In general I find life goals to be hard to come up with in the beginning, more something I figure out the more I play. My current DM wants life goals though and while I can think of a few ideas for some classes, the druid seems extra hard.
Examples of life long goals that don't really work is something like settling with a tavern, because with the amount of gold you can get in an adventure this is possible far earlier than level 10 so why continue after? Same with a druidic version of making a home in the forest, they already live there, just don't adventure and done. I just have a hard time finding goals that aren't powerhungry or grandiose in another way. I mean I can easily see a level 10 character thinking they just want to find an apprentice to teach what they learned, but that's kinda a long stretch for a goal when you're still an apprentice yourself basically.
For druids it seems harder. I mean I could go with just "i want to preserve the balance betwen nature and civilisation" or something but that's basically saying "i dont care" because unless the story already has a big impact on one of those areas it says nothing. If civilisation is about to break through nature and take over, then yes, it makes sense, defend nature. The other way around, perhaps in the wildlands , make sure that the wild nature doesn't completely swallow civilisation, yeah makes sense. But unless you have one of those areas I don't see it as a "good"/interesting goal.
The idea is probably to play a shepherd druid, but the theme for the life goal doesn't have to revolve around that. Anywas, need some advice to get my thoughts going
It doesn't have to be about accruing gold. In fact, most PCs treat gold as something that is used to get better gear/items to further their quest. I would say that is doubly true for a Druid.
Your goal doesn't have to be some over-arching general thing either. You could be seeking out someone/something that destroyed your home/pet/favorite tree. You could be out searching for a long lost friend who got trapped in the Feywilds. You could be attempting to climb the ranks of your particular druid circle to become the next arch druid, as you see the current leader as corrupt.
The "preserve the balance of nature and civilization" is more of a personality trait that would drive your actions in a situation where the balance is in jeopardy, not what you are (currently) striving towards. And keep in mind that your "Life Goals" might change as you grow as a character/druid.
Thanks, I did manage to get somewhat of a life goal since we rolled randomly on the heroic chronicles lists a bit and something came up, but I will add in the trapped friend in the feywild as I think that's a pretty cool concept too!
And yeah I agree on the trait, plus youre also right that life goals might change!
Life goals are like bucket lists imo - a self-delusion. If you want your character to strive for a tavern, do that - it will then be a job until your character subsequently gets rid of it...but don't pretend its life revolves around it or that life will be somehow instantly satisfied and complete and your toon will then be okay with its own mortality when its accomplished. Life is not a competition for who got the most crap or who got to check the most checkboxes. Setting profound goals like that, especially at the beginning of a character's adventuring career, is pointless.
if your DM really wants to see 'life goals', just write down 'own a pony and high-five a chick with 3 boobs'. It will mean exactly as much as anything else you write down.
all IMO of course and realize its like 99.9% off topic. lol
I mean the point of the life goals is basically the dm wants something to help revolve the story around. Saying I want just a pony probably means it'll be quite a short story. And disappointing for everyone.
He wants us to have a goal because he wants us to be driven for something, why are we adventuring? And so on. And like I said, it's just as much so that the DM can help making a story that will also revolve around achieving those goals. It's not the DM being a duckhead.
We rolled randomly on the heroic chronicle thing which resulted in some weird results.. Including having a dark secret with an archmage and hearing Whispers of mystra after surviving something that should have killed him(and watching someone he thought was mystra walk away), plus knowing a possibly world changing secret... (also I wanted the fey touched feat) which I made into roughly this story (just for the record my, initial thought was this is way too over the top results and the opposite of what I wanted.. But... Then I decided to try to go for it.)
He was an archdruid, friends with an archmage and for some reason (up to the DM, he approved) they killed a God, or more likely the avatar of a God. The result was that reality in that part of the plane tore apart and he probably died, mystra was somehow involved in it all and saved enough of him that he still lives. He himself remembers nothing of it except for that he knew someone and that they were thrown into different planes of existence, him into the feywild where he wandered for a few years before he got out. Hes got this urge to find something he's not sure of what it is though, but also has dreams of this other person and looks for her all over the world, searching for clues. He hears mystra in his dreams, both day and night, which gives him access to all kinds of knowledge, which I basically translated as picking all the knowledge skills. (we had two fateful moments, one was the mystra thing with religion and arcana, the other was supposed to give me the skilled feat but I mixed it with the first and credited it all to mystra, and made it all knowledge and such, just for the theme).
I'm happy with this choice, got more interesting than I thought, I have the good life goal, which is basically just finding my old friend the archmage. It's open for all kinds of adventure and planeswalking but, while I normally don't like those kinda op backstories it works in the sense that he can't easily get it back and he's broken... Possibly beyond repair.. And the DM can change the details however they feel like, they liked the idea but I made sure that the most important part was really something happened and him and his friend got separated through different planes.
Easiest "goal" for a shepherd druid to have: They feel the other adventurers are their "flock" and it is their job to ensure they stay safe. RP that however you like -- I have found it gives great justification for using all those wonderful healing and control spells that druids get access to.
Easiest "goal" for a shepherd druid to have: They feel the other adventurers are their "flock" and it is their job to ensure they stay safe. RP that however you like -- I have found it gives great justification for using all those wonderful healing and control spells that druids get access to.
That's a good concept as well, could be a life goal as well but it's a really good short term goal at least. Maybe after spending a few years together it could turn into more of a life goal but either way I like the idea, thanks
It might not work for every Druid, but my Firbolg druid is over 200 years old, but has the curiosity of a five year old. He just wants to see the world(s) and see everything that there is to see. They don't even have an end-game with this, no desire to return home, or save anyone or anything. They simply like exploring the world, and sometimes need to acquire currency to finance his travels and exploration.
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In general I find life goals to be hard to come up with in the beginning, more something I figure out the more I play. My current DM wants life goals though and while I can think of a few ideas for some classes, the druid seems extra hard.
Examples of life long goals that don't really work is something like settling with a tavern, because with the amount of gold you can get in an adventure this is possible far earlier than level 10 so why continue after? Same with a druidic version of making a home in the forest, they already live there, just don't adventure and done. I just have a hard time finding goals that aren't powerhungry or grandiose in another way. I mean I can easily see a level 10 character thinking they just want to find an apprentice to teach what they learned, but that's kinda a long stretch for a goal when you're still an apprentice yourself basically.
For druids it seems harder. I mean I could go with just "i want to preserve the balance betwen nature and civilisation" or something but that's basically saying "i dont care" because unless the story already has a big impact on one of those areas it says nothing. If civilisation is about to break through nature and take over, then yes, it makes sense, defend nature. The other way around, perhaps in the wildlands , make sure that the wild nature doesn't completely swallow civilisation, yeah makes sense. But unless you have one of those areas I don't see it as a "good"/interesting goal.
The idea is probably to play a shepherd druid, but the theme for the life goal doesn't have to revolve around that. Anywas, need some advice to get my thoughts going
It doesn't have to be about accruing gold. In fact, most PCs treat gold as something that is used to get better gear/items to further their quest. I would say that is doubly true for a Druid.
Your goal doesn't have to be some over-arching general thing either. You could be seeking out someone/something that destroyed your home/pet/favorite tree. You could be out searching for a long lost friend who got trapped in the Feywilds. You could be attempting to climb the ranks of your particular druid circle to become the next arch druid, as you see the current leader as corrupt.
The "preserve the balance of nature and civilization" is more of a personality trait that would drive your actions in a situation where the balance is in jeopardy, not what you are (currently) striving towards. And keep in mind that your "Life Goals" might change as you grow as a character/druid.
Thanks, I did manage to get somewhat of a life goal since we rolled randomly on the heroic chronicles lists a bit and something came up, but I will add in the trapped friend in the feywild as I think that's a pretty cool concept too!
And yeah I agree on the trait, plus youre also right that life goals might change!
Life goals are like bucket lists imo - a self-delusion. If you want your character to strive for a tavern, do that - it will then be a job until your character subsequently gets rid of it...but don't pretend its life revolves around it or that life will be somehow instantly satisfied and complete and your toon will then be okay with its own mortality when its accomplished. Life is not a competition for who got the most crap or who got to check the most checkboxes. Setting profound goals like that, especially at the beginning of a character's adventuring career, is pointless.
if your DM really wants to see 'life goals', just write down 'own a pony and high-five a chick with 3 boobs'. It will mean exactly as much as anything else you write down.
all IMO of course and realize its like 99.9% off topic. lol
Guide to the Five Factions (PWYW)
A rather comprehensive list of free WotC D&D resources
Deck of Decks
Life goals are always things that come from your background, class or both, or just as likely something connected to something that happens in-game.
I mean the point of the life goals is basically the dm wants something to help revolve the story around. Saying I want just a pony probably means it'll be quite a short story. And disappointing for everyone.
He wants us to have a goal because he wants us to be driven for something, why are we adventuring? And so on. And like I said, it's just as much so that the DM can help making a story that will also revolve around achieving those goals. It's not the DM being a duckhead.
You may need to cleanse a nymph's pond to return beauty to the area...
You may want to rescue a unicorn from an evil mage or hag but don't know where to start looking...
Maybe your saved the heart of your home ecosystem from being destroyed and you need to find a similar place to start again...
Or hunt down a traveling circus who have captured rear magical beasts that you are sworn to find and set free...
Maybe it's just a need to get stronger so you can take a mentor's place before they die of old age or sickness...
We rolled randomly on the heroic chronicle thing which resulted in some weird results.. Including having a dark secret with an archmage and hearing Whispers of mystra after surviving something that should have killed him(and watching someone he thought was mystra walk away), plus knowing a possibly world changing secret... (also I wanted the fey touched feat) which I made into roughly this story (just for the record my, initial thought was this is way too over the top results and the opposite of what I wanted.. But... Then I decided to try to go for it.)
He was an archdruid, friends with an archmage and for some reason (up to the DM, he approved) they killed a God, or more likely the avatar of a God. The result was that reality in that part of the plane tore apart and he probably died, mystra was somehow involved in it all and saved enough of him that he still lives. He himself remembers nothing of it except for that he knew someone and that they were thrown into different planes of existence, him into the feywild where he wandered for a few years before he got out. Hes got this urge to find something he's not sure of what it is though, but also has dreams of this other person and looks for her all over the world, searching for clues. He hears mystra in his dreams, both day and night, which gives him access to all kinds of knowledge, which I basically translated as picking all the knowledge skills. (we had two fateful moments, one was the mystra thing with religion and arcana, the other was supposed to give me the skilled feat but I mixed it with the first and credited it all to mystra, and made it all knowledge and such, just for the theme).
I'm happy with this choice, got more interesting than I thought, I have the good life goal, which is basically just finding my old friend the archmage. It's open for all kinds of adventure and planeswalking but, while I normally don't like those kinda op backstories it works in the sense that he can't easily get it back and he's broken... Possibly beyond repair.. And the DM can change the details however they feel like, they liked the idea but I made sure that the most important part was really something happened and him and his friend got separated through different planes.
Thanks for the advice
Easiest "goal" for a shepherd druid to have: They feel the other adventurers are their "flock" and it is their job to ensure they stay safe. RP that however you like -- I have found it gives great justification for using all those wonderful healing and control spells that druids get access to.
That's a good concept as well, could be a life goal as well but it's a really good short term goal at least. Maybe after spending a few years together it could turn into more of a life goal but either way I like the idea, thanks
It might not work for every Druid, but my Firbolg druid is over 200 years old, but has the curiosity of a five year old. He just wants to see the world(s) and see everything that there is to see. They don't even have an end-game with this, no desire to return home, or save anyone or anything. They simply like exploring the world, and sometimes need to acquire currency to finance his travels and exploration.