Non-Druids speaking Druidic?

[Auramis]

Hello everyone!

Now, I know druids are the only ones taught the language in 5e, and others are capable of noticing the language, but is it possible for non-druids to know Druidic in 5e? The rules no longer "fall" a druid if they teach a non-druid the language like they did in 3.5, so I would imagine it's possible for others to learn it, but it would be very unorthodox and not looked upon entirely favorably.

What do y'all think?

[MasterMercury]

I let Oath of the Anchient Paladins, Rangers, and Barbarians know it, just because they are likely to have been around Druids enough to learn the lingo.
Same with any other language really. If a character is often around orcs, they can know orcish. If your character is often around Druids (admittedly difficult if you are not a Druid), they can know Druidic.

[DivisibleByZero]

It's a secret language.
A druid would need an extremely good reason to teach it to a non-druid. And even if he had an extremely good reason, he'd still probably have some splainin' to do if/when any other druids found out.

[Auramis]

It's a secret language.
A druid would need an extremely good reason to teach it to a non-druid. And even if he had an extremely good reason, he'd still probably have some splainin' to do if/when any other druids found out.

Still, you would say non-druids are capable of learning Druidic, yes? Either through instruction from a druid or from learning it through messages and etchings and listening in on druids in secret?

Also, thank you for the response!

I let Oath of the Anchient Paladins, Rangers, and Barbarians know it, just because they are likely to have been around Druids enough to learn the lingo.
Same with any other language really. If a character is often around orcs, they can know orcish. If your character is often around Druids (admittedly difficult if you are not a Druid), they can know Druidic.

That was the approach I was considering. Even if it's a secret language, it's still a language, aye? Anyone can learn a language.

[Naanomi]

Ranger, favored enemy: plants. Treants speak Druidic. You get a language of your racial enemy, so...

Then the gardening ranger can go around teaching others, since he isn't a Druid and screw those rascally plant-lovers!

[DivisibleByZero]

Yes, it's a language.
Yes, languages can be learned.
The problem is that Druids are extremely rare, so your potential access to hearing Druidic spoken is extremely rare. And then there's the fact that it's A SECRET LANGUAGE, so even if there are people around that speak it, you don't hear it enough to learn it.

If I heard a pair foreigners speaking in another language twice a year, I would not understand a single word they were saying. I probably wouldn't even know what language they are speaking. All I would know is that I didn't know the language.
And that's of they're were speaking German or Spanish or Greek or something.

One again, Druidic is a secret language.

[MasterMercury]

In other words, a non-Druid speaking Druidic is possible.
However, it is not likely. If a player wants to speak Druidic, he better have a really good reason for it.

[Naanomi]

In other words, a non-Druid speaking Druidic is possible.
However, it is not likely. If a player wants to speak Druidic, he better have a really good reason for it.

Like hating those wicked plants!

[ad_hoc]

I say, no they can't.

It's not just a language. Deciphering it requires magic. You can't even make the attempt, you will just fail without the proper magic.

[Saeviomage]

One again, Druidic is a secret language.

So is thieves' cant, but you can bet your bottom dollar that a lot of people not strictly of the thief class will know it.

[Phoenix042]

Ranger, favored enemy: plants. Treants speak Druidic. You get a language of your racial enemy, so...

So if treants really speak as slowly in the game as they do in LotR, imagine actually trying to learn an entire language from one. Asking him to explain complex syntax and grammar rules would be maddening. It would be like having slow internet all the time.

That might literally drive me mad.

[hymer]

Generally speaking, I'm with the people saying it can conceivably be learned, but that in practice this may never happen.
That said, in my current campaign druidic is a magical language. Speaking it is inextricably intertwined with casting druid spells. As such, it cannot be taught without also teaching druidic magic in general, which is not for everyone anyway.

[Drackolus]

So is thieves' cant, but you can bet your bottom dollar that a lot of people not strictly of the thief class will know it.

Thieve's cant isn't really a language, but a very long list of codewords/phrases. To most listeners, it just sounds like q conversation in Common. You probably know some non-scientific names for real-world drugs: that's sort of the equivalent. Druidic, in contrast, is a full language.
As for the original topic: teaching druidic to a non-druid is revealing secrets to the general public that will almost certainly be used against druids, and thus, nature. As a DM, you bet your tuchas that druid's fallen and can't take anymore levels in that class. What next, clerics urinating on the shrines of their gods and not being punished?

[Georlik]

My take is Druidic Language is a perfect Hermit Discovery.
On the other note: being wise as they are, I always thought Druids do not use "language" the way civilized people do. In my settings they speak in koans (akin to Zen practice) or simply use highly contextual language. So the exchange of word between two elder Druids looks like an argument between two senior people:
- Give me that thing over there!
- There is no such thing here, you must have put it in that place you were always fond of!

[MrStabby]

I think it depends on the world. Is a druid just a class descriptor? Just something you can have levels in? Then maybe no levels, no language.

On the other hand if being a druid is an ethos - a desire to protect nature, an appreciation for what it offers etc. then I don't see why the language shouldn't pertain to the ethos rather than the class. If you are a barbarian devoted to protecting the wilds I think it isn't unreasonable thematically.


Mechanically it is a bit different. I would let a thief swap out thieves cant for druidic - in fact I would allow any class to swap out a ribbon ability for it if that was part of the character's ethos.

Likewise any feat that grants a language, I would allow to select druidic. They seem a little under-powered so allowing the flexibility doesn't bother me. I probably wouldn't allow it at the start but would require character development.


I probably have a bigger concern about languages as they have a bigger effect in my world (disadvantage on social checks if you don't speak the NPCs first language to them, as one example; some homebrew spells needing to be vocalised in a particular language being another).

[beargryllz]

Anything with tongues, I think

An angel should be able to encounter druids and communicate flawlessly, for example

[eastmabl]

Anything with tongues, I think

An angel should be able to encounter druids and communicate flawlessly, for example

Tongues doesn't teach you a language - it removes (most) language impediments in communication.

[CursedRhubarb]

I could see a fey pact warlock knowing it depending on their patron.

[raygun goth]

It depends how you go about it - lots of Native American tribes have languages and customs they don't teach to anyone outside the tribe. A lot of cultures use secret languages to prevent people from a nearby larger culture from appropriating rituals and ideas. If this is the case, it's just a language like any other. Someone can't learn it, but you might not be learning it from a Druid.

Another option, as others have mentioned, knowing "Druidic" makes you a druid. Druids "don't teach" it because in order to learn it, you have to straight up learn to cast druid spells. To communicate in druidic is to commune with life itself, to resonate with the electromagnetic field of the earth. It's not just a language of words.

Druidic is not a normal language. You don't learn Druidic in the same way that you'd study Sylvan, and even if you know it, you can't teach it to a friend any more than you could teach her to cast detect snares and pits. As you master your first level of druid, you learn many magical mysteries. You learn how to speak with animals, how to calm them, and how to hide from them. You unlock the secrets of fire. You learn to mend flesh with a touch, and how to ask the plants to entangle and trap your enemies. These are just a few of your secrets, and the Druidic tongue is another. Many druids believe that it is the first language -- the primal language of Eberron herself. Some claim to have found Druidic inscriptions carved in the sides of mountains or written in the drifting clouds.

[DizzyWood]

I guess depending on the world I could see many others knowing in. If the Druidic faith is the major religion then yes I could see lay priests knowing it and some other classes having access to it. In a standard FR setting NOPE.

[lunaticfringe]

A a long Time player of treehugging, shoeless, dirty, lighting calling, wrath of nature hippies I am appalled at the concept of Civvies speaking the Sacred Tongue. That said, it's your game you got the Cheat Codes. Initiate God Mode.

[JumboWheat01]

Used to be a Druid teaching a non-druid Druidic was grounds for expulsion from the circle and potential removal of all powers...

Still, now-a-days, it's a DM's choice. Do you want to let others learn Druidic? Then do so. I, personally, would make people spend an ASI to grab the feat to learn how to use "secret" languages rather than just letting them study on some downtime, but that, again, is DM's choice.

[tkuremento]

A a long Time player of treehugging, shoeless, dirty, lighting calling, wrath of nature hippies I am appalled at the concept of Civvies speaking the Sacred Tongue. That said, it's your game you got the Cheat Codes. Initiate God Mode.

Agreed, taking something that is part of a class and going all Oprah with it isn't a very good idea :|

[Fishybugs]

My first thought was someone born to Druidic parents who was raised in their ways, but was unable to tap into the natural magic and had to take another path. That would be a great background reason to speak the language.

[EvilAnagram]

Druidic is a cant. A cant differs from other languages by virtue of the fact that it exists to keep people from understanding you. More precisely, the purpose is to allow only those in a specific group to understand what is being said. Teaching an outsider the cant is often seen as a major breach of trust, often one deserving of a death sentence.

Allowing non-druids to know Druidic as a class feature defeats its purpose (allowing Druids to speak secretly with and identify other druids). Allowing people to learn it as a background feature (I was raised to be Druish, but I'm more agnostic) makes sense, but as a class feature it's less palatable.

[Auramis]

Hello everyone! Thank you all for the input. I appreciate all the answers I've gotten. :)

[NotADragonYet]

Treants can speak druidic, and they aren't druids, but they are highly attuned to the natural world, so that might give them a pass, so non-druids can learn druidic, but I suppose the hard part is finding a teacher.

[tkuremento]

Treants can speak druidic, and they aren't druids, but they are highly attuned to the natural world, so that might give them a pass, so non-druids can learn druidic, but I suppose the hard part is finding a teacher.

Dragonborn aren't actually dragons but they get Draconic right out the bag, but they have lineage that directly goes back to them. Treants are in touch with nature, treants and druids being the only ones who can see that spark in an un-awakened tree so they might properly protect it.

[Tanarii]

Now, I know druids are the only ones taught the language in 5e, and others are capable of noticing the language, but is it possible for non-druids to know Druidic in 5e?

As far as I can tell, RAW the answer is no. Just like Thieves' Cant, the only way to learn it is to take one level in the class. That's a pretty steep price to pay if all you want to do is learn the language, of course.

In the case of Rogues, I personally find it a little irritating that all Rogues know Thieves Cant, let alone that non-Rogues can't learn it. But that's the price for strong class archetypes.

Edit: Correction, taking a level appears to be the only way for a PC to learn these languages.

[Naanomi]

As far as I can tell, RAW the answer is no. Just like Thieves' Cant, the only way to learn it is to take one level in the class. That's a pretty steep price to pay if all you want to do is learn the language, of course.

I still think there is a mechanical case to make for rangers with favored enemy: plant to learn Druidic, then teach it to others