Druid players...how do you play your druid?

[Chexss]

Just curious how other druids players like to play their druid? Well my druid I play her a shifter mainly however I do have zen archery to play around with the bow when not in a form but as for spells...overhalf of my spells seems to be buffs/heals...buffing for combat...lord help me seems to take 5 minutes=p I kind of wish I went with a meta magic spell like quicken or something to cast some of those buffs faster but anyway.

How do you play your druid? Buff you and your companion until your spell list is spent then go out for x amount of time? Non shifter? Feedback people!

[NegInfinity]

Mechanically, low level shifter:
Shift, buff yourself, throw what's left at companion, go out in attempt to get level 12 with better forms. Keep couple spells unused for spontaneous conversion in case you're in a pinch to get some animal backup. Avoid all combat when non-shifted due to poor physical stats.

[Deathgrowl]

Right now, I just buff up in earth elemental form and smash things. I do good damage, and have decentish AB. I also use a lot of slay living/finger of death, because my druid follows a god of death.

I think it would be more interesting to have a chat about the RP of druids on the server. I see several being all friendly with and grouping up with necromancers who run around with undeads. And that just strikes me as something that would make a druid lose their powers very, very quickly.

[Aelcar]

Agreed. Mechanically, Druid is one of the easiest (even to build) and most forgiving classes to play. However, this power comes with great RP complexities, comparable to those of Paladin RP.

Druids can hardly take the vast majority of causes to heart (unless they alter the natural balance of an area they are interested in), they are slow to act and consider every possible implication before doing so (several times), their sky-high WIS make them extremely wary of assumptions, and taking sides is almost always a no-go.

Druids are loners, and often they fight for causes nobody cares about or even understands, letting the world outside their little speck of land burn if need be while they weigh the pros and cons of their intervention, and more often than not just find out they are content to watch.

This is a more or less "classic" Druid. RP specifics can and will be altered following less neutral deities like Malar, for instance. A Druid of Silvanus, instead, could easily fit the above archetype.

Druids massacring populations, taking active part in wars, joining undead mongers, helping knights perform honorable deeds...are uncommon. Let's say "Drizzt" uncommon...Some would call them "snowflaky" .

[NegInfinity]

I think it would be more interesting to have a chat about the RP of druids on the server.

Not really. Lore information on druids in source books is scarce. You have "masters of the wild" and generic information in player's handbook, and that's it. So such discussion would devolve into bunch of speculations and assumptions quickly.

Regarding undead... being a druid allows you to chose from one of the five natural alignments (good/evil/law/chaos/true neutral), so depending on that your view on undead may wary. It wouldn't suprise me if someone would tolerate those and viewed them as part of nature on cosmic perspective. That would require one heck of lore/int/wisdom.

P.S. I find it amusing that many people seem to go "protect the lizardmen" route.

[Truthiness]

I think it would be more interesting to have a chat about the RP of druids on the server.

Not really. Lore information on druids in source books is scarce. You have "masters of the wild" and generic information in player's handbook, and that's it. So such discussion would devolve into bunch of speculations and assumptions quickly.

Regarding undead... being a druid allows you to chose from one of the five natural alignments (good/evil/law/chaos/true neutral), so depending on that your view on undead may wary. It wouldn't suprise me if someone would tolerate those and viewed them as part of nature on cosmic perspective. That would require one heck of lore/int/wisdom.

P.S. I find it amusing that many people seem to go "protect the lizardmen" route.

There is quite a bit more lore on druids than that.

Player's Handbook 3.5
Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting (FR changes to druids)
Complete Druid's Handbook (2e but a lot of it would still apply)
Quintessential Druid I & II
Druids & Druidism
Faiths & Pantheons (Mostly about them being priests in the FR setting, and their god's dogmas)
And a few more bits and pieces in various other sourcebooks. (Magic of Faerun, Power of Faerun, Masters of the Wild, etc.)

As far as undead, it states in the player's handbook 3.5 about a druid's view on them.
"While druids accept that which is horrific or cruel in nature, they hate that which is unnatural, including aberrations (such as beholders and carrion crawlers) and undead (such as zombies and vampires). They sometimes lead raids against such creatures, especially when the creatures encroach on the druids' territory"
There is also quite a bit more about the druid's view on undead in the other sourcebooks, all stating about the same, that they disrupt the natural cycle of birth, growth, death and rebirth, which is the cycle that druids try to defend.
Of course, FR has it's exceptions, but they are snowflakes and would be hunted down and killed by the rest of the druidic society. (Lossarwyn the Ice Lich, page 83-85 of Champions of Ruin, for one.)

[NegInfinity]

There is quite a bit more lore on druids than that.

Player's Handbook 3.5
Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting (FR changes to druids)
Complete Druid's Handbook (2e but a lot of it would still apply)
Quintessential Druid I & II
Druids & Druidism
Faiths & Pantheons (Mostly about them being priests in the FR setting, and their god's dogmas)
And a few more bits and pieces in various other sourcebooks. (Magic of Faerun, Power of Faerun, Masters of the Wild, etc.)

Now where were you when I asked about druid books, hmm? Oh well.

As far as undead, it states in the player's handbook 3.5 about a druid's view on them.
"While druids accept that which is horrific or cruel in nature, they hate that which is unnatural, including aberrations (such as beholders and carrion crawlers) and undead (such as zombies and vampires). They sometimes lead raids against such creatures, especially when the creatures encroach on the druids' territory"

However, that doesn't say anything about any loss of power. Compared to paladins nature seems to be much more forgiving. Wearing metal armor only leads to 24 hour power loss for druid.

[Chexss]

Yeah I have thought of trying out my druid as more of a caster but overall I enjoy Nessa. She has many falts ( A far from perfect build..enough for it to be a challenge if I am not careful and the rollplay is amazing imo. Tho the RP is where it's at.) I cannot speak for all druids but Nessa protects a particular group of lizardfolk in order to protect a sacred tree they live near. If there were other creatures we could have a better chance at but they are usually in secluded forest areas. At least that's my thoughts on the subject. Along with

[Passiflora]

Buff your fighter and glance around at the awesome flowers until the fighter's done killing.

[Chexss]

Buff your fighter and glance around at the awesome flowers until the fighter's done killing.

Yeah...thats the way to go =P