Druids? In Mystara?

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In most editions of D&D, from 1st Edition AD&D, there have been druids - priests of nature who are similar to but not the same as clerics that follow more personal deities. In Moldvay Basic and Cook/Marsh Expert druids do not exist. By all means have a neutral cleric that worships nature, but they still function as clerics. 

This changes in the Mentzer Companion Set where druids are introduced as an option for 9th level neutral clerics. This means that according to BECMI all druids are 9th level or higher. This may be a deliberate design decision, or it might simply be a result of introducing druids in the Companion Set that focuses on characters of 14th-25th level. 

My proposal is simple. Take the BECMI druid but make it an option at 1st level. The down-side is that druids are restricted to non-metal weapons and armour (clubs, staves, slings, leather armour, wooden shields). The upside is they can choose a druid spell instead of a clerical spell for any given spell slot. As per BECMI they use the same saving throws and attack tables as clerics. Druids cannot turn undead. 

I admit this is not exactly balanced - with substandard equipment and no spells at 1st level, the druid will be distinctly squishy, only a little better in combat than a 1st level magic user who has already expended their one spell. On the other hand it does explain why druids are so rare - there is a survival of the fittest that seems appropriate for a follower of nature. I see druids as more of an NPC class than a PC class for adventuring. Also culturally the druid is much more likely to be found in cultures that are still very close to nature and the elements, such as Traladarans and Atruaghin clans. 

Elven Druids

Many druids are human, but there are elven druids. They must abide by the same restrictions on weapons and armour as their human druid counterparts and also have to use the XP progression for elves, which is a lot slower than clerics and human druids. However, they have one major advantage: elven druids retain the ability to cast magic-user spells as normal elves alongside their clerical/druidic spells. They use the spells per day of an elf, but each slot can be used for a magic-user, druid or cleric spell, thus greatly broadening their magical repertoire .  They use the attack tables and saving throws of elves and also have the racial traits of elves  - improved detection of secret doors, immunity to ghoul paralysis and 60ft infravision. 

New spells and magic items

There are many new druid spells that can be brought in from other editions, starting with 1st edition AD&D. However, these are subject to the DM’s approval. Similarly there are magic items suitable for druids that can be found elsewhere. 

A few years ago I wrote a post about unusual materials for magic items. Ent-heart wood and crocodile hide are both suitable for druids, being non-metallic. Imaginative DMs might also add new items crafted from other natural materials such as ivory or antler, or even weirder stuff such as the chitinous carapaces of giant insects. 

Other Subclasses?

I have recently watched a Youtube video about assassins and monks. The Mentzer BECMI rules, particularly the Rules Cyclopedia, has the Mystic class, while the Headsman NPC is the BECMI equivalent of the assassin. I haven’t yet included in my Mystara world building but they are there ready to appear,

This opens up a lot of possibilities  regarding subclasses. Although not described as subclasses, the Paladin and Avenger described in the Companion rules are variants of the fighter that are nearly as different from the basic fighter as the druid is from the cleric. Am I going to include them? And how does the Avenger fit in alongside the other chaotic fighter subclass, the Chaos Warrior?

Subclasses and World-Building

One thing I’ve realised is that choosing which subclasses appear is a big part of world-building - it shows what sort of folks inhabit your campaign world (in this case my variant of Mystara). Subclasses link into culture and also themes and moods. Paladins tend to indicate heroism and chivalry, assassins tend to indicate cynicism and brutality, monks & mystics tend to indicate exotic cultures beyond faux-Europe, druids tend to indicate times and traditions from long before the high medieval default assumptions. Samurai, ninja and Sohei are all cultural variants of the base classes suitable for the flavour of Japan, or in this blog’s case the Pearl Islands, my Japan-inspired culture in Mystara. Chaos warriors and Twisted Summoners are not so much cultural so much as tying in with my campaign’s themes of the forces of Chaos and its ability to seduce and recruit the power-hungry and selfish humans. Gnome tinkerers are this campaign’s main practicers of magi-tech which, though not central to my campaign’s themes, is nonetheless present. 

The demihuman classes I have introduced are all indicative that demihumans are not just one-class cultures, and that all demihuman cultures have more than one set of abilities that can be used to go adventuring. 

The bottom line is that I am not going to open the floodgates and allow any and all possible subclasses into this campaign. It is unlikely that this blog will see AD&D-style rangers, paladins, illusionists, bards or the like. However, I will allow them as and when they seem appropriate .