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Welcome once again to the weekly newsletter. This week we discussed One D&D playtest for the Druid and Paladin. We hang out every Monday evening at 8 p.m. EST at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel talks about D&D, RPGs, gaming, life, and whatever nerdy stuff comes up.

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This week we are talking about druids and paladins. The live chat was in the context of the One D&D Playtest. You can find the live chat –

• Druid and Paladin for One D&D Playtest Discussion

We also have a video about the One D&D Druid –

• 5e Druid vs One D&D Druid

We did a side-by-side of the 5e paladin and One D&D paladin as well. That video is still with the editor.  I’m not going to rehash those talking points. Instead, let’s talk about the character class in your Dungeons and Dragons games. Today I’ll talk about the druid and circle back in a later newsletter to the paladin.

I’ve loved using druids in my games as a player and as the DM. Druids get underutilized in my opinion. They are ways to explore different elements of nature and civilization in your D&D campaigns. They can be awesome NPCs to aid, hinder, or oppose your player’s characters. Let’s explore different facets of the druid.

• Aid – Easy enough as a friendly face that can offer food, shelter, and healing in the wilderness. But that isn’t all. Need a merchant to trade and barter with outside of civilization? Why not use a druid? Want to drop some new lore about your world on the players? A druid can easily be the vehicle for this discovery. They have knowledge about animals, plants, locations, and possible threats and dangers that they can offer up to adventurers.
• Hinder – Not quite friends, but not enemies either. Druids are protectors of nature and may want nothing to do with the trappings of civilization. When a group of adventurers enters the protected lands of a druid they might make their presence known to them. They could cite the rules and laws of their domain and bid the adventurers to please leave as soon as possible. If they respect the druid’s rules then they won’t have any trouble with the druid. If not the druid promises to bring forth nature’s wrath upon them. There could be an opportunity for the adventurers to win over the druid and earn their friendship. But with missteps, they might instead make an enemy of the druid.
• Oppose – A druid could be an all-out enemy to the player’s characters and goals. There are several takes in which we tackle the enemy druid.
  • Nature’s Wrath – A druid could be a savage ruthless killer that venerates the harshest aspects of nature. They truly embody “Survival of the Fittest”.
  • Ultimate Hunter – Imagine a druid modeled after the Spiderman villain Kraven the hunter. A party of adventurers might be the opportunity for an epic hunt.
  • Eco-Warrior – A crusader that doesn’t think civilization and nature can coexist. They seek to beat back the spread of it at any cost. They start off with subtle and gentle nudges to push back the spread of frontiers at first. Their tactics and methods could become more and more aggressive if civilized folk don’t get the hint.
  • Dark Acolyte – A worshiper of dark and evil gods, cursed lycanthropes, or other monstrosities. These dovetails to either the ultimate hunter druid or the savage druid easily.

In all these instances I talk about the druid as an individual, but they work great as an organization or order. It could be set up like a religion, community, or order. Some combination of the three should work as well.  Imagine a secret organization of nature scholars and explorers that live to unearth all of nature’s secrets. Or a religious cult that believes that lycanthropy is an ascended state and wants to bring that blessing to all of the world. Just think about your players stumbling upon either one of these communities out in the wilderness. They’d make for very different encounters.