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Player's Handbook 2 n d Edition Rules Supplement

TheComplete

Druid'sHandbook

by David Pulver

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Table of Contents

Introduction 3

Chapter 1:Druid Characters 4Druidic Organization 4The Essential Druid 5Druidic Branches 8Branch Portraits 10

Arctic Druid 10Desert Druid 12

Gray Druid 13Forest Druid 14Jungle Druid 16Mountain Druid 17Plains Druid 17Swamp Druid 18

Multi- and Dual-Class Druids 20Agriculture: Expanded Rules 22

\Chapter 2:Druid Kits 24Using Kits 24A Look at Druid Kits 25

Adviser 25Avenger 27Beastfriend 28Guardian 30

Hivemaster 31Lost Druid 32Natural Philosopher 33Outlaw 34Pacifist 35Savage 36Shapeshif ter 37Totemic Druid 39Village Druid 39Wanderer 41

Abandoning Kits 42Modifying and Creating Kits 42

Chapter 3:The Druidic Order 43The Circles 43High-level Druids 45The Shadow Circle 53Creating a

Druidic History 56

Chapter 4:Role-playing Druids 58Druidic Faith 58The Neutral Alignment 59A Druid's Responsibilities 62Character Strategy 69Relations with Others 73Personality Types 76

Diplomat 76Gardener 77Idealist 77Mysterious Figure 78Nurturer 78Rustic 79Traditionalist 79Fanatic 79Misanthrope 80

Druid Campaigns 80

Chapter 5:Druidic Magic 86New Spells 86

First-level 86Second-level 87Third-level 90Fourth-level 90Fifth-level 93

Sixth-level 95Seventh-level 96

New Magical Items 98Herbal Magic 103

Chapter 6:Sacred Groves 107Features of a Sacred Grove . . . 107Stewardship , 108Sanctifying and Awakening

a Grove IllMagical Sacred Groves 112Defiled and Cursed Groves . . . 115

Standing Stones 117

Appendixes:A: AD&D® Original

Edition Druids 119B: Bibliography 124

Druid CharacterRecord Sheet.. ,125

Druid Kit Record Sheet 127

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Introduction

Tables:1: Farm Rating 222: Farm Random Events 233: Lesser Grove Powers 1124: Greater Grove Powers 1145: Properties of Cursed Groves 1156: Powers of Standing Stones 1187: Original Druid Experience Points 1208: Original Hierophant Experience Points 1219: Elemental Conjurings 122

10: Druidic Spells by Class and Level 123

CREDITS

Design: David PulverEditing: Sue Weinlein

New Black and White Art: Jeff EasleyColor Art: Larry Elmore,

Keith Parkinson, Alan PollackTypography: Angelika Lokotz

Production: Paul HanchetteSpecial Thanks: Peter Donald, Chris Murray,

Bruce Norman, and Tim Pulver.

TSR,Inc. AftPOB 756 /jffljLake Geneva, W\iWI53147 ^ |U.S.A.

K5gi§K TSR'Ltd-gGSfijffl 120 Church End,r^mm Cherry Hinton*jSmgW Cambridge CBl 3LBt:s!=s^X United Kingdom

ADVANCED DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, AD&D, DRAGON,SPELLJAMMER, DUNGEON MASTER, FORGOTTEN REALMS,and WORLD OF GREYHAWK are registered trademarks ownedby TSR, Inc. PLANESCAPE, MONSTROUS MANUAL, and theTSR logo are trademarks owned by TSR, Inc.All TSR characters, character names, and the distinctive likenessesthereof are trademarks owned by TSR, Inc.© 1994 TSR, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Printed in the U.S.A.

Random House and its affiliates have worldwide distributionrights in the book trade for English language products of TSR, Inc.Distributed to the book and hobby trade in the United Kingdom byTSR Ltd. Distributed to the toy and hobby trade by regional distrib-utors.

This material is protected under the copyright laws of the UnitedStates of America. Any reproduction or unauthorized use of thematerial or artwork contained herein is prohibited without theexpress written permission of TSR, Inc.

Mysterious guardian of a sacred grove,wise counselor to monarchs, cunning masterof many shapes, friend of animals, and ter-rible defender of unspoiled Nature: This isthe druid of the ADVANCED DUNGEONS &DRAGONS® game.

Although the priests of the Celtic tribes ofWestern Europe in the time of Rome calledthemselves druids, the druids of the AD&D®game are not Celtic priests, nor do they prac-tice the bloody rites that made the ancientdruids infamous in the eyes of Rome. Rather,these druids more closely resemble creaturesof Victorian romance and modern fantasy,Merlin figures who revere Nature and wieldpower over plants, animals, the weather, andthe elements.

This book is designed to illuminate themany abilities of druids and show how theneutral and "unaligned" druid can best ad-venture with a party of predominantly goodcharacters. It also reveals what a druid doeswhen not adventuring and demonstrates howa druid can become the center of a new andexciting campaign.

The Complete Druid's Handbook adds numer-ous options to the druid class from the Play-er's Handbook, including druids from regionsother than the woodlands, and introducesmany specialized druid kits. Also includedare new spells and magical items, as well asrules for a druid's sacred grove.

Those using this book with the AD&DOriginal Edition game should know that pagereferences correspond with the AD&D 2ndEdition Player's Handbook (PH) and DUNGEONMASTER® Guide (DMG). The original druidclass appears here as an appendix, with somematerial from the AD&D Original Edition ref-erence book Unearthed Arcana.

Introduction • 3

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CHAPTER

Druid Characters

The traditional druid is a guardian of thewoodlands. Nature, however, is vast anddiverse; thus the druids detailed in this bookmight live their lives protecting jungle rainforests, arctic tundra, or even the subter-ranean Underdark. As a result, several dis-tinct branches of druid are presented here,each essentially a new subclass built aroundthe basic concept of the druid class. As aplayer, choose your druidic branch right afterdeciding to play a druid character.

Druidic OrganizationThe basic druid as described in the PH is

referred to here as the "forest druid." Thenames of the other branches reflect their geo-graphic specialty: arctic druids, desert druids,and so on.

Members of all the branches of the druidicorder have the same alignment—true neu-tral—and worship Nature. They share oneethos and owe at least nominal allegiance tothe world's Grand Druid. But, as befits theinfinite diversity of Nature, every branch dif-fers in details and approach to its mission.The granted powers and spells that Naturefinds appropriate for a druid in one regionare often inappropriate for a druid from avery different climate and terrain.

For instance, while the forest druids de-scribed in the PH have major access to thePlant sphere of priest spells, the branch ofdesert druids has only minor access to thatsphere, reflecting the less abundant plant lifein the desert. Similarly, while a forest druid'sability to pass through overgrowth is veryuseful in the woods, it has much less utility

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for a desert druid. Instead, the branch ofdesert druids has granted powers enablingthem to survive in arid country.

Some rivalry exists between the differentbranches of druids. On most worlds, the for-est druids belong to the dominant branch.However, on a few worlds (such as one in themidst of an ice age) another branch mightwield the most power. For more details onrivalry between branches, see Chapter 3: TheDruidic Order.

The Dungeon Master can restrict somebranches to nonplayer characters (NPCs) oreven prohibit them to suit the background ordirection of a campaign. For example, theDungeon Master (DM) might decide that thegray druids of the Underdark would makeexciting adversaries for the characters. Sincehaving player characters (PCs) as gray druidswould water down the impact of the graydruids as foes, the DM can prohibit playersfrom choosing that branch. Later in the cam-paign, after the party has encountered thegray druids, the DM might open the branchto players.

Similarly, some druid branches simply maynot seem very logical or useful in certain cam-paigns. A wise DM would discourage playersfrom selecting the arctic branch for theirdruid characters in a campaign set in a jungle.

The Essential DruidSome characteristics and limitations apply

to all branches of the druidic order. The fol-lowing section expands on the rules for druidcharacters in the PH (pgs. 35-38).

Alignment and EthosAll druids are of neutral alignment and

share an ethos devoted to protecting the wil-derness and maintaining natural cycles and abalance between good and evil (PH, pgs. 37,47). For a detailed discussion of the neutral

alignment and the beliefs of druids, refer toChapter 4: Role-playing Druids.

Experience and Hit DiceAll druids must use the druid column of

Table 23: Priest Experience Levels (PH, p. 33).Druids, like other members of the priestgroup, use eight-sided Hit Dice (HD), gainingone die per level from 1st through 9th level.After 9th level, druids receive an additional 2hit points per level, but gain no special bonusfor high Constitution.

Proficiencies and CrossoversDruids gain proficiencies just like other

priests (PH, p. 50), starting with two weaponand four nonweapon proficiencies.

It is strongly recommended that you, theplayer, use the optional nonweapon profi-ciency rules when creating druid characterswith this book. The various branches ofdruids (and the druid kits described later)make extensive use of the nonweapon profi-ciency system to differentiate among types ofdruids.

Note that druid nonweapon proficienciescome from the general, priest, and warriorgroups. Druids have access to the warriorgroup (even though many other priests donot) because it contains many of the profi-ciencies associated with outdoor skills thedruid needs to operate in the wilderness.

Money and EquipmentDruids start with 3d6xlO gp, which they

can use to purchase equipment. All but a fewcoins (less than 1 gp) must be spent prior toentering play.

If using the optional druid kit rules de-scribed later in this book, both the initialmoney and the equipment allowed mightvary depending on the kit.

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Magical ItemsDruids use all magical items normally per-

mitted to priests, with the exception of writ-ten items (books and scrolls) and those typesof armor and weapons that are normally for-bidden them. (The weapons and armor per-mitted to members of each branch and kit dovary, but they remain similar to those allowedto druids in the PH.)

Thus, a druid who finds magical chain mailmay not wear it, since druids must use onlynonmetallic armor. Similarly, a druid cannotwield a magical mace, since maces are notamong the permitted druidic arms.

The Secret LanguageAll druids can speak a secret language in

addition to other tongues they know. Usingthe optional proficiency system, the secretlanguage does not require a proficiency slot.

The secret language of the druids has itsroots in British tradition. A languagecalled Thari, derived from Celtic roots,apparently was spoken as a secret tonguethroughout the British Isles by a smallnumber of traveling folk such as tinkersand bards. It later was adopted by someGypsy clans in addition to Romany, theirown Indie language. Thari may predatethe Dark Ages, and some claim fluency init even today. Certain researchers seekingthe roots of Thari as a language distinctfrom Gaelic have linked its origins to bothancient Celtic craft guilds and to the his-torical druids. If the DM wants to namethe druids' secret language, Thari pos-sesses some historical relevance.

Not only can druids use the secret lan-guage to provide passwords, they can speakthis private tongue when they wish to baffle

nondruidic eavesdroppers. It is a precise toolfor discussing Nature; a druid can say "dense,old-growth pine forest" in one word ratherthan a whole phrase.

The secret language has a specialized anddetailed vocabulary limited to dealing withNature and natural events; beyond thissphere, it is very basic. A druid could use thesecret language to talk about the health of aperson, animal, or plant; discuss the weather;or give detailed directions through the wil-derness. The language also can describe dru-idic spells, ceremonies, powers, and any nat-ural and supernatural creatures known to thedruids. However, it contains no words forsophisticated human emotions, for most toolsor artifacts (beyond those used for hunting,farming, or fishing), or for weapons andarmor (other than items druids use). The lan-guage also contains few words that refer toconcepts peculiar to sentient beings, like prop-erty, justice, theft, or war. Tense distinctionsblur in this secret tongue; usually the con-cepts druids express bear a certain immedi-acy or timelessness.

Finally, the secret language of the druidsremains a purely spoken tongue. A fewsimple runes or marks (symbolizing danger,safe water, safe trail, and so on) exist for mark-ing paths and leaving messages, but the lan-guage cannot communicate actual sentencesand complex ideas in writing.

Here's an example of how the secret lan-guage works in practice. Suppose two druidsare discussing a magical item and want toconverse entirely in the secret language,using no words borrowed from other tongues.One druid wishes to say:

This magical long sword was a gift toMelinda, wife to King Rupert, from Ru-pert's court wizard Drufus. The magegave it the power to throw lightningbolts. But then King Rupert grew jealousof Melinda. He had her executed and

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