So, new story, new campaign, new setting. And I'm looking at changing up the class roster - removing some spellcasting classes, bringing in Artificer, tweaking abilities, etc. Anyways, I'm currently looking at druid, and debating.
So, to the question - what abilities make a druid into, well, a druid for you? What abilities are so central to the druid's identity that you can't even think of the class without them? Shapeshifting is one, and Entangle variants another, but are there any others?
To you, almost everything around you is magic: The old oak in the grove, the bent yew in the village graveyard, the bubbling spring or the snow capped peak. Magic can be what you want it to be.
For me, it is simply about putting nature at its centre. I don't think shape-changing is central, though it is a very good way to experience nature from another perspective. It's more of a flavour thing to me, to be a druid, rather than a mechanics thing.
For me, druids are heralds of the primal power of the world. Unlike wizards, who harness their magic in controlled rituals and crafted spells, unlike clerics who gain their magic from the gods, who control the flow of that magic and unlike warlocks who's magical potential is regulated by their patrons. I think of druids much like sorcerers, but also different. Whilst sorcerers are conduits of magical power, druids are invokers of the endless primal chaos of nature. They do not control the magic of the world; rather they redirect it to aid them or assail their enemies.
In the BBC show, which i know isn't the greatest reference to an old legend, he was more a sorcerer. With the whole 'non-incantation' magic and the latent ability.
Magic simply, as a nature priest. Shapeshift is a core-feature that I dislike and is the main thing that keeps me from trying them in 5e. That has nothing to do with druids to me, and I'd feel like I was gimping myself if I ignored their biggest trick.
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Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
Magic simply, as a nature priest. Shapeshift is a core-feature that I dislike and is the main thing that keeps me from trying them in 5e. That has nothing to do with druids to me, and I'd feel like I was gimping myself if I ignored their biggest trick.
Druids in 5E are based off of Celtic druids. They had two defining features: their ability to commune with nature and ability to shapeshift (wild shape). You can use wild shape in different ways: be wildfire, and use it to summon a fire thingy. Or be stars druid and turn stary.
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'The Cleverness of mushrooms always surprises me!' - Ivern Bramblefoot.
Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
Yes, but the CELTS believed that they could. Even though we know that is wrong. That's like saying wizards don't cast spells, they do complicated tricks. In the real world, yes, but the audience believes that it is magic. So DnD wizards are completely wrong? I get what you are saying (and knew at least half the stuff on the page. I still love reading about Celts anyway) but this is not true, it is the common BELIEFS of people.
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'The Cleverness of mushrooms always surprises me!' - Ivern Bramblefoot.
A druid is only a druid for its inherently different picture on life. Druids are nature's extension, and many humans don't see it that way. Look at us humans on our computers or mobiles, typing out messages for random internet denizens to respond to. Druids are only druids for the roleplay, and this is the same for any class. The nature spells available to druids are also somewhat available to rangers. What seperates a ranger from a druid? Outlooks. A bard can cast spells from other spell lists, granting some druid spells if chosen. What seperates a bard from a druid? Outlook.
Of course, stat-wise, there are differences. A lot of them... Actually. But if the stats weren't different than other classes, then the idea of classes wouldn't exist.
Great question. I thought about this for quite a while before answering. It was an eye-opener in a way for me, so thank you.
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I love roleplaying, message me so we can set something up.
I talk everything D&D, message me for questions, chat, arguements, or roleplay!
There's a whole thing (I believe tied to the neo-pagan movement) that paints Merlin as a nature-priest type, tied to the Celtic religions, on top of the usual trickster-chronicler. He's also said to be half-fae (or half-demon, but that's just demonizing the fae), a further tie to Celtic nature spirits, and is rather well known for living in forests with the animals. And then, from there, we take celtic magic user => real world druid => D&D druid. That's where the idea comes from, at least that would be my guess.
That said, Merlin was more of a bard, which is where the whole Celtic-priest thing started from.
I mean, if you want to get really, really crazy, then we could say that Galdalf was a bard-cleric mix. In LotR, God and his angels literally sung the world and all its history into being, and all five "wizards" are just angels who took human form. LotR Wizard magic comes from using those original Words of Creation, something that 5th edition bards and clerics have a lot of.
It all goes back to how the Wizard class was originally the Magic-User class, who basically could cast any spell, and was meant to be a mix of just about every kind of magic user combined into one, including bits of bard, alchemist, and more. The wizard's core identity is "student of magic," which is extremely broad. Just about any type of magic user outside of D&D could be called a wizard, save for the notable exception of healer.
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So, new story, new campaign, new setting. And I'm looking at changing up the class roster - removing some spellcasting classes, bringing in Artificer, tweaking abilities, etc. Anyways, I'm currently looking at druid, and debating.
So, to the question - what abilities make a druid into, well, a druid for you? What abilities are so central to the druid's identity that you can't even think of the class without them? Shapeshifting is one, and Entangle variants another, but are there any others?
Wild shape. Nature. Control spells.
'The Cleverness of mushrooms always surprises me!' - Ivern Bramblefoot.
I'll worldbuild for your DnD games!
Just a D&D enjoyer, check out my fiverr page if you need any worldbuilding done for ya!
To you, almost everything around you is magic: The old oak in the grove, the bent yew in the village graveyard, the bubbling spring or the snow capped peak. Magic can be what you want it to be.
Speak with any animal-ish, any type of bird-ish or, any type of aquatic-ish being.
The ability to speak with the environment and, later take more advantage than a normal sorcerer.
My Ready-to-rock&roll chars:
Dertinus Tristany // Amilcar Barca // Vicenç Sacrarius // Oriol Deulofeu // Grovtuk
For me, it is simply about putting nature at its centre. I don't think shape-changing is central, though it is a very good way to experience nature from another perspective. It's more of a flavour thing to me, to be a druid, rather than a mechanics thing.
For me, druids are heralds of the primal power of the world. Unlike wizards, who harness their magic in controlled rituals and crafted spells, unlike clerics who gain their magic from the gods, who control the flow of that magic and unlike warlocks who's magical potential is regulated by their patrons. I think of druids much like sorcerers, but also different. Whilst sorcerers are conduits of magical power, druids are invokers of the endless primal chaos of nature. They do not control the magic of the world; rather they redirect it to aid them or assail their enemies.
Merlin was a druid.
Take that, wizards!
In the BBC show, which i know isn't the greatest reference to an old legend, he was more a sorcerer. With the whole 'non-incantation' magic and the latent ability.
Magic simply, as a nature priest. Shapeshift is a core-feature that I dislike and is the main thing that keeps me from trying them in 5e. That has nothing to do with druids to me, and I'd feel like I was gimping myself if I ignored their biggest trick.
Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
Tasha
Druids in 5E are based off of Celtic druids. They had two defining features: their ability to commune with nature and ability to shapeshift (wild shape). You can use wild shape in different ways: be wildfire, and use it to summon a fire thingy. Or be stars druid and turn stary.
'The Cleverness of mushrooms always surprises me!' - Ivern Bramblefoot.
I'll worldbuild for your DnD games!
Just a D&D enjoyer, check out my fiverr page if you need any worldbuilding done for ya!
Nope:
https://history.stackexchange.com/questions/47841/when-did-druids-become-widely-accepted-as-shapeshifters
Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
Tasha
Yes, but the CELTS believed that they could. Even though we know that is wrong. That's like saying wizards don't cast spells, they do complicated tricks. In the real world, yes, but the audience believes that it is magic. So DnD wizards are completely wrong? I get what you are saying (and knew at least half the stuff on the page. I still love reading about Celts anyway) but this is not true, it is the common BELIEFS of people.
'The Cleverness of mushrooms always surprises me!' - Ivern Bramblefoot.
I'll worldbuild for your DnD games!
Just a D&D enjoyer, check out my fiverr page if you need any worldbuilding done for ya!
A druid is only a druid for its inherently different picture on life. Druids are nature's extension, and many humans don't see it that way. Look at us humans on our computers or mobiles, typing out messages for random internet denizens to respond to. Druids are only druids for the roleplay, and this is the same for any class. The nature spells available to druids are also somewhat available to rangers. What seperates a ranger from a druid? Outlooks. A bard can cast spells from other spell lists, granting some druid spells if chosen. What seperates a bard from a druid? Outlook.
Of course, stat-wise, there are differences. A lot of them... Actually. But if the stats weren't different than other classes, then the idea of classes wouldn't exist.
Great question. I thought about this for quite a while before answering. It was an eye-opener in a way for me, so thank you.
I love roleplaying, message me so we can set something up.
I talk everything D&D, message me for questions, chat, arguements, or roleplay!
Explain me that... because I don't see it.
My Ready-to-rock&roll chars:
Dertinus Tristany // Amilcar Barca // Vicenç Sacrarius // Oriol Deulofeu // Grovtuk
There's a whole thing (I believe tied to the neo-pagan movement) that paints Merlin as a nature-priest type, tied to the Celtic religions, on top of the usual trickster-chronicler. He's also said to be half-fae (or half-demon, but that's just demonizing the fae), a further tie to Celtic nature spirits, and is rather well known for living in forests with the animals. And then, from there, we take celtic magic user => real world druid => D&D druid. That's where the idea comes from, at least that would be my guess.
That said, Merlin was more of a bard, which is where the whole Celtic-priest thing started from.
I mean, if you want to get really, really crazy, then we could say that Galdalf was a bard-cleric mix. In LotR, God and his angels literally sung the world and all its history into being, and all five "wizards" are just angels who took human form. LotR Wizard magic comes from using those original Words of Creation, something that 5th edition bards and clerics have a lot of.
It all goes back to how the Wizard class was originally the Magic-User class, who basically could cast any spell, and was meant to be a mix of just about every kind of magic user combined into one, including bits of bard, alchemist, and more. The wizard's core identity is "student of magic," which is extremely broad. Just about any type of magic user outside of D&D could be called a wizard, save for the notable exception of healer.