Evil Druids

[Dalin]

Originally Posted by Black Leviathan

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!

The bolded part is the best thing I've read today. :)

Yeah, totally. And, if we designed ourselves into a corner by making "life" and "undeath" oppositional so that there's no sensible explanation for druidic zombies, then we can make them not undead. They're just bodies being reused by fungi or something like the old Yellow Musk Zombie.

[Anthony]

I think the general presumption is that Evil and Good are supernatural concepts (and thus outside the scope of nature) and that evil and good are constructs of civilization (and thus outside the scope of nature), meaning a properly respectful druid simply doesn't think in those terms. Of course, when the druid decides that the correct solution to the villagers polluting the stream is to have dire wolves eat the villagers, the villagers might interpret this as evil. Plus, sense of duty (nature) isn't even a required disadvantage for druids, though it's hard to make the points work without it, so a druid doesn't really have to be properly respectful.

[Dalin]

Originally Posted by Yssa

A tempting variation on the druid seduced by the demon and blind to its end goals would be a demon-possessed druid.

I love the demon-possessed druid idea.

I can even imagine a campaign arc about a circle of druids who are slowly being possessed by multiple, allied demons. These demons would have more patience and long-term planning than average, but they would be hoping to eventually control the whole circle. At that point, they would be able to harness the standing stones to <insert apocalyptic event>. Perhaps one of the druids was a contact of the PCs who now seems subtly different. And so the hijinx begin.

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).

Clearly, these two druids are nutjobs. <runs for the hills>

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. . . . 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.

As I've rolled this around in my head, and reread the template in Adventurers, the more I see that there's a ton of flexibility for druids in DFRPG. Unlike clerics, their abilities do not depend on "a virtuous life" or any sort of vow. It's just about how strong Nature is, and Nature's strength is based on a spectrum from natural to artificial to polluted (laid out in more detail in Spells, pp. 6-7). A druid could twist life and still retain plenty of power. Making an area so toxic that life could barely exist would probably require further metaphysical explanation.

I'm liking the possibilities that druids offer more as I think about them. (Especially after a few minor upgrades, like permitting healing spells.)

[martinl]

Originally Posted by Yssa

perhaps she just despises (and disrupts) agriculture

For some reason I am now imagining a village under siege by amber waves of grain, animated by a POed druid to destroy the civilization that made them.

Too corny?

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by martinl

For some reason I am now imagining a village under siege by amber waves of grain, animated by a POed druid to destroy the civilization that made them.

Too corny?

Hm. Children of the Corn would likely make an okay RPG scenario, though that's not quite what you're talking about.

[evileeyore]

The last fantasy game I ran (not DF) that had a Druid in it... I was using RPM for the magic and one of the Players wanted to play a Druid.

So I was like, "Well... the gods aren't really... well, people-like. Some have been anthropomorphized enough they adapted to and lend their So the more wild you get, the more wildernessy, the less they will be 'good' for civilized folk."

He said "Sounds cool".

So I handed him the nature gods list...

The Lord of Leaves, a 'god' of plants. These Druids often end up tending and guarding old grove forests and taking great pains to reduce the amount that civilization encroaches... they are not above razing a city to save a single tree.

The Howl, red of tooth and claw, god of wildness and animals. It's followers are often little better than the animals they run with. Most often found among the more savage tribesmen, they can sing in the herds, mislead the predators, but always there is a blood price to paid, for this god always hungers...

And the The Lady of Green aka Yhdra the Creator, The Dream-Witch, The Sower, The Singer in Uncountable Voices. The Lady of Green's followers are known amongst themselves as 'Chosen', amongst others as Druids, Wisdoms, Healers, and in some cases abominations... as they can mold the flesh and mind into many forms. So many forms and who better to improve than one's own self?

[roguebfl]

While the majority of my Druid take heavy inspiration from Getafix so are on the good end of the spectrum, guiding there communities to live in harmony with nature, helping with la d husbandry to prevent soil depletion or over logging, and conservative hunting

but there are also the anti-social druids who go off to live hermit life styles the can vary form the neutral you leave me alone I'll leave you alone types, to the more brutal end of nature super tertorial, and might makes right for taking your needs. But even they would be about conserving a stable eco-sytem

but like the unseelie fae, you wold more call them wicked than evil like the demonic or infernal aligned. definitely team bunny opposed to teak squid