This would be homebrew, but also specific to Druids so I'm posting this here. I recently started reading The Iron Druid Chronicles by Kevin Hearne and love the concept. Does anyone know of an existing homebrew subclass for the druid that might emulate that? If not, any ideas on how I could create a homebrew subclass with abilities and/or features that would fit and make sense?
I love the sound of an "Iron Druid," and I'd like to help out, too! I haven't read the book either, though, so an explanation would totally be appreciated :)
For those unfamiliar with the book, the main character is a centuries old Celtic druid. He has about 4 animal forms he can shape shift into. He's a skilled herbalist and knows how to brew a special immortali-tea thats prolonged his life. It keeps him looking 21 years old even though it's more like 21 centuries. There are several other special brews he has too that are all bad tea puns. All of his magic consists of "bindings" that are exclusively nature based. Any magic using fire, water, air, lightning, (for dnd purposes) force, radiant, and necrotic are not things he can do unless it's warding against harmful magic with those elements. He can physically bind and unbind natural earth and organic based material (he can't do anything with plastic and man made material) together or apart, but is fobidden from using it to directly harm living creatures native to the earth. Although he gets around that by using a magic sword instead for that purpose. Undead, Fae, Demons, and the like are all fair game. His binding/unbinding can even alter elements at a molecular level, but takes him significant time to do. He draws magic directly from the Earth via this very intricate and magic tattoo that goes from the bottom of his foot, around his body to his hand. The skin with the tattoo needs physical contact to the earth draw magic. Technically, he could run barefoot with near limitless stamina, enhanced speed, healing, and strength. If the skin with the tattoo is severely damaged, he has to get it redone or his magic becomes very limited. Otherwise, he has certain physical charms made to store magic or implement his more frequently used spells (kind of like spell casting focuses or regularly used material components). The whole "Iron Druid" title comes from an amulet he forged himself with a unique way of binding it to his aura that he developed over hundreds of years using iron from a meteorite. When attacked by a spell, the meteorite iron bound to his aura sort of functions like weight distribution around his aura so he doesn't take the full brunt of magic attacks. For example, someone tried to immolate him once, but it instead heated his amulet to the point of scorching the skin around it. Or a force base attack (that should have squashed him like a bug) punched the amulet hard into his chest, breaking some bones. So he can still be hurt by magic, but it lessens the impact. The Achilles heels, as far as I currently know, are spells that would cause a dnd equivalent charm effect and physical attacks. He's also vulnerable to certain magic used by various witches and is very paranoid about not letting his hair, fingernails, or blood fall into anyone's hands. Spells that he uses are something akin to invisibility, a sort of limited truesight, being able to talk to and summon elementals, telepathy with animals that can still be overheard by other certain beings and creatures, wards against specific types of creatures, moving/altering earth terrain, limited plant growth effects, plane shifting, some augury that is sketchy at best, and self healing that isn't immediate, but fast (faster than Captain America's healing factor, but slower than Wolverine's and won't regenerate missing body parts). He regularly interacts (and fights) with deities, monsters, and magic users from various mythologies and religions, not just Celtic ones, in a number of ways. I'm at the end of book 4 out of, I think 10. So there might be more to add, but that's the gist of his abilities as I know them.
Dang, I was kind of just expecting a ferrokinetic (metalbending) druid.
Well, here's what I'm thinking. This is with 2014 rules because I'm more familiar with those. If you'd like me to redo this with 2024 rules, please let me know.
Druid, Circle of the Land (Grassland or Mountain). Species: Wood Elf (for the longsword proficiency and Mask of the Wild) Here are some spells to consider. Some might be a bigger stretch on his powers than others, I'll let you be the judge of which spells you want to use.
Cantrips: Druidcraft, Guidance, Magic Stone, Mending, Mold Earth, Resistance, Shillelagh, Thorn Whip 1stLevel: Absorb Elements, Animal Friendship, Beast Bond, Cure Wounds, Detect Magic, Detect Poison and Disease, Earth Tremor, Entangle, Healing Word, Jump, Longstrider, Protection from Evil and Good, Snare, Speak With Animals 2nd Level: Aid, Animal Messenger, Augury, Barkskin, Beast Sense, Dust Devil, Earthbind, Enhance Ability, Find Traps, Heat Metal, Lesser Restoration, Locate Animals or Plants, Locate Object, Protection from Poison, Spike Growth, Summon Beast, Pass Without Trace 3rd Level: Conjure Animals, Dispel Magic, Erupting Earth, Meld Into Stone, Plant Growth, Protection from Energy, Speak With Plants, Summon Fey 4th Level: Charm Monster, Conjure Minor Elementals, Conjure Woodland Beings, Divination, Dominate Beast, Elemental Bane, Freedom of Movement, Grasping Vine, Guardian of Nature, Hallucinatory Terrain, Locate Creature, Stone Shape, Stoneskin, Summon Elemental 5th Level: Awaken, Commune With Nature, Conjure Elemental, Greater Restoration, Planar Binding, Scrying, Transmute Rock, Wall of Stone, Wrath of Nature 6th Level: Bones of the Earth, Conjure Fey, Druid Grove, Find the Path, Flesh to Stone, Heal, Investiture of Stone, Move Earth, Primordial Ward 7th Level: Plane Shift, Regenerate, Symbol 8th Level: Earthquake 9th Level: Foresight
Choosing Grassland automatically gives you the following spells: Invisibility, Pass Without Trace, Daylight, Haste, Divination, Freedom of Movement, Dream, Insect Plague Choosing Mountain automatically gives you the following spells: Spider Climb, Spike Growth, Lightning Bolt, Meld Into Stone, Stone Shape, Stoneskin, Passwall, Wall of Stone
So, Grassland is better for the augury, invisibility, and the ability to draw vitality from the land. Mountain is better for controlling earth.
Dang, I was kind of just expecting a ferrokinetic (metalbending) druid.
Well, here's what I'm thinking. This is with 2014 rules because I'm more familiar with those. If you'd like me to redo this with 2024 rules, please let me know.
Druid, Circle of the Land (Grassland or Mountain). Species: Wood Elf (for the longsword proficiency and Mask of the Wild) Here are some spells to consider. Some might be a bigger stretch on his powers than others, I'll let you be the judge of which spells you want to use.
Cantrips: Druidcraft, Guidance, Magic Stone, Mending, Mold Earth, Resistance, Shillelagh, Thorn Whip 1stLevel: Absorb Elements, Animal Friendship, Beast Bond, Cure Wounds, Detect Magic, Detect Poison and Disease, Earth Tremor, Entangle, Healing Word, Jump, Longstrider, Protection from Evil and Good, Snare, Speak With Animals 2nd Level: Aid, Animal Messenger, Augury, Barkskin, Beast Sense, Dust Devil, Earthbind, Enhance Ability, Find Traps, Heat Metal, Lesser Restoration, Locate Animals or Plants, Locate Object, Protection from Poison, Spike Growth, Summon Beast, Pass Without Trace 3rd Level: Conjure Animals, Dispel Magic, Erupting Earth, Meld Into Stone, Plant Growth, Protection from Energy, Speak With Plants, Summon Fey 4th Level: Charm Monster, Conjure Minor Elementals, Conjure Woodland Beings, Divination, Dominate Beast, Elemental Bane, Freedom of Movement, Grasping Vine, Guardian of Nature, Hallucinatory Terrain, Locate Creature, Stone Shape, Stoneskin, Summon Elemental 5th Level: Awaken, Commune With Nature, Conjure Elemental, Greater Restoration, Planar Binding, Scrying, Transmute Rock, Wall of Stone, Wrath of Nature 6th Level: Bones of the Earth, Conjure Fey, Druid Grove, Find the Path, Flesh to Stone, Heal, Investiture of Stone, Move Earth, Primordial Ward 7th Level: Plane Shift, Regenerate, Symbol 8th Level: Earthquake 9th Level: Foresight
Choosing Grassland automatically gives you the following spells: Invisibility, Pass Without Trace, Daylight, Haste, Divination, Freedom of Movement, Dream, Insect Plague Choosing Mountain automatically gives you the following spells: Spider Climb, Spike Growth, Lightning Bolt, Meld Into Stone, Stone Shape, Stoneskin, Passwall, Wall of Stone
So, Grassland is better for the augury, invisibility, and the ability to draw vitality from the land. Mountain is better for controlling earth.
Wow! Thanks! Those spells fit almost perfectly. Looking over Grassland and Mountain again, I think Mountain would fit better overall for thematic spells. Although, Grassland would definitely still make sense too.
This would be homebrew, but also specific to Druids so I'm posting this here. I recently started reading The Iron Druid Chronicles by Kevin Hearne and love the concept. Does anyone know of an existing homebrew subclass for the druid that might emulate that? If not, any ideas on how I could create a homebrew subclass with abilities and/or features that would fit and make sense?
Can you describe it a little for those of us who haven't read the book?
pronouns: he/she/they
I love the sound of an "Iron Druid," and I'd like to help out, too! I haven't read the book either, though, so an explanation would totally be appreciated :)
For those unfamiliar with the book, the main character is a centuries old Celtic druid. He has about 4 animal forms he can shape shift into. He's a skilled herbalist and knows how to brew a special immortali-tea thats prolonged his life. It keeps him looking 21 years old even though it's more like 21 centuries. There are several other special brews he has too that are all bad tea puns. All of his magic consists of "bindings" that are exclusively nature based. Any magic using fire, water, air, lightning, (for dnd purposes) force, radiant, and necrotic are not things he can do unless it's warding against harmful magic with those elements. He can physically bind and unbind natural earth and organic based material (he can't do anything with plastic and man made material) together or apart, but is fobidden from using it to directly harm living creatures native to the earth. Although he gets around that by using a magic sword instead for that purpose. Undead, Fae, Demons, and the like are all fair game. His binding/unbinding can even alter elements at a molecular level, but takes him significant time to do. He draws magic directly from the Earth via this very intricate and magic tattoo that goes from the bottom of his foot, around his body to his hand. The skin with the tattoo needs physical contact to the earth draw magic. Technically, he could run barefoot with near limitless stamina, enhanced speed, healing, and strength. If the skin with the tattoo is severely damaged, he has to get it redone or his magic becomes very limited. Otherwise, he has certain physical charms made to store magic or implement his more frequently used spells (kind of like spell casting focuses or regularly used material components). The whole "Iron Druid" title comes from an amulet he forged himself with a unique way of binding it to his aura that he developed over hundreds of years using iron from a meteorite. When attacked by a spell, the meteorite iron bound to his aura sort of functions like weight distribution around his aura so he doesn't take the full brunt of magic attacks. For example, someone tried to immolate him once, but it instead heated his amulet to the point of scorching the skin around it. Or a force base attack (that should have squashed him like a bug) punched the amulet hard into his chest, breaking some bones. So he can still be hurt by magic, but it lessens the impact. The Achilles heels, as far as I currently know, are spells that would cause a dnd equivalent charm effect and physical attacks. He's also vulnerable to certain magic used by various witches and is very paranoid about not letting his hair, fingernails, or blood fall into anyone's hands. Spells that he uses are something akin to invisibility, a sort of limited truesight, being able to talk to and summon elementals, telepathy with animals that can still be overheard by other certain beings and creatures, wards against specific types of creatures, moving/altering earth terrain, limited plant growth effects, plane shifting, some augury that is sketchy at best, and self healing that isn't immediate, but fast (faster than Captain America's healing factor, but slower than Wolverine's and won't regenerate missing body parts). He regularly interacts (and fights) with deities, monsters, and magic users from various mythologies and religions, not just Celtic ones, in a number of ways. I'm at the end of book 4 out of, I think 10. So there might be more to add, but that's the gist of his abilities as I know them.
Dang, I was kind of just expecting a ferrokinetic (metalbending) druid.
Well, here's what I'm thinking. This is with 2014 rules because I'm more familiar with those. If you'd like me to redo this with 2024 rules, please let me know.
Druid, Circle of the Land (Grassland or Mountain). Species: Wood Elf (for the longsword proficiency and Mask of the Wild)
Here are some spells to consider. Some might be a bigger stretch on his powers than others, I'll let you be the judge of which spells you want to use.
Cantrips: Druidcraft, Guidance, Magic Stone, Mending, Mold Earth, Resistance, Shillelagh, Thorn Whip
1st Level: Absorb Elements, Animal Friendship, Beast Bond, Cure Wounds, Detect Magic, Detect Poison and Disease, Earth Tremor, Entangle, Healing Word, Jump, Longstrider, Protection from Evil and Good, Snare, Speak With Animals
2nd Level: Aid, Animal Messenger, Augury, Barkskin, Beast Sense, Dust Devil, Earthbind, Enhance Ability, Find Traps, Heat Metal, Lesser Restoration, Locate Animals or Plants, Locate Object, Protection from Poison, Spike Growth, Summon Beast, Pass Without Trace
3rd Level: Conjure Animals, Dispel Magic, Erupting Earth, Meld Into Stone, Plant Growth, Protection from Energy, Speak With Plants, Summon Fey
4th Level: Charm Monster, Conjure Minor Elementals, Conjure Woodland Beings, Divination, Dominate Beast, Elemental Bane, Freedom of Movement, Grasping Vine, Guardian of Nature, Hallucinatory Terrain, Locate Creature, Stone Shape, Stoneskin, Summon Elemental
5th Level: Awaken, Commune With Nature, Conjure Elemental, Greater Restoration, Planar Binding, Scrying, Transmute Rock, Wall of Stone, Wrath of Nature
6th Level: Bones of the Earth, Conjure Fey, Druid Grove, Find the Path, Flesh to Stone, Heal, Investiture of Stone, Move Earth, Primordial Ward
7th Level: Plane Shift, Regenerate, Symbol
8th Level: Earthquake
9th Level: Foresight
Choosing Grassland automatically gives you the following spells: Invisibility, Pass Without Trace, Daylight, Haste, Divination, Freedom of Movement, Dream, Insect Plague
Choosing Mountain automatically gives you the following spells: Spider Climb, Spike Growth, Lightning Bolt, Meld Into Stone, Stone Shape, Stoneskin, Passwall, Wall of Stone
So, Grassland is better for the augury, invisibility, and the ability to draw vitality from the land. Mountain is better for controlling earth.
Wow! Thanks! Those spells fit almost perfectly. Looking over Grassland and Mountain again, I think Mountain would fit better overall for thematic spells. Although, Grassland would definitely still make sense too.
Happy to help! I'm totally open if you have other questions