fund raiser, etc.

Understanding why someone cares about sports-ball is a non-trivial endeavor for someone like theoretical me. "Everyone else" just gets it, what's theoretical me would need to research some upper level psychology for a few years to build an understanding of the fundamental building blocks of the phenomenon in order to "get" it.

It's the same thing for the Blighter.

I don't get why anyone would care about a the metagamey anti-nature dysfunctional Blighter prestige class.

Now, I do understand why someone would care about a Golgari undead-themed "undeath is a part of nature" Druid like class. Someone who cares about nature and the undead.

So, unless the Blighter fans are all like, "yeah, that sounds cool", that is the reason I respond with the fact that this is a great opportunity for me to pull out "how about never?".

Still, I suppose I could post a more thought-out Golgarian than just "Druid // Dread Necromancer gestalt", and consider adding a more Blighter flavor, like, "as an additional cost to cast your spells, you must kick a puppy".


At the risk of derailing the conversation further, if you don't like the class, haven't really looked into it, don't understand what other people like about it, and have nothing to contribute to a discussion on how to improve it, why are you in this thread?

[Quertus]

At the risk of derailing the conversation further, if you don't like the class, haven't really looked into it, don't understand what other people like about it, and have nothing to contribute to a discussion on how to improve it, why are you in this thread?

Why am I in the thread? Because I'm curious why people love sports-ball. Also, any conversation about design principles could help me make a Golgari character.

Why did I comment? Because there were (at least) four ways to go with the class (new base class, Druid ACF, black guard style prestige class, Ur-Priest style prestige class), and I felt that that conversation needed to happen.

So, it's not that I have nothing to contribute - I'm facilitating the conversation by contributing an explicit declaration of available options.

[Silly Name]

I do agree that Blighter could probably function better as a base class rather than a Prestige Class. I also reiterate my idea that it should get "Turn/Destroy Plants" rather than Rebuke Undead. Just imagine the Blighter calling forth the power of decay and making a Treant wither away in a few seconds, or instil dread and terror on a cadre of Dryads. It fits perfectly.

The concept of a fallen Paladin works: they get turned away from the path of Good and embrace Evil. Ur-priest is either a Cleric who turned disillusioned with the gods, or a staunch anti-theist from day one. The idea that a fallen Druid would develop an intense hatred of nature to the point of wishing to destroy it all is a bit... different.

Devils and Demons and other evil entities are obviously on the look-out to make Paladins fall. But who exactly is going around corrupting Druids? I guess there must be some nature-hating deity somewhere.

Now, as to why Blighter (meaning an anti-Druid) could be an interesting character concept, and why it shouldn't be a "Death is part of nature" type of character: For one, it's fun to play an opposite; if you're asking "why Blighter?", you should also ask "why Blackguards?" and "why Ur-Priests?". It is a character with a clear goal baked in from the start, which can help roleplaying. It works great in an evil campaign, as it would naturally be opposed by Druids and Rangers, which might not be so antagonistic to a Golgari-style Druid. They might be advocates of industrialisation and technological progress, uncaring for the environment (hello Saruman).

Plus, any Druid can see death as part of the natural cycle (although their spell list doesn't really support that). But none of them would take an active hand in destroying and killing the natural world.

[Nifft]

I always lean more towards a druid variant or just turning blighter into a 20 level base class since the fluff behind blighter doesn't really seem to work. It is supposed to be the anti-druid version of blackguard, however, the fluff for blackguard actually makes sense.

Standard paladin starting becoming disenchanted with Lawful Stupid after understanding how the world works. Then evil demon or devil uses that bit of questioning to send him down the dark path. That makes sense and works well.

Druid suddenly gives up on nature and decides it is better to burn it all down? Ya no not seeing the leap there, however, crazy druid-esc sect bent on destroying nature seems reasonable. If I wasn't about to go on a trip I would create one of each, will see if I have time once I get back. I already have some homebrew stuff for review sitting in the wings... Yeah, the fallen Paladin who becomes a Dark Knight is a well-trod trope. The disillusioned hippie who becomes an undead activist ... isn't.

IMHO if your Druid loses her groove, she might become a champion for civilization, or for an extreme alignment -- LG would be one shining example, under which a lapsed Druid might become a Paladin equivalent, realizing that the greatest good is actually Good and not any kind of neutrality.


I do agree that Blighter could probably function better as a base class rather than a Prestige Class. I also reiterate my idea that it should get "Turn/Destroy Plants" rather than Rebuke Undead. Just imagine the Blighter calling forth the power of decay and making a Treant wither away in a few seconds, or instil dread and terror on a cadre of Dryads. It fits perfectly.

The concept of a fallen Paladin works: they get turned away from the path of Good and embrace Evil. Ur-priest is either a Cleric who turned disillusioned with the gods, or a staunch anti-theist from day one. The idea that a fallen Druid would develop an intense hatred of nature to the point of wishing to destroy it all is a bit... different.

Devils and Demons and other evil entities are obviously on the look-out to make Paladins fall. But who exactly is going around corrupting Druids? I guess there must be some nature-hating deity somewhere.

Now, as to why Blighter (meaning an anti-Druid) could be an interesting character concept, and why it shouldn't be a "Death is part of nature" type of character: For one, it's fun to play an opposite; if you're asking "why Blighter?", you should also ask "why Blackguards?" and "why Ur-Priests?". It is a character with a clear goal baked in from the start, which can help roleplaying. It works great in an evil campaign, as it would naturally be opposed by Druids and Rangers, which might not be so antagonistic to a Golgari-style Druid. They might be advocates of industrialisation and technological progress, uncaring for the environment (hello Saruman).

Plus, any Druid can see death as part of the natural cycle (although their spell list doesn't really support that). But none of them would take an active hand in destroying and killing the natural world.

Hmm, here's one possibility.

Druids are focused on the Elements: elemental magic, summoning elementals, turning into one at high levels.

Negative Energy is kinda sorta an Elemental plane.

Maybe some Druids delve too deep into the lower-inner planes and become interested in this "natural" energy source, which is not fundamentally different than fire or radiance. I mean really, we have nocturnal animals, they're still natural. We have parasites, they're natural. We have fungus, that's a natural thing. Diseases are natural. Why not the children of the Negative Energy plane?

These Nega-Druids might focus on "natural" undead like Shadows & Ghosts, up to Nightwalkers. Maybe they have a smaller number of undead companions which are (flavor-wise) their "natural" undead companion ghosts animating some unused bodies -- so they'd get a mechanical limit which is different from a traditional Necromancer, and more like a regular Druid except with an undead Animal Companion.

[liquidformat]

I do agree that Blighter could probably function better as a base class rather than a Prestige Class. I also reiterate my idea that it should get "Turn/Destroy Plants" rather than Rebuke Undead. Just imagine the Blighter calling forth the power of decay and making a Treant wither away in a few seconds, or instil dread and terror on a cadre of Dryads. It fits perfectly.

The concept of a fallen Paladin works: they get turned away from the path of Good and embrace Evil. Ur-priest is either a Cleric who turned disillusioned with the gods, or a staunch anti-theist from day one. The idea that a fallen Druid would develop an intense hatred of nature to the point of wishing to destroy it all is a bit... different.

Devils and Demons and other evil entities are obviously on the look-out to make Paladins fall. But who exactly is going around corrupting Druids? I guess there must be some nature-hating deity somewhere.

Now, as to why Blighter (meaning an anti-Druid) could be an interesting character concept, and why it shouldn't be a "Death is part of nature" type of character: For one, it's fun to play an opposite; if you're asking "why Blighter?", you should also ask "why Blackguards?" and "why Ur-Priests?". It is a character with a clear goal baked in from the start, which can help roleplaying. It works great in an evil campaign, as it would naturally be opposed by Druids and Rangers, which might not be so antagonistic to a Golgari-style Druid. They might be advocates of industrialisation and technological progress, uncaring for the environment (hello Saruman).

Plus, any Druid can see death as part of the natural cycle (although their spell list doesn't really support that). But none of them would take an active hand in destroying and killing the natural world.

I wasn't trying to say blighters don't make sense at all or aren't an interesting concept it is just a confusing one as to how the druid falls like that. I can understand if they were blighters from day one but not the jumping into blighter from druid...

[Ellrin]

I wasn't trying to say blighters don't make sense at all or aren't an interesting concept it is just a confusing one as to how the druid falls like that. I can understand if they were blighters from day one but not the jumping into blighter from druid...

If I were going to play a blighter, I'd probably fluff it as disillusionment with the concept of the druid in general, rather than straight-up nature hating. Someone who sees the druid orders themselves as an unnatural influence on the world, perhaps, and who embraces death and decay to fight against the influence of the druids.

[Albions_Angel]

They can also become disillusioned with the concept of druidry in the same way a black guard will with Lawful Good.

Becoming a druid is probably very hard. You swear off a lot of the things that make it easy to live in a high fantasy medieval world (metal armour, city life, etc) BEFORE you get access to all the other stuff that makes it even easier (spell casting). A fair number of acolytes and level 1 druids probably get eaten by their own animal companion, some other animal, or simply die defending the forest from goblins or dwarfs.

Low and mid level druids probably drop off fairly often from accidents while in wild shape, or pissing off an elemental.

The high level druids are busy holding the planes together, and probably love nature so much that the majority of them are hermits.

A young druid could see his friends dying, or failing to defend the forest. Its a never ending battle for the druids. But for the people threatening nature, its not a battle. Its just natural expansion by humanoids. And he could think "this is insane. Why am I stuck here defending this place?" Some will walk away when they think that. Some will take a more active role (hello Druidic Avenger) in the "fight". Others may see the whole thing as totally pointless and dangerous and grow resentful of their teachers. Sure, its not common, but its a fantasy trope at least. "Stuff this, Im tired of listening to the arch druid. Im going to burn it all down!"

I think a bigger question is why do they get powers? Why, once they have "fallen" dont they lose all their druid stuff totally. What grants them their abilities.

Well. Perhaps to the world, to the elementals, these blighters are the druid equivalent of a wild fire or a volcano. Rare, dangerous, potentially deadly. But in the long run, they clear the way for "new growth". They clear out the "dead wood" in the druid circles. They encourage new "seedlings" to "propagate" and become druids. So as long as there arnt too many at once, let them keep their powers rather than cutting them off (which presumably the elementals and the earth are capable of doing). After all, even if the blighters spread across the globe and kill everything they can see, the planet has probably survived worse, and within a generation, the blighters will be dead, but the earth is still there. And a single seed probably survived.

[liquidformat]

They can also become disillusioned with the concept of druidry in the same way a black guard will with Lawful Good.

Becoming a druid is probably very hard. You swear off a lot of the things that make it easy to live in a high fantasy medieval world (metal armour, city life, etc) BEFORE you get access to all the other stuff that makes it even easier (spell casting). A fair number of acolytes and level 1 druids probably get eaten by their own animal companion, some other animal, or simply die defending the forest from goblins or dwarfs.

Low and mid level druids probably drop off fairly often from accidents while in wild shape, or pissing off an elemental.

The high level druids are busy holding the planes together, and probably love nature so much that the majority of them are hermits.

A young druid could see his friends dying, or failing to defend the forest. Its a never ending battle for the druids. But for the people threatening nature, its not a battle. Its just natural expansion by humanoids. And he could think "this is insane. Why am I stuck here defending this place?" Some will walk away when they think that. Some will take a more active role (hello Druidic Avenger) in the "fight". Others may see the whole thing as totally pointless and dangerous and grow resentful of their teachers. Sure, its not common, but its a fantasy trope at least. "Stuff this, Im tired of listening to the arch druid. Im going to burn it all down!"

I think a bigger question is why do they get powers? Why, once they have "fallen" dont they lose all their druid stuff totally. What grants them their abilities.

Well. Perhaps to the world, to the elementals, these blighters are the druid equivalent of a wild fire or a volcano. Rare, dangerous, potentially deadly. But in the long run, they clear the way for "new growth". They clear out the "dead wood" in the druid circles. They encourage new "seedlings" to "propagate" and become druids. So as long as there arnt too many at once, let them keep their powers rather than cutting them off (which presumably the elementals and the earth are capable of doing). After all, even if the blighters spread across the globe and kill everything they can see, the planet has probably survived worse, and within a generation, the blighters will be dead, but the earth is still there. And a single seed probably survived.

First, druids don't have to give up city life, there actually isn't such a requirement anywhere inside the druid class, the only requirement is no metal armor but confusingly metal weapons are still ok... I would in fact say that druids would actually be most successful as a group when they embrace civilization and work within the confines of civilization with the goal of civilization not negatively effecting nature. Also why are you hating on dwarves and goblins there neither are inherent enemies of nature like undead or aberrations...

Your argument actually hits the nail on the head of the wierdness of blighters, which is where are their powers coming from when they fall. The base class is clear that you should be loosing all class features when you fall as a druid. So what is ring the blighters, Black Guards are being powered by demons, devils, and perhaps evil gods but there is nothing expressly powering the anti druid blighter.

In this I think Nifft makes an interesting point. A big part of being a druid is understanding the elemental planes and magic so it stands to reason that the blighters would be druids who are corrupted by the influence of negative energy/negative energy plane. It also explains the abilities they are given quite well.

In the end I think you could interestingly have both a blighter prc and an antidruid class, kind of the difference between paladin of tyranny/slaughter and blackguard and it could work out well.