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Druid

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Druids gain power not by ruling nature but by being at one with it. They hate the unnatural, including aberrations or undead, and destroy them where possible. Druids receive divine spells from nature, not the gods, and can gain an array of powers as they gain experience, including the ability to take the shapes of animals. The weapons and armor of a druid are restricted by their traditional oaths, not simply training. A druid's Wisdom score should be high, as this determines the maximum spell level that they can cast.

Druids and Rangers are two sides of one coin. Druids can be seen as the embodiment of the power of nature while Rangers can be viewed as the highly skilled experts and warriors of the wild.

Druids, while able warriors themselves, focus on the use of magic and magical abilities to battle their enemies. They have a dizzying array of abilities that they are granted as they progress to higher levels but, unlike the Bard, apart from Wis there are few other things that need to be considered in the creation of a Druid as his or her special abilities are not based on anything but Druid level. That means that having a high Cha, for example, does not make your Wildshape ability at 5^th level better (as turning undead becomes better with higher Cha for Clerics). This frees the players to pick and choose what sort of Druid they want to make and not be concerned about innate abilities as they will be granted through experience.

Something to keep in mind while you are thinking about your character is that Druids are a reflection of nature- both beautiful and dangerous and thus, they must keep a balance within themselves about their world- that is, all Druids must remain very close to Neutral in alignment as nature is a giver and taker of life in equal measure. A careful reading of alignment is important to understand the frame of mind of a player wishing to play a Druid character. If a Druid moves away form Neutral they lose a great deal of their Druidic abilities.

Making the Best Druid

Again Wis is the single most important ability to consider as a wide variety of powerful spells are available if you have enough Wis to be granted them. The system is the same for the other spell casters in that if you have only 11 Wis you may only cast 1 level Druid Spells, if you have 12 then you cast up to 2^nd level spells and so on. As I have mentioned before it is a good idea to put points into Wis when you are creating the character as it more difficult to raise an ability naturally throughout the game (you can add +1 to an ability of your choice at 4^th, 8^th, 12^th, 16 and 20^th level of experience) or gamble on acquiring a magic item that will artificially raise an ability.

For those wishing to bolster the fighting side of his or her Druid, remember that Druids are restricted in their weapons due to oaths they have made for being accepted into a Druidic order. If you plan on being in the thick of things you might consider including Dex in the initial abilities, as the armor bonus would serve to protect the Druid from direct harm in combat. You also do not suffer penalties for wearing armor for spell casting so you may consider investing in some good armor.

• Alignment Restrictions: Must have some measure of Neutrality
• Hit Die: d8
• Proficiencies: Proficient with druid weapons, as well as shields and light and medium armors
• Skill Points (x4 at 1st level): 4 + Int Modifier
• Spellcasting: Divine (Wisdom based, armor-related chance of spell failure is ignored)
• Ex-Druids: A druid that is no longer neutral cannot gain levels.

Skills

Being a citizen of the wild the Druid has the much sought after skill of Animal Empathy. This skill can mean the difference between life and death to a weakened or defenseless Druid. By directing his or her will on the mind of a wild beast the Druid can dominate the creature for a time. A druid should exploit this rare skill in developing their skills. As the Druid increases skill the more ferocious of beasts will be subject to the Druid will.

Class Skills (skill descriptions):

• Animal Empathy
• Concentration
• Diplomacy: Persuade
• Heal
• Lore*
• Parry*
• Spell Craft

*Notes:

Lore can be considered a subset of the Dungeons & Dragons® Knowledge skill.

Parry is a Neverwinter Nights skill. It is not a part of the Dungeons & Dragons® game experience but is a necessary part of the Aurora Engine technology.

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