The Druid: The Power of Nature - RPG Class Spotlight - Player Character Tips

[@PhillipMelanchthon]

Druids come in many forms. 1. The shillelagh wielding, hide wearing, oaken shielding fighter 2. The nature-oriented healer, using nature magic to cast healing spells and other support spells. 3. The animal-communing druid who is one with nature and speaks with the trees and has not just a companion animal but a family comprising every animal in the forest and treats them as wayward cousins. She calls on her companions as needed for defense or attack. 4. The scholarly druid who has compiled as much academic knowledge about natural system as innate or magical knowledge, combining the three sources of information into a life-long study of the natural world. Someone who is as much at home in the university setting as the wilderness campaign. Likely to be an accomplished alchemist and healer using natural remedies. 5. The druid-mage; not a multiclass but a true druid who emphasizes nature as a source of magical power. They rely on the direct use of nature magic, learning and casting spells like moonfire and starfall, entangling vines, as a casting class. 6. The shapeshifter who spends as much time, if not more, in an animal form as in their humanoid shape; creeping in shadows, tanking like a bear. soaring like a hawk. 7. The eat-or-be-eaten style of druid who embraces the reality of the predator-prey relationship. This druid has little sympathy for the small creatures of the forest and sees herself as the apex predator for whom everything and everyone is legitimate prey. 8. The Gardener Druid who sees himself as the supporter of all natural life wherever he finds it. He goes around with a miracle-grow cantrip on his lips, blessing potted plants as he passes and untangling rose bushes so that they receive better sunlight. 9. The Druid cleric who treats her interaction with Mother Nature as a spiritual one, with her chosen role as high priestess. She approaches nature with a religious reverence. She adores Gaia and Sylvanus and could act as their paladin if called upon by the GM. 10. The faerie druid who sees not only the tree, but the dryad spirit within, not only the river, but the naiad who lives there. This is a druid priest more in the Shinto tradition than the druid cleric, one who recognized the spirit in all things including the rock and the mountain. Such druids will be more in tune with the spirits and faeries who inhabit the forest, as with the forest itself. 11. The Outsider druid who, herself, has a connection to the spirit world. Maybe she is a changeling child or something wilder, whose father was a centaur, or whose mother was a wood-nymph. She might be partially a plant, herself, with blue pigmented skin like Zahn from Farscape, or might be able to turn into a tree like Daphne.

[@Klaital1]

You left out my favorite, the rot druid, focusing on death and decay (which are just as much part of natural cycle than anything else), diseases, insects, etc.

[@MikeKilo1969]

#5 please!

[@unamed1142]

Well I suppose this gets across the idea of the adaptability of the class. That is probably not even that extensive given how much variety a relationship with nature allows.

[@wx7fm]

One of my characters that I love currently is the cosmic druid, who loves the night sky and draw his power from starlight. I had this idea before Tasha's Cauldren even came out so the subclass they had there was a very welcome surprise😁

[@redfaux74]

Or.... One person, a druid, who agrees with ALL that.

[@draconicrift8974]

I made a hermit triton druid who was completely based around water and shifting into water based animals, particularly the giant octopus. I had an awesome time playing him cuz every thing he did was based on the ocean, turning into a seagull, a crab, or using seashells to cast rituals.

[@brannenk921]

I'm about to start a campaign with a character exactly like this! Glad to hear you enjoyed it. Makes me even more excited about my new campaign.

[@bandit5272]

no one will pay attention to the cockroach, except for the spider

[@Red_Bubble]

JJ Latham dont turn into a cockroack turn into a spider A BIGGER SPIDER

[@silvertheelf]

Turn into a centipede, poisonous and dangerous, preferably a desert centipede which is absolutely terrifying in every way and every aspect and is a hell no to the point where you are afraid to be within 5 miles of it, basically everyone will avoid going near you.

[@jonathanwells223]

The Schizophrenic Pyro nobody pays attention to the spider, except the bird, particularly that owl that is silently gliding through the air. And is right behind you!

[@kenaniah2]

I really appreciate your videos. I like your delivery. I really like that even though you consult notes and such, you spend most of your time looking into the camera and translating them into a natural delivery. Thank you for also putting up outlines for your videos to go along with them, but not overusing them. You have such a wide variety of videos, many have really boosted my game as a 30-year vet running campaigns in D&D. I show many of your videos to my elderly father, who got me into D&D when I was a teenager, and he enjoys them very much. He wishes to do a contribution and I will show him how. Also thank you for keeping your sponsorships from not overcoming the sponsored videos, I do appreciate your approach in that regard. I've started showing my current players some of your class-specific videos and roleplaying videos and they were really well received. Thank you for your work.

[@magnusholmfreysson2828]

Honestly, I want you to look at as many classes as you can, I have played a lot of those that you mention, and I have incorporated what you've said into my existing games. This is an excellent series and I love it.

[@captaincharlie467]

I've gone for a Sailor Druid, who found her druidry on the oceans

[@nitzuga8297]

sailor druid makes the best sailor. Excellent for bad weather predictions.

[@NixFaerie]

The Druid: Best class. cutest class. aesthetic-est class.

[@jlovett78]

Dwarf stone druid, subterranean druid. Speaking to the stone, guiding away from dangerous faults, speaking with earth and fire elementals, etc. Something not talked about much from what I've been digging into. Underground is nature too, there are quite a few useful spells in the druid arsenal to support this. Anyway that's what I'm building/playing and any tips or suggestions are welcome.

[@julianiemeyer1010]

I love this series. I love the way you break down the classes and archetypes into possible stories and give threads of ideas to the viewers. I've been utilizing this in my own gaming as of late, and it's helped me make the jump from FATE to D&D 5E, figuring out how to translate a character designed in a classless system into one that has distinct classes has been a difficult task. I've also found it useful from a writing perspective. Through this series you've given considerable credence to archetypes I've never really thought about putting into my fiction. To great effect. If I could put in my vote for where this series could go in the future, I would say get the 5th ed core classes out of the way and then go for setting variety. Detectives, pilots, hackers, star ship engineers... whatever. So far I've not been disappointed by any of the vids in this series, and will continue to watch them eagerly whenever one comes out.

[@MKoch-vc5nw]

I started playing a druid in the party where my boyfriend is gamemaster and I must tell you a HUGE THANK YOU for explaining the facts so easy-to-follow. ❤️ I'm not the best, but I'm neither a problem to the others (and sometimes I am indeed useful 😅) You're great 👍🏻😊

[@Tilphor]

It's humorous that you mentioned David Attenborough. I've always thought of you as the David Attenborough of RPGs.

[@timotheemathon9492]

I would love to hear you about the Artificer or any summoner/minion hoarder class and how to handle all those tiny friends for narrative purpose.

[@SnlDrako]

Sadly in my experience they get either A) Banned outright. (Mostly due to bogging down the game with the extras) B) Mess up with the VERY precarious balance of resources splitting between themselves and the minions, and get killed by accident. (Which is easier than it sounds) C) Get banned halfway into the game (Which happened to literally every GM I know who didn't ban them outright) D) They get shunned by the rest of the characters (NOT PLAYERS) for that the minion master does very little, and their minions are actually gets valued in their stead, which makes the player want for another character, one that doesn't get "bullied" (not the quote marks) because he does exactly what he wanted and proclaimed would do. (Which makes point C) easier to accept to be sure)

[@undrhil]

The Circle of the Shepherd Druid from Xanathar's Guide to Everything can be a minion class

[@nyanbrox5418]

All high lvl druids can summon fey which summon elementals while you turn into a T-Rex, along with every animal in the forest in a massive hoard.

[@nyanbrox5418]

Party gets invited to a tense party, Rogue Assasin: "I am going to use my disguise and ask around to see if i can find out when the king is going to be alone so we can take him out." Moon Druid: "I walk up to the princess and ask her if the is the bitch of the pack" DM: *Facepalm* "roll initiative" Rogue: "i pretend not to know her and sneak away..."

[@ryanbeverley1546]

Guy, I am loving this series of videos. As both a player and a GM, it is really interesting to see how the various classes can be addressed from a 'Story' angle rather than the 'Skills' angle. I say keep them coming. I would love to see your approach on the Alchemist if possible (one of my favorite classes to play) as I think it offers a unique approach to the game, as they have to be able to think ahead and prepare a lpt before venturing forward.

[@thomascantrell3254]

I played a pastoral druid, striving for a balance between natural lands and farming villages, There were tax issues as well and several interesting hooks. I also became a magical object lending library, as I couldn't use metallic armor or shields. And in second edition the plant growth spell was also a field blessing spell. Ah the memories :D

[@Karina-Loves-Andreas]

This is AWESOME, I was looking for content on various Druid Circles, which this WAS NOT...but I got SO MANY GREAT IDEAS for flavor, personality building, and conversational roleplay!! REALLY WONDERFUL, THANKS!! **I LOVE David Attenborough (who doesn't). When you mentioned him as a "Druid", lightbulbs went off in my head!💚💚💚

[@NixFaerie]

I always find it super easy to come up with unique druids, there's so much variety and theming you can do with different aspects of nature and different types of relationships with it. They can be anything from a barelysapient Wildman to your local flowershop owner to an old crazy cat lady. For modern/future settings I've even thought of making an archaeologist druid or a subclass for a "robot rights" style druid who thinks AI are sentient like any other creatures.

[@tyleremery7088]

I'll soon be playing a combat medic spore circle tortle druid whose goal is to restore the balance between life, death, and undeath wherever possible and really doesn't see anything inherently wrong with the undead, as long as it doesn't seek to take over. I can't wait to see how he interacts with the party's aasimar paladin in that respect.

[@hendor2885]

I'd love to see a video like this about sorcerers and shamans

[@devinm.6149]

The druid is one of my favorite classes and the warden seems my style.

[@GraveGeist482]

In my recent campaign, I played as a blight druid, with a love for the darker side of nature, where things are dying and returning to nature so that new things may bloom. He was overly fond of mushrooms, swamps, and bogs, and had a rather unfortunate smell about him that led him to become a tank of the group as enemies would often find themselves sickened being near him.

[@jacobellis2313]

I think it would be funny to play a druid that goes around to keep nature from overtaking cities. Every time he passes a flower pot he has a huge debate in his head if it should be destroyed or not and often asking the people living nearby if the flowers are being a nuisance.

[@Dinawartotem]

You forgot the druid that deals with the fae, Occasionally rescuing children from pixies and the like. The one that tells a village that this or that tree is inhabited by a dryad or this river is home to a selkie or he makes a deal with the river king on behalf of the town mayor for a bountiful river, at the cost of sacrificing a steer by an ancient stone altar every summer solstice or the river king will bring a curse upon the village. A sort of negotiator between civilization and the faewild if you like. I played a half-elf druid like that. Boosting my charisma to acceptable levels. And while he'd never be as good as a dedicated charismatic class, but with proficiency in persuasion and a decent charisma its worked out so far.

[@matthewbriddell9848]

This! More than any other class, the Druid can be a great ambassador to the Feywild and its inhabitants if that setting is in your campaign.

[@luhrsen8105]

I'm playing this Druid right now. I keep convincing all but the most evil enemies to become citizens of the kingdom my group is building in the wilderness and then making sure all their rights are protected. Things got complicated when I accidentally became king of a group of elven refugees who moved back into their ancestral home in the middle of the area. ( I used to carefully select my spells, but after multiple exclamations of, "I didn't prepare that spell today", I just started selecting at random and somehow that works out. )

[@Dinawartotem]

You don't need to make full use of all of your prepared spells. If you leave a few slots unprepared you can sit down and prepare them within a minute.

[@TheMissbambi]

im also playing kind of a fae dealing druid, one that has been in the faewild and wants to go back there. But for now she is in the normal world and negotiates with fae and the like.

[@sith1986]

I play this as a feypact warlock

[@jessechristensen6207]

I absolutely love this series! Keep 'em coming!

[@anubisload]

Love all your videos, would love to see all these finished out

[@JackEvans]

Thanks for this, about to start playing a Druid in a week and this is all good advice! Keep it up :)

[@KingOfTheUraken]

I enjoy this series of videos ! I used to play a shapeshifing elf druid. I was mostly playing him as a guardian of balance. Introducing simple and straightforward solutions to problems... Nature is cruel to the weaks !

[@apotato9894]

lol, I once played an "insect-shifter" druid who could turn into a bee. Great for stealth and scouting, although it turns out a wasp is a much more viable option, as they don't die miserably after stinging somebody...

[@donnafreeman2707]

Thank you thank you. I am playing a Druid now and did not know where I wanted to go. The herb things sounds like me. I think I will setup my own shop. And on my adventure will get herbs for my shop.

[@gabriel_the_salubri]

I'm so glad I found your channel today. I'm currently playing the Elder Scrolls Online and trying to develop a Druid Warden. Your thoughts here let me know that I was thinking along the right lines. It also let me know how much of a challenge I have in front of me. Now, regardless of what anyone thinks about ESO, I consider this a mental exercise more than anything. Trying to develop an archetype within a game that really doesn't support "role-playing" per se. Whatever the case, I intend to have fun with the idea and see what I can come up with. But thank you for sharing your insight!

[@occultnightingale1106]

I've currently got a good warden-type druid player in my campaign right now, who's basically playing it as an old defender of the world, by nature of protecting it from otherworldly interference. Playing it very much like Liam Neeson's "I have a very particular set of skills" character, and the other players are really interested in this guy. A good way to play a druid, to be sure, and I'm rather glad to be hosting him.

[@drizztiley8740]

Fantastic series. Very helpful since just about all my players are beginners to proper role-playing. If I may suggest, perhaps you could do a video for DMs and PCs about running sessions online through something like Skype or Discord? I have to do online sessions 90% of the time and with the campaign I'm currently setting up I'd like to make sure I do it proper.

[@willowdove6703]

I’m a pretty new player (in the Pathfinder system) but both my characters so far have been druids. The first was a ranged spellcaster/archer from the arctic with a special connection to ice magic and birds. For my second character, my GM worked with me to customize an archetype so that I could be a dedicated dragon shapeshifter with a drake companion. She’s been affectionately nicknamed “The Reaper” by the party because of her ability to dole out huge amounts of damage and for her deadly skill with a scythe. The druid class is really fun for me because it’s super versatile. You can be ranged or melee, you can use your magic for combat or for problem-solving or for flavor, you can be the tank or the healer or whatever you want. Even once you have your build down there’s a lot of flexibility in what you can do on any given day. My absolute favorite spell from the druid list so far has been Commune with Birds. It’s a great thing to pull out of your pocket when you’ve hit a road block. I feel like Stone Shape is going to be up there as well once I get to use it more

[@abouttime837]

Unfortunately playing a character with beliefs that would challenge the party can be very disliked in some games I’ve played. Wish people knew that conflict doesn’t have to end with the player being called a buzzkill but it’s a real challenge to introduce that. not saying that you can’t overdo it because you could certainly become a very annoying character The game hunter druid is interesting. Sounds very different from the usual druid and could probably easily align with the party

[@paranidherc]

Well, it's all about the difference between representing beliefs and forcing them upon others. Nobody minds the Cleric having wet dreams about Selûne. However, if the same Cleric then starts to explain to the Tiefling how it's an evil, tarnished being and how it should repent for it's Original Sin, then people will start to get pissed. Especially if it's getting repetitive and turns into nagging. Nobody needs a Druid that whines in your ear each time you walk through a forest and step on a mushroom.

[@Treblaine]

Depends how much the player wants to be a "My Guy" about this. Is he objecting to add flavour to the game or is he genuinely sabotaging the premise to even play the game because "My guy would do that". Like if the PC was a strict vegetarian and expected the other party members to follow, this should be an opportunity for humour and levity, not the player genuinely taking their metaphorical football and threatening to go home. For example if, while searching through a defeated bandits pockets the carnivorous barbarian finds some beef jerky the humour is in how the barbarian will try to hide this discovery from the druid, things like "oh no, no beef jerky here, just some... err... lovely steamed vegetables". It should be to add a bit of fun to the game but never to the point of sabotaging progress, at worst the druid may hesitate to save them in combat but say a prayer "forgive me goddess, they do not know, spare me your grace to save them and I will in time show them the true path!" and no real disadvantage in combat. But if the vegetarian Druid says "nah, my character would never associate with non-vegetarians" and literally refuses to be in the party, so the party is down a vital player, then it's "My Guy Syndrome". So a player should not play a PC's "challenging" viewpoints too harshly, whatever the plot is that will always take precedence over their class based disagreements. He will put aside such differences for "the greater good". If anything they'll make it a good plot point, while the barbarian brings back some rabbits to cook for dinner, the Druid will stomp off in a huff and give an opportunity for the druid to see something separate from the rest of the group of vice versa so certain things can be revealed to one or the other separately.

[@b_hollow_]

A T I like diversity!

[@Treblaine]

B. Hollow... Uuuh okay.

[@b_hollow_]

Or people are weak sauce and jealous of your RP skills. I've seen it before

[@Castheknotted]

Whats the best channel to go to and start watching a Braxia Game? Also the elven in touch with nature druid. The raised in an elven forest and taught the ways of nature druid!

[@HowtobeaGreatGM]

kzbin.info

[@Tengila]

There is this one homebrew druid subclass I encountered not too long ago that presented quite an interesting version of a druid - the druid that has embraced science as a method of helping the civilised and the natural world coexist without causing one another undue harm. Green energy, benevolent terraforming, sustainable farming and the like. An example of a character who might be classified as such a druid would be Eliabeth Sobeck from Horizon: Zero Dawn, I'd say.

[@TheRedAzuki]

"what are you actually?"... I'M NATURE'S WRATH

[@revshad4226]

One of my first characters was a druid and their stick was I become a wolf, so I almost entirely functioned as one of the party tanks. And because of the focus on wolf forms was the sense of relating everything to a pack of wolves.

[@robertsilvermyst7325]

I play my Shepherd Druid with a 1level dip in Life Cleric as an apothecary doctor and veterinarian. If you have ever played Octopath Traveler, he's very much like Alfyn in personality, goals, and having Hunter as his secondary class in that game. He's very healing-focused, and does field control either with his summons, Plant Growth, Spike Growth, or buffing allies. He also makes healing potions and combat potions like Potion of Fire Breath.

[@lightblckknight]

I learned that the druid is a mix between a bard and a cleric. Can do just about everything but if you play one you are the designated healer... And thus i have the same despair for druid as cleric. One that may have already been mentioned in the comments is variation on Blighters. "evil" druids that focus on the darker aspects of nature such as decay and death.

[@normanwhitmore6377]

Play a Moon Druid and you can pimp slap someone with a paw when they demand that you heal them

[@Pandafaust11]

"I ain't that kind of cleric, bub."

[@Relaxoli]

I really enjoy this series and hope some of my players are watching it too

[@patrickmeis1236]

Personally, my druid doesn't exactly fit most of these but is more of a hybrid between several of them. She is a druid of the seasons (re-flavored arctic land druid), specifically of the season of winter. She is part of the celebration of the season, of entropy and death, but also of survival and rest. It's her job to put to sleep the waken bear, and to commune with the Unseelie Court, but to also celebrate and revel at the Winter Solstice. She's kind of all-encompassing, which makes her alot of fun because there's so much folklore and ritual around seasons which makes for excellent roleplay.

[@curaxu]

i love the druid for its adaptibility indeed! i have oen character that multiclasses in ranger, druid and rogue. basicly makign him a desert- based nature magic wielding spy

[@opheliacox3996]

I just played my druid as a crazy wood elf who loves plants more than people, and has built up a squirrel spy network, a moonshine biz, and then went evil after helping to empower a demonic hydra plant from the 222 layer of the abyss.

[@araonthedrake4049]

One more approach to the druid class I think you could have mentioned that makes the class interesting in my opinion, is a sort of "Nature Paladin", essentially someone who is a champion of nature and seeks to strike down the wicked - but rather than on the good-evil axis, on a natural-unnatural spectrum. Things like fiends, abominations, the undead, corrupted animals could be considered a threat to the natural world and then this kind of champion of nature would strive to defeat those threats to protect it. He would be a zealot of nature in the same way paladins are zealots of their faith. And I think this gives you a lot of possibilities to make interesting interactions and story arks, something that comes to mind, let's imagine you were trying to resurrect someone, or heal their mortal wounds, perhaps the druid would be against it because it violates the natural order of life and death. This also makes it easier to integrate into the party since he is perhaps better suited for social interactions since, while still a druid, he is meant to travel the world and protect nature wherever he can.

[@devonsmith9519]

A bit late to the table and discussion but recently I did make a Druid of the Moon similar to the Game Hunter you referenced in the video. Less about maintaining the balance via peaceful methods but more of a hard lined approach of a more feral response. An example being someone over developing an area and then they go in and threaten or kill the responsible party or parties, or even going as far as to attack zealous tribes of other druids trying to push their beliefs onto society. I've yet to actually play the character unfortunately but I do hope to do so soon. The setting is in a Steam Punk Frontier style game based on a Pathfinder Module that was adapted to 5e.

[@ShuffleFM]

Please do witch! I'm playing an evil witch in pathfinder and most guides I see deal with min maxing and that's it. Would love the story tellers take on it :) Awesome videos by the way!

[@electricwhiteboy]

Running a campaign with an NPC Druid party member. I've bigged up the reincarnation ability. In 3.5 you can revive a character 10 years per level after they've died, their circle use ritual death and reincarnation as a form of time travel and preserving expertise and knowledge that may be lost.

[@witchBoi_Connor]

Of all the classes, this is the one which I struggle the most with, in creating a character for anyhow.

[@hopejohnson6347]

I played a druid in an underdark campaign as a hunter of all things unnatural. An exterminator style druid of undead, aberrations, constructs and those who would create such unnatural things. All the while terraforming a section of underdark caves and tending to her animals, plants and pther protectees she picked up on the way

[@KalianaH13]

my player wanted to play a druid character, and he went with the home brew Kalashtar race, but because it's an eberron specific race he allowed me to change it to a fey soul, and I've tied it in as the race before the fairies and actually the builders of the last empire, but right now he (and it) just think they're fairy related. :) So he's off to follow his 'spirit guide'. he used a race to make it his own. but the video certainly gives me alot to think about in a very druid-centric campaign (it was before he made his character too)

[@birdbird5337]

My favourite type of druid is the natural explorer or biologist type of druid, who studies and apprecitiates nature in the same way a wizard does with magic.

[@occultishnoir]

My favorite Druid Archetype has been the Blighter lately. It's an interesting spin on the usual tree-hugging hippie.

[@Raurie4]

Favorite druids so far have been from silly ideas. First was a Kobold with a walking pumpkin creature as a familiar. He has a beach umbrella sized sunflower as a hat and one of his favorite things was to sneak around the outskirts of town or threw tunnels he had dug under the town and watch people. Other druid was made completely from a joke, the potato druid. I've reskinned some of his spells, an example of which is produce flame where he actually makes a flaming potato instead. He has this stubby fat potato creature as a companion. He was a soldier who came back form war and took up farming, specifically potato farming and tried to reconnect with nature.

[@jodylester9118]

Messing around with a Shadar-Kai Druid that's cross-classing as an Eldrtich Knight rn. Makes for some seriously sick combinations and some cool homebrew attacks that I'm toying with.

[@katz86]

I'm vary much enjoying this series. I don't play any type of Rpg other than fantasy, but if you did some other than that I wouldn't be upset.

[@mike9139]

YOU ARE AWESOME! ❤️ ❤️ ❤️

[@Rabid-Floof]

I like the idea of a druid tribe that has a sort of rumspringa. Members of the tribe leave their home in their early adult years to experience the world and decide of the druidic life is where they want to be.

[@caos1925]

I am making one similar to the savage, who is just mostly curious of the world outside her village. While druids are still druids, ultimately i'm going to go with the Circle of the Shepherd because that is the main circle that doesn't just do, what the druid can do at later levels, and it doesn't just do something another class can do better.

[@thepxlninja]

Keep it up, it's a wonderful series.

[@danperlstein7043]

Love to hear your thoughts on the Starfinder base classes!

[@mateusabreu7309]

I was intending to make a druid of the twilight circle. So, for the roleplay of this circle, I thought of making him to despise nature in its life form. He believes that death is as important as life, and therefore some creatures must die to keep this balance. He looks more like a necromant. Also he understands that the life is something that defy the natural entropy of the universe and, in this way, he seeks to finish most forms of life. I think it is a good idea for a twilight circle druid.

[@javierbell6525]

One of my players is having trouble with their Folk Hero. Could you make a future video covering that type of character, please.

[@cyrilmartin5613]

My druid character is an elf guy and I like him a lot, maybe the second character I play the most after my necromancer. Like a scientist he focus on explore, studie and protect living form, because he feel it empower his bond with the Nature. But sometimes it conflict with the group (one day, we were asked by a village to kill a group of cyclops that were killing their sheep, and my character didn't want to participate because the cyclops were just hunting food so it wasn't bad for him. The group lacked healing spell during the fight and nearly didn't came back). As abilities my character was more a support than a fighter because he didn't focus on a specific skill but tried to know more utility spell from each element. He has great senses skill (emplyfied by his elven origins and his beast forms), healing abilities (he knows a few healing spells and his studies let him a lot of knowledge in alchemy and botanic), and has a lot of utility spells to help during adventures or fight (he can entangle the ennemies, and has a good earth and water repetoire). His forms are wolf, otter and eagle because I wanted him to be able to move everywhere. Playing it I found that his skills were good for the exploration but not for town or village type of map because he lacks human abilities. I think druid believes must be so strong they pass out social logic. So one hard point of my character was to create a link with the other members of the group

[@seanheath711]

Playing a shepherd druid/grave cleric, and would be interested in your opinion . I'm a bishop/sexton in a temple near Hillsfar right now. Lv 4

[@b_hollow_]

If there is such a class that most expresses my fantasy self, it's probably the savage druid, the animalistic yet curious creature. My biggest problem while playing though was some other party members, not all and certainly not the DM, were taking issue with my roleplay and my evaluation of true nuetral. They often wanted me to be less good, to the point of not doing anything, even if my character was defending herself from attacks. I was offended as I had actually very carefully crafted the character's inner dialogue that supported how neutral she thought she was. Maybe they thought I/ she was stupid because she didn't talk a lot. But I really enjoyed incorporating the environment into encounters, etc, and the DM definitely complimented my style. Please make a video on unique ways to RP true neutral. I don't think I'll ever get over this because it was so personal to me. 🐇🐇🐇

[@RoundRobin0]

B. Hollow their behaviour is based on an online article from the primal internet years that stated that if you are (true)neutral then every good deed must be offset by an equally evil deed. The fact that Gygax, Greenwood, Hickman, Weiss and the other game developers all called the article the largest package of blatant stupidity ever conceived has not stopped people from believing this hogwash. For every druid trying to mediate good relations between civilisation and nature there is an entire conclave that slaughter entire villages building structures within 5 miles (8 km) of a forest for the purpose of protecting nature.

[@b_hollow_]

RoundRobin0 thank you. I understood this and didn't think it validated members of the party thinking they could roleplay my druid better than me. They just had meta problems. I think that if someone says they are true nuetral, like I did with my druid status, then that should be quite the caveat to others. They didn't take the hint and assumed I was gentle

[@revshad4226]

Great video.

[@jeffdrobert]

How about a shaman type druid that reveres nature's aspects? It would be a mix of the herbalist and the savage.

[@otbaht]

I one played a druid who never left animal form unless he absolutely had to. now this was 4th edition so it was easier to do. He only left it to put on new gear etc. His animal form was a wolf and the party basically had people think he was a dog. It was always interesting because he would still go shopping and such with a money pouch around his neck. he felt like he was more comfortable as an animal over a person. The party actually got praise for how well they could train their beasts and such, but it boiled down to him not trusting people so when people would talk to him as an animal they would be more honest. Basically a person hides who they are to other people but opens up to a beast/pet. it had a lot of things working for it i think.

[@CmdrTom]

So what are you actually? Druid: I'm the man who gets things done.

[@GoodOldGamer]

A few levels of ranger could literally give a druid a favored terrain with mechanical as well as flavor benefits. I've also thought about giving a druid or ranger a street urchin background so they get some movement in urban areas similar to favored terrain. Could provide interesting RP opportunities too.

[@Halinspark]

Im interested if you have any good info on necromancers. Everybody always plays them as evil wizards who raise a skeleton army to fight for them, and I feel that unnecessarily limits the class. The webcomic Dominic Deegan: Oracle for Hire had a character who was a necromancer struggling against that exact archetype, and I was curious if you have any other more interesting angles to approach the class from.

[@DavyDrawbar]

Do you plan on covering ua classes?

[@revshad4226]

I'd one that you missed is the mediator. The druid that forms the bridge between the civilization and the fey or elemental spirits

[@Packless1]

6:45 ...sounds like s.k.o. Druid-version of Dr.Sheldon Cooper to me... ;-)

[@myrtleantioquia5838]

I knew a druid who augmented his powers through herbal remedies he himself concocted. He wasn't a very respected member of his grove because the herb he took made him lethargic and mostly unreliable but it did give him a heightened awareness of nature. He was what we liked to call a High Druid.

[@brandoncurtis6219]

Not sure if anyone has brought it up but the pet/summoner druid who has a powerful pet who they buff and use in battle.

[@GoodOldGamer]

A bardic druid or druidic bard could be an interesting mix. Perhaps revolving around nature poetry or something? 🤔 Using birds or flowers and such in performances.

[@chaddickerson1887]

Herbalist doctor (loved that) - proud to exhibit Nature's beauty and power in the small fragile herbs and weeds Unlikely psychologist - unexpectedly insightful timing and question-based remarks on PC "issues" Unnatural explorer - in order to understand the motivations of civilizations to so oppose Nature, I abandon the comforts of my home hoping I'll become better prepared for mending and defending it after

[@pastelshadows6437]

Honestly I've always loved Druid classes.

[@joaootero9157]

The High Druid He loves nature, he likes animals and he uses weed. The high druid is DUMB, but always good vibed and wise, naturaly

[@FeyScribe]

I made a halfling tribal pigmy druid.. he was a witchdoctor, and used shrunken heads as scrolls and bone fetishes to cast spells

[@Danivuk]

Skight divergence, but I just finished reading a series of novels called the Iron Druid. Some folks may find them worth a look. Atticus is to druids what Dresden is to Wizards.

[@Ashley-of6ro]

Once you finish with the official classes, maybe try Blood Hunter? Personally just started playing a Lycan and I quite love the flavor of the class. Though i'm not sure what to do personality wise.

[@rhael42]

I know it's more of a Pathfinder thing, but a video on the Alchemist could be interesting.

[@davidzucca9946]

So I’m trying to make my first ever character and I’ve started with a Tiefling Druid. I wanted to go for the dark, unbridled side of nature like wildfires, landslides, poisonous plants, animal bones, and play him, not necessarily evil, but definitely not pure and good. It seems like a lot of the Druid’s characteristics a based in good nature. Is this a good idea, especially for a new player? Any recommendations or tips?

[@sonofbelz]

Other type of druid I play is Guardian. Similar to Warden but instead of guarding something like nature the Guardian druid guards life as a whole and tends to have a more progressive view toward things. After all, humans, dwarves, dragonborn, etc are all part of nature. A guardian will be willing to sacrifice a tree if it saves the forest rather than a Warden who may be more along the line of not a single leaf being touched. Moon Druid with some good magic items and constitution can easily be one of the best tanks in the game. Since you take on the HP of your animal and when you reach 0 you go back to where you were in normal form (and any carry over damage of course is taken away) as long as you have wild shapes your HP can easily get up to 200-300+ by level 9. Plus any magic items that give plusses to AC carry over to your forms (if you play it where you retain the effects in the form, all depends on your DM but RAW you can use the bonuses from your magic items.) Same goes for strength or any other stat really. Then on top of that you can cast things like blur on yourself before you change since Wild Shape is a bonus action and you can maintain concentration in your forms. Add feats like war mage or mage slayer (tougher to pull off but if played right can be devastating for casters,) and your concentration will be tough to break. Meaning that if they can get past the disadvantage and your AC they have to get through a colossal amount of hit points to make you even start to sweat.

[@ExKiwi-yw8er]

I enjoyed my friend's druid who made it her purpose to study, revitalize, and proliferate dinosaurs all over the world.

[@NixFaerie]

I always seem to end up as tiefling or faun druids. I'm playing one right now, he's the baby brother of the party (although ironically the oldest) who acts as the voice of reason and morality. He gave everyone poppies so that he could use locate plants to find them if they got separated. He's the team support and healer and he's never wildshaped in his whole life and is actually scared of large ungulates like horses and deer but he's a botanist through and through. He's very fun to play, he's the one guy on the team no one seems to have a problem with so he ends up getting stuck trying to solve their arguments and failing cause he has no backbone. He also got one of the party members addicted to goodberries and controls him through his addiction. My current faun druid on the other hand thinks himself a nature god cause a village mistook him for theirs when he started living in their temple and is on a quest to find more subjects. He is also very fun to play.

[@WolvieXXXZandalari]

I think you would laugh at the fact I'm playing a Druid with High Charisma and Wisdom but a -4 in Strength. (I asked my DM if I could take a 3 in str) Been the best thing ever... I literally have to cast Shillelagh to swing my staff at people. My powers come from being able to convincingly talk to animals and get them to do my bidding. But every chance I get I try to do something that requires strength... and almost always fail leading to some quirky circumstances. 100% suggest to everyone Low Stats are a great outlet to Roleplay with.

[@robertcapostagno2082]

Low stats make the character. High stats make it bearable XD

[@brothgurlegion4229]

Love it keep it going

[@oogalook]

I once played a Community domain Urban Druid (Pathfinder APG) who I made a compulsive liar. Hilarity ensued. Urban Druids above a certain level replace most of their Wild Shape ability with the ability to use Alter Self at will. His name was Cleftin Twain, and he never, ever turned Alter Self off. He would always be operating under an alias, and though he was fighting the good fight, he refused to trust anyone with the truth. To build a little trust with the party, I spammed the Community domain spell Protect Other, which let him soak half of the damage everyone else suffered. He lied and dissembled and dodged the question, but when the chips were down, he was the first one in line to take the fall. Except when he had to deceive the enemy into thinking him a double agent. I stabbed my buddies more than once to pull off a deeper ruse. That didn't go down well. But it was funny.

[@Roboteca1000]

would love to see your take on Psionic Classes

[@jasonniebuhr8607]

Skyler Larson They’d have to create some Psionic classes. I haven’t seen any for 5E

[@conortibbs6401]

Hello, My name is Conor and I am a big D&D 5e aficionado. "Survivors" and "ultimate support" are a nice titles for druids and I've had one go off by themselves in Wild Shape without the rest of the party plenty of times. My main issue is when people take moondruid and basically can beat entire scenarios built for the whole party by turning into a direwolf twice, take a short rest and basically be no worse off. The rest of the classes can start to catch up around level 7 but when moon druids get their Elemental Wild Shape (5 levels too early per the previous rule about 1/3 their druid level) they again get miles ahead of the others in that they can essentially rely on a short rest ability and still have a full caster worth of spells (that they can alter every long rest) to fall back should someone interrupt their siesta. Don't even get me started on when Moon Druid gets to level 20 and can bonus action into elementals forever... In answer to this problem (or what I consider a problem at least) I alter wild shape by taking away the last bullet point on the rules of wild shape which reads: - You choose whether your equipment falls to the ground, merges into your new form, or is worn by it. Worn equipment functions as normal, but the DM decides whether it is practical for the new form to wear. Your equipment doesn't change size or shape to match your new form. Merged equipment has no effect until you leave the form. Instead, I make it so druid can only alter their actual bodies. Any clothing, armor, spell components, weapons or other items have the possibility of be lost, left behind or in some cases destroyed which I feel presents a challenges that this class really needs. This particularly comes into play with the danger of dropping out of wild shape due damage and not having any armor or spell components/focus. But in addition to requiring some planning before turning into a giant octopus, their is also a good deal of fun role play and hi-jinx as after every wild shape (with the possible exception of an ape) the druid returns to their form in the nude. Naturally this is not something that every table will be comfortable with but I have found it adds a delightful component of the great heroes trying to maintain their reputation while one of them appears to be a compulsive streaker ;-) For those who made it this far, thanks for trucking through. This chip has been on my shoulder for a while if you couldn't tell. On a side note, I just got into watching The Adventures of the Windswift and am thoroughly enjoying myself. Keep up the great work! Conor

[@j.w.7608]

What's shelleigh?

[@professorsponge1554]

I really like the 'exile' Druid. A very rouge-y druid who fled into the woods because of some run-in with the law and went off to live in nature for his safety. He is always looking over his shoulder when he goes into town. He's perfect if you want a sort of redeemed criminal character.

[@missyjames8887]

One of my favourite enemies I've thrown at a party was a group of half-fiend satyr Druids corrupting the lands driving the animals mad and twisting them in "fiendish" ways (I like my templates 😝 lol).

[@andynelson952]

My druid is a human who grew up in a druidic cult, ran away and joined the circus as animal "trainer." He's recently gotten into world shifting shenanigans, but he's certainly not your average Druid.

[@locktock9]

I dont care that the druid is a bit.....unspecialised (as in doesnt have a special singular role". infact thats a massive help to me, im very bad at rpg's and like to be able to adapt to anything. druids being able to do anything really makes sense as the saying goes "nature finds a way" so it fits. a druid can shapeshift unlike other classes which fascinates me, I love shapeshifting its something thats always drawn me in. you can also play a druid that doesnt have social skills and talks rarely and when he does he or she messes it up a lot. which is very very representative of me as a person. I have an affinity with animals in real life animals always love me no matter how aggressive they previously were, and i am autistic so my social skills are crap. its truly the character for me, especially since it lets you make up for your mistakes instead of being made to sit in it

[@thejamman4070]

Yeah! Getafix! I love those books!