Druid (Dungeons & Dragons)
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Barbarian |
| Additional/Alternative base classes |
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Archivist |
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In the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, druid is one of the base character classes. The Druid is a versatile class, capable in combat and of casting divine spells. They gain divine magic from being at one with nature, or from one of several patron gods of the wild. Unlike the cleric, druids do not have special powers against undead and cannot use metal armor. Druids have a unique ability that allows them to change into various animal forms. Druids work very well with animals, and can try to improve a wild creature's attitude the same way they would improve an NPC with diplomacy. Druids gain a greater control of their body, they leave no trace. At higher levels they can change appearance at will, and don't age.
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[edit] Druidic Oath
Originally, druids were very limited in their choice of weapons (almost as much as mages), and were of True Neutral alignment. The second edition Player's Handbook featured a set of societal rules governing druidic life. In order to reach some of the higher levels, players had to defeat a higher-level druid in combat; after accomplishing this, they earned different titles (such as Hierophant or Archdruid) and gained lower-level druids as followers.
In the 3.5 edition of Dungeons & Dragons, Druids are free to use different forms of weaponry, but they lose the ability to cast spells or change into animal form for a day if they wear metal armor. The alignment restriction now requires that druids remain neutral on at least one (but not necessarily both) alignment axis (Good vs. Evil and Law vs. Chaos).
[edit] Party Role
Druids and rangers both play a role of wilderness adventurer in Dungeons & Dragons, but a ranger is more martially inclined, while a druid has more magical skill.
Druids works well as supportive characters, since they are both competent spellcasters and fighters. Druids can cast ability augmenting, offensive, defensive and healing spells, making them versatile casters and able secondary healers. At higher levels, Druids become increasingly useful; the wild shape ability allows them to assume the form of animals that lend abilities to the party. They can become a hawk to gain a spot bonus, a cat with a move silently bonus (for scouting), or a horse to provide a mount. Additionally, they can have animal companions that fill some of these functions.
[edit] Variant Druids
[edit] Urban Druid
In the Dungeons and Dragons official magazine series Dragon, issue #317, a new Core Class is introduced in the form of the Urban Druid- a kind of "Anti-Druid" who is tied to civilization in the same way normal Druids are tied to nature. Urban Druids are similar but different, receiving certain spells (including several unique ones), possessing different animal forms and also different animal companions; such as Monstrous Scorpions/Spiders, Animated Objects and Carrion Crawlers.
[edit] Blighter
The Complete Divine Sourcebook for D&D, develops a blighter Prestige class for fallen druids. The blighter can be considered the Druidic version of the Blackguard. Like a Blackguard consorts with Demons instead of Angels, the blighter gains spells by destroying nature, rather than preserving it.
