Druid Class

[Tamerlane]

[Lephys]

Their teeth are gonna get dull if they keep using those axes.

[Tamerlane]

Not dull: long. Like all rodents, beavers' teeth grow indefinitely. If they don't keep gnawing, they grow too large.

[Lephys]

Oh yeah. Sorry... 8P. I got that wrong.

 

Then, they could use them to parry in combat. 8D!

 

See, we've already got variety going in Were-Beaver Druid builds!

[Scottfree6000]

BEAR PIG MAN

 

[Randomthom]

Isn't it ManBearPig?

 

Where's Al Gore, he might know!

[Morgulon the Wise]

 

DnD druid builds were basically all the same with how shapeshifting worked. There was always one optimal form to be. And shapeshifting altered your physical stats making any investment there meaningless. What I like to see is more customization.  If I want to make a burly constitution based druid when he transforms into a bear his human form stats will benefit the bears inborn toughness.  This druid is lacking intelligence and spellpower because of the physical specialization.

 

I liked this most so far. With a half-half form this might get quite decent. The important thing which distances druids from mages and fighters should be at least their individual skills. I dont want to see a bear-druid berserk when a berserk does this job in a better way. This would not be fighting side on side with nature... which a druid should really do. I'd like him to bite, tear flesh with his claws and flail around with poison ivy.

[Ulquiorra]

I think druid shoud more resable to shapeshifters .. wild mages and animal sorcerers then "piersts of nature" ...

 

Druids in reality was not praing to the plants a mushrooms but more for moon and sun .. secondly there made bloody rituals killing people for secriface for gods ...

 

They more risemble an shaman (african, slavic, germanic and other before christianiti) then "magical protectors of the wood" ... sigh

[Morgulon the Wise]

This isn't about the real world though... And African/Celtic/Slavic/Germanic indeed prayed to trees, the sun, the moon and the stars, ate mushrooms (and other funny stuff), sacrificed people and cattle fitting to their needs to persuade their gods.

 

But they hadn't to protect the wood! This is new. In these centuries they had to "protect" the people from the woods.

 

I like BG and IWD druids. Somehow espacially Arundel. Since then I play druids whenever I can. I like this balance bla. It functions on a much bigger scale than most of you let show in your posts. Magical protectors of the woods is what WoW and others made out of them.

 

Their biggest forte is to merge... into everywhere.

[Scottfree6000]

every class up until now a lore. I'm wondering what is the lore behind the druids in the world of Eternity, and how did the soul work with nature and animals?

 

I'm also wondering if what I said made sense 

[WotanAnubis]

They more risemble an shaman (african, slavic, germanic and other before christianiti) then "magical protectors of the wood" ... sigh

 

I suppose not. But druids more or less vanished after the conquests of the city of Rome and especially the rise of Christianity and its many churches. As such, Druids have more or less become symbolic of the "natural old world" that was forced to make way for "modern urbanization and civilization." Forests, too, tend to symbolise wild nature since they get cut down a lot to make way for farmland and because they're way prettier than, say, swamplands. Put the two together and, well, Magic Forest Protectors.

 

This may not be particularly historically justified, but it kind of makes metaphorical sense.

[Lephys]

"Sludge McGurble: Swamp Druid... at your service."

 

 

Would be pretty neat if you could sort of have an affinity for a specific biome/ecosystem within the entirety of nature.

[Tsuga C]

...and how did the soul work with nature and animals?

"How does the demi-human soul interact with animals and/or nature spirits?" is a fine question. It also brings to mind the related question of whether or not animals have a soul/spirit analog.

[WotanAnubis]

 

...and how did the soul work with nature and animals?

"How does the demi-human soul interact with animals and/or nature spirits?" is a fine question. It also brings to mind the related question of whether or not animals have a soul/spirit analog.

 

 

Do souls have a species in the first place? If soul reincarnates from a human into a spider, is it still a human soul? Has it turned into a spider soul? And was it a bear soul before becoming a human soul? Or was is just 'a soul' moving from body to body and mind to mind?

 

I guess this all depends on how reincarnation works in PE - if it exists at all.

[Scottfree6000]

 

 

...and how did the soul work with nature and animals?

"How does the demi-human soul interact with animals and/or nature spirits?" is a fine question. It also brings to mind the related question of whether or not animals have a soul/spirit analog.

 

 

Do souls have a species in the first place? If soul reincarnates from a human into a spider, is it still a human soul? Has it turned into a spider soul? And was it a bear soul before becoming a human soul? Or was is just 'a soul' moving from body to body and mind to mind?

 

I guess this all depends on how reincarnation works in PE - if it exists at all.

 

 

Maybe the soul the like water, and the creature's body is container.

[Morgulon the Wise]

@ Scottfree

 

Are you a reincarnation of Yoda or Bruce Lee?   ?

 

But I think this is how reincarnation works, yes. I like also the Idea, that noone in the World of P:E knows more than that how and why it works. Not even the druids which might be a much more integrated part of that cycle.

[Lephys]

Has it turned into a spider soul?

Spiiii-der SOUL! SPIII-DER soul! Doin' the THINGS THATTTT A spi-der soulll can! Can it shoot WEBS?! NOOOO IT can't... 'cause ittttt's a SOUL! SPIII-DER soul, LOOK-ouuuuuuuuuuuuuut! HERE COMES, a SPI-der souuuuuuuuuul!

Edited June 18, 2013 by Lephys

[Sheikh]

To make druids interesting, make their combat gameplay different from other classes. Make druids almost completely helpless in human form, but quite strong in animal form.

 

Also what would be interesting is to remove or reduce the control the player has over the druid character while he or she is shapeshifted, meaning they literally become the animal they shapeshift into, perhaps somewhat more powerful, perhaps somewhat magical (for gameplay reasons). Or the player could have control, but only limited control over the character in that case.

I have always had issues with the philosophical viewpoint espoused by many D&D druids of the concept of an active agent of balance. This idea implies that the druid has access to some formula that allows him or her to determine exactly what steps will be needed to return a system to some prior "balanced" state. This idea is not in of it self terrible, but in practice it usually comes down to life for a life formulations that are seldom satisfying and ignore the idea that taking lives is seldom a perfect equivalent.

If a druid values animal life as equivalent to human life, how do they feel about meat eating? Is avenging cows restoring balance? The concept of balance is often poorly defined and virtually impossible to achieve. So we end up with a hippy park ranger that offers little in ideological depth. I think if we move away from the concept of "balance" there is a much rich canon that can be engaged. Either a sort of shamanistic nature spirit tradition or a more cosmic sense of balance, akin to taoism, would offer greater complexity without getting mired in the constant struggle to find a center point.

Man eating cow is the same as wolf eating cow, to a druid at least. Its just the natural course of life. Think of the pagans in thief, they found this natural, while the hammerites considered the pagans (humans) killing animals and using their meat/horns/hides as stealing.

[WotanAnubis]

To make druids interesting, make their combat gameplay different from other classes. Make druids almost completely helpless in human form, but quite strong in animal form.

 

Also what would be interesting is to remove or reduce the control the player has over the druid character while he or she is shapeshifted, meaning they literally become the animal they shapeshift into, perhaps somewhat more powerful, perhaps somewhat magical (for gameplay reasons). Or the player could have control, but only limited control over the character in that case.

 

That way the player can do almost nothing in human form and can do nothing in animal form.

 

That doesn't really sound very much like fun. I don't buy RPGs to watch the computer play them for me.

[.Leif.]

I think the Druid should get a 'Spirit-Quest'. It just sounds like the sort of thing a Druid ought to do. Some Vision Quest like fighting She in Honest Hearts or Point Lookout.

[Zdenio]

I'm interested in update about druids... I mean, I wonder how they magic will work. Connecting souls with nature? Or... Will nature have it own soul or something? Heh, thanks to this concept of souls everything is different in PE world, I like it.

[Lephys]

I'm interested in update about druids... I mean, I wonder how they magic will work. Connecting souls with nature? Or... Will nature have it own soul or something? Heh, thanks to this concept of souls everything is different in PE world, I like it.

Yeah, like Gaia/Terra. The spirit/soul of the entire planet (well, Earth, at least.)

[WotanAnubis]

 

I'm interested in update about druids... I mean, I wonder how they magic will work. Connecting souls with nature? Or... Will nature have it own soul or something? Heh, thanks to this concept of souls everything is different in PE world, I like it.

Yeah, like Gaia/Terra. The spirit/soul of the entire planet (well, Earth, at least.)

 

 

Sounds like a bad move to give the planet a soul. You might as well give rocks a soul.

 

Possibly having a god (or gods) around to basically be Mother Nature might be a better idea.

[Tsuga C]

Sounds like a bad move to give the planet a soul. You might as well give rocks a soul.

 

Possibly having a god (or gods) around to basically be Mother Nature might be a better idea.

I have to disagree. Clerics are followers and advocates for various religious systems and practices that generally assume that a deity or deities are responsible for the creation of life and the various elements. The divine powers are seen as something separate, something above and beyond the physical world and well removed from the day to day, mundane business of life.

 

The idea of the world itself having a spirit allows for a more primal, more basic relationship that runs parallel with druidic thought. Sure, "Gaia" might manifest an anthropomorphic avatar to give neophyte druids something to latch on to when praying or meditating, but druidry wouldn't take to the idea of a distant deity creating the natural world and then detaching itself from its creation. To the druids, the divine is all around them and they are a living part of it. The ebb and flow of life and death, predator and prey, the cycles of the moon and of the seasons, the classic four elements--all are part of the spirit of the world. As the druid interacts with and comes to understand these numerous facets of creation, so their abilities and intimate connection with the spirit of the world grow.

Edited July 3, 2013 by Tsuga C

[motorizer]

I preferred having a druid to a wizard in BG II

the swarm of bees was the best spell, because it stopped enemies casting their spells, allowing you to just wade in and batter them

also they could heal and were a bit better in melee