Druids?

[Punkrabbitt]

Dryids seem to be the red-headed stepchildren of the OD&D+clones scene. There are no re-written or new rules for them in any of the stuff I have seen out there. I have the original rules in Eldritch Wizardry, but really they are a bit of a mess to begin with.

Has anyone compiled an OD&D-compatible Druid class? I am hoping so, but if not I will re-type the old stuff into a workable format. I am using Swords & Wizardry, but really anything meant for any of the OD&D clones would be useful.

Thank you for any and all help.

[tetramorph]

Punkrabbitt, cool question. I don't tend to use too much stuff from the supplements.

Here are my thoughts on a druid, for what ever they are worth (about 2 cp, is my estimate):

Druid

Neutral Cleric
Looses ability to turn undead (or control, if you allow that for evil clerics)
May reverse any clerical spell without penalty (so, e.g., darkness, wound, curse, finger of death, etc.)
Adds magic-user spells related to divination and sorcery, e.g.: lvl 1: detect invisible, ESP, lvl 2: clairvoyance, clairaudience, lvl 3: wizard eye, lvl 4: conjure elemental, contact higher plane, lvl 5: reincarnation, invisible stalker

If that doesn't help, perhaps it will at least get a conversation rolling that will.

Good luck!

[Deleted]

A fellow named Salvatore Macri released a PDF called "White Box Heroes" which, among other classes, has a druid. The work was intended for use with Swords & Wizardry: White Box but should work fine with OD&D et al. If you'd like a copy e-mail me using my screen name (last name) at gmail period com.

[Punkrabbitt]

tetramorph thank you for the starter ideas. As crazy as it sounds, I am looking for the Druid framework more for NPCs than as player characters. My fledgling campaign is Irish-Celtic themed, and as my girls are getting their characters more involved in the community, I am feeling the need for some consistent guidelines for these important social functionaries.

@dubeers thank you for the kind offer, I have sent an e-mail (but from my phone, so it may take a while to process.)

[talysman]

If you only need them as NPCs, you could use the older version of the druid from Greyhawk:

DRUIDS: These men are priests of a neutral-type religion, and as such they differ in armor class and hit dice, as well as in movement capability, and are combination clerics/magic-users. Magic-use ranges from 5th through 7th level, while clericism ranges from 7th through 9th level. Druids may change shape three times per day, once each to any reptile, bird and animal respectively, from size as small as a raven to as large as a small bear. They will generally (70%) be accompanied by numbers of barbaric followers (fighters), with a few higher-level leaders (2-5 fighters of 2nd-5th levels) and a body of normal men (20-50).

Or you could run them with my "Cleris Without Spells" approach: use a Turn Undead roll to command animals and plants.

Swords & Wizardry Complete has a druid class. It's also available in the S&W SRD:

www.d20swsrd.com/swords-and-wizardry-srd/for-players/characters/classes/druid

[Punkrabbitt]

Thank you, talysman, that link was *very* useful :-)

[talysman]

I almost didn't put the link. I was originally going to expand on the idea of just treating druids as clerics and just substituting a druid spell list from any source for the more typical spell list. Labyrinth Lord Advanced Edition Companion has a druid spell list, I believe (check the free no-art AEC to confirm.) So does the standard version of Microlite74. But when I started thinking along those lines, I remembered that S&W had druids, too, and you specifically mentioned using S&W, so I looked up that link. I was on an Android tablet at the time, so I really didn't want to copy and paste multiple links and get them properly formatted. One link seemed enough for the short term.