Friday, October 6, 2017

(Setting-Specific Class) The Druid

Of all the classes in The Setting With No Name, the Druid  is closest to the standard D&D Druid class. It's taken about 80% from the 1e PHB. The big difference  is the spell list which is full weird spells. Writing spell descriptions will come later but the spell names are at the end. You will see some new and some old names.

The Druid

A Druid is a nature priest of the Old Religion, based loosely upon pre-Christian Germanic paganism. His voice is the wind; his faithful, the trees. His cathedrals are the very forests themselves. Druidic magic is attuned to nature and seeks to strengthen and revitalize natural Man, animal, and plant. Druids revere natural places and protect them from encroaching civilization wherever they are able to.

However each Druid lives with a sword poised to strike him down, for it is strictly illegal to practice the Old Religion, and the penalty is summary execution. Heresy is a serious crime. Druids are considered heretics and are subject to any manner of gruesome deaths, most notably to be burned alive at the stake.

The Prime Requisite of the Druid is Wisdom. See Table 2 for XP adjustments due to high or low Wisdom.

Arms & Armor: A Druid may use Leather armor without penalty. He may carry a shield, but it must be made mainly from wood and other natural materials. He shuns large quantities of worked metal. He may use the scimitar (a curved backsword), club or shillelagh, dagger, sickle (a curved dagger unsuitable for throwing), sling, staff, and spear.

Combat Ability: A Druid uses the Cleric’s Attack Matrix line and Saving Throw charts but also adds +2 to his saving throws against fire and electricity effects.

Alignment: While churchmen are consumed by the struggles of Law and Chaos, the Druid must always remain Neutral for Nature herself is so. A Druid who is otherwise eligible to attain his next experience level may not do so while the Referee judges him to be acting in a generally Lawful or Chaotic manner.

The Druid’s Class Abilities:

The Old Tongue: Northern Continental Druids speak a language called Gallic that only a very few lay people have heard. They write a runic alphabet, otherwise extinct for six hundred years.  British Druids speak Brythonic, also written in the runic script. Druids from other regions speak related languages which are equally obsolete. Any two Druids can understand each other's basic concepts due to their similar secret languages. Thus two Druids may communicate without fear of being understood by laymen.

True Magic: Druids are the only true spell casters. While some other men use kinds of magic, they are but parlor tricks compared to the magic wielded by a high-level Druid. Spell lists and descriptions follow.

Animal Empathy: A Druid may make parley with natural animals much as men make parley with each other. He does not speak the animal’s language per se, but is able to communicate basic ideas and perhaps gain trust or some other advantage from an otherwise-wild animal using Table 25, Vol. I, p. 59, the Monster Reaction Table.

Tracking: A Druid may track others through his territory without fail within a week of their passing, by listening to the animals and plants of his demesne. Should the tracked party somehow obscure itself from such, the tracking only succeeds on a 1-2 on d6. Through a hex of territory that is of the same terrain type as his, the Druid may make a throw to track in the same way, and succeeds on a 1-4 on d6.

Nature Lore: Starting at 3rd level (Feeder), The Druid is able to name and identify natural animals, plants and fungi which appear in his domain (a Druid of England would be hard pressed to tell you much about a camel, for instance.) He is able to identify clean water and tell if food is fair or spoiled, but has no special ability to tell whether it is poisoned or somehow cleverly adulterated.

Pass Without Trace: Also at 3rd level, the Druid may pass through wild and overgrown areas without leaving clues, as even the trees and thorns bend to his will to allow him passage.

Nature’s Guile: At 5th Level (Botaner), the Druid gains immunity to mind-altering charms.

Shape Change: At 7th level (Haruspex), the Druid gains the powerful ability to assume the shape of any natural mammal, bird, amphibian, reptile or fish three times per day. He takes on all the physical characteristics of that kind of animal but keeps his own mind. The Druid’s held and equipped gear merges into the animal form and is therefore not available for use while shapechanged.

The following rules apply:
  • Each kind of animal form may be assumed but once per day.
  • The size of the creature can vary between 1 lb. (such as a bullfrog or songbird) to a black bear, no more than 450 lbs.
  • He may not cast spells when in animal form.

Additionally, changing forms heals 1d6 hit points plus one hit point per experience level.

Click to Enlarge

Druidic Hierarchy: High-level Druids are rare, and kept so based on their rules of succession. Starting at 7th level, only a limited number may exist. Should another Druid wish to advance, he must defeat one of the existing Druids of the next level in some form of combat mutually agreed-upon and witnessed by other Druids. Then the loser, if he lives, relinquishes Experience Points sufficient to drop him halfway to the experience level he has lost. No Druid is forced to challenge his better; he may continue to adventure at his current Experience Level, gaining no more XP until such time as he participates in such a challenge.

Of level 7 Druids, there may only be three in a Barony.
Of level 8 Druids, there may only be three in a March.
Of level 9 Druids, there may only be three in a County.
Of level 10 Druids, there may only be three in a Duchy or Principality.
Of level 10 Druids, there may only be three in a Kingdom.
Of level 11 Druids, there may only be three in an Empire or Continent.
Of level 12 Druids, there may only be three at a time.
Of level 13 Druids, there may only be one.
Of level 14 Druids, there may be any number.


Druid Spell List: I owe a great debt to +BrianRichmondWriter of Goatman's Goblet for the inspirations and in some cases the game mechanics of these spells.

Druid Spell List

First Level Spells (21)

Animal Spy
Beast Mask
Delusions of Pride
Detect Magic
Detect Snares and Pits
Dove of the Morning
Ecstasy
Faerie Fire
Goodberry
Hawk’s Eye
Heat Theft
Hibernal Warmth
Locate Animals
Predict Weather
Purify Food and Drink*
Shield of Ice
Speak with Animals
Stormsworn
Thin the Air
Veil of Night
Winter’s Flesh

Second Level Spells (25)

Blight
Boreal Songs
Breathlessness
Chill Steel
Control Temperature
Create Water
Creeping Sickness
Debauchery
Exhalation of Purity
Ferocity
Harvest Rations
Heat Metal
Heat Shimmer
Hold Animal
Locate Plants
Mantle of Winter
Obscurement
Produce Flame
Protection from Lightning
Renewal
Rites of Hospitality
Screaming Mandrake
Sunlight
Warp Wood
Water Breathing

Third Level Spells (22)

Anti-Plant Shell
Blood Moon
Call Lightning
Cloak of Autumn
Cure Disease*
Curse of Atavism
Doldrums
Dread Whispers
Harvest Moon
Icicles
Neutralize Poison*
Protection from Fire
Pyrotechnics
Riddle of the Heart
Shatterfrost
Shillelagh
Somnolence
Spring Showers
Sticks to Snakes
Summer of Youth
Wild hunt
Wild Speech

Fourth Level Spells (20)

Animal Growth
Baleful Polymorph
Black Hound
Bloom
Cloud Visage
Cure Serious Wounds
Curse of Foolishness
Dawn
Dispel Magic
Earthmaw
Elemental Augury
Form of Frost
Hallucinatory Forest
Insect Plague
Northern Winds
Passplant
Sin-Eater’s Touch
Speak with Plants
Summon Denizen
Theft of Youth

Fifth Level Spells (16)

Aluren/Nature’s Charm p. 95
Anti-Animal Shell
Beatific Sun
Call Woodland Beings
Commune With Nature/The Sylvan Library
Cure Serious Wounds
The Elf-King’s Pursuit
Gaea’s Blessing
Oath of Druids
Plow Under
Rejuvinating Touch
Rock to Mud*
Thornwrack
Transport via Plants
Turn Wood
Wall of Fire

Sixth Level Spells (11)

Animate Rock*
Conjure Elemental*
Control Weather
Creeping Doom
Feeblemind
Finger of Death*
Fire Storm
Metal to Wood*
Nightsong
Reincarnate
Water to Dust

1 comment:

  1. Nice work Scott! I love the background of the Druid class, and that they are rooted in the old religion. I had no idea you were creating a new game, or is it more correct to say you are creating a setting specific version of AD&D? Either way, color me intrigued!

    ReplyDelete