Druids are my favorite spellcasting class. They have great sub classes, class features (Wildshape!) and circle spells. Even without metal armor they can be pretty capable in melee.
Hill Dwarf (BG Kinght) Druid Circle of the Land (Mountain)
Fathrun Blacknettle V is no dwarf to be trifled with. I come from the distinguished line of Blacknettle's who have protected our clan for centuries. Now I the most glorious of our family line will don the mantle of protector of the clan. I will be the next to distinguish our already distinguished family name. I will truly demonstrate the splendor and magnificence of my family. Just as soon as I pick out an appropriately ostentatious apparel to truly highlight my best characteristics. I have my two fine servant Heady, and Cartwright to assist me when I am in need. My family will be so impressed by me they may even make a statue of me for the family estate. A cape billowing in the breeze to accentuate my splendor. Ah yes this outfit will do nicely, HEADY have this sent back to the inn for me would you.
If only all the peasants knew just how important I am perhaps they wouldn't be asking for me to save them from such dreadful creatures. Undead ICK! rotting flesh slipping from bones is not something I wish to deal with, it could ruin my clothing and that is simply unacceptable. Strange burrowing creatures killing cattle? No thanks I wouldn't want to damage my manicure. Cartwright could you hire some adventurers to help us deal with these petty grievances? These tasks are below my station. *Yawn* I fear i am becoming quite tired and would like to retire to the inn for the evening. Perhaps have a bath before hand... WHAT DO YOU MEAN THEY HAVE NO BATH! How could anyone live in such squalor for their whole lives. Well this is but another challenge I must overcome to bring glory to my families name. Besides it is my Noblesse Oblige to protect those of a lower status than I. Even if they do smell like a pig trough.
Not exactly your stereotypical dwarf, nor druid. I bit of a jerk, very secure in his own superiority because his family has done great things in the past so why should he be any different. The knight is more of a status in his society (rather than being an ACTUAL knight) being from a family of some renown with retainers to attend to his needs. He has been coddled and does not know much of the world outside the mountain stronghold of his clan. He truly does feel a strong affinity with the solidness of the earth and stones of his mountainous home, but earth and stones do not teach a rich toff manners.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Where words fail, swords prevail. Where blood is spilled, my cup is filled" -Cartaphilus
"I have found the answer to the meaning of life. You ask me what the answer is? You already know what the answer to life is. You fear it more than the strike of a viper, the ravages of disease, the ire of a lover. The answer is always death. But death is a gentle mistress with a sweet embrace, and you owe her a debt of restitution. Life is not a gift, it is a loan."
Hilariously weird backstory for a Dwarf Druid...High-Elf Wizard for sure...but not your normally grounded hermit Druid. Although, I could definitely see a dwarf having a serious superiority complex!
Nishi Ravenfeather Wood Elf (BG Sage - Researcher) <-- tho I gave him low INT and no History modifier, because he didn't like to listen in school xD Circle of the Land (Coast)
Nishi's pretty much still a child (in elf years, as well as experience) and never left his home forest before, so I play him as a naive, happy-go-lucky troublemaker. He pretty much casts out of instinct and gut-feeling and rarely by thinking much about what he does.
Whoa that is the longest backstory I’ve ever read! So what’s the deal with Darkhaven? The next chapter or the beginning of your DND campaign?
Going to Darkhaven was the beginning of our D&D Campaign. =) I actually wrote that story when we had already started playing. xD
Our DM's backstory for all of us was, that we started as "normal" people and then had a dream, that would tell us to go to Darkhaven. Where it would be revealed that our party were the reborn heroes from 200 years ago. We also found "our" weapons again. (the "Clarity" in the story title has a double meaning, for one it means figuring out what the dream means, but it's also the name of Nishi's short bow)
Fathrun I picture as someone who was taught the ways of the druid because his family line has always been doing that. He just did it because it was expected of him and is somewhat spoiled because of his families reputation. He isn't a bad druid but he is not some 'earthy' type but he has a definite love and appreciation for the gems and jewels that can come from the mountains, but he may not be super in touch with some of the nature side expected of him. I think he will have to deal with 'roughing it' in the future and become more in touch with the lands of his ancestors. He might even have to bathe himself. : )
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Where words fail, swords prevail. Where blood is spilled, my cup is filled" -Cartaphilus
"I have found the answer to the meaning of life. You ask me what the answer is? You already know what the answer to life is. You fear it more than the strike of a viper, the ravages of disease, the ire of a lover. The answer is always death. But death is a gentle mistress with a sweet embrace, and you owe her a debt of restitution. Life is not a gift, it is a loan."
He isn't a bad druid but he is not some 'earthy' type but he has a definite love and appreciation for the gems and jewels that can come from the mountains, but he may not be super in touch with some of the nature side expected of him.
This is blasphemy! Your druid card is hereby revoked! lol!
Goodpeter was the Great-Grandson of Sister Gretel Goodhammer, aka Greta The Good, a favored Hill-Dwarf Priestess of Sharindlar, who was blessed with the forelegs of a draft horse after suffering a grievous injury on the battlefield. The Priestess was raised by Sharindlar and, in her new form, rallied a group farmers, brewers, commoners, and clergy to the defense of several rural villages in the Dessarin Valley. Only the luckiest of Sister Greta’s ancestors inherited Sharindlar’s blessing.
As an inheritor of Sharindlar’s Blessing, Goodpeter was educated at the Temple of Sharindlar from an early age. However, the always-unpredictable young hill dwarf choose to toil under the open sky on farms and in fields rather than enter the clergy like his Great-Great Grandmother. Goodpeter had inherited wanderlust and a weakness for certain vices like his Grandfather, and namesake, the dwarven scoundrel known as The Black Peter. Thus, Goodpeter eventually left the valley, joining a speculative mining expedition to reclaim an ancient copper mine in the Spine of the World. There he served as an apprentice assistant to an Arcane Metallurgist, learning the very basics of Stone Sorcery. Eventually, Goodpeter would become trapped in the Underdark after a cave-in occurred in the depths of the mine.
Goodpeter wandered the Underdark for the next two decades, finding power and transcendence through the study of lichen, fungi, and moss.
Goodpeter’s desire to return to society (and, perhaps, have a draught of ale) lead him to work for several years as Giant Scarab Beetle herdsman and guide with other outcasts including goblins and deep gnomes. The beetles were raised by a clan of Svirfneblin and sold at auction at various underdark settlements. Goodpeter eventually returned to the surface world after hearing rumors of frequent giant attacks in Faerun, believing it was his destiny as a descendant of Sister Gretta to, once again, defend the Dessarin Valley.
Grimsbane – A poisonous weed that is highly toxic to cattle and horses. A patch of Grimsbane found growing in a field is believed to foreshadow a ruinous event for a farm or a family. Also, a surname for a particularly unscrupulous clan of hill dwarves known for the production of poisons, anti-toxins, and herbal intoxicants. The most famous Grimsbane, The Black Peter, was a master poisoner and believed to be the largest supplier of toxins on the Sword Coast for almost 200 years. Not surprisingly, the Black Peter was murdered.
Renar-Rehén (changeling) circle of the land (swamp)
As a changeling most of his life(that he can remember) he has been hated for who he is, his specie being torned away and slowly slaughtered, he lives as a moving merchant that lives of what he founds on his way around still not completely sure of his youth only holding into a necklace with a green eye in middle and staff of woodlands wich he feels a presence lives in.
(BACKSTORY HE FORGOT)
His full name of changeling Ren-with-green-bright-eyes, he lived deep in an old forgotten town on the other side of the world the continent of Maztica where changelings lived forgotten and in peace part of the green folks forgotten inthe jungle, until invaders of "other world" attacked the tribe, his mother Shila-Green-eyes the vident of the tribe and one of the most powerful druids of the tribe, started protected him and his brothers as his father went to the fight, he was only 5 as he saw his father being murdered by necromancers, and paladins, as his whole tribe was añmost vanished, many of them were taken as slaves, her mother a marvelous druid, wasnt able toprotect them well as during the fight as they troied to take on of his brothers Chel-Golden-hair-of-South she attacked them killing some of them, but in return the paladins took her eye as a warning to those that fought them again and turned them to a necklace, for the captain of the invasion to see his close future.
They were taken to the ship where they were not well fed and many of their tribe died, as same some of his brothers, her mother with her last strenght as he was abused over and over by the captain of the ship for all those several months, she took a knife and finally cut his throat well opened,to finally take the necklace and his staff back going to the cage rooms where he found his last two childs suffering of hunger, with her last strenght she got the necklace on Ren and gave him her staff, to finally hide him inside a barrel, but as she did, trying to hide her second son, she got stabbed in the back as he heard the cries of his older brother Chel get muted by a cloth and being dragged away. the blood of his mother touched the staff and strangely started gaving fruits, wich the young ren didnt wasted time and started eating, after they arrived to the sword coast where he was dropped inside the arrel into a bar, where he ended up being adopted by a regular human family for 5 years, her new mother Fania and father Gerome, took care of him more as an employee but still a family, he never knew the soul of her mother still recides inside the staff that keeps protecting him and making sure he doesnt remember all of his past.
Aha! Another "ghastly orphan" tale! I love it. Tragedy always makes for good backstory. There are so many sad, lonely, and murderous adventurers in DND...
On the bright side, your character started a level 1 with a Staff of the Woodlands? That a great boon! Does the Mother's Eye grant some type of foresight also?
For him it is a mistery but in fact the only thing it allows him to feel danger incoming, not precisely kinda like incoming distant attack, but at a close range fist fight it doesnt work, but on a terrific and sad way allows the trapped soul of her mother see for short periods what his son does now with his life.
YEAH, but it works as a normal woodland staff, the moment the charges are used, theres a slight chance it looses his magic power, wich will also take the soul of her mother away, thanks to the eye and the time he spent wondering in the woodswhile he wasnt working in the bar he felt at home, and to make the staff a bit more special, instead into turning to any normal tree, it transforms to jungle old tree of his homeland, so kinda keeps a bond there
(im still working more names and pparts of his life before the (campaign part)
Sold as a child to The Pirate Queen and basically raised by pirates on the seas. The Queen bragged to everyone she met that she had swindled the prized baby princess away from wood elves in a far off land. Magically bound to the leader, she served on the ship until the leader retired, and was then passed from generation to generation as a slave. At around 150 the future leader of the family murdered her and dumped her in the swamps.
Once dead, she was freed of her magic binding, and it was here that she discovered mud with healing properties that basically stabilized her and "brought her back to life." She took samples with her and walked for a few weeks until she reached a large city, far away from the pirate's off-season territory.
She learned how to reproduce the mud and set up a small hut, half a days walk outside of the city, into the woods, where she spent another 30 years in solitude, healing the occasional adventurer or townsfolk. Rumors reached her of the death of the man who had killed her and decided to strike out and try to find her family.
Personality wise, she's a little country, and suicidally brave. She grew up on the sea, and in the swamps and has definitely rassled some gators. She has a deep sympathy for all those who suffer and a deep fear of being chained. Her hatred of slavery and slavers has definitely caused her, and her adventuring party some grief. They are currently known as the Butchers of Izeh and Traitors to the Crown after discovering a city being powered by slaves while on the business of the king. (oopsy)
Skills wise, She's been around, so she's wise,. She's good with navigating, she can fix basically any leather problems you have and usually has some magic mud fermenting in her bag.
In game - She met her fellow adventurers on a barge that broke down along the river, and helped free a town of a goblin curse. She and a warlock passenger befriended and joined a paladin and his bard friend to search for a lost wizard, which lead them to uncovering a plot to end the world.
Water Genasi, Circle of the Swamp Druid, hermit background
She is the daughter of a hag that had to leave town, or was killed by adventurers. She has that crass personallity and if i had to discribe her it would be very similar to Mad Madam Mim from the disney cartoon Merlin.
She is the daughter of a hag that had to leave town, or was killed by adventurers. She has that crass personallity and if i had to discribe her it would be very similar to Mad Madam Mim from the disney cartoon Merlin.
This is brilliant. Hags are my favorite fantasy archetype, This a a great flavor for a Druid!
Druids are my favorite spellcasting class. They have great sub classes, class features (Wildshape!) and circle spells. Even without metal armor they can be pretty capable in melee.
So what’s your character build and backstory?
Hill Dwarf (BG Kinght)
Druid Circle of the Land (Mountain)
Fathrun Blacknettle V is no dwarf to be trifled with. I come from the distinguished line of Blacknettle's who have protected our clan for centuries. Now I the most glorious of our family line will don the mantle of protector of the clan. I will be the next to distinguish our already distinguished family name. I will truly demonstrate the splendor and magnificence of my family. Just as soon as I pick out an appropriately ostentatious apparel to truly highlight my best characteristics. I have my two fine servant Heady, and Cartwright to assist me when I am in need. My family will be so impressed by me they may even make a statue of me for the family estate. A cape billowing in the breeze to accentuate my splendor. Ah yes this outfit will do nicely, HEADY have this sent back to the inn for me would you.
If only all the peasants knew just how important I am perhaps they wouldn't be asking for me to save them from such dreadful creatures. Undead ICK! rotting flesh slipping from bones is not something I wish to deal with, it could ruin my clothing and that is simply unacceptable. Strange burrowing creatures killing cattle? No thanks I wouldn't want to damage my manicure. Cartwright could you hire some adventurers to help us deal with these petty grievances? These tasks are below my station. *Yawn* I fear i am becoming quite tired and would like to retire to the inn for the evening. Perhaps have a bath before hand...
WHAT DO YOU MEAN THEY HAVE NO BATH!
How could anyone live in such squalor for their whole lives. Well this is but another challenge I must overcome to bring glory to my families name. Besides it is my Noblesse Oblige to protect those of a lower status than I. Even if they do smell like a pig trough.
Not exactly your stereotypical dwarf, nor druid. I bit of a jerk, very secure in his own superiority because his family has done great things in the past so why should he be any different. The knight is more of a status in his society (rather than being an ACTUAL knight) being from a family of some renown with retainers to attend to his needs. He has been coddled and does not know much of the world outside the mountain stronghold of his clan. He truly does feel a strong affinity with the solidness of the earth and stones of his mountainous home, but earth and stones do not teach a rich toff manners.
"Where words fail, swords prevail. Where blood is spilled, my cup is filled" -Cartaphilus
"I have found the answer to the meaning of life. You ask me what the answer is? You already know what the answer to life is. You fear it more than the strike of a viper, the ravages of disease, the ire of a lover. The answer is always death. But death is a gentle mistress with a sweet embrace, and you owe her a debt of restitution. Life is not a gift, it is a loan."
Hilariously weird backstory for a Dwarf Druid...High-Elf Wizard for sure...but not your normally grounded hermit Druid. Although, I could definitely see a dwarf having a serious superiority complex!
Nishi Ravenfeather
Wood Elf (BG Sage - Researcher) <-- tho I gave him low INT and no History modifier, because he didn't like to listen in school xD
Circle of the Land (Coast)
I wrote down his backstory as a fanfic - Journey to Clarity
Nishi's pretty much still a child (in elf years, as well as experience) and never left his home forest before, so I play him as a naive, happy-go-lucky troublemaker.
He pretty much casts out of instinct and gut-feeling and rarely by thinking much about what he does.
Whoa that is the longest backstory I’ve ever read! So what’s the deal with Darkhaven? The next chapter or the beginning of your DND campaign?
Going to Darkhaven was the beginning of our D&D Campaign. =) I actually wrote that story when we had already started playing. xD
Our DM's backstory for all of us was, that we started as "normal" people and then had a dream, that would tell us to go to Darkhaven. Where it would be revealed that our party were the reborn heroes from 200 years ago. We also found "our" weapons again. (the "Clarity" in the story title has a double meaning, for one it means figuring out what the dream means, but it's also the name of Nishi's short bow)
Fathrun I picture as someone who was taught the ways of the druid because his family line has always been doing that. He just did it because it was expected of him and is somewhat spoiled because of his families reputation. He isn't a bad druid but he is not some 'earthy' type but he has a definite love and appreciation for the gems and jewels that can come from the mountains, but he may not be super in touch with some of the nature side expected of him. I think he will have to deal with 'roughing it' in the future and become more in touch with the lands of his ancestors. He might even have to bathe himself. : )
"Where words fail, swords prevail. Where blood is spilled, my cup is filled" -Cartaphilus
"I have found the answer to the meaning of life. You ask me what the answer is? You already know what the answer to life is. You fear it more than the strike of a viper, the ravages of disease, the ire of a lover. The answer is always death. But death is a gentle mistress with a sweet embrace, and you owe her a debt of restitution. Life is not a gift, it is a loan."
This is blasphemy! Your druid card is hereby revoked! lol!
Goodpeter Grimsbane, Hill Dwarf
Stone Sorcerer/Spore Druid
Goodpeter was the Great-Grandson of Sister Gretel Goodhammer, aka Greta The Good, a favored Hill-Dwarf Priestess of Sharindlar, who was blessed with the forelegs of a draft horse after suffering a grievous injury on the battlefield. The Priestess was raised by Sharindlar and, in her new form, rallied a group farmers, brewers, commoners, and clergy to the defense of several rural villages in the Dessarin Valley. Only the luckiest of Sister Greta’s ancestors inherited Sharindlar’s blessing.
As an inheritor of Sharindlar’s Blessing, Goodpeter was educated at the Temple of Sharindlar from an early age. However, the always-unpredictable young hill dwarf choose to toil under the open sky on farms and in fields rather than enter the clergy like his Great-Great Grandmother. Goodpeter had inherited wanderlust and a weakness for certain vices like his Grandfather, and namesake, the dwarven scoundrel known as The Black Peter. Thus, Goodpeter eventually left the valley, joining a speculative mining expedition to reclaim an ancient copper mine in the Spine of the World. There he served as an apprentice assistant to an Arcane Metallurgist, learning the very basics of Stone Sorcery. Eventually, Goodpeter would become trapped in the Underdark after a cave-in occurred in the depths of the mine.
Goodpeter wandered the Underdark for the next two decades, finding power and transcendence through the study of lichen, fungi, and moss.
Goodpeter’s desire to return to society (and, perhaps, have a draught of ale) lead him to work for several years as Giant Scarab Beetle herdsman and guide with other outcasts including goblins and deep gnomes. The beetles were raised by a clan of Svirfneblin and sold at auction at various underdark settlements. Goodpeter eventually returned to the surface world after hearing rumors of frequent giant attacks in Faerun, believing it was his destiny as a descendant of Sister Gretta to, once again, defend the Dessarin Valley.
Grimsbane – A poisonous weed that is highly toxic to cattle and horses. A patch of Grimsbane found growing in a field is believed to foreshadow a ruinous event for a farm or a family. Also, a surname for a particularly unscrupulous clan of hill dwarves known for the production of poisons, anti-toxins, and herbal intoxicants. The most famous Grimsbane, The Black Peter, was a master poisoner and believed to be the largest supplier of toxins on the Sword Coast for almost 200 years. Not surprisingly, the Black Peter was murdered.
Renar-Rehén (changeling) circle of the land (swamp)
As a changeling most of his life(that he can remember) he has been hated for who he is, his specie being torned away and slowly slaughtered, he lives as a moving merchant that lives of what he founds on his way around still not completely sure of his youth only holding into a necklace with a green eye in middle and staff of woodlands wich he feels a presence lives in.
(BACKSTORY HE FORGOT)
His full name of changeling Ren-with-green-bright-eyes, he lived deep in an old forgotten town on the other side of the world the continent of Maztica where changelings lived forgotten and in peace part of the green folks forgotten inthe jungle, until invaders of "other world" attacked the tribe, his mother Shila-Green-eyes the vident of the tribe and one of the most powerful druids of the tribe, started protected him and his brothers as his father went to the fight, he was only 5 as he saw his father being murdered by necromancers, and paladins, as his whole tribe was añmost vanished, many of them were taken as slaves, her mother a marvelous druid, wasnt able toprotect them well as during the fight as they troied to take on of his brothers Chel-Golden-hair-of-South she attacked them killing some of them, but in return the paladins took her eye as a warning to those that fought them again and turned them to a necklace, for the captain of the invasion to see his close future.
They were taken to the ship where they were not well fed and many of their tribe died, as same some of his brothers, her mother with her last strenght as he was abused over and over by the captain of the ship for all those several months, she took a knife and finally cut his throat well opened,to finally take the necklace and his staff back going to the cage rooms where he found his last two childs suffering of hunger, with her last strenght she got the necklace on Ren and gave him her staff, to finally hide him inside a barrel, but as she did, trying to hide her second son, she got stabbed in the back as he heard the cries of his older brother Chel get muted by a cloth and being dragged away. the blood of his mother touched the staff and strangely started gaving fruits, wich the young ren didnt wasted time and started eating, after they arrived to the sword coast where he was dropped inside the arrel into a bar, where he ended up being adopted by a regular human family for 5 years, her new mother Fania and father Gerome, took care of him more as an employee but still a family, he never knew the soul of her mother still recides inside the staff that keeps protecting him and making sure he doesnt remember all of his past.
(short but still)
Time is dead.
Aha! Another "ghastly orphan" tale! I love it. Tragedy always makes for good backstory. There are so many sad, lonely, and murderous adventurers in DND...
On the bright side, your character started a level 1 with a Staff of the Woodlands? That a great boon! Does the Mother's Eye grant some type of foresight also?
For him it is a mistery but in fact the only thing it allows him to feel danger incoming, not precisely kinda like incoming distant attack, but at a close range fist fight it doesnt work, but on a terrific and sad way allows the trapped soul of her mother see for short periods what his son does now with his life.
YEAH, but it works as a normal woodland staff, the moment the charges are used, theres a slight chance it looses his magic power, wich will also take the soul of her mother away, thanks to the eye and the time he spent wondering in the woodswhile he wasnt working in the bar he felt at home, and to make the staff a bit more special, instead into turning to any normal tree, it transforms to jungle old tree of his homeland, so kinda keeps a bond there
(im still working more names and pparts of his life before the (campaign part)
Time is dead.
Celfi Greenbottom, forest gnome Circle of the Moon Druid.
I have an extensive background story, but just look how CUTE she is:
https://imgur.com/gallery/hY51a5z
Great drawing! I dig the staff. Is that a magic item? And those eyes....Is that a commission?
Thank you!
Commission from Andrew Keller. I try to get him to do all my commissions. Staff was one we just discussed and developed over time.
Clover
Wood Elf, Circle of the Shepherd
Background: Hermit
Sold as a child to The Pirate Queen and basically raised by pirates on the seas. The Queen bragged to everyone she met that she had swindled the prized baby princess away from wood elves in a far off land. Magically bound to the leader, she served on the ship until the leader retired, and was then passed from generation to generation as a slave. At around 150 the future leader of the family murdered her and dumped her in the swamps.
Once dead, she was freed of her magic binding, and it was here that she discovered mud with healing properties that basically stabilized her and "brought her back to life." She took samples with her and walked for a few weeks until she reached a large city, far away from the pirate's off-season territory.
She learned how to reproduce the mud and set up a small hut, half a days walk outside of the city, into the woods, where she spent another 30 years in solitude, healing the occasional adventurer or townsfolk. Rumors reached her of the death of the man who had killed her and decided to strike out and try to find her family.
Personality wise, she's a little country, and suicidally brave. She grew up on the sea, and in the swamps and has definitely rassled some gators. She has a deep sympathy for all those who suffer and a deep fear of being chained. Her hatred of slavery and slavers has definitely caused her, and her adventuring party some grief. They are currently known as the Butchers of Izeh and Traitors to the Crown after discovering a city being powered by slaves while on the business of the king. (oopsy)
Skills wise, She's been around, so she's wise,. She's good with navigating, she can fix basically any leather problems you have and usually has some magic mud fermenting in her bag.
In game - She met her fellow adventurers on a barge that broke down along the river, and helped free a town of a goblin curse. She and a warlock passenger befriended and joined a paladin and his bard friend to search for a lost wizard, which lead them to uncovering a plot to end the world.
Water Genasi, Circle of the Swamp Druid, hermit background
She is the daughter of a hag that had to leave town, or was killed by adventurers. She has that crass personallity and if i had to discribe her it would be very similar to Mad Madam Mim from the disney cartoon Merlin.
This is brilliant. Hags are my favorite fantasy archetype, This a a great flavor for a Druid!
yeah I was reading about hags in Volo's and this is what came to mind.
Who needs a sprig of mistletoe when you have Magic mud! Is this like an arcane focus? Or something else that boosts spellcasting?