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Serenity
2007-12-03, 09:37 AM
Not as in how do you optimize them, but as in how do you roleplay them.

One of my friends recently expressed the opinion that druids are the worst class in D&D, not in terms of the power of the class, but because he feels there's far fewer interesting character choices for a druid than for the other classes. I think this is surely untrue, but having never played a druid, I can't come up with any examples. So I turn to you!

What are your favorite druid characters you've played? What was their personality like? What made them unique? What sort of questions should a player designing a druid character ask himself to help determine an interesting backstory?

Serpentine
2007-12-03, 09:45 AM
Hmmm. Lets see now, druids I've come across...
The first one ever... I've forgotten his name now. Covered in blue feathers... Can't remember much about his personality.
Another, played by the same guy, Sif L. Us. That character concept was based on Ned Flanders. Yes, that Ned Flanders. Had a lizard called Patsy...
Next one, again belonging to the same character: Henry, I think his name ended up being. No, George. Had a badger... Um. He... hung around his badger a lot.

Yeah, that player's not really a very good example. The druid currently in the party is a bit better. She's not really a tree-huggy sort of a character - she was highly amused at a monkey stealing the swashbuckler's hat and then getting chopped in half. She also likes fire and especially Ice Storm or something similar. I don't know her aims and desires... She is claustrophobic and has a thing about elves, though.

I think the easiest way to start forming a personality for any character is fears, fetishes and goals. For druids, I suppose the questions to ask are: Why do they revere nature so? What aspects of nature, in particular, do they revere? Why? Do they try to emulate those aspects?

Azerian Kelimon
2007-12-03, 09:49 AM
Also, another thing to ask is: "How can I avoid becoming a stick-up-the-*** paladin reject who drives everyone crazy with talks about balance?"

If you can avoid that and being a tree hugger, you're pretty much set for a memorable druid.

AstralFire
2007-12-03, 09:53 AM
Well, I'm of the opinion that there's no such thing as a boring concept, just a difficult one. That said, I've always been the most bored with my druid characters of all of my classes:

- Mechanically, I find it boring to do Vancian casting.
- I also find it boring to pour through books and replace my stats with something else's. A nightmare if you're lazy, a DM's nightmare if you're vigilant.
- Druid has no further significant class features.
- The animal companion is more book-keeping, and, in my experience - less roleplay. Either the DM or I get tired of pantomiming a speechless hawk very quickly.

Roleplaying-wise, a druid is comparatively restricted in concepts.
- The neutrality required alignment makes it difficult to become an insane crusader of an ideal
- High Wisdom is also very hard to play against for a number of concepts
- Outside of Eberron, there is very little information on druidic organizations, but you are implied to need one (Amusingly, the most interesting - Ashbound - arguably breaks the first two rules)
- An extension of the last: druids are traditionally nature priests, which don't really go out and adventure. Clerics get away with it by crusading for an ideal; Druids aren't flavored the same, they're reactive.
- Without delving heavily into supplements, it is difficult to theme your Druid as much besides a tree-worshipper; the default spells emphasize the forest at the expense of describing the concepts of druids in extreme environs
- Wilderness man/woman as well as supreme tracker are ideals which seem to fall mostly under the Ranger's scope

I personally feel that in many respects, a cross between the Druid and Shugenja would do the Druid better, flavor-wise. The Cleric, Druid, and Bard all have issues that their class is meant to cover too wide a variety of concepts via giving them the tools to handle all of those concepts at a superficial level; however, I find it easier to do permutations of 'strong-willed arcane dabbler who likes music' and 'generic priest being selected from a thousand non-generic gods' than 'defender of the trees', which is really a prestige-worthy subject.

I'll try to come up with good concepts for a druid in a bit, mind is blanking right now.

I'd steal the druid concept my girlfriend is using in my campaign, except that to my knowledge, she still hasn't decided on one. But she plays Yenka as something of a traveler, and her personality keeps things interesting, even with basically no concept background.

NotAboutBalance
2007-12-03, 09:53 AM
Give your druid another skill. Say, fire-playing. (Hehe, I did that once. That was awesome.)

random11
2007-12-03, 10:04 AM
Never played a druid, but here are a couple of suggestions:

1) "It's not that I like animals, I just hate humans"

Anti-social, doesn't usually enjoy company of others, hates noise and crowded places. This is more or less the only reason why he likes nature.
His motive isn't ideology, it's just simple dislike.


2) "He says he enjoys watching the trees grow, but we just call it being lazy"

Likes to take things slow and easy.
Will prefer a less rewarding easy task over a complex adventure.

Shishnarfne
2007-12-03, 10:06 AM
Actually, I usually role-play them as trying to figure out what is best for all living things (for NG), so they balance what the trees think against the needs of the people.

There are hooks, you just have to try to find a way to make them fit a druid... your druid.

TempusCCK
2007-12-03, 10:16 AM
You're an outgoing, kind, caring, and somewhat adventerous individual, who just happens to have a knack for nature-inspired magic and you love the outdoors. The Elder Druids knew your talent and agree'd to take you into their care at a young age, ever since, you've been a general nuisance, annoyance, and thorn in their side, but in a good way, and they still love you for all your kooky behavior.

So.... when the BBEG threatens the world, the Druids understand that by threatening the world, the forests and such are therefore threatened too. So they need someone who's to go out adventuring, try and stop ultimate doom of the world, but is still skilled enough to get it done. They are all stuffy recluses and don't really want to have any part of it... who do they send? YOu of course! The silly one who never really fit in but still found a way to kick a** all the way through your training. It's perfect, you want to explore, they need a reliable source working outside.

The Giants CHA-based Druid in the Gaming section of this site would do well with this concept.

DrummingDM
2007-12-03, 10:19 AM
My wife is currently playing a very interesting druid in my campaign, IMHO. She's a very physically weak halfling druid who reveres animals and wildshapes to compensate for her weak/limited physical abilities. She sees embracing her more wild impulses as a way to demonstrate the power of nature where her halfling form could not.

Saph
2007-12-03, 10:23 AM
Well, for my TN druid in our World's Largest Dungeon game, I play him as liking animals not because they're cute and fuzzy, but because he likes the animalistic mindset. Simple, powerful desires, like survival, hunger, and aggression. He especially likes predators, and tries to emulate them. So he'll try and ambush and kill enemies, then he and his animal companion will eat the body afterwards. (Food you've killed yourself is much better than stuff you buy or get given.)

Humanoid races annoy him because they talk too much, need protecting, and take too long to make decisions. He likes travelling companions that are strong, self-reliant, and don't talk (like animals). Still, those other classes can be useful, and if nothing else they give enemies an extra target to attack once a fight starts.

"Survival of the fittest" makes for a much more interesting and believable druidic concept than "hippy tree-hugger", IMO. After all, a lot of D&D comes down to killing things and gaining XP . . . and that suits a survival-of-the-fittest druid type pretty well, doesn't it?


- The neutrality required alignment makes it difficult to become an insane crusader of an ideal
- An extension of the last: druids are traditionally nature priests, which don't really go out and adventure. Clerics get away with it by crusading for an ideal; Druids aren't flavored the same, they're reactive.

My druid really doesn't care about crusading for an ideal, and makes fun of the party cleric for his preaching. He's not trying to accomplish anything noble, he's just along for the ride (battles against challenging opponents whom you can kill without serious consequences). He does care about nature, but by and large nature looks after itself, so he's free to do as he wants.

- Saph

Xefas
2007-12-03, 10:32 AM
There's always the "proactive natural selection" Druid. Anything that you can kill, deserves to die, and anything that can kill you, deserves to be fled from so that you can maintain your ambiguously moralled lifestyle.

Anyway, on a more serious note, I had a druid NPC who had a thing for disease. He was a frail, low-CON guy, with a level of Cancer Mage, who worshiped viruses, plagues, bacteria and what-not. He wasn't so much an active threat, since he always kept to himself, but everywhere he went, horrible plagues would follow because he was essentially a walking sack of pestilence. The PCs were sent to solve the problem, and had no compunctions about beating an old man to death, even though he never intended to do anything wrong.

But that's my PCs for you.

Also, isn't there rules out there for an Aberration-Druid?

MrNexx
2007-12-03, 10:40 AM
I went somewhat counter with one druid I played... mine liked humans, but simply wanted them to live in harmony with nature. Therefore, he would do things like teach people better farming methods, so they could grow more in less space, and with less environmental impact. He'd cast "Plant Growth" for communities that were doing what he wanted. To him, humans (and the ilk) were part of nature, and so should interact with it successfully. He'd heal people for free (during downtime) and give them advice. He'd play the veterinarian for farmers, making sure their animals were healthy and giving them options other than mass killings of wolves to protect their livestock.

Generally, he turned people to the idea that living in harmony with nature was more helpful to them in the long run, and he'd reward them as well. I think he was even working on a way of magically smelting metals to reduce wastes.

Drascin
2007-12-03, 10:41 AM
Well, I have played two druids. The first one was a dwarf, which, given the usual contempt of dwarves for such things, gave me plenty of hooks for roleplaying. He happened to be a pretty calm and affable guy (high wis and high cha will do that to you), who liked peach pie and a good game of chess, and always looked at the big picture whenever possible (which gave me a lot of odd looks from my DM whenever I mentioned things like that I hardly had any problem about chopping down a few dozen trees for a barricade). He was pretty interested in keeping the natural balance, though. But he acted more like a "cleric of nature", generally helping people and crusading for the good of life (killing undead and demons and such) than the typical "thou shalt not cut a single branch!!11!1" crazy treehugger. I ended up doing more sermons on sustainable growth to agricultural communities than the cleric about his god, I think.

In contrast, my latest druid... well, suffice to say I made it as a bit of revenge on my group for not playing anything other than evil characters (I made a neutral PC earlier that campaign and had to retire it, as in all fairness it was impossible that he didn't get squeamish at their "expeditive solutions")...

Nayaire was a complete psycho - a dangerously lucid one. He honestly wanted to follow the natural order of things, and he honestly believed that natural order implied a lot of "might makes right", and so he had absolutely no qualms on taking anything that he thought its owner could not hold onto or generally deserved. Had high ranks in bluff and diplomacy, and a good int, so he was good at getting his way against those stronger than himself, too. He was pretty sadistic, enjoying playing with weaker enemies much like a cat with his prey, but this tendency was tempered by a merciless pragmatism that made the DM uneasy more than a few times(I think he didn't expect the druid to light fire to the high-grass plain so that the BBEG couldn't escape).
Kind of a "super-predator" mentality, if you will - a feel which was only enhanced by the fact he had a deinonychus as animal companion and most loved friend, and tended to feed it with bits of unhelpful NPCs. Despite all this, however, he was extremely loyal to the other PCs - a kind of "packmates" relationship: he might have kept insulting and belittling them, and threatened with using a briar web spell trough every orifice of the party's stupid half-giant whenever he said something extremely counter-productive (and given the amount of power being a druid gave me, they very well knew I could do it, even three on one, if so wished), but he also was the one who obliterated half the thieves' guild on his own to get said half-giant back. He might have become the leader of the group through sheer fear and intimidation (again, remember - druid means never having to say you're sorry), but it was still his group, damn it.

I have to admit, even though I don't usually like playing evil, that character was interesting.

So yeah, as you see, druid is good for more than tree-hugging hippies or crazy environmentalists. Perpetually-stoned wise dwarves and crazy sociopaths with a liking for dinosaurs also fit the class :smallwink: .

MCerberus
2007-12-03, 10:46 AM
Hippy tree hugger? Cleric of nature? No my druids are usually the "oh look a necromancer *slices off head in front of paladin*" variety. You can easily avoid the stick in the butt syndrome by simply letting little things slide and not constantly preaching how society is corrupts etc. Was nice to allies, dealt death to enemies. Usually CN.

My druids also have the tendency to be phobic of large cities. They find them oppressive an suffocating.

@V Usually constant preaching and something planted up their rear. Oh, and druids don't get their powers from a god, but from the primal forces of nature that be.

Freelance Henchman
2007-12-03, 10:52 AM
What's the difference between a cleric of a nature god (e.g. Plant and Animal domains) and a druid again?

Azerian Kelimon
2007-12-03, 10:55 AM
Meh, I prefer playing druids who awaken just about every little thing they find, and who establish a country of awakened animals and plants, which has a very green economic policy. Makes for a Narnia-esque place, but not as childish.

Mael
2007-12-03, 10:57 AM
I've played a few druids in my time.

The most memorable one (for me) felt that Pelor (or whatever) worship was far too common in the kindom, and wanted to convert people to a proper religion. Set up a 'grove' near a major city for a bit of stealth-converting (ie: I or my followers never actually preached at people, they get enough of that from paladins and clerics. But we were there showing others how to live right by example, and would help anyone regardless of their own faith). The campaign ended before I could really put most of that into opperation.

I always disliked paladins and most clerics. Basically, anyone who would activly preach at others to try convert them.
A druid should revere nature himself, but shouldn't demand or expect the same from his colleagues. This doesn't mean you should stand by while the psychotic pyromaniac sorceror torches the local forest, but you should always have a less destructive and (hopefully) more effective solution to whatever the current problem is.
Lead by example, by demonstrating the wisdom inherent in nature worship, you gradually win others to your point of view.

Don't think of your animal companion as an expendable fifth wheel. For a druid the companion is just as much a person as anyone else, and is sharing in the same risks and rewards as the rest of the party.

The druid I'm playing at the moment joined the party in the middle of a campaign, so I havn't given him any goals beyond the immediate reason for joining with these odd foreigners.



- Wilderness man/woman as well as supreme tracker are ideals which seem to fall mostly under the Ranger's scope


That's no reason the druid shouldn't do the same. Any more than saying the cleric can't preach because that's what the paladin does (or vice versa).
Any reason one character may have for choosing to be a ranger, another will choose to be a druid for exactly the same reason.


From a mechanical point of view:
If you're using Augment Summoning you should have the altered stat block ready for anything you're likely to summon before the session starts. The same for anything you think you'll want to wildshape into.

Azerian Kelimon
2007-12-03, 10:59 AM
You're right about the paladin/cleric missionary thing. In the words of the Army of Commoners paladin:

"But I don't want to be a Jehovah's witness!"

Hario
2007-12-03, 11:06 AM
My latest druid was a raptoran named sibbon angelwing. He was sent off to the trial of the four winds and while he was away his tribe was sacced by human poachers led by drow. He comes back finds all their wings ripped off (I decided their wings would be prized in the black market, especially if they were silver.). After many moons waiting there for survivors, gives his life for finding out the truth of the poachers and the drow. His brother wolf decided to follow him on his journey to protect sibbon.

Not too tree hugger. Not too much of a branches being broken but has a reason for being a druid, has a reason for adventuring. Sure I took flaw (not a mechanical one) as in I could not reveal my characters' race to the public but a hat of disguise changed that one quickly.

Mael
2007-12-03, 11:13 AM
What's the difference between a cleric of a nature god (e.g. Plant and Animal domains) and a druid again?

The way that I play them, clerics care more about the god and less about the ideals. They still value the ideals of course, or they wouldn't be following that particular god. Also, clerics are more likely to give a sermon before/while helping than druids are.

MrNexx
2007-12-03, 11:21 AM
What's the difference between a cleric of a nature god (e.g. Plant and Animal domains) and a druid again?

Focus, in a core D&D game; precious little, in FR, where druids are all aligned with deities. It comes down to personality how much you flog others with your god, though a cleric seems more likely to do it.

Oh, hey, I forgot about my Half-orc Barbarian/Druid.

I decided that the orcs of the Storm Horns (northern Cormyr, in FR) had a lot of interaction with humans, both good and bad. So, I somewhat altered the pantheon from their point of view... they knew the human gods, but viewed them from an orcish viewpoint, and somewhat renamed some of them (I followed some broad linguistic practices in corrupting the human names into "orcish").

Chauntea, the earth goddess, became the equivalent of the orcish Luthic, only for humans instead of orcs. Helm and Tyr (gods of guardians and laws, respectively) were seen as brothers who represented the wrath of humanity; they called them Yam and Dur. Lathander (god of dawning; Lorub to the orcs) and Selune (goddess of the moon; Shurga to the orcs) are married, but Shurga takes pity on the orcs, providing gentler light than the fiery spears thrown by her husband (a century ago, a priest of Lathander who used a flaming spear decimated the tribe, so they view him as preferring a flaming spear). The human god of war Tempus is seen as being Yutrus, the orcish god of death, just in human form.

My character was, of course, a druid, which means he was most familiar with the nature gods. Silvanus (Sharkúl) was seen to have two children, Mielikki (Mukul) and Malar (Mar); Silvanus was the god of all nature, but Mukul and Mar fought each other. Mukul would build up the strength of the animals, so the orcs would have strong creatures to hunt, while Mar would teach the orcs how to hunt, but then kill the strongest creatures because he was prideful and arrogant.

And that's just the background to his background. I had him start as a Barbarian, then his tribe was taken over by a tannaruk (think really tough orc tiefling) which lead the tribe to join in the attacks on Cormyr. When Arabel was retaken, Ghoruk was separated from his people, and blended into the human society as best he could. When the tribe attacked the caravan he was attacked by his old tribe, he was badly beaten, had a vision from Mukul that the Tanarukk was going to kill his people with its incessant warring, and to gain the power to fight it in her name.

So, he was a druid because the goddess commanded him to gain strength and destroy the Tanarukk. Because of who his goddess was, he supported active hunting, but for food and to cull the weakness of the herd (and for the sheer enjoyment of the act). Had this been 3.5, instead of 3.0, I might have gone with a Druidic Avenger from level 1... it would've fit him well.

Freelance Henchman
2007-12-03, 11:23 AM
The way that I play them, clerics care more about the god and less about the ideals. They still value the ideals of course, or they wouldn't be following that particular god. Also, clerics are more likely to give a sermon before/while helping than druids are.

Aren't druids (at least in the Forgotten Realms) supposed to have and follow a deity? Making them basically priests, i.e. clerics. The only difference I can see is that druids must maintain at least some neutrality, while a cleric just has to be one-off in alignment. But that's enough to get completely different powers granted?

serok42
2007-12-03, 11:28 AM
I played a Halfling Druid named Callum Seedsower with his faithful Mastiff companion "Barkley"

He was happy go lucky with a naive sense of adventure. He always carried a large pouch of seeds with him and planted them at every opportunity. I never actually said what the seeds were, I like to think that they were a mixture of all seeds or something like that. Nature is wild!

His favorite spell was Phantom Plow (Dont remember where I got the spell but it basically plows the land and causes everyone in a straight line to take 1d4 damage and fall prone) He would promptly fill the plowed line with seeds and cover it over after the battle was won.

he loved all aspects of nature but wasn't a "tree hugger"

I didn't mean for him to be a fierce fighter but i ended up being just that. The DM had a guy steal a map from us and then sick some trolls on us. I ended up taking down the trolls (with the help of the party) then chasing him down in cheetah form and Barkley and I quickly dispatched him. I believe that he was a ranger a few levels higher that we were. the whole next adventure was supposed to be us tracking him to get the map back.

He was pretty fun to play. I want to play him again I think :smallbiggrin:

streakster
2007-12-03, 11:55 AM
My favorite druid character was Arp.

Arp was a human druid. Arp revered nature, yeah - but viewed everything as part of nature. He didn't mind if you chopped down a tree, because, as he said "That's what beavers and termites and humans do." Arp annoyed the heck out of the paladin - Arp figured that if someone attacked/annoyed/inconvenienced/spoke to you, you should do the natural thing and kill them. He was the living embodiment of Darwinian philosophy -"It's survival of the fittest, and Arp's the fittest!". Got along great with the party barbarian and warlock.

I should bring Arp back...

Mael
2007-12-03, 12:12 PM
Aren't druids (at least in the Forgotten Realms) supposed to have and follow a deity? Making them basically priests, i.e. clerics. The only difference I can see is that druids must maintain at least some neutrality, while a cleric just has to be one-off in alignment. But that's enough to get completely different powers granted?

Many people I know in real life have and follow a deity, this does not make them priests. :smallsmile:

A way of looking at it is:
Druids live how they do because they want to. Some gods approve of this way of living and so they and the druid get along well and help each other.
Clerics follow a particular god, and if that means living in a certain way then so be it. But the god and the ideals that god represents are more important then the life. A druid would call this 'putting the cart before the horse'.

Triaxx
2007-12-03, 03:33 PM
My Druid tends to prefer either Big Cats, or Sharks as his Wildshape forms. They believe that yes, there is a food chain, and want to be at the very top of it. They do tend to be less serious, and aren't above... improving the gene pool, if the chance arises.

Dragonmuncher
2007-12-03, 09:27 PM
The favorite druid I know of was the one I read about in this blog. (http://community.livejournal.com/shinyshinyelves/)

Basically a druid that's really into killing things and taking trophies. If I remember the backstory correctly, the parents were hippie elves, that eventually became conservative. Their daughter rebelled against their yuppie ways and became a druid.

The blog's amusing! I haven't read the recent entries, since the campaign got retired, but if you start from the beginning it's an enjoyable read on a rainy day when you should be doing work.

horseboy
2007-12-03, 09:44 PM
Two words:

Steve Irwin

We'd start fighting a monster and my constrictor would grapple them, then I'd stop and spout off stuff from the MM. All kinds of fun.

psychoticbarber
2007-12-03, 09:46 PM
Two words:

Steve Irwin

We'd start fighting a monster and my constrictor would grapple them, then I'd stop and spout off stuff from the MM. All kinds of fun.

*Dies of laughter*.

You sir, win. I don't know what you win, but you win.

Dausuul
2007-12-03, 09:48 PM
Not as in how do you optimize them, but as in how do you roleplay them.

One of my friends recently expressed the opinion that druids are the worst class in D&D, not in terms of the power of the class, but because he feels there's far fewer interesting character choices for a druid than for the other classes. I think this is surely untrue, but having never played a druid, I can't come up with any examples. So I turn to you!

What are your favorite druid characters you've played? What was their personality like? What made them unique? What sort of questions should a player designing a druid character ask himself to help determine an interesting backstory?

My favorite druid character, and indeed one of my favorite characters period, was an elf druid I played in a campaign set in Arthurian Britain--well, technically, post-Arthurian Britain, as the campaign started right after the Battle of Camlann. I played her as a fey creature who was fascinated, and a little confused, by humans and human culture. Over the course of the campaign, she converted to Christianity (the game effects of this were never resolved due to the campaign ending).

In general, I think of druidry as a type of earthy, nature-oriented magic. I don't play druids as being medieval environmentalists out to "protect nature." In a world with dryads, dire animals, treants, and the Tarrasque, nature protects itself perfectly well--in fact, it's a wonder human civilization ever managed to get started. Nor does the druid worship nature the way clerics worship their gods. The druid is more of a "woods witch," with many allies among the spirits and creatures of the earth. Such a character may be the sort of benevolent witch who helps lost travellers, or the wicked witch who torments trespassers in her domain... or some of both.

This type of druid actually has more in common with wizards than with clerics. Both are scholars whose power comes in great part from their learning; however, the wizard is a laboratory scientist, while the druid is a naturalist, herbalist, and practicing physician. The wizard likes taking things apart to figure out what makes them tick at a fundamental level. The druid is more interested in studying the thing as a whole.

Ganurath
2007-12-03, 10:02 PM
If you want roleplay ideas for druids, just look at green groups from MTG and adopt the basic persona. Or, if you're not familiar with that WotC game, here are the concepts behind the factions from the last three blocks:
Narcissist who hunts other sentients. A very neutral evil druid.
Venerable elder who sacrifices others to preserve nature/self. As above, but less aggressive, more 'altruistic,' and more divinations.
Very active in druidic circles, active in pro-nature faction like Guardians of the Green. Aggressive spells and buffs here.
Fighting desperately for survival, causing and/or caused by distrust of those unlike the druid in mind/form. Lots of defensive stuff, as well as recovery magic.
Values the lives of all living beings, so long as those living beings help the druid fight those who would harm nature. Feats favor summoning and buffing.
A student of nature, seeking to improve it as well as participate in it. Buff spells for self, maybe allies, and potentially going toward arcane spellcasting for theurge/geomancer.
Very understanding of the cycle of life and death... lots of aggressive spells, favors poisoning wild shape forms.
Finally, my favorite:
Burn the cities and use the ashes as fertilizer for the new forests.

RTGoodman
2007-12-03, 10:06 PM
I haven't ever played a druid (every campaign I plan one for falls apart either after one session or before if even starts), but I was going to suggest going to some of the D&D-based novels to get some ideas.

Of course, then I realized that the only druid I can think of from the novels I've read is Pikel Bouldershoulder from Salvatore's Cleric Quintet, and your party would probably get pretty annoyed if you ran around in your cooking-pot helm insisting that you're a "Doo-dad!"

(Coincidentally, if you haven't read the Cleric Quintet, you might want to look at regardless of whether or not you're getting any character ideas from it. I've only read the first two in the series, but I think it's just as good or better than his Driz'zt stuff, and definitely a good read.)

Leon
2007-12-04, 04:14 AM
How depends on what im planing to do with the PC

Current Druids
My Darksun Druid is very Anti Arcane Magic - since defiling is the root of why Athas is like it is and all Wizards have the potential to perform the act even if they say they wont. Ive eschewed all the standard "animal happy druid get up" - AC, Summons etc. hate Ants (Heck any large vermin), general apathy to what happens to any other normal creature.

Aside from caring about Plant life, Razak is furthering his link with the Elemental Earth forces - both as a link to the land and also to pass him self off as a Earth Cleric if need be once we leave the surrounds of Tyr, given the attitude that druids recive in other places....


Wolfe: ive not started playing with yet but im planing him to be a very feral type with a big interest on mauling things while in his predator form - helped by his shifting ability, will try to be in wolf form as much as possible.

Freelance Henchman
2007-12-04, 05:07 AM
(Coincidentally, if you haven't read the Cleric Quintet, you might want to look at regardless of whether or not you're getting any character ideas from it. I've only read the first two in the series, but I think it's just as good or better than his Driz'zt stuff, and definitely a good read.)

Agree. I would recommend them as well.

Mikeavelli
2007-12-04, 05:59 AM
Most memorable one I've ever done was RP'd as Stark raving mad.

the DM had just gotten Shipwrecked, and wanted to do an aquatic-based campaign. My Druid was trapped on a deserted island for most of his adult life, became a druid after befriending various nature things on the Island and used those skills to stay alive absent of any human contact.

I would rant and rave and use incorrect terminology to describe things. It helped that I could make random references to H.P. Lovecraft mythology, which none of the other players were familiar with beyond knowing "Cthulhu is bad."

His animal companion was a giant turtle, who we carried around with us on the ship, and would flop across the deck when we were attacked, or across the land when we went ashore. It nearly caused a riot when, lost at sea and running low on food, (Create food\water wasn't working, I don't remember why) the other players decided they wanted to eat the Turtle.

Roderick_BR
2007-12-04, 10:03 AM
For a simple example, check Panoramix from the Asterix comic.
He's an easy going wiseman, that plays with magic potions.
Extend the wiseman bit to vast knowledge of nature, and the potion thing for more generic spellcasting.
Ideally, a druid will live his life, and go against anything that damages nature permanently.
A good druid will use his powers to protect people and animals.
An evil druid will play "alpha male", and try to conquer whatever is in his area.
A chaotic druid will just follow the flow.
A lawful druid will try to create balance in events.
Very often, when a BBEG is trying to take over the kingdom/world or trying to destroy it, a druid will join the heroes to help stop him. After that, many druids will just follow his own objectives, as any one would.

I remember one guy that plays druids a lot, and can play nearly any concept. He played from tree-hugger to capitalistic druid(!) trying to collect "natural treasures" (gewels) and even gold (natural treasure corrupted by man).

nerulean
2007-12-04, 06:21 PM
A very favourite NPC druid of mine is a druid/master of many forms. She's not exactly fond of animals (except her raven. She likes her raven), she's just physically very weedy and makes up for this by becoming some enormous beast every time she hits combat.

Outside of battle, she's a strict, schoolmarm-ish cow who people are variously annoyed by or afraid of.

Lord Lorac Silvanos
2007-12-04, 06:29 PM
I am currently playing a Druid that has lived most of his life hiding in the sewers of a city.
He has a Dire Rat (Splinter) as an animal companion and goes by the name Ratman himself.

de-trick
2007-12-04, 06:34 PM
Only druid I played was: a man with varindale raised by a wolf, and by a druid circle, wanting to find where he came from

Toliudar
2007-12-04, 06:37 PM
Ah, druid concepts. Here goes:

Human druid who was born to a family of werebears who spent most of their time in bear form, but she somehow didn't get the lycanthropy "gene". Since she went without "stuff" for most of her life, she decided she wouldn't need it when she started hanging out with people (an alternate concept behind a Vow of Poverty build).

Halfling druid who was basically an ultra-survivalist: living off the land, avoiding settlements, and wanting to be able to do everything himself.

Human "warrior" druid with a horse animal companion, inspired by the wild west mode. Loner type who does his job, rides the open spaces, and keeps his head down.

Dwarven druid who had spent most of her adolescence hanging around with bears, and was currently in love with one. A character concept that prompted Lochar to declare: "That's absolutely disgusting!", which I took as a compliment.

Ravyn
2007-12-04, 07:23 PM
My first druid was before I really got the hang of characterization, and therefore nothing to write home about....

But then there was Tala. Designed her because I find the image of a small, pale gnome girl charging on wolfback with her scimitar out nifty. I'd figured her as not having any special bond with nature, just finding it "interesting"--at least, until an incident involving protecting a litter of wolves from some sort of threat while the parent was out elsewhere. Time passes, and she's pretty sure this one wolf's been following her since--and then she and the merchant caravan she grew up with end up under attack, and she gets plucked out of harm's way by said wolf. He deposits her at the doorstep of the nearest druidic centerpoint and then vanishes as far as she knows, the druids take her in and train her, and she agrees "All right, if I see something that needs rectifying I'll rectify it, now I'm off to hunt some bandits."

Logically enough, that wolf (whom she names Mahele, or "loyalty") ends up as her companion, and there are a lot of times when she worries about him more than he does about herself. I'd seen her as wishing she'd been a wolf herself; she certainly tended to display very lupine personality traits, including a near-fanatic dedication to the protection and teaching of those she considered friends (a grand total of six or seven people, all told). Also a strong believer in "If I do not do it, it will not be done", with the end result that she's been known to run into situations she didn't fully understand because there appeared to be too much at stake for inaction to be a valid strategy. She's mostly in it for knowledge, though if there's a situation regarding the natural world that needs rectifying, she'll take the time to rectify it. (And rather sensitive about accusations that she can't pull her own weight, but that's another story.)

Goff
2007-12-04, 10:51 PM
Arrrr... for the pirate competition a while ago I entered a druid and a fearsome master of the waves. If you're interested in the bloodthirsty sod have a look here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9710).

seedjar
2007-12-05, 12:36 AM
I wasn't interested in playing the 'guardian of nature' role with my druid, as I didn't want to restrict myself to any hard-and-fast priorities. My druid may be somewhat of an oddball in that his druidic studies are more of a poor-man's wizardry. By my backstory, he was interested in magical studies at an early age but restricted from the study of arcana, and later happened upon druidism by chance with no better way to feed himself. Concern for the natural order still plays a role, but by and large I've decided that he's satisfied with nature's ability to look after itself. It's a more carefree approach.
Ghost town is full of zombies? Torch it! No one is using those buildings anymore anyway.
~Joe

Lord_Kimboat
2007-12-05, 12:44 AM
My brother got me onto this concept when he created Ivy, a female, Gnome druid that was anti-social to the point where she didn't actually like anyone and just wanted to go home to her forest (it had been over-run by an advancing army).

She was dirty, smelly and pretty much a hermit. But was forced to adventure to earn her keep at least until she could go back.

My concept came later and was once again a Gnome. Chillingham Rockinback is the true, Californian style, stoner druid. Think of the voice of the sea turtle in Finding Nemo and that's pretty much how I play him. He basically doesn't get on well with Gnome culture (was kicked out) and had to survive in the wilderness - but after he discovered some 'magic' berries he wasn't concerned at all . . . about anything. Except perhaps for finding more berries.

He's now becoming a real city hater, hangs with Krunk, a full Orc barbarian . . ."hey, who am I to judge. Have some berries Krunk!" But has taken to adventuring because . . . well, what else is there to do when you have no fear.

The Cap'n
2007-12-05, 01:45 AM
One of my favorite D&D characters was a Gnome Druid named Jackrow. He claimed to have been raised by wolves, and treated his animal companion, Spunky, as his brother. Generally, Jackrow was a childlike personality, good natured, enthusiastic, and quick to form opinions about people based on the context of a situation (anyone who attacks my friend must be bad, anyone who helps me defeat someone bad must be good). In both games in which I played him (I used him in a one-shot, and then later brought him in as a replacement PC in the early part of a long campaign) Jackrow met the party while they were traveling in a wilderness area and offered to help them travel to their destination, and in the process, accepted them as his "pack" and continued on with them even after they left the forest.

Jackrow fancied himself a "paladin" of Ehlonna, venerating all that is beautiful, fun, and innocent about nature, and preferring to engage in mounted combat astride his companion. He generally only used spells that buffed himself or his allies, and saved destructive spells for non-natural environments. He seldom had occassion to use wildshape, except to take on the form of small or inoffensive creatures like dogs, cats, and birds for scouting purposes.

Although it said CN on his character sheet, in retrospect, I probably played him as NG, since he was both loyal (which I see as a Lawful trait) but also frivolous and fun (which I consider chaotic) and he certainly had a penchant for doing what was the morally right thing in the end.

Lady Tialait
2007-12-05, 02:08 AM
A druid has been called the 'Warpriest of Nature' I see them as a very specialized group who are slowly becoming one with nature, instead like a cleric could do is worship something and gain a bit of it's power. A druid IS nature.

Telok
2007-12-05, 10:16 AM
I'm currently playing a gnome druid, he remains nameless and insists on being called 'Sir.' I'm going to have to throw around a few more Ice Storms and Sleet Storms to enforce that I think.

I don't generally like the generic nature = spells thing so I picked the local god of weather and natural disasters to worship. Since we play with the shapeshift variant on all druids he's pretty much a light armor cleric with different granted powers.

His personality is something like the weather. Sometimes it's calm, sometimes it's upset, sometimes it's hot or cold, and it never cares what what you think or want. The weather just is and you get to put up with it. Although he does have some definite opinions about things he considers abominations of the natural order. Opinions like "All constructs and undead should be smashed into itty bitty bits." or "Half-Dragon, Half-Fiend, Half-Golem, Half-Ogre? Yup, it's better off dead."

We do have one problem player in the group who can't seem to play anything but a sorcerer with a friendly fire incident problem. Currently the rogue ("Oh he's got evasion, it'll be ok to fireball him") is currently planning something involving Sovereign Glue, and possibly culminating in selling the sorcerer into sex-slavery with the goblins. The druid is already planning for when he gets caught in a fireball. That one will be simpler, a half dozen vipers in the bedroll while he's sleeping and some spider swarms on him.

Baxbart
2007-12-05, 10:52 AM
We do have one problem player in the group who can't seem to play anything but a sorcerer with a friendly fire incident problem. Currently the rogue ("Oh he's got evasion, it'll be ok to fireball him") is currently planning something involving Sovereign Glue, and possibly culminating in selling the sorcerer into sex-slavery with the goblins. The druid is already planning for when he gets caught in a fireball. That one will be simpler, a half dozen vipers in the bedroll while he's sleeping and some spider swarms on him.

Uh... I DM'ed a game once where most of a session consisted of the rogue drugging the wizard while they were resting up in a town between quests, then tying him to a bed naked, and running off with all his stuff.

Needless to say, it didn't go down well when the wiz came to :biggrin:

Zim
2007-12-05, 10:53 AM
I think it's important to have some sort of character hook that makes him/her interesting to play. For the half-orc druid I came up with, I decided to make him a worshipper of Ubtao (Chultan god of dinosaurs). He had maze-like tatoos all over his body and only wild-shaped into reptiles and dinosaurs (I don't do mammal). The DM even let me do a custom summon list to reflect his reptile theme. The personality came pretty naturally once I had the hook.

Vasdenjas
2007-12-05, 11:27 AM
I'm enjoying my current character. He's a Human Druidic Avenger/Warshaper/Master of Many Forms. He's more into agricultural assistance and combat. This is due to the fact that he was raised in a farming community near the orc-reach. Raids were common, and they had to be able to defend themselves, so they trained their young to fight and protect their lands. During a raid when he was younger, the Orcs set fire to his house, and he was badly burned. As a result, he hates fire-users (will Rage on them), and never likes to spend time in his True form. Otherwise, he likes to help farmers, and sees the beauty in all living things, even aberrations and such as most are just fighting for survival, and he can respect that.

He's currently adventuring because a group of humans have decided to subjugate all the other races as slaves, and he has a problem with this, so he heard of a group that was actively working against them, and decided to help out! Oh, plus he's got a Scottish accent, so he's fun to talk in-character as. =)

Bag_of_Holding
2007-12-06, 03:28 AM
My latest character is a neutral good male halfling druid. He is of Greensinger Initiate, aspiring to become a planar shephard.

I think making a good charcter role-playingwise is to make a pleasant character (at least, for me). He is, like vast majority of my characters, easy-going and fun-loving, being able to make a lame joke about almost everything he encounters (with full ranks in Perform: Comedy). Well, I think this pretty much makes him a unique character when all other party members are very sullen and gothic.

dyslexicfaser
2007-12-06, 03:47 AM
That's what druid variants are for.

The Goliath sub levels seems pretty fun. Rather than nature as a whole, he reveres the elements. Earth elemental pet ahoy.

It makes for a very atypical druid. You could burn a forest down in front of him, and he might just shrug it off. The world as a whole hardly notices the destruction of one forest: he takes the long view.