04-25-2019, 01:02 PM | #1 |
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Saint Paul, MN
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Evil Druids
Is an evil druid an abomination to Nature? Or is Nature just a force that can be used by certain people for any purpose? Are druids the equivalent of wizards who can use the same power for different sorts of purposes? (One doesn't imagine wizards worrying about what Mana will think about their choices in life.)
I've used druids as foes in a few recent one-shots. They were great—creating vicious tigers, using disguises, and basically turning the forest into a creepy dungeon. They provided good motivation for the party druid who saw them as abominations. Afterward, I was left wondering how they fit into the cosmos. I was surprised (and gratified) to see how flexible the basic template is; there are no required disadvantages, not even SoD (Nature). What about the trope of a tainted wilderness? Might there be druids who have strayed so far from Nature's path that the animals they create are warped abominations? What's the fluff behind this? Could there be a druid who is partial to elder things (or demons, elementals, undead creatures, etc.), drawing power from a different "Nature" entirely? How do you imagine druids, Nature, and druidic orders and organizations in your game world(s)? |
04-25-2019, 01:25 PM | #2 |
Join Date: Jan 2006
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Re: Evil Druids
If you mean "evil" in the sense of "colossal amoral jerk" then no. Druidry has no requirements to be nice. Go (ahem) nuts.
If you mean "Evil" as in "servant of supernatural evil powers," then IMO yes. A druid is a servant of the powers of Nature, not the powers of Evil. This is all basic GEBS theory. Disclaimer - GEBS theory is not official DFRPG canon but it works as a solid summary. See linked thread above for details. |
04-25-2019, 01:31 PM | #3 |
Join Date: Nov 2006
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Re: Evil Druids
My cosmology is different than the standard DF one. In my concept there are four powers, the Divine, the Infernal, the Faerie and the true nature of reality. The Divine is the strongest and it is aligned with good and order, the Infernal is a close second and is aligned with evi and then there is the Faerie which is unaligned. Some can be good, others evil but most are neutral. They just have not completely picked a side yet. The true nature of reality are the Elder Things. The universe was created from chaos and unfortunately some of that chaos remains in dark pockets of the universe.
As for druids I think of them more as priests of the old faiths, the gods who have not aligned with good or evil. These gods and spirits often reside in nature and thus are more powerful in nature while the Divine and Infernal is more powerful in civilization, with beings with souls to convert. In my world nature is not magical by itself, it is the magical power from the old gods, spirits and faerie that provide the magic that the druids use and it is intertwined with nature and forests because the faerie like nature. If I had to make an evil Druid he would be friends with many evil faerie and ancient gods and would warp nature to reflect that. He would be close to being Infernal but the powers he serves have not completed the bargain. A Druid serving Elder Things would just be a dupe though, Elder Things in my world are there to subvert and destroy everything. |
04-25-2019, 03:13 PM | #4 | ||
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Saint Paul, MN
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Re: Evil Druids
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Out of time for now, but I'll work my way through the rest of the thread as I find the time. Thanks for pointing it out! |
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04-25-2019, 06:49 PM | #5 | |
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Yukon, OK
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Re: Evil Druids
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As for moral evil I see no issue with that and a normal druid. Nature is often ruthless, not always Disney.
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04-25-2019, 07:41 PM | #6 |
Join Date: Nov 2006
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Re: Evil Druids
For an evil Druid, a possible idea might be to have him summon faeries to do a Wild Hunt on the PCs. There could be elves riding steeds and using elf shot to try to kill the PCs. The Druid could also summon an avatar of the Horned God to chase the PCs around too.
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04-26-2019, 10:36 AM | #7 |
Join Date: Sep 2018
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Re: Evil Druids
I take exception with a lot of DF theology but Druidism is especially compouding. There should fundamentally be no good in nature. It should be an absolute neutral at worst or outside of any human constructs like good or evil. Nature shouldn't be a power of good anymore than technology or magic are powers of evil. You could certainly have a Good god of nature but that doesn't make the natural world any less brutal or uncharitable or prone to decay.
It's insane that you wouldn't be able to make an evil-power Druid if only because the idea of them is soo cool in the setting. Do battle with the Rat King of the under-city, face the assassins of the venom lord, save the children from the Wolven Sisterhood. There's so much coolness in a villain that believes that men are the subjects of nature rather than it's masters. |
04-26-2019, 11:25 AM | #8 | ||
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Saint Paul, MN
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Re: Evil Druids
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[MUSING]In AD&D, druids were conceived of as true neutral. But, like so many things with the alignment system, this made sense on the surface but created all sorts of contradictions when you dug into it. For example, most of the evil races were aggressive despoilers of nature (likely modeled on Tolkien's pastoral aesthetic). Meanwhile, many of the "good" races (e.g., elves and halflings) were pro-nature. This made it hard to imagine why any druids would side with the evil horde that was chopping down every tree in sight. Thus druids started migrating into being kindly elf-friends who love nothing more than wildflowers and birdsongs.[/MUSING] Quote:
I do like the aesthetic of scary, amoral druids who you can't always trust, but who you might need to make temporary alliances with. |
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04-27-2019, 05:57 PM | #9 | |
Join Date: Mar 2019
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Re: Evil Druids
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A tempting variation on the druid seduced by the demon and blind to it's end goals would be a demon-possessed druid. That way, you don't have the mental conflict: you have the uncompromised big-E-Evil mind wielding nature's strength. It's easy to imagine ways a demon might benefit from druidic powers. There's nothing unnatural about a great thornwood overtaking the countryside, a massive earthquake, or (if quirky is your style) a cloud of pollen driving the townsfolk mad with sneezing, but all could serve the demon's end, whether it is death, civil war, or driving people to join the aforementioned cults. As I see it, small e is just anything that gets in the PC's way. A true servant of nature could see it as her duty to defend nature from the blight of humanity, or perhaps she just despises (and disrupts) agriculture as contrary to the wild systems nature intends. Either of these druids would look pretty evil to delvers who have lived their lives seeing "civilization" as the way of the world (or at least rely on it as a place to sell the spoils of the dungeon). I do also like the idea of a un-druid, perverted and warped and obsessed with twisting nature into something only she sees as beautiful. I first thought this might require creating new spells, but between storms, freezes, shaping and withering plants, and repelling animals, you could create some pretty twisted wastes. Perhaps she was once a great druid in the neutral-but-actually-good-because-pastoralism sort of way, but by over-exerting herself in some epic battle she fractured her own mind/powers/conscience, emerging equally powerful but without the grounding or sanity one expects of a druid. |
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04-29-2019, 02:36 PM | #10 |
Join Date: Sep 2018
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Re: Evil Druids
I like the idea of a Capital E Druid. I see no reason Capital E couldn't corrupt a Druid just as easily as Capital G can. If you're facing off against Crocodile Baron of Blackthorn Swamp lets give the Cleric and Holy warrior a little oomph against them. Lets also have his demonic master give him a greater artifact that allows him to create and control zombies because swamp zombie gator baron is awesome!
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Tags |
druids, evil, nature |
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