Greetings friend! How are you? I bet you weren’t expecting your favorite barmaid Evelyn here to introduce you to our celebration of druids. No? Well, here I am. Where’s Balbo? Oh, he’s right over there, at that corner table with the two white rabbits on it. He’s been over there half the morning talking to them. I swear, sometimes with Balbo…hmm.

You see, early this morning, one of our helpful ranger friends, whom we met months ago during our ranger celebration, knocked on the door with two live rabbits he caught in traps for us to make a stew tonight.

I sat those rabbits down on the table for just a brief moment, and that is when old Balbo lumbered in, half awake, and sat down and started talking to them. My guess is that he thinks they are both druids, guests for the party tonight.

Sometimes, I wonder about him. If he wasn’t so darn charming, I–

“Evelyn!”

“Yes, Balbo?”

“Our guests are hungry, could you fetch me a couple carrots and some water?”

“For the rabbits?”

“Yes, our guests here.”

You see, friend. You see what I am dealing with? Ha! I’ll get those carrots for him, and when the actual druids arrive, he will feel like a fool and Evelyn will have one more tale to tell our patrons when Balbo is grumpy about something stupid. Ha Ha! I do love stirring the pot.

Oh, ha! Yes! That rabbits are lucky to not be in a pot being stirred right now.

You are funny, friend…and handsome. What have you been doing with your beard; it looks so clean and shiny. I do like a shiny beard. What beard oil do you use? May I suggest the newest scent, one based on the druid class.

“Evelyn!”

“Yes, Balbo! Right away, Balbo!”

Druid Weapons and Armor

Druids are all about nature. And they are spellcasting shapeshifters. Do they really need a weapon when they can become one?

Just imagine a druid shifting into a giant mountain lion or a large bear—all teeth and claws. Who needs a weapon when they become a weapon?

Druids can carry weapons and they do wear armor. They just favor ones that were derived from nature. Therefore, they commonly carry simple weapons like wooden clubs, maces, javelins, quarterstaffs, spears, and slings. In some cases, druids may carry scimitars and daggers.

Their armor, as you might have guessed, is often handcrafted light or medium armor. They will wear leather, studded, padded, and hide armor but will not use armor made of metal.

The same goes with shields. But most druids will not carry a shield and keep that one hand open to cast spells.

Druid Races

Classically speaking, elves (wood elves) are a good pick and lend to the feeling of being a druid. In more contemporary rule sets, you have all sorts of other choices. Firbolg, owlin, and fairy make nice choices from the newer playable races. Some people like to pick dwarves and half-elves too.

Which is the best?

We like to say, just pick the race that speaks to you and offers a decent wisdom bonus. Veteran gamers might say otherwise and point you to a Firbolg for the bonus 2 points in wisdom and abilities that let you speak to beasts and plants. Firbolgs also have a very limited invisibility ability.  

Druid Backgrounds

Hermit and Acolyte are all good choices. However, Urban Bounty Hunter and Faction Agent are often listed as top picks, and with good reason.

Faction Agent has some nice additional skills to add to your character and Urban Bounty Hunter is highly customizable.

If you are looking at starting equipment, Bounty Hunter and Acolyte put some nice gold in your pocket and that is always helpful!

Do You Want to Play a Druid?

Who makes a good druid?

An individual who wants to play a fun spellcaster. Someone who is willing to take on the role of healer or support.

Gamers can choose how complex a druid character they want to build. They can choose a simple route and cast easy, low-level spells from afar and try and stay out of the rough and tumble combat…or they can get wild!

If you want to take on a complexly designed and managed character, that can be squishy at times, a druid might be right for you.

At level two, druids are introduced to their subclass and things get much more interesting. Yes, adventurer, you get your first beast shape!

Druid subclasses include the following:

• Circle of Dreams: healing, support, and teleportation.
• Circle of Stars: the power of the constellations will change your capabilities.
• Circle of Spores: you gain the ability to take a mushroom or fungi form and to deal massive poison damage.
• Circle of Wildfire: this allows you to tame a wildfire spirit and have it act as an ally in combat.
• Circle of the Land: connects you more deeply to the natural world and ads extra spellcasting ability based on specific natural environments.
• Circle of the Moon: Master Wild Shape! Access to more powerful wild shapes perfect for bloody combat.
• Circle of the Shepherd: Useful abilities to buff and support their allies via a powerful summoner.

One thing is for certain: druids can be one of the most fun classes to play, especially when you put time into their development.

In games like World of Warcraft, druids can be healers, DPS, or tanks. Admit it, you played in more than a few raids with a good druid tank at the front of the battle. And if you played as a druid in WoW, I bet you enjoyed running the flag in cheetah form during PVP.

Versatile characters are the best, right?

Famous Druids

Who are the most famous druids? That’s probably not something you think of every day, but here are a few druids you may have heard of.

• Allanon of the Shannara series by world-famous author Terry Brooks.
• Taliesin, a powerful druid in The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley.
• Halsin, of Baldur’s Gate 3. You know, the big bear guy.
• Merrill of Dragon Age 2 and Morrigan of Dragon Age: Origins. You’ve probably seen a Morrigan cosplay or two. 😊
• Merlin the magician from Arthurian legend/mythology. (and the basis of Taliesin above)

Can you name a few more? Hit us up with your picks.

A Giant Hyena, a Giant Spider, and a Giant Badger Walk into Balbo’s Bar

Ha!

Which one is the druid? Funny joke, right? On a serious note, we hope they all are, or there will be one hell of a mess to clean up.

Druids can be all sorts of things from the black cat purring in the corner, to five point deer crossing the road. So, be careful! No one wants to hit a druid with their wagon! That would be terrible!

Druids are a cool and different class that offer all sorts of fun options to role-play, and they make great additions to any team.

And guess what? They smell great! Well, at least the ones who use Tabletop Beard’s new Druid class themed beard care products. Those druids smell like the forest and wild berries!

We suggest you consider playing as a druid right now! Go! Play already!