Alternate Flavor Druids

[Nagog]

Howdy folks!

So I'm attempting to build a character that is a druid, but I do not care in the slightest for the Nature flavor enforcement, particularly when Nature Clerics are such appealing and more effective alternatives. I've considered attempting a Warlock/Druid multiclass to cultivate a Shamanistic feel, but the more I've contemplated that, the more I realize the Druid half is completely outshined by Warlock, to the point the flavor comes across in a full Warlock build more than the multiclass would.

What are some good non-nature flavors that could work for a Druid? What subclasses (excluding Moon, which I personally don't care for mechanically) work well, and in what roles? Druid is one of the few classes I have yet to play straight, and the only class I'm struggling to find an appealing flavor to play it in.

[ImproperJustice]

Trying to wrap my mind around what you are asking.

Are you asking for ways to “refluff” Druid abilities so they seem less nature based?


Or just looking for some interesting ways to play a Druid?

Like making an Urban Druid, or a Squirrel Druid, or an elemental caster or some such?

[Nagog]

Trying to wrap my mind around what you are asking.

Are you asking for ways to “refluff” Druid abilities so they seem less nature based?


Or just looking for some interesting ways to play a Druid?

Like making an Urban Druid, or a Squirrel Druid, or an elemental caster or some such?

Yes, exactly. I would like to play a Druid, but without all the nature fluff. My initial idea was a Shaman of sorts in a similar vein to Dr. Midnight of DC Comics or Shadowman from Disney's Princess and the Frog, but I'm not married to that idea.

[DerficusRex]

In terms of subclass choices, go Circle of Dreams and lean heavily into the fey aspect? Or Land druid with Underdark terrain? If UA is on the table, you could check out Circle of Stars.

Any of those could go in a less "trees and beasts" direction.

[Nagog]

In terms of subclass choices, go Circle of Dreams and lean heavily into the fey aspect? Or Land druid with Underdark terrain? If UA is on the table, you could check out Circle of Stars.

Any of those could go in a less "trees and beasts" direction.

Circle of Stars seems interesting, I do like the feel of that. I'm also concerned about the spell list, however. So much of it is beast and tree themed, is there any sort of blanket refluff that wouldn't change the way the spells work?

[Trustypeaches]

Druids make good witches and shamans. I’ve DM’d for a Druid who themed his magic as blood magic, similar to the “Druidism” practiced by elves in the Dragon Age games.

For an upcoming Ghosts of Saltmarsh campaign, I’m considering playing a Circle of Stars Druid with heavy Eldritch theming.

[RedMage125]

In Eberron, one of the suggestions for Mark of Handling Humans is that all your druid powers are an extension of your dragonmark. So such a character would use their powers over nature to command and control nature for the profit and benefit of their House, instead of as some kind of religious fervor.

Even if you're not playing Eberron, that might spark some kind of idea.

[Luccan]

You could refluff Spore as a necromancer prodigy. Or a transmuter who is beginning to perfect "soul transmutation" (and thus is able to create undead, while still explaining the Wild Shape).

The problem is, unless you just never use Wild Shape, there's not really a lot of getting away from the nature theme. Maybe play the Wild Shape off as a controlled case of lycanthropy: pick a diverse or easily re-applied animal (for when no appropriate options exist) and turn into that exclusively. Not as versatile, but gets rid of the biggest Nature factor. Your magical skill then comes from researching ways to control the transformation and learning a lot along the way. Take Arcana.

Many of your spells are still nature themed, but clever selection should get you part way there.

[Christew]

I do not care in the slightest for the Nature flavor enforcement.
A nature theme is as core to the concept of a druid as it is to a ranger. Not really sure why you are looking at druid as a class if you are not interested in its overall flavor. Wizard/Fighter (raw), Druid/Ranger (nature), and Cleric/Paladin (religion) exist to allow you to pick the caster/martial character that interests you thematically.


Nature Clerics are such appealing and more effective alternatives.
This is an extremely subjective claim. If Nature clerics are more appealing to you, great -- play one. As to effective, I'm pretty sure a Moon druid will mop the floor with a Nature cleric in most spheres and tiers of play. Per previous, Nature Cleric exists specifically to address players that like the nature thematics of druid but prefer a cleric chassis.


I've considered attempting a Warlock/Druid multiclass to cultivate a Shamanistic feel, but the more I've contemplated that, the more I realize the Druid half is completely outshined by Warlock, to the point the flavor comes across in a full Warlock build more than the multiclass would.
Warlock/Druid is a pretty terrible multiclass combination from an optimization perspective due to its MADness. From a flavor perspective, it could be pretty cool. You will need to provide a more detailed definition of how you are using "Shamanistic" if you want feedback on this claim because Druid is THE class used to create shaman (tribal animist caster) characters in the game writ large.


What are some good non-nature flavors that could work for a Druid? What subclasses (excluding Moon, which I personally don't care for mechanically) work well, and in what roles?
There are no non-nature Druid flavors because Nature (specifically in the form of the plant/animal and elemental foci of its spell list) flavor is intrinsic to the class. An urban druid (that focuses on stone manipulation, specific animal forms, etc) or a druid that focuses more on the charm, summoning, or other aspects of the class can be built, but they will all have a nature underpinning due to the base class features. Again, describe what (in detail) you dislike about the Moon druid in order to get functional feedback (it is usually considered the strongest subclass). The many subclasses all work fine in a variety of roles (this is 5e, it is almost impossible to build a character that doesn't "work well").
• Dreams - Fey Healer
• Moon - Shapechanger Semi-Tank
• Land - Nature Caster
• Shepherd - Buff Summoner
• Spores - Poison Striker/Debuffer
• Stars (UA) - Fate Versatile
• Twilight (UA) - Undead Hunter
• Wildfire (UA) - Pyro Caster


I'm struggling to find an appealing flavor to play it in.
This is what we in the biz call a you problem. Druid is a really solid class chassis that has varied subclasses that can support most playstyles and almost any (admittedly at least tangentially nature based) flavor.

A personal favorite was Burglekutt - a mad hermit goblin Moon (Dino) Druid with an allosaurus (Alice) for a wife who would alternatively summon cloud's of velociraptors, turn into an earth elemental that could shoot rays of fire, or mass heal the party back into action. He was designed as a goofy thematic build, but ended up being the most powerful member of the party by far thanks to the intense versatility of the druid class.

[micahaphone]

Build an interesting archfey warlock and use the mechanics of a druid?

Either way you're getting strange and wonderful powers from a capricious fey of some degree, and if the learned powers are long rest based and include turning into an animal, who's gonna go back to an archfey and request a refund?

Even if your character has zero connection to nature, the thorny vines and other plant/animal spells make sense, as your character is borrowing an aspect of the fey wild and temporarily shifting it into the material plane.

[mythmonster2]

Land Druid can pretty much just be played as a wizard or sorcerer. The spells can always be refluffed. Spike Growth isn't creating prickly vines on the ground; it's creating magical caltrops. Entangle isn't plants rising up to restrain your enemies; it's chains and manacles binding them in place. Dreams offers a connection to the fey instead of "real" nature, or it can be a healing-focused cleric type. Shepherd's a bit harder, since it's mostly about summoning, but you could focus on summoning fey and elementals instead of beasts. Flavorwise, you can go with a more shamanic totem feel for that. Spores works easily as a necromancer or a general negative energy-based caster, since it mostly deals necrotic damage. Plus, it gives you a use for those wild shape uses that might otherwise go to waste.

For the UA ones, Twilight could potentially even be fluffed as a paladin-esque character, devoted to wiping out the undead wherever they harm the innocent. Wildfire's a clear pyromancer, with an elemental buddy that you summon. And Stars flavorwise could work well as an oracle/seer type of character, though it depends on if you consider beseeching the stars to be too nature-y.

There's some things that can't be escaped: wild shape uses are going to exist, unless you take a subclass that gives you alternate uses for that. You'll have more spells that deal with animals and plants and less other spells than other casters. But that's just what happens when you try to ignore a class's main flavor.

[ImproperJustice]

I once made a Celtic, Viking sort of Druid with the Arctic Land Circle who mostly just used ice magic, and functioned more as an elemental caster.

There is also the option from one lf the UA that lets you swap Wild Shape for Find Families so there is that.

[da newt]

If it's the nature loving, tree-hugging granola hippie 'I am the Lorax - I speak for the trees' vibe that you are trying to avoid, you could always re-flavor as more of a beast master / circus lion tamer type vibe where all of the creatures are your's to command, to use like the tools that they are to do your bidding, with no care to the effect on them because they are inferior to you in every way ...

Or change everything from animal/plans into a stone or metal version - like constructs or what ever. Rather than summoning 8 wolves - summon 8 wolf robots, or 8 undead wolves, 8 wolves made of ice, etc. As long as the stat blocks stay the same, feel free to reskin everything to suit your fancy.

[Telok]

You can take the warlock fluff and put it on top of the druid mechanics. That works for basically any class since the nature of the warlock pact leaves the precise nature of possible patrons so open.

[Addaran]

If you don't like the hippie nature loving fluff, you could play a character that stole the secrets of druid magic and use it for his own gain. Either through torture or mind control. Now he forcefully take nature's energy to cast spells. Of course, every druids would see you as an aberration that's corrupting everything druid magic stands for.

[Nhym]

Apothecary, Agricultural Director, Naturalist, Nature Priest, Animal Spy, Tribal Native, Disney Princess, Shaman, Elemental Mage, Bender, Beastmaster, Survivalist, Werewolf, Descendant of the Fey, Eco Terrorist, Sailor that’s a little too “one with the sea”, Farmer, City Druid that cares for strays, Veterinarian, Circus Animal Tamer

[patchyman]

1) Race : Dwarf.
Subclass: Land (Mountain).
Spells: lean heavily on the earth spells in Xanathar’s.
Concept: Chosen of Moradin. Your character is a priest/sorcerer of the Dwarf Clans as demonstrated by his mastery over stone, the purest of elements.
Armor restriction: this is where it gets really fun, since Lawful Dwarves are exactly the type of person who would make a wide-ranging vow and stick to it.
a) My clan was slaughtered by the Blacktooth Orc tribe and I vowed I would not wear metal armor until every last Blacktooth orc was eliminated!
b) Centuries ago, the priestly caste led a revolt against the lawful dwarven kings. The revolt was defeated, but since then, Chosen of Moradin are not permitted to wear metal armor.

2) Race: Any
Subclass: Land (Underdark)
Background: Artisan (Weaver)
Wildshape: Any Spider
Spells: Thorn Whip (spider webbing), Primal Savagery or Poison Spray (spider head), Entangle, Spider Climb, Web
Concept: Disciple of Anansi
Let me tell you a story about where the wild things are...
If you are Human, you can pick up Prodigy so you are trained with a Poisoner’s kits.

[Garfunion]

I would definitely go with Circle of Spores, it provides an alternative use of wild shape and can easily be re-fluffed to be more warlock-ish.

[Man_Over_Game]

I've always liked the idea of a Druid that considers civilization and humanity as the ultimate form of evolution and growth.

Fools encourage "fighting fair". The jungle does not "fight fair". You fight tooth-and-nail to get every advantage you can, and who else is able to change, adapt, and evolve to become the perfect being? No creature in the wilds does that.

This Druid follows the same concept as the Conquest Paladin. Those who aren't relevant don't deserve an opinion, but commitment and coordination can change that. So they control plants, earth, beasts, around them as both as a form of dominance, but also as a means of creating meaning for the "lesser" powers of the world.

[micahaphone]

I've always liked the idea of a Druid that considers civilization and humanity as the ultimate form of evolution and growth.

Fools encourage "fighting fair". The jungle does not "fight fair". You fight tooth-and-nail to get every advantage you can, and who else is able to change, adapt, and evolve to become the perfect being? No creature in the wilds does that.

This Druid follows the same concept as the Conquest Paladin. Those who aren't relevant don't deserve an opinion, but commitment and coordination can change that. So they control plants, earth, beasts, around them as both as a form of dominance, but also as a means of creating meaning for the "lesser" powers of the world.

That's a really cool character concept. Reminds me of cheesy fantasy interpretations of Darwin, like Dehaka from Starcraft. If I'm ever in a morally ambiguous campaign, I might have to play that. A toss up between your idea and An incredibly lawful LN Order Cleric.

[Evaar]

You can play it as a Wizard who just focuses more on magic involving elements, weather, plants, and animals. This might even be considered rare and challenging in arcane academic circles. Or it might be looked at as untrustworthy - after all, you're messing with the building blocks of life itself, this is powerful stuff. If you've seen Fullmetal Alchemist, it could be looked at like human alchemy.

I've mentioned previously that I have a concept for a Shepherd Druid that is essentially Newt Scamander from the Fantastic Beasts series; a wizard, but one who focuses on living beings and how best to understand and provide for them. You've got your Animagus abilities in Wild Shape, your Patronus in Spirit Totem, and then you just describe your spells and summons with a bit of arcane flair and you've done it; you're a Wizard, Harry.

[Helliquin]

Circle of the Witch

Witches are found throughout the Ramtops as local women who use their connection to the natural world to act as caretakers for a village or region. Few witches are evil, but most prefer to have their subjects fearful of them in order to maintain respect. Witches employ a philosophy called Headology, which states that what a person believes is real, is real.

Borrowing

When you choose this circle at 2nd level, instead of turning into an animal, you can borrow an animal's mind. As an action, you can cast locate animals or plants without using a spell slot. You then choose one affected beast that is not hostile to you. Instead of assuming the shape of the beast, you see through the beast's eyes and hear what it hears, and continue to do so until you use your bonus action to return to your normal senses, or until you have spent a number of hours equal to half your druid level, rounded down, seeing through the beast's eyes. While perceiving through the beast's senses, you gain the benefits of any special senses possessed by that creature. You may also cast suggestion on the beast at will for the duration. Your body is unconscious for the duration. If the animal dies while you are borrowing it then the effect ends early.

Circle Spells

Your mystical connection to the land infuses you with the ability to cast certain Spells. At 3rd, 5th, 7th, and 9th level you gain access to circle Spells connected to your training as a Witch.
Once you gain access to a circle spell, you always have it prepared, and it doesn’t count against the number of Spells you can prepare each day. If you gain access to a spell that doesn’t appear on the druid spell list, the spell is nonetheless a druid spell for you.

Druid Level Circle Spells
3rd hex, suggestion
5th bestow curse, fear
7th compulsion, dominate beast
9th dominate person, scrying

Headology

Starting at 6th level, whenever you cast a spell of 1st level or higher that restores hit points to a creature other than you, the the creature regains additional hit points equal to half your Charisma modifier, rounded up (minimum of 0). The save DC of any enchantment or illusion spell that you cast is increased by half your Charisma modifier, rounded up (minimum of 0).

Reputation

By 10th level, you have acquired a greater presence. You gain proficiency in Charisma saving throws, and you gain proficiency in any two Charisma-based skills. If you already have proficiency in that skill, your proficiency bonus is doubled for that skill.

Untouchable

Beginning at 14th level, your reputation precedes you. At the end of a Long Rest, you gain the effect of a sanctuary spell that lasts until the start of your next Long Rest (the spell can end early as normal). The saving throw DC for the spell equals 8 + your Charisma modifier + your proficiency bonus.

[Fable Wright]

You want Princess and the Frog style? Done. Everything is dark fey.

You think you summon animals? No, you're summoning fey spirits in the shape of animals. They might be shadows in the shape of wolves or pseudonatural abominations, but they use the wolf stat block.

Your Entangle? Toss a pincushion in the air, and needles fly into everyone's shadows.

Plant Growth? Speak with your DM, but you could have ancient spirits rise from buried bones within the earth to harass your foes. Doesn't work where there isn't fertile soil, not because nature, but because nothing has been buried there.

Wild shape? You're literally stealing an animal's skin and wearing it like a cloak. It's not nature themed, it's theft pure and simple.

[Nagog]

A nature theme is as core to the concept of a druid as it is to a ranger. Not really sure why you are looking at druid as a class if you are not interested in its overall flavor. Wizard/Fighter (raw), Druid/Ranger (nature), and Cleric/Paladin (religion) exist to allow you to pick the caster/martial character that interests you thematically.


Ranger has the same Nature basis as a Paladin has Deity basis. It's an easy road, but it's assuredly not mandatory. In 5e, Paladins specifically had their enforced flavor toned down from previous versions (no more mandatory alignments), and even Clerics are not mandated to have a God, simply an otherworldly entity, similar and yet distinct from Warlocks.
Druids, however, have flavor enforcement built into the core chassis of the class, which is why the only subclass anywhere near optimized is Moon Druid, and even then it's a half-decent way to fill a role that shuts down many of your other capacities. I'm looking for a way to strip the Druid class down to it's base mechanics and restructure it in a way that is new and refreshing, building a character that doesn't immediately scream "Druid", but has character first and mechanics second. As is, 99% of the time you can spot a druid a mile away, either from wooden armor, heavy reliance on Wild Shape, and generally the color green. I'm trying to break that steryotype.



This is an extremely subjective claim. If Nature clerics are more appealing to you, great -- play one. As to effective, I'm pretty sure a Moon druid will mop the floor with a Nature cleric in most spheres and tiers of play. Per previous, Nature Cleric exists specifically to address players that like the nature thematics of druid but prefer a cleric chassis.


Here are a few points backing that claim:
Cleric's spell lists are far more versatile and expansive than Druids, allowing for a far more diverse choice of playstyles
Armor proficiency. As a cleric, there is no need to beg the DM to bend over backwards to give you armor that isn't metal. To that end, your AC as a Nature Cleric is likely to be much higher than that of a Moon Druid, and with a combination of self-healing and higher AC, could likely out-tank said Moon Druid, and still be free to cast spells while doing it.
Channel Divinity: For Nature Clerics, essentially casting a Charm spell on every plant and animal in a wide radius is often far better than summoning them, and in a Cleric vs. Druid matchup, will easily turn the tide in favor of the Cleric, particularly against a Shepherd Druid. Against a Moon Druid, it's a free Charm spell against them.



Warlock/Druid is a pretty terrible multiclass combination from an optimization perspective due to its MADness. From a flavor perspective, it could be pretty cool. You will need to provide a more detailed definition of how you are using "Shamanistic" if you want feedback on this claim because Druid is THE class used to create shaman (tribal animist caster) characters in the game writ large.


I provided a few sources and characters who had similar fluff. I agree that the concept has great potential, and Hexblade or Shillelagh quickly brings the Ability Scores it's dependent on down to 2, which is really good compared to many other classes that span both Melee and Casting.



There are no non-nature Druid flavors because Nature (specifically in the form of the plant/animal and elemental foci of its spell list) flavor is intrinsic to the class. An urban druid (that focuses on stone manipulation, specific animal forms, etc) or a druid that focuses more on the charm, summoning, or other aspects of the class can be built, but they will all have a nature underpinning due to the base class features. Again, describe what (in detail) you dislike about the Moon druid in order to get functional feedback (it is usually considered the strongest subclass). The many subclasses all work fine in a variety of roles (this is 5e, it is almost impossible to build a character that doesn't "work well").
• Dreams - Fey Healer
• Moon - Shapechanger Semi-Tank
• Land - Nature Caster
• Shepherd - Buff Summoner
• Spores - Poison Striker/Debuffer
• Stars (UA) - Fate Versatile
• Twilight (UA) - Undead Hunter
• Wildfire (UA) - Pyro Caster


That's what I'm getting at. Flavor Enforcement is easily the worst aspect for me to find in any RPG, as it heavily limits the creative powers I, as a player, have to creating the character.



This is what we in the biz call a you problem.


Um... that's why I'm here? For help? If you don't wan't to help, why are you here? Not to be rude, but if you're just here to reiterate there is a problem and that I'm stupid for trying to find a solution, why waste the time responding?



Druid is a really solid class chassis that has varied subclasses that can support most playstyles and almost any (admittedly at least tangentially nature based) flavor.

A personal favorite was Burglekutt - a mad hermit goblin Moon (Dino) Druid with an allosaurus (Alice) for a wife who would alternatively summon cloud's of velociraptors, turn into an earth elemental that could shoot rays of fire, or mass heal the party back into action. He was designed as a goofy thematic build, but ended up being the most powerful member of the party by far thanks to the intense versatility of the druid class.

I agree the Druid class as a base chassis has lots of potential (Past Wild Shape, it's restrictions and weakness compared to Polymorph, to the point a whole subclass was built to buff it and it's still outclassed by a spell, but that's beside the point), that's why I want to play it. As I stated previously, I absolutely loathe flavor enforcement, and dislike the Nature theme, hence the thread.


You want Princess and the Frog style? Done. Everything is dark fey.

You think you summon animals? No, you're summoning fey spirits in the shape of animals. They might be shadows in the shape of wolves or pseudonatural abominations, but they use the wolf stat block.

Your Entangle? Toss a pincushion in the air, and needles fly into everyone's shadows.

Plant Growth? Speak with your DM, but you could have ancient spirits rise from buried bones within the earth to harass your foes. Doesn't work where there isn't fertile soil, not because nature, but because nothing has been buried there.

Wild shape? You're literally stealing an animal's skin and wearing it like a cloak. It's not nature themed, it's theft pure and simple.

I do like this idea, I may combine it with Circle of Stars and sidestep Wild Shape entirely. Great suggestion!

[Captain Panda]

Howdy folks!
What are some good non-nature flavors that could work for a Druid? What subclasses (excluding Moon, which I personally don't care for mechanically) work well, and in what roles? Druid is one of the few classes I have yet to play straight, and the only class I'm struggling to find an appealing flavor to play it in.

You could fluff yourself as an elementalist or shaman easily enough. The druid spell list serves that very well, just skip the 'speak with shrubbery' spells and prepare the fire/lightning/storm spells and you're all set!

[Christew]

Okay. Before I get into specific responses, I feel that we should draw some clear lines on definitions to avoid further circular discussion. Flavor seems to be your sticking point. To me, flavor is a combination of fluff (how a player chooses to describe their character/actions) and mechanics (the class abilities and spell list of a given character). The fundamental problem of your question as originally asked is that it is unclear what you are looking for (as pointed out by the first response in this thread.

Trying to wrap my mind around what you are asking.

Are you asking for ways to “refluff” Druid abilities so they seem less nature based?

Or just looking for some interesting ways to play a Druid? You responding "Yes" to an either/or question does nothing to fix this clarity issue.


Ranger has the same Nature basis as a Paladin has Deity basis. It's an easy road, but it's assuredly not mandatory. In 5e, Paladins specifically had their enforced flavor toned down from previous versions (no more mandatory alignments), and even Clerics are not mandated to have a God, simply an otherworldly entity, similar and yet distinct from Warlocks.
Druids, however, have flavor enforcement built into the core chassis of the class, which is why the only subclass anywhere near optimized is Moon Druid, and even then it's a half-decent way to fill a role that shuts down many of your other capacities .... As is, 99% of the time you can spot a druid a mile away, either from wooden armor, heavy reliance on Wild Shape, and generally the color green. I'm trying to break that steryotype.
All classes have a degree of "flavor enforcement" built into them. Fluff-wise, you can do whatever you want with your character. Mechanics-wise though, the class abilities and/or spell list of a given class are immutable (unless you are homebrewing). A cleric may not need to be an evangelist of their given deity (fluff), but they do need a holy symbol to cast their spells and those spells have a heavy reliance on healing, protection, and anti-fiend/undead (mechanics). A wizard may not need to be a robe, pointy hat, and staff wielding graybeard (a la Gandalf or Fizban), but they do need a spellbook to cast their spells and those spells have a heavy reliance on elemental damage, battlefield control, etc. Every class has fluff (which is your purview and playground as a creative player) and class mechanics (that are determined by the rules and have an inevitable effect on overall flavor), druid is no more guilty of having "flavor enforcement" than any other PHB class. I would argue that any given class can be readily identified by your rules here:
1) wooden armor - Equipment: a simple flow chart showing access to armor and weapon proficiency alone will get you a pretty small guessing pool.
2) heavy reliance on Wild Shape - Class Ability: I'm not sure what world you are in that "99% of the time" you see a character use an intrinsic class ability from "a mile away," but you could replace Wild Shape with Rage, Bardic Inspiration, Channel Divinity, Action Surge, Unarmed Attack, Divine Smite, Favored Enemy, Sneak Attack, Metamagic, Invocations, or Arcane Recovery. Oops, almost seems like the entire PHB class list features a low-level class-specific "flavor-enforcing" ability.
3) the color green - Fluff: Don't wear green?


I'm looking for a way to strip the Druid class down to it's base mechanics and restructure it in a way that is new and refreshing, building a character that doesn't immediately scream "Druid", but has character first and mechanics second.
Okay, this is a clear and cogent description of what you are looking for. Unfortunately, "strip[ping] the Druid class down to it's (sic) base mechanics" yields little opportunity to escape Nature flavor.
Druid Mechanics:
- Hit Dice: 1d8: fairly meaty for a full caster -- no real flavor
- Armor: Light armor, medium armor, shields (druids will not wear armor or use shields made of metal): limited, but reasonable for a full caster -- metal ban is fairly *nature flavored*
- Weapons: Clubs, daggers, darts, javelins, maces, quarterstaffs, scimitars, sickles, slings, spears: limited, but reasonable for a full caster -- moderately agriculture/*nature flavored*
- Tools: Herbalism kit: kinda nice as class tool proficiency is pretty limited -- *nature flavored*
- Saving Throws: Intelligence, Wisdom: run of the mill full caster stuff -- no real flavor
- Skills: Choose two from Arcana, Animal Handling, Insight, Medicine, Nature, Perception, Religion, and Survival: has insight and perception, yay! -- moderately *nature flavored*
- Spellcasting: hard to get around for a full caster -- spell list is heavily *nature flavored*
- Wild Shape +Improvements: class specific defining ability -- heavily *nature flavored*
- Timeless Body: flavor text is vaguely nature thematic, but this largely a ribbon abilty -- no real flavor
- Beast Spells: arguably just another Wild Shape improvement -- heavily *nature flavored*
- Archdruid: arguably just another Wild Shape improvement -- heavily *nature flavored*
I'm not going to break down every single subclass similarly as they are widely varied in their approach, but their mechanics are largely *nature flavored*.

This gets us back to my original question. Why are you trying to use druid to accomplish your goal? You seem turned off by Wild Shape in general, and it is THE core Druid-specific class mechanic. You can easily refluff druid abilities to suit your aims, but if you refuse to build around Wild Shape you are going to be shooting your druid in the foot. Why not use a different class to achieve your concept?


Here are a few points backing that claim:
Cleric's spell lists are far more versatile and expansive than Druids, allowing for a far more diverse choice of playstyles
Armor proficiency. As a cleric, there is no need to beg the DM to bend over backwards to give you armor that isn't metal. To that end, your AC as a Nature Cleric is likely to be much higher than that of a Moon Druid, and with a combination of self-healing and higher AC, could likely out-tank said Moon Druid, and still be free to cast spells while doing it.
Channel Divinity: For Nature Clerics, essentially casting a Charm spell on every plant and animal in a wide radius is often far better than summoning them, and in a Cleric vs. Druid matchup, will easily turn the tide in favor of the Cleric, particularly against a Shepherd Druid. Against a Moon Druid, it's a free Charm spell against them.
Well, off the bat, that is a subjective claim being used to support another subjective claim. Both classes have long and varied spell lists and each list has particular strengths. If you prefer the cleric list that's cool, but it doesn't make the druid list less versatile or expansive.

As to AC, Barkskin gives you heavy armor level AC at low levels. An AC 16 Cleric in heavy armor and an AC 16 Druid with Barkskin are functionally similar (albeit with a spell cost for the druid). A Moon Druid in wildshape probably has lower AC, but also has a solid lump of HP that you have to work through and a stronger attack that you have to avoid (level 3 Bear shape lets a Moon Druid act like a level 5 fighter -- HP and multiattack). Taking a level 3 Nature Cleric vs a level 3 Moon Druid, yes you get to choose between casting or attacking, but in the meantime you are getting wailed on by a bear and IF you manage to kill it, it turns into a normal Druid with full HP. Hard to imagine that you took down a creature with higher HP and attacks without losing at least a few HP.

The channel divinity is only rarely better than summoning. I can summon wherever whenever, you can only charm if there are plants/animals present. As to using the charm on a Wildshaped druid in a 1v1 fight, it has Druid Wisdom and proficiency on WIS saves, so good luck. Even if successful, you can't damage the charmed creature without breaking the charm, so you basically just buy yourself a one minute breather before the bear turns on you anew.


I provided a few sources and characters who had similar fluff. I agree that the concept has great potential, and Hexblade or Shillelagh quickly brings the Ability Scores it's dependent on down to 2, which is really good compared to many other classes that span both Melee and Casting.
You refer to Dr. Midnight and Shadowman. Please correct me if I am wrong here, but :
Dr. Midnight is a blind guy with an owl buddy and uses shadow bombs and some kind of heat/cold weapon (also wears a *gasp* GREEN cape if I remember correctly) -- Sounds more like a pact of the chain Warlock than anything else. The Druid gets Darkvision, but no Darkness on its spell list, Fog Cloud could work in a pinch, but nothing about this guy says druid class abilities to me.
Shadowman is a conjurer and voodoo practitioner -- Warlock, Wizard, or Sorcerer seem a better fit than Druid.
We are going to keep circling back to the fluff/mechanics question here. You can totally wear a bone encrusted top hat and fluff your spells as friend/powder based or dress as a blind superhero with an owl buddy and fluff your spells as mechanical weapons, but you cannot escape the mechanics of the Druid spell list (which don't seem great for either of these thematic builds).

As to multiclassing ... well, not really. Hex Warrior and Shillelagh will only reduce your MADness as it relates to martial combat. A Druid primary MC that dumps WIS and uses CHA to hit in combat will be mediocre at melee and bad at half its spellcasting. A Warlock primary MC that dumps CHA and uses WIS to hit in combat will be mediocre at melee and bad at half its spellcasting. Your casting stat is important to your attack bonus and DCs with spells cast from that class list, so bad WIS would make your druid spells weak and bad CHA would make your warlock spells weak. You could conceivably pick spells from one class that don't require attacks or saves, but you are going to have to do some careful planning and probably gimp your character somewhat anyway.



That's what I'm getting at. Flavor Enforcement is easily the worst aspect for me to find in any RPG, as it heavily limits the creative powers I, as a player, have to creating the character.
Then you have a problem with the fundamental design of D&D. As pointed out earlier, flavor enforcement is intrinsic to the way that D&D does class design. There are a plethora of TTRPGs out there that have open-ended class-less character design systems, but D&D is not one of them. What you are asking here is tantamount to having bought chocolate cake mix and then complaining that chocolate limits your cake making creativity. Maybe just try baking from scratch i.e. use a different system?



Um... that's why I'm here? For help? If you don't wan't to help, why are you here? Not to be rude, but if you're just here to reiterate there is a problem and that I'm stupid for trying to find a solution, why waste the time responding?
I apologize if my advice is not reading helpful. I am here to discuss a particular aspect of 5e that I am knowledgeable about (druid) and hopefully provided some insight or assistance in getting you to playing the character that you want to. Maybe some spirited and enlightening debate along the way. My response is again pointing to the fluff/mechanic issue. I posit that your "struggle to find an appealing flavor" is either one of fluff - in which case let your imagination run wild based on any one of the recommendations provided in this thread - or one of mechanics - in which case Druid is never going to be what you want it to be unless you change the wild shape ability and the spell list at which point why are you playing a druid at all?



I agree the Druid class as a base chassis has lots of potential (Past Wild Shape, it's restrictions and weakness compared to Polymorph, to the point a whole subclass was built to buff it and it's still outclassed by a spell, but that's beside the point), that's why I want to play it. As I stated previously, I absolutely loathe flavor enforcement, and dislike the Nature theme, hence the thread.
I mean, Polymorph and Wild Shape are a high level spell and a low level scaling ability respectively. This is a faulty comparison on the order of Tenser's Transformation vs Extra Attack. While they accomplish similar effects, they are available at different levels, require different resource expenditures, and are useful in varying ways in varying circumstances.

What exactly is the potential that you are trying to mine? You dislike Wild Shape and you dislike the Nature theme -- arguably the two defining features of a druid in comparison to other spellcasters. Genuinely trying to be helpful, but nearly a full page into this tread I still don't really get what you want.

[ChildofLuthic]

You could probably get away by flavoring it as like a witch type. There's still nature involved there, but it's more about perverting nature and twisting it for your own aims. Goodberries become arcane fruits never meant to exist, shillelagh becomes your bone staff, even Wild Shape can be less nature-y and more affront-to-nature-y.