Looking for inspiration for a druid.

[Tekrow]

So, I want to play a druid(Specifically a Moon druid), but I'm not really a fan of the whole asocial hermit that leaves in the woods and hates civilization, so I was looking for inspiration about what kind of different druids you have played or seen played in your campaigns, or even fictional druids. Thanks!

[benchcoat]

1. Former zookeeper who decided the animals needed to be freed
2. Tarzan-style "raised by [animal]"
3. zoology academic doing "field research"
4. Watch the Skies! They're out there and they're coming here! (Circle of Stars)
5. Believes they are a polymorphed/awakened animal and are trying to find out which one, so wants to try on all the shapes

[Tekrow]

1. Former zookeeper who decided the animals needed to be freed
2. Tarzan-style "raised by [animal]"
3. zoology academic doing "field research"
4. Watch the Skies! They're out there and they're coming here! (Circle of Stars)
5. Believes they are a polymorphed/awakened animal and are trying to find out which one, so wants to try on all the shapes

I like that last one, could be interesting haha.

[Unoriginal]

Sorry if it's somewhat off-topic, but I think a Tomb Bombadil-inspired character could be quite fun for a Circle of Dream Druid.

Could be interesting with a Bard multiclass, but I never figured out how to combine the two interestingly.

[Sorinth]

Druids will usually fill the Shaman role of a more tribal culture. And there's the classic go out into the world and come back to lead the tribe after X route. Even in non-tribal cultures, Druids can fill the same role as clerics do so long as there is a respect/worship for nature in that society. So there's no need to be a hermit that lives in the woods.

You can straight up fluff them as Wizards, your "spellbook" is simply the whole druid spell list and wildshape is just a different sort kind of polymorph spell. They can also be easily fluffed as Sorcerers or Warlocks of a different stripe. It's pretty easy to imagine a Druid being a character that made a pact with a nature spirit for example.

Druids make good Witch characters, both the evil kind and the village wise woman/healer.

[Sigreid]

Street kid that learned by watching the animals of the city how to survive. Including being social because there's strength in numbers and if you assume every hand is against you, soon you'll make enemies of those who would have gladly been your friend.

[ImproperJustice]

Street kid that learned by watching the animals of the city how to survive. Including being social because there's strength in numbers and if you assume every hand is against you, soon you'll make enemies of those who would have gladly been your friend.

This. Had an Urchin Rat Druid of the Shepard in our group recently and he was great.

Could also be the chosen one of a farming community that seeks to embrace nature magic for prosperity’s sake, and finding the balance between feeding a community and minimizing local environmental impact. Maybe Druids in that community form a kind of respected and integrated position in the town.

“Here here! The town council will now hear motions from the Druid Union!”

[Mastikator]

Could be a member of a druid sect (so not a hermit) and on a quest to make peaceful relations with [insert campaign setting city here] (so not anti-civilization).

Could be a religious acolyte for the [insert nature deity/arch fey here].

Could be a tribal shaman

Could be gifted by a nature spirit and is otherwise literally a random whoever

[nickl_2000]

I played a Moon Druid who was a veterinarian and an anatomist. He lived as part of society and had healing powers that he used to take care of the animals on local farms. When you are in a society that depends on horses for travel, oxen for plowing fields, and animals for food having someone around who knows how to take care of animals is a valuable thing.

When an animal died, he would dissect it to learn about the inner workings and log it into his anatomy book. That anatomy book was also how he kept track of his Moon Druid forms that were available.

He was a obnoxious and awkward around people (low cha), but the locals put up with him because he seriously wanted to keep their animals alive

[Catullus64]

Merlin. Truthfully, the character has had so many differing interpretations, there isn't a spellcasting class he couldn't serve as fruitful inspiration for.

My personal default roleplaying for Druids is not as ascetic wilderness-dwelling hermits, but community religious and social leaders. They're especially fit for the role now that Tasha's has added Ceremony and Augury to their spell list.

[Burley]

I'm playing a Half-orc Moon Druid named Horatio Tumnus who was adopted by satyrs and raised in an enchanted party glade with nymphs and satyrs and the occasional wine-pong game with his deity Dionysus (Pan for all intents and purposes). Rather than be able to turn into any animal he's seen, he can turn into any animal he's partied with and gains consent from. So, he often have the social animal suite of spells prepared.

He's a weird character to play because, having grown up with satyrs, nymphs, faeries and fey elk, his morality is fluid to the point of "being cool with whatever's going on, man." He tries not to kill things, unless he has to, but when the party went into a Gnome Kingdom (of 14 inhabitants) and "accidently" killed one, he wildshaped into a dire boar to "dispose" of the body so they couldn't habeus that corpus. (The King was so goofy, he didn't even notice, but it came up a few sessions later that Horatio was tired of "cleaning up" the party's messes and they need to stop murdering everything.)

Anyway, my personal gaming style is to give myself silly little restrictions, like partying for wildshapes or my alchemist artificer who can't do magic so all his spells are alchemical potions. For me, limiting my spells or abilities or roleplay style with my backstory makes the game a little easier. I don't feel like I have to cover all the bases, or be optimized, like, at all. I just know what they can do and how, if at all, they can do more.

[Sigreid]

Merlin. Truthfully, the character has had so many differing interpretations, there isn't a spellcasting class he couldn't serve as fruitful inspiration for.

My personal default roleplaying for Druids is not as ascetic wilderness-dwelling hermits, but community religious and social leaders. They're especially fit for the role now that Tasha's has added Ceremony and Augury to their spell list.

Fun trivia: There is speculation that Merlin was actually a title and not an individual based on what has survived of oral traditions.

[Unoriginal]

Fun trivia: There is speculation that Merlin was actually a title and not an individual based on what has survived of oral traditions.

Do you have any link toward or title of works talking about this speculation?

The legend of Merlin is generally considered to have started as the legends of three separate, unrelated individuals amalgamating into one story before it took life on its own, but I've never heard anything about the idea that "Merlin" could be a title.

[Sigreid]

Do you have any link toward or title of works talking about this speculation?

The legend of Merlin is generally considered to have started as the legends of three separate, unrelated individuals amalgamating into one story before it took life on its own, but I've never heard anything about the idea that "Merlin" could be a title.

Sorry, I don't. I'm a bit of a Celtic mythology buff and came across that speculation in a couple of different books over the years. But, lots of their stuff was oral tradition only, eventually written down by Christian scholars who seem to have made it more palatable for their audience.

[da newt]

Getafix is the village druid in the Asterix series of 'graphic novels' I loved as a kid. He's more wise man and potion brewer / pharmacist. Definitely worth a google.

[Unoriginal]

Getafix is the village druid in the Asterix series of 'graphic novels' I loved as a kid. He's more wise man and potion brewer / pharmacist. Definitely worth a google.

He also got a great charadesign (like most of Asterix's characters, IMO).

Speaking of French media, there is also the Merlin from the French TV shows/movie "Kaamelott", which is a comedic take on the Arthurian Legend. As a result, Merlin is presented as a somewhat incompetent druid whose performance is made even worse by having the Round Table constantly demand he does wizard-style magic.

[Psyren]

I built a Warforged Moon Druid that was an inert construct left abandoned from a distant war. He was basically a gestalt entity possessed by the vengeful spirits of a bunch of animals and fey whose forest had been razed to the ground during a conflict they had no means of preventing, fleeing, or even understanding. They activated the Warforged's latent programming in order to seek and destroy the ones responsible. If you can imagine Ermac and Poison Ivy hooking up while The Terminator watches from the corner of the room... then you probably have a great future in erotic fanfiction :smalltongue:

It was a 5e conversion of my Warforged Totemist from a prior 3.5 campaign, and it worked surprisingly well in 5e where Warforged no longer have a Wis penalty.

[BW022]

So, I want to play a druid(Specifically a Moon druid), but I'm not really a fan of the whole asocial hermit that leaves in the woods and hates civilization, so I was looking for inspiration about what kind of different druids you have played or seen played in your campaigns, or even fictional druids. Thanks!

Lots of ideas...

1. Pick a nature God in your area. You are a worshipper, failed priest, or local village savior. Maybe you are into harvests, weather, storms, the sea, etc. Take on aspects or their worship. My 3.5 druid was a 'survival of the fittest' druid into hunting. Wouldn't do anything for anyone they couldn't do for themselves.

2. Pick a different terrain. Think arctic, mountains, dessert, ocean, etc. Heck, some urban druid. Think hunts caribou, a miner, fisherman, or rat catcher.

3. Depending on the campaign, add aspects of historical non-European nature. Think Pacific North west Native Americans, Mongolian horsemen, or South American religions. Animal spirits or a nomadic tribal culture.

4. Base your backstory heavily on race. Elves, dwarves, or a half-orc druid would have radically different views. Maybe you were the son of an gardener/forest warden at for an elven noble who got kicked out because you dared fall in love with his daughter. Maybe you are a half-orc whose father is a ruthless orc tribe leader and your goal is to kill him. Strong racial or personal backgrounds make your class secondary.

5. You weren't a druid but something happened to make you one. Trapped on an ice flow and saved by a polar bear, family fled a civil war and were taken in by a druid. Maybe you are trying to prove to the druid circle that you should be a member. Maybe as a child you stumbled into a portal to the Beastlands. Maybe you are trying to get back or you sleep each night as an animal to have dreams of the place.

6. Some moon ties. Astronomy God or teacher, your master was into tides or something, into animal spirits, into lycanthropes (maybe a good one or trained to fight evil ones). Maybe you are a seer-type one into divinations or sees hidden meaning. Pull up moon charts for your campaign and refuse to work on certain days, travel in certain directions based on the moon cycle, or must use certain forms, etc.

7. You are part of some larger organization. Say a druid circle who isn't remote, or part of a large country fighting a foe and trained to fight in some remote area. Or a spy for the druids. Or sent to spy on the druids and your organization was destroyed.

8. Family ties. Or your super rich family owned the druids and sent you as payment, you returned to take your place as head of the family, but they don't want you. Or your family were part of a group of refugees taken in by druids and you want to help fight the injustice which caused your family to become refugees.

9. You aren't really a druid, but some self-trained/blessed person used to the wilderness or works with animals. I had a character who was a sheppardess who spend days out in the fields with her trusted sheepdog chasing off worlds. She went adventuring since her father was trying to marry her off to save his lands. Try variations of professions which have you out in the woods. Maybe your father was a werebear but you weren't infected, but you are drawn to the moon.

10. Work up your background. Soldier, sailor, noble, knight, etc. would completely turn the classic druid on its head. Maybe you are a noble sworn to protect a bog, because it holds some dark secret which would ruin your family. Or maybe you are a sailor whose wife was turned into a dolphin by an evil hag and you took up studying as a druid to find a cure -- or just be with her.

There are no end of options.

[Naanomi]

Moon druids can be made into unparalleled perception machines... Be a noir gumshoe private eye; a literal 'bloodhound'

[Bobthewizard]

I play a moon druid who was bitten by a werewolf as a child. A druid mostly cured the lycanthropy but left her with the ability to shape change and access druidic magic. She was disowned by her family out of fear, grew up on the streets, and eventually made a living as a monster hunter, picking up bounties for hunting things that go bump in the night.

[Psyren]

I play a moon druid who was bitten by a werewolf as a child. A druid mostly cured the lycanthropy but left her with the ability to shape change and access druidic magic. She was disowned by her family out of fear, grew up on the streets, and eventually made a living as a monster hunter, picking up bounties for hunting things that go bump in the night.

One of my Beast Barbarians had a similar backstory :smallbiggrin:

[JLandan]

A group I played in had a changeling Druid. He had no natural form. And he was literally from the moon.

The DM allowed him to use his racial trait while wildshaped to be the same animal but appear different. Like a blue bear, or a tiger-striped wolf.

[NecessaryWeevil]

Maybe similar to some Warlock backstories, they unknowingly made a deal with a powerful nature spirit or similar.
Or perhaps they didn't even have a say in it. "I am Sunflower the Unicorn. This sacred grove is under threat. You are now my champion. Go deal with it." "But I don't-" "Bye!"

[Sigreid]

Could also go with a friendly country folk type off to see the big city. It doesn't have to be complicated really.

[Psyren]

Could also go with a friendly country folk type off to see the big city. It doesn't have to be complicated really.

Vox Machina's Moon Druid goes with the gregarious and naive yet talented ingenue off on a pilgrimage from the marginalized people she is devoted to - a trope we've seen plenty of other places (e.g. Merrill from Dragon Age 2, Tali'Zorah from Mass Effect etc). That one works for any druid, but is an amusing contrast for a moon druid because you can have a waifish and seemingly frail individual serve as one of the party's more brutal melee in a blink.

[Tekrow]

Moon druids can be made into unparalleled perception machines... Be a noir gumshoe private eye; a literal 'bloodhound'

Oh, this one I find very interesting.

[JellyPooga]

Moon druids can be made into unparalleled perception machines... Be a noir gumshoe private eye; a literal 'bloodhound'

I (briefly) played a similar concept, except as a devotee of a spy/watcher themed archfey, the "Queen of Flies" (a supernatural "beggar queen", if you will). Her Wild Shapes were all bugs and I ran an insect/vermin theme through all her spells (e.g. Goodberry being delivered by a team of spectral ants). The character herself (a Gnome Underdark Land Druid) focused on investigation, scouting and divinations.

[JPicasso]

Currently playing as a Drow druid who views nature as just another tool to be exploited. You save trees because you want to come back and cut them down. You save animals because some humanoids will eat them to survive (He's a vegetarian). You save plants and such because you can eat and make poison from them. You save plants you don't eat, because all o fnature is required or everything gets out of balance, and you'll lose the flora and fauna that IS useful to you.

He doesn't view nature to be protected for nature sake, but for the sake of his Drow brothers and sisters. And also his party, and also perhaps to the survival of non-drow peoples. This last view is why he's stuck up top, rather than closer to his goddess, in the underdark.

[TheCleverGuy]

My wife had an idea for a Drow Druid who's actually been bitten by a Vampire and is slowly turning into one herself as she levels up. Works better with Circle of the Land (Underdark or Swamp), than Moon. But between Wild Shape and spells, you can cover a lot of the traditional vampire powers pretty easily.

[CMCC]

So, I want to play a druid(Specifically a Moon druid), but I'm not really a fan of the whole asocial hermit that leaves in the woods and hates civilization, so I was looking for inspiration about what kind of different druids you have played or seen played in your campaigns, or even fictional druids. Thanks!

Maui is the best moon Druid I can think of