Druid

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

The druid is named for the pre-Christian Celtic priests called druids. In the book The Evolution of Fantasy Role-Playing Games (2014), Michael Tresca highlighted that "historically, druids did revere trees as nature spirits. [...] Zoomorphism was common enough to justify druids transforming into all kinds of animals. [...] Conspicuously lacking from Dungeons & Dragons is the role of sacrifices in druidic rituals". Druids appeared, but not as player characters, in the original Greyhawk supplement from 1975. They were presented as a player character class in the Eldritch Wizardry supplement in 1976. In the 2nd edition Player's Handbook, the druid class is only loosely patterned after the historical druids of Europe during the days of the Roman Empire and acted as advisors to chieftains with great influence over the tribesmen.

In Their Own Story

In the 1st edition, druids were very limited in their choice of weapons and armor (not able to wear any metal armor, and only permitted a few weapons, though that did include the scimitar and crossbow), and were of True Neutral alignment, but were able to cast spells more times per day than the magic-user and at a faster speed than clerics. In order to reach some of the higher levels, players had to defeat a higher-level druid in combat; after accomplishing this, they earned different titles (such as Archdruid) and gained lower-level druids as followers. The later-published accessory Unearthed Arcana featured several higher-level abilities for druids, including the ability to summon various elementals and para-elementals, the ability to enter and survive in various planes (such as the elemental planes and the Plane of Shadow), and so on. In the 3.5 edition, Druids are free to use different forms of weaponry, but they lose the ability to cast spells or change into animal form for a day if they wear metal armor. The alignment restriction now requires that druids remain neutral on at least one (but not necessarily both) alignment axis (Good vs. Evil and Law vs. Chaos). i.e., they are restricted to Chaotic Neutral, Lawful Neutral, Neutral Good, Neutral Evil, or True Neutral, to reflect belief in the balance and amoral, impartial character of the natural world. Druids have also gained the ability to have a special animal companion; other abilities have been added or modified as well. For example, they can spontaneously convert a prepared spell in order to summon an animal that will serve as a temporary but loyal ally.

Reader's Guide

In the 5th edition Player's Handbook (2014), druids utilize divine magic. Druid spells are typically devoted to communing with nature, interpreting or directing the weather, communicating with creatures and plants, and the like. The druid shares some spells with the cleric, such as some healing spells, and has a number of offensive spells which use the power of nature—calling down lightning storms, for example, or summoning wild animals to fight. They also gain special powers such as the shapeshifting ability "Wild Shape"; but these are not mechanically considered spells. Included in the Player's Handbook are two Druid subclasses: the Circle of the Land and the Circle of the Moon. Several sourcebooks published since the launch of 5th edition have expanded the number of Druid Circle options. Xanathar's Guide to Everything (2017) added the Circle of Dreams and the Circle of the Shepherd. Guildmasters' Guide to Ravnica (2018) added the Circle of Spores, which was then reprinted in Tasha's Cauldron of Everything (2020) along with two new options: Circle of Stars and Circle of Wildfire. All subclasses offer additional features for the druid. In addition to those features, some druid circles offer an expanded spell list, which may include spells not typically available to druids, and augmented or alternate uses for their "Wild Shape" ability.

Did You Know?

• Druids first appeared as player characters in the Eldritch Wizardry supplement in 1976.
• In 1st edition, druids had to defeat a higher-level druid in combat to reach higher levels and earn titles like Archdruid.
• In 3.5 edition, druids lose the ability to cast spells or change into animal form for a day if they wear metal armor.
• In 5th edition, druids have two subclasses in the Player's Handbook: Circle of the Land and Circle of the Moon.
• Screen Rant rated the druid class as the 10th most powerful class of the base 12 character classes in the 5th edition.