Druid

Natural Harmony

While most closely associated with the forest, a Druid is anyone who draws their magic from a close connection to the plants, animals, and landscape of their homeland. Druids are particularly common in cultures that live in or near the untamed wilds, with the most skilled serving as community leaders and spiritual guardians of their people. Other druids prefer a life of isolation, eschewing all distractions and bringing themselves closer to nature. Unlike Clerics, Druids rarely worship gods or idols, instead viewing the physical world and perhaps the spirits that influence it as the object of devotion. From the deepest forests to the most remote mountain peaks, Druids take on the task of maintaining the natural balance freely and without complaint.

Druid Origins

Vrashyn was highly urbanized during a previous age, cataclysmic events led to the weakening of the major kingdoms. Over the centuries, the natural world swallowed up now abandoned settlements, prompting far more people to walk the druidic path. The sections below serve as examples of what a Druid character from the following areas tends to be like. However, Druids are as diverse as the plants and animals they protect, and these are only meant to serve as inspiration.

The Rime and The Scathe

Of all the classes, druids are the best adapted and most likely to call these desolate regions their home. Druid characters who (up until joining an adventuring party) sought solitude above all else are the most likely to come from The Rime Druids from The Rime usually belong to the Circle of the Land: Arctic subclass and to a race adapted to life in the cold, including Orckin, Goliaths, Kenku, and Genasi. Druids in The Scathe almost exclusively belong to the Order of the Scathe, a breakaway sect of Hierophants that includes many Circle of the Land: Desert and Circle of Wildfire Druids. Druids in this sect tend to focus on the cleansing power of fire and heat and its role in the continual revitalization of plants.

Erek

Among humans, orckin, and goliaths that call the cold land of Erek home, Druids of most circles can be found in large numbers. In their villages, Druids serve as political and spiritual leaders of their communities, interpreting the will of the spirits, settling disputes, and predicting what the next season has in store. Though the role they serve is important, many people in any given village practice druidic magic, so a Druid joining an adventuring party is not a problem for most Ereki villages.

Deepwood

Deep in the forests of Taurtofna, the wood elves of Deepwood live in close contact with nature as did the elves of old. Druids of all circles serve a crucial role in these communities, helping the Deepwood elves find the resources needed to maintain their traditional isolation in an inhospitable environment. Deepwood elves seen outside their native land are generally shunned by nearby kingdoms, for it is well known that only the exiled criminal leaves Deepwood.

The Mycelian Collective

In the far south of Rhovra lies a land where trees wither and mushrooms blot out the sun. In the darkness of the Mycelian Collective's territory, Myconid Druids of the Circle of Spores travel through the mushroom forests, checking on the health of the less mobile parts of the greater organism. Because it is one of the major entrances to the Underdark, the region is also home to many Drow and Sverfneblin Druids, some of whom ritualistically infect themselves with spores to merge with the fungal hivemind.