RP Advice - Druid circle of Stars

[Sirithhyando]

Hey everyone,

My DM wants me to try playing with the stereotype to help me learn more about the druid before inserting my own style.
I talked with him, we ended up agreeing to go with the circle of Stars (i love the flavor and the image it gives off, for me at least and my DM got some ideas).

Longterm goal for him is to bring civilisation closer to nature by nurturing youngster to become leader in their own right. He started as a life cleric and ended up abandoning that faith to concentrate on his druid part.
Mechanically, his BG is City Watch/ Investigator

Well, what i'm asking is simple, i want advice for my RP.
Things this character might do.
What would you do with a Star druid.
How would you play it? What quirks would you bring on the table?

If you know any manga/anime or other shows/movie with characters that could be close to your view on a Star druid, i'd appreciate the insight and help.

Thanks in advance

[CornfedCommando]

The Circle of Stars is hands-down my favorite druid subclass. I often think of a Star Druid as someone who is very learned and wise. They study the heavens and read omens in celestial events. They’re magical astronomers.

To draw on the stereotype for RP purposes, have your character be somewhat aloof, maybe a tad distracted. Constantly be watching the night sky as the party rests by the campfire. Couch your words with vagaries. Quote prophecy. Consult your star charts and cast Guidance frequently. Don’t act impulsively; study everything and make well-informed decisions. Muse about how the planets are aligned and wonder aloud what that portends for your current course of action. Stroke your beard and stare off into the distance.

[Thunderous Mojo]

Steve Miller Band themed Circle of the Star Druid. You can be the Space Cowboy! (or the Star Shepherd on more formal occasions).

You also have proficiency with the 'Herbalism' Kit and spend nights looking at the stars, so up to you if you want to be the "Midnight Tokker".💫✨🃏

Astrology is hugely influential in real world history, and the mathematical calculations and celestial observations are very detailed. You could absolutely play up that angle.
The Jantar Mantar observatory was built in the 1700s. I can absolutely imagine a Druidical Circle of Stars meeting there.
https://external-content.duckduckgo....6pid%3DApi&f=1

[Pex]

While not an exact match, in a couple of one shots I played a Stars Druid as the Avatar, a Master of the Elements. He was no Aang in philosophy, probably more like Korra, but it was more inspiration than direct fanfic. Going into Starry Form was going into the Avatar State. I purposely only chose spells that utilized one of the elements - air, earth, fire, water. I was mainly a blaster with a little bit of terrain control. Some might say I nerfed myself by not taking any plant or animal spells like Spike Growth or Conjure Animals, but it worked out alright. I could still take Hold Person as "blood bending".

[poopyloop]

I had an idea for a stars druid that I would have played had it not been for the PHB only stipulation our first time DM had, understandably. Made him a cleric instead, worked out to be the same RP. The "herbalism" kit mentioned earlier was certainly in his wheelhouse. But instead, he learned from another druid of mine about a very special herb called "guidance" he would share with the party generously. He was, like, totally into the stars and stuff dude, they're like, a metaphor for all the vast knowledge of mankind, man. Dropped in some far out philosophy, typical stoner and surfer dude lingo, and made him totally neutral, there was a ritual I had him tell the other PCs he needed either a human sacrifice or some mundane plant, either one would work playing up his go with the flow/uncaring attitude. I liked playing up the low int high wis with him, being kind of a ditz/dunce but being wise with the ways of spiritual enlightenment and the natural world

[ZRN]

I’ve been wanting to play a githzerai star Druid whose order has foreseen an “inevitable” calamity coming and has been sent from their fortress in Limbo to the prime material plane to gather biological data so knowledge isn’t lost in the apocalypse. More of a sci-fi vibe: his magic is basically psionic, and his starmap/focus is a “crystalmind” that he can generate from his latent psychic power.

[Sirithhyando]

Thanks everyone, i'll be able to work something out with that :)

[Temperjoke]

Something to consider when developing your character, and how they act/react, is to look at the big shaping moments in their life. What caused them to switch career paths from Life Cleric to Star Druid? What made them decide to focus on shaping the next generation? You mentioned their background was City Watch/Investigator, how does that interact with their class in the past and currently? What made them want to bring civilization closer to nature, was it a single event or a series of experiences?

[LumenPlacidum]

In terms of Roleplaying quirks and personality ideas:

Make things up as though you had just cast Augury and gotten a real prediction. But, make the prediction the kind of vague astrological stuff you get from horoscopes.

The druid shakes his head as though to shake off some troubling thought. "I'm sorry everyone. Were you deciding what to do with the goblin camp? I was just consulting my orrery and the positions of the heavens, and..." The druid becomes more intense. "We must be wary of the goblins if they number an odd value! Also, we are at risk of a watery grave!"

The party fighter rolls his eyes. "We're in a desert."

The druid waggles his eyebrows at the fighter. "That's exactly why I'm saying we should beware! We wouldn't otherwise have seen it coming."

If you want to take a far more serious approach, keep in mind that the heavens are... slow. Anyone who wants to draw any kinds of connections to the events that transpire in this world would have to take a very broad viewpoint of the world around them, time-wise, to get any event to match up with astronomical ones. So, blow off the little stuff, and focus on the big picture. If the rest of the party keeps you grounded, then you're going to be an excellent tool to keep the party on-task for the broader campaign. If not, then you could be a distraction.

"By Astarte! The blacksmith's daughter has been kidnapped by goblin raiders. We have to go after them!"

Druid: "Such things matter to the blacksmith, indeed. But, the stars speak of some vague threat that grows in the north. It might be best to find where the raiders came from. The very nations themselves will need to rouse from their slumber, and perhaps we need to find what will wake them."

Other PC: "Dude! Blacksmith! Daughter! Goblins! Let's go! We'll look into that later."

I like to think of the stars druid as the sort of civilization-based druid. An idea I'd like to play with is that Nature is something that will largely take care of itself. But, through an intimate knowledge of nature, especially that gained from observing the auspices of the sky, civilization itself can find equilibrium with the world. This is the idea that your power stems not from a personal connection to nature, but to the understanding of nature. This is the druid who wants lots of knowledge skills and a good Intelligence. Take Nature and Arcana. Use somewhat more modern ideas about how civilization has managed to harness natural forces and go around as a teacher. Not a teacher of other druids necessarily, but a teacher of people. You are the one who knows how to best rotate crops, how to best predict the weather, how to manage grazing animals so as to not kill off the grasses, how to build waterwheels and the like. Take tool proficiencies! Come to an agreement with your DM that, when you warn of some sort of natural danger, you'd like for it to represent knowledge of the world, and so the DM might want to make it true! Besides, it takes a load off of them to add flavorful events.

The druid and his party walk into an agrarian village. Druid: "I must speak with the village leaders about the farms that I saw as we walked into town."

Villager: "Who the hell are you?"

Druid: "I am one who knows the passage of stars and seasons, of land and river. I can help you to avoid the tragedy that you are moving toward. I expect that you have had worse and worse problems with rodents this season?"

Villager: "How did you... I'll go get the elder."

Elder comes over and the druid describes how the rodents have a seasonal cycle that was thrown out of balance by the mild winter. "You must change crops! Cereals are a bad idea, and you should go with a more resilient, taller crop. I recommend maize. But that pales in importance to this: The rodents will be followed by predators, and there are displacer beasts in the mountains west of here, yes? The mirror-cats will come after the rodents, and if you don't prepare, then they will also find your unprotected villagers!"

The DM smiles as he starts writing down notes...

Oh! If you want to represent a low Charisma using poor social skills, you could take a page out of the book of the centaurs from Harry Potter, and respond to simple questions by using astronomical statements. It might be clear to you that the statement should be a response to the query you were posed, but it probably isn't to anyone else.

Party cleric: "Druid! What do you think we should do about the Count's forces amassing outside the valley?"

Druid: Slowly turns his head to stare into the sky opposite the setting sun. "The great dragon opposes the Sun."

Cleric: "Uh... yeah. Well, how should we prepare the villagers to prevent them from being slaughtered?"

Druid: *points up at a spot in the sky* "The third moon of fire burns brightly in the East."