[3.5]Druid on Sharn?

[Random NPC]

I'm going to start a game set in Eberron. The base of operations is set in Sharn. However, a player wants to play a druid and I'm trying to figure out what a Druid might be doing in Sharn. The player also has this concern and I'm looking for ideas. Any help is appreciated.

[Scipio]

There are a number of reasons a druid might be in Sharn. I have a Gatekeeper druid monk, who is going to Khyber's Gate in the cogs to look for evidence of an aberration cult.

There is also a park district called Skysedge. It is in Upper Central or Upper Menthis. It has immigrants from the Eldeen Reaches, and it would serve as a nice starting place for a druid.

[overduegalaxy]

If they're not set on being a druid for "I love nature" reasons, there's an Urban Druid in the Dragon Magazine compendium, and there's this.

[ErrantX]

Well, when running an Eberron game I usually make any druid character and some ranger characters consider what sect of the Eldeen Reaches they're connected to. In my campaigns, ALL druids are connected to those sects. I give my druids their sect feat for free, because of this. If they don't know or don't care, I say, Okay you're a Warden of the Wood.

Anyhow, back to topic. There are a hundred reasons why, based on sect, a druid would be in Sharn. Following a despoiler of nature (give the PC a nemesis!), someone who killed someone dear to them in the wood (yay revenge), they stole something holy/sacred/dangerous from the druids, they are on the trail of a person or group that's researching ways to disable Gatekeeper seals, a potent magic user stole rare components from the wood that the druid watches over and as an Ashbound they must stop them, etc etc etc. And those are just personal reasons.

If they're not they because they have to, well, Sharn has an amazing sort of ecology. There are groves and parks within the city that the druid may very well be attracted to (perhaps he was born there, left to train, and returned to watch over the few natural spots in the city), perhaps he has an affinity for the sky and with Sharn's manifest zone, lots of fun can be had.

Plenty of reasons. Hope this helps.

Cheers,
-X

[Triaxx]

Perhaps he's secretly there to pull down this man-made abomination and restore nature's true order.

[Sstoopidtallkid]

Warforged Urban Druid who was one of the last Warforged created, never deployed, and thinks the city is natural. He has no clue plants even exist outside of gardens and is freaked the first time he sees true wilderness. Is there an "Agoraphobia" flaw? That should apply, as well as the ACF that allows him to transform into wagons and such.

[bosssmiley]

Ever heard of an urban ecology? A city as big and baroque as Sharn will have a whole collection of micro-ecologies roiling in its dark and unfrequented corners. You'll have things like wild pigeons, stray and feral domestic pets, the urban livestock (horses, goats, pigs, etc.), the messenger birds, the sewer ecology (rats, 'gators, humanoid turtles), etc. And that's even before we get into the D&D monster ecology...

Who do you think tends to the ecological and spiritual well-being of the garden and parks?
Who do you think is fighting to keep thaumaturgical pollution levels within safe limits?
Who do you think runs the Sharn zoning commission? (if your game has such an anachronism)