Character Strategy

Exactly how do druids go about fulfilling the responsibilities discussed above? In role-playing terms, there are some interesting strategies you, the player, can use to make the most of your druid character's potential.

Suppose the druid Dannay wished to preserve an old wood, but the local baron and his peasants want it cut down, claiming they need the land to plant crops to keep from going hungry. What does the druid do?

Find the Root of the Problem

First, Dannay must determine the truth of the situation--what lies behind the decision to chop down the wood? Are the peasants really in need or just greedy? Is their lord simply attempting to increase his own income? Why are the peasants likely to starve? Is there any other land to plant?

After investigating, Dannay decides the peasants do have a legitimate need to develop the old wood. Next, he considers the threatened trees themselves. Is the woodland ancient? (Druids prefer to preserve the eldest trees.) Does it harbor species of rare animals or plants? Will its destruction displace sylvan races? Is this forest one of the few unspoiled areas left in the region? Does a sacred grove lie within the forest? All these, particularly the last, constitute good reasons for a druid to take a stand opposing the destruction of the wood.

Assume that, for one of these reasons, Dannay finds this wood of ancient oak worth preserving. In most cases he first seeks a peaceful compromise.

Negotiate a Solution

For instance, if the area possesses no other available land, Dannay might show the peasants that expansion isn't necessary. Say the peasants' problem is that their current crops don't yield enough to feed them and cover their tithes. Dannay might offer his services as an adviser if the lord agrees to lower the peasants' taxes. If the baron refuses--or already levies merely reasonable taxes--the druid could try to help directly.

How should Dannay help? As an expert in agriculture, he can suggest techniques to increase the yield of the peasants' current crops so they don't require expansion. Or he might make a bargain: In exchange for the peasants agreeing not to encroach on the wood, he will use druidic magic to cure (or prevent) disease among their animals, or heal sick villagers and livestock. High-level druids could promise to control the weather to extend the growing season or to prevent droughts or floods. Most useful of all, a druid with access to the 3rd-level spell plant growth can increase the prosperity of any farm dramatically.

But suppose the idea of a compromise does not meet with favor. Maybe the peasants have a priest of their own who already provides this sort of magical aid. Perhaps they follow a religion that distrusts druids. Maybe the baron has determined to expand his land at all costs--or perhaps he just doesn't like a druid telling him what to do! In any event, Dannay may have to turn to harsher measures. Exactly what he does depends on his assessment of the strength and character of the opposition and the importance of the wilds in question.

Several options make themselves available when negotiation fails. Many call for the druid, short of destroying an enemy, to break that enemy's morale instead.

Ultimatum

Dannay could simply announce to the peasants and lord, "Violate my wood, and you will regret it." This threat may work for prestigious druids; it also may prove successful if backed up with a flashy demonstration, like a wall of thorns around a portion of the threatened wood or a call lightning spell in the midst of the speech.

The DM should judge the effect of the ultimatum depending on the alignment of the NPCs involved, how desperately they want the land, and the reputation and actions of the druid. Most likely the lord and peasants will not be so easily cowed, and Dannay will have to turn to direct action.

Harassment

The druid could choose to use passive, nonviolent resistance to prevent the leveling of the wood. Suppose a party of lumberjacks enters to begin work. Dannay could have enchanted plants entangle or snare them, order chipmunks and squirrels to steal their food, cast summon insects to harass them, make them lose their way using obscurement, summon rain and wind down on them, and so on.

Strong, determined loggers may succeed in clearing a few acres despite Nature's torment. But, what will they do when, upon waking the next day, they see all their work undone thanks to a hallucinatory forest spell? If they are wise, they'll turn around and head for home!

Fear

Alternately, Dannay might try to convince the locals that the wood is haunted; he wants them to stay out just for their own safety. Even if the wood was previously safe, the druid may convince the peasants that their intentions to cut it down have awakened ancient wood spirits ready to rise against any intruders.

Careful use of spells like faerie fire and dust devil can simulate ghosts; obscurement makes mysterious mists; control temperature, 10' radius creates eerie chills; and druids also can call up packs of howling wolves or flocks of bats. Props like an erected gallows with a human skull or two lying around in the wood strike terror into the hearts of peasants and common soldiers alike.

Naturally, some people will suspect Dannay is behind this, especially if he tried negotiating with the locals and lord earlier. So, some druids simply use fear tactics before attempting a compromise!

Hit-and-Run

A ruthless druid facing a determined foe may combine fear with violent actions, such as killing intruders and leaving their bodies for others to find or just allowing the victims to vanish without a trace. This technique can prove very effective, especially when the deaths are mysterious and not directly traceable to the druid's magic. But Dannay should be wary of doing the job too well: Misleading the natives into believing that murderous undead roam the wood, for instance, may lead them to call upon outsider paladins or clerics to purge the area.

Defense

Dannay may decide merely to defend his land aggressively, attacking anyone who enters the wood. Druids frequently resort to a defensive stance when fear or harassment fail. The character aims to convince intruders exploitation is too costly to be worthwhile. The druid's tactics resemble a more violent form of harassment. In particular, Dannay would mobilize native creatures (using animal friendship and sometimes animal growth spells) to attack intruders and--if he has time--would set lethal traps, such as pits and deadfalls. The druid also may recruit allies, perhaps other druids or monsters who could lose their lairs to the axe.

Like many good generals, Dannay himself often stays back from the fighting, instead setting up magical traps and sending animals and plants into battle. Normally a druid would risk himself to save an animal, but in this case he is battling not just for one creature, but for an entire habitat. Dannay knows he must spare his own life so he can continue to preserve the lives of others.

War

Usually as a last resort, the druid may choose to carry the fight to the enemy's castle or village. Typically, only a high-level druid has the ability to do this. And remember, Dannay has no obligation to use "honorable" tactics. If he has chosen to fight, it is because he believes his opponents have failed to compromise.

A druid's actions in war may range from subtle tricks, like stealing some or all the local plow animals and war horses, to something direct but nonviolent, like shapechanging into a bird, sneaking into the offending lord's bedchamber, and taking his first-born hostage for his good behavior. Or, Dannay could use spells like call lightning, conjure fire elemental, creeping doom, or earthquake to wreak destruction. Even low-level spells like produce flame can easily set fire to a peasant's cottage or a field of grain.

Please note that Dannay will direct his every action solely against those who cause the problem. If a greedy baron represents the threat to the wood, the druid targets the baron. If the problem lies with the peasants, he tries to intimidate them or drive them away. A druid never engages in wanton violence for its own sake.

When a PC druid uses any of these strategies, the DM should work out the response of the factions opposing the druid's interests. For instance, perhaps the baron sends up to three village work parties daily into the wood, each of which can clear one acre of forest if allowed to work unimpeded. If the druid decides to harass them or frighten them off, the DM should refer to the rules for morale and NPC reactions (DMG, pgs. 69-72, 114-115) and make morale checks any time the druid succeeds with an action the DM deems would frustrate, impede, or frighten them. If a work party fails enough checks, the workers either get nothing done that day or return home, too scared to come back. Perhaps soldiers or the lord's mage escort the next work parties. If Dannay succeeds in dealing with this new threat, the DM may wish to check the baron's morale. Failing this check, the baron may negotiate.

Revenge

A druid who has failed to stop the defilement of Nature often seeks vengeance, for one of three reasons. First, the druid removes his foe to make sure the defilement doesn't happen again. Second, a druid's act of revenge sends a message to others. And third, as most druids are human, they can succumb to anger and feelings of injustice as easily as anyone else.

Vengeful druids must consider this question carefully: Who is the intended object of revenge? For example, a druid may immediately target as foes trappers massacring winter wolf cubs for their fur. But, upon investigation, the druid discovers that the trappers are merely poor yeomen or peasants simply trying to earn money to support their families. The real enemies become the gentleman furriers who grow rich off the sale of the pelts, and the lords and ladies who demand winter wolf fur as this year's high fashion. The druid should take revenge on these people.

A character seeking vengeance will wait patiently and make careful plans. This behavior sometimes makes them seem cold-blooded, but the druid has a long memory--a foe who appears too strong today may prove weaker tomorrow.

Druids prefer subtle forms of vengeance. If a wicked sheriff were responsible for the destruction of a druid's grove, the druid might try to frame the sheriff for treason against his lord rather than risk a direct attack. For the sheriff to be executed as a traitor would be a fitting revenge!

Some druids enjoy irony. Suppose a noble cleared an ancient forest to set up a vineyard. After the first pressing, a druid might sneak into the wine cellar and spoil the vintage.

A druid carefully considers the consequences of an act of vengeance and works them into the overall plan. For instance, if a king's sheriff were the druid's enemy, the druid would not try to destroy the sheriff without knowing what would happen afterward. In particular, the druid would not try to destroy an enemy who might be replaced with an even worse foe. Instead, the druid might take vengeance in a different form--perhaps by kidnaping the sheriff's infant to raise as a druid who one day would prove a foe to the sheriff.

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