Post/Author/DateTime	Post
madoule 03-31-04, 12:45 AM	Hey all, Well doing that thing called *research* again. Anyways, so Im writing up this background that I want to incorporate in to this char and ive come upon ye old writing block. Problem: There is not alot of stuff about druids in the foggotten realms! please some one point me in the right direction! Next, Is it true that druids are a form of Keltish (sp) from real life.. if so resource that I can read to get a better understanding? How do you play/portray/think about druids in your games? Thanks in advance.
Dauntless 03-31-04, 03:38 AM	Honestly I rarely play druids because I have a hard time thinking up a reason they'd ever leave their homelands. So of course, I considered that a CHALLENGE! My next character will be a druid who is just freaking BORED of seeing the same bunnies and squirrels all the time and wants to get out and see the world for a change! An impatient elf who has wanderlust after spending the last hundred years or so living in the same grove.
CursedMoredhel 03-31-04, 03:49 AM	druids like balance but my idea of thier balance would vary to others they love nature and dedicate there lives to preserving nature typically the forest were they were trained or born anything that disturbs the balance of there home/forest disturbs the druid thats my thoughts for now
Lanoitakude 04-01-04, 10:17 PM	Druid's can have interesting backstories, you just have to be more creative. In Celtic religion, most tribes would have a religious leader called a Druid. They would wear animal skins and had various "powers". Most of these powers related to nature. Proof of these powers is non-existent. I believe they were rumored to be able to change shape. NOTE: the Celts were way too superstitious for their own good... Check out this thread: Search for the thread started by me about my druid's backstory. It may help you think of an idea.
Lhiannon Sidhe 04-02-04, 04:40 AM	D&D Druids are absolutly nothing like the Celtic druids. Celtic Druids, while they gretly respected the forces of nature, did not seek a perfect balance with nature nor did they worship nature, They were priests and teachers, more concerned with matters involving their gods, the education of children and the telling of historical stories. If you wanted to portray a Celtic-themed druid, a Cleric with the Plant, Animal, Magic, Earth, Water, Air or Knowledge domains, a Wizard, or a multiclass Cleric/Wizard would be a better class choice than Druid (Note I left fire out of the appropriate domains; the Celtic people believed there were 3 elements (Earth, Sea, Sky), not 4, as the Greeks did). The Bard was also of Celtic origin, though the bard class is more similar to historical bards, then the druid class is to druids.
kistrup 04-02-04, 04:54 AM	Well first of all druids do not have to originate from woodlands but could have benn raised/teached in any natural environment, such as dessert, swamps, the arctic, mountains, jungeles etc. Any race have their own versions of druids and most of them heed the dridic circkles and their heiraki. There are also other organisations/areas in Faerun that holds druids: Emerald Enclave, The Black blood, Moonshae isles, The Great Dale, The High Forrest etc. Seek out these and find inspiration. If you need a more specific background, please give me some info on your race and region. ;P
Lanoitakude 04-04-04, 07:21 PM	Lhiannon, I agree with you that D&D druid's aren't Celtic druids, but there are similarities. Where do we think the word "Druid" came from? Anyway, that's off topic, back to the druid character. Having your druid's grove destroyed by a specific group of people creates excellent motivation for adventuring. Or maybe the extinction(sp?) of a certain type of animal in the region. Not all druids are tree-huggers. Maybe choose an element (fire is my favorite) and specialize in all spells that utilize it. Summon lots of Fire Elementals and the like. Learn Ignan, wear red cloths, etc. Or possibly go ice, be from an arctic region and use frost magic. Just some ideas.
madoule 04-04-04, 07:49 PM	Great stuff guys! Keep it flowin' What I am really looking for is some good background motivation/belief stuff that I can help write into the core being of this druid character that I want to come up with. Since I have never played a Druid before, and becuase I like to dwell on the backstory of my characters rather than my stats I want to get what it would trully feel/be like to be one. I know thats a hard task without having to be one, but I play my characters more like Im an actor portraying this person... so my mind set is, okay how is this person going to act? What do I belief about this.. or that? I have been doing some light research on the web looked at the druid pages here and there, which have alot of cletic references to it, which in some part do help, but in other parts don't help. Soooo like i said.. kep them ideas comming!
Norhg 04-06-04, 11:36 AM	Problem: There is not alot of stuff about druids in the foggotten realms! please some one point me in the right direction! How do you play/portray/think about druids in your games? Thanks in advance! You are welcome of course ;). Pointing at backgrounds and its ilk is easy. Just give your druid a reason like you would any other character. I myself once played an elfin druid who was content with her home and life. As the daughter of a deceased knight she was the ranking nobility in her little village. Though relativly young (39, was playing some other rule system at the time) she had the world going for her. What troubled her most at the time was finding a good man to marry with, the village had a lack of them and she had no chances to leave town. She was much needed at home since the large size of her family, 15 children including her, the eldest. This background gave her the following outlooks 1) I want to get away from home 2) I'm strong and can rely on myself 3) I have to prove myself before my kin and the world Otherwise she is a common elf, she follows their traditions and dislikes everything evil. She was one of the better chars I have played.
Norhg 04-06-04, 02:00 PM	And by the way... As i view it there is as much difference between druids and druids as any other class. If playing in the realms I advice you to look up on the people of the black blood :), They could make for a good arch-nemesis alternatively patron organisation. The druid in the earlier example followed a virile tradition of elven lore and knowledge. She had been thaught by her father, who had been thaught by his father. Either I could have played her as a member of some holy order with balance in mind or as the gifted heroine who does druid magic because she knows how to and has to. I choose the second, though that never meant she was less of a druid.
Henry Hankovich 04-12-04, 03:49 AM	Here's kind of a different way of looking at it: Rangers are...well...rangers, in the "park service" sense of the term. They're people who are skilled at living in nature, and have a love for it, but ultimately what they're about is working with -people- in a natural setting. Helping them survive, guiding them from place to place, keeping them out of trouble, that sort of thing. Not all of them are going to be the same, of course, but the Ranger class is more oriented around "people surviving in the wilderness," than "people becoming part of the wilderness." Ranger knowledge is pragmatic. The druid, on the other hand, is more of a biologist; his knowledge is theoretical as well as pragmatic. He's someone who not only is skilled at wilderness survival and has a certain affinity for wild places, like the ranger, but has a very strong drive to understand nature--to figure out how things work, and why. A Ranger notices that trees change colors, which indicates the changing season, tells him he needs to find different sources of food, etc. A Druid wants to understand why it is the leaves change colors before falling off, why they fall off at all, what a tree does during winter, and so on. His drive to understand nature, and how natural things fit together, will make him want to "fit in" himself, and show others how to become part of nature as well. Or force them to.
Kickbutt_nancy 04-16-04, 04:14 PM	My advice to you is to not get hung up in "history" and "research" or what the book says, they will only confuse you, historical druids and D&D druids are *not* the same thing and the character you want does not have to be as either. The goal of D&D is to have fun, if you want a character like the druids of history then do research and come up with what works, you don’t have to settle for something unfitting just because 30 years ago Gary Gigax wanted to use the word druid. All I'm saying is just because its called a druid does not mean it has to be what the exact definition of the word is.
madoule 04-18-04, 03:49 PM	great stuff!! Ive been working so Havent gotten back to making the character...just yet. So to address the replays. kickbutt_nancy. Im not going to get hung up to much in the history, What Im looking for is a flavor of druid. What in the mind of this character is going on. I want it to be a process that I can think to my aself.. hey if i was a druid, id do that... Henry... great ideas! Nohrg. Black blood? what book can I find them in? thanks! PS I just read a good article background on the sample character druid that they have on the site.. that helps a bit too!