On Druids (brief)

Just a couple of quick thoughts before I have to head out for work. One of the classes that I really was intrigued by in 1e AD&D was the druid. The whole Celtic preist thing really got me. And if I recall, not too many folks played them back at the time. After reading Dragon 119, I was totally hooked. I know most old schoolers revile Unearthed Arcana, but at the time I thought the whole idea of more level progression to the hierophant levels was a cool thing. At any rate, what is the current consensus on the druid class? I really didn't care for the whole animal pet thing found in the later editions.

Comments

  1. TimeshadowsJuly 13, 2011 at 4:19 AM

    I'm with you, Johnathan.
    --Druids are cool, and I very much liked the UA levels.

    IMO, Druids should have used something like the Turning Table to befriend and motivate multiple animals and elementals, and it seems like this is a minor addition that would negate the Animal Form, and Sidekick trend.

    ReplyDelete
  2. XyanthonJuly 13, 2011 at 6:27 AM

    @Timeshadows - great idea! I'm thinking of adding to the Druid class as presented in Labyrinth Lord Advanced Edition Companion. Should work out with OSRIC or 1e. It will help expalin some of the things I'm doing with my Isles of Maedsid adventure. I like the idea of the turning table for animals!

    ReplyDelete
  3. TimeshadowsJuly 13, 2011 at 6:32 AM

    Great! I'm glad to to be inspiring. :D

    Hi, Daisey! :D

    ReplyDelete
  4. BlUsKrEEmJuly 13, 2011 at 10:15 AM

    As a BECMI Mystara fan I have some experience with Druid-ish classes. Druid, Master, Dervish, Shaman, Shamani, Shadow Elf Shamanm, and Woodland Shaman were pretty much all variations on a central druid theme. I get the impression that the authors were fans of the concept of the druid, but not the actual class, so they just kept rewriting it. Of the group I prefer the Shamani(the one high note from "The Atruaghin Clans" IMO.)

    The Shamani was an interesting take on the class from a Native American standpoint rather then a Celtic one. A Shamani could identify natural poison, and disease,would never be attacked or harmed by a natural animals (as long as the Shamani returned the courtesy,) and got the got the standard nature and healing oriented spells of most Druid classes. What set them apart was a class of spells that dealt with personal totems. Ny identifying a person's totem a Shamani could help them become more intune with their inner nature, granting an XP% bonus if they acted in a manor appropriate to their totem. The had some really neat spells that in volved personal totems, such everything from summoning physical representation ion their totem, to granting others with animal companions based on their totem, to using am totem to preform sympathetic magic. They also had some cliche "native magic" (war paint, spirit drums and the such,) but it was to totem aspect that really got me intrigued in the class. Sadly I've never had a chance to play the class, and no one besides me seems interested in the class (probably due to some of the offensive content in the rest of the book.)

    ReplyDelete
  5. XyanthonJuly 13, 2011 at 10:59 AM

    @BlUsKrEEm - that actually sounds pretty interesting. I'll have to admit that I'm not overly familiar with the BECMI reules other than the boxed sets as I was primarily a AD&D gamer back in the day.

    ReplyDelete
  6. AnonymousJuly 18, 2011 at 6:05 AM

    I suspect that ecology and an emphasis on protecting nature were very fashionable in 1974, but Arneson related that the very earliest proto-dungeon-crawl involved a druid from an Ancient-Rome wargame being armed with a Star Trek phaser.

    So "druids" actually predate Gygax's Chainmail!

    ReplyDelete

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