Druid

**Druid** is a character class available to players in the *13th Age* fantasy tabletop roleplaying game ruleset. The druid was introduced to the *13th Age* ruleset as a class, amongst others, in the *13 True Ways* supplement published by Pelgrane Press. The druid is the character class for characters who wish to have a deep connection with the natural world and wish to wield its power themselves. Although traditionally a 'spellcaster' and a 'support' role in other games, the druid in *13th Age* is a highly customizable class that lends itself well to versatility. They are recommended for players already familiar with the ruleset.

In *WovenRealm,* Vercingetorix originally joined the Emerald Caravan as a druid. As a lycanthrope, he used druidism to control his curse, and utilized his shapeshifting abilities and spellcasting to help the Emerald Caravan in whatever way they needed. After being found in Gehenna, Vercingetorix was reborn as a swordmage who has access to some druid abilities.

## Playstyle

### Role

Druids in d20 fantasy RPGs are traditionally versatile support classes in a similar vein to clerics, but with a focus on nature magic and differing core mechanics. In *13th Age*, druids are highly versatile characters with deep customization options making them a rather modular class that a player can craft around their personal playstyle or to the needs of the party. Despite being traditionally spellcasters, it is possible in *13th Age* to create a druid who does not use magic or interacts with the spellcasting rules system.

### Ability Scores

For druids who wish to focus on spellcasting, as is tradition, Wisdom is the most important ability score with it modifying druid spells. Druids who wish to focus on their claws and shillelaghs will want to have a high Strength or Dexterity, with druid characters able to utilize either stat.

### Primary Mechanics

With customization, modularity, and versatility being the core of the druid class' design principles, there are a variety of primary mechanics that the druid can utilize, depending on a player's talent investment. Unlike other classes, druids can choose to invest 2 of their talent picks into a single talent to place a greater focus on the talent and increase that talent's powers and abilities. Druids can invest in the ranger's *animal companion* talent, giving them a pet that can be involved in battles. Half of the druid's talents focus on various types of spellcasting focusing on harnessing nature's powers or healing the wounds of others. Druids who wish to focus on combat may invest in getting fighter abilities or shapeshifting into different beasts. With all of the differing talents available, druids can either focus on being effective warriors or they may choose to be powerful spellcasters.

### Narrative & Background

Druids are the naturalists of the world and have a deep reverence and connection to the natural world. The suggested backgrounds in the ruleset includie: orc-tribe hunter/gatherer, avalanche prophet, cult zealot, river guide, tribe healer, failed shaman, wild temple priest, mystic waterfall guardian, and raised by wolverines. In *WovenRealm*, the druid's mechanics were used by cast member Alex to take give mechanical life to Vercingetorix's lycanthropic curse.

## In Campaign

Vercingetorix originally joins the Emerald Caravan as a druid after initially meeting them in Shiverdelve. For the remainder of season 1 and the totality of season 2, he remained a druid. After dying, being sent to Gehenna, and returning with Scorched Earth, which he has linked his curse to, Vercingetorix has been a swordmage since Season 3. Despite changing his class, a homebrew talent allows Vercingetorix to treat the swordmage class moreso as a druidic version of the class instead of the arcane representation provided as the basis.

In out of context comments, the class switch was stated to occur due to the complexity of the druid class compounded on also GMing portions of the game made running both the PC and others too difficult to track.

## Homebrew

The *flameblade* spell traditionally included in the spell-list for druids in other games was added to Vercingetorix at the behest of Alex. A version of this was created for *13th Age*. After becoming a swordmage, the homebrewed *Warden* talent was made specifically so that Verci could continue to use Wisdom as his primary ability score and so that he could continue to have access to some of the druidic magic he previously had.

## Notes & Trivia

* Druid has a clear *Dungeons & Dragons* analogue where they are also guardians of nature and wield its power. They have natural magics as well as the ability to turn into various beasts.
* The inspiration for the class, as well as its name, were the high-ranking priestly class of ancient Celtic cultures. Druids were more than spiritual leaders, but also served various roles in their communities. Druids also became central figures in stories and folklore. The name and touchstone likely comes from the perceived closeness to the natural world the Celts had.
* The druid class was originally introduced as a 'nature worshipping' divine caster alternative to the cleric and is now considered along with the cleric one of the 'divine casters.' Despite these two often being lumped into the 'Wisdom caster' category, their main ability score was Charisma at first and was changed to Wisdom in the 3rd edition of *D&D*.
* The versatility of druids in *13th Age* is inspired by druids having a wide and diverse set of abilities in *D&D.* Despite being categorized as 'casters,' druids can also prove themselves as effective combatants.