Summary
One with nature and all it contains, the druid is the primal embodiment of the world, manifest in the body of a mortal. Unlike thefire, air, earth, or water-wielding elementalist, druids connect more deeply with the animals and plants of the natural world, with some even able to assume their forms in battle. Druids seek balance in all things, standing as guardians of the wilderness and rejecting the encroachments of metal and technology.
With their wild powers, druids are the ultimate stoics, capable of living entire lifetimes without contact with human civilization. Naturally (pun intended), they have been featured in many tabletop games and, more importantly, great cRPGs, to the delight of wilderness lovers,shape-shifter fans, and isolationist curmudgeons alike. These games allow druid enthusiasts to fully embrace their fantasy of communing with wild beasts and ancient trees.
True to the stereotype, druids inPillars of Eternitytend to be loners. Depending on their choice of druid subclass, players can take their druiddown the road of healer, esoteric spellcasting worshipers of Galawain (the father of monsters), living storms and summoners of nature spirits, or flexible shape-shifter via the lifegiver, the ancient, the fury, and the shape-shifter subclasses, respectively.
Druids, known to many folk as a kind of wild magician, have access to natural spells that can corrode, hobble, and poison their foes. They generally fill the role of the healer and front-line area-of-effect spellcaster with a mix of melee talent, thanks to their ability to turn into an animal of their choosing once per combat.
Druids are typically presented as neutral characters in all ways. This is true for the druid introduced inDiablo 2’sexpansion, “Lords of Destruction,” as they are well-balanced for survivability, up-front damage dealing, and spellcasting. However, they are far fromfree-spirited peace lovers, as their weapons of choice include massive, cleaving axes and crushing mauls.
Their combat abilities are also enhanced by their ability to shift into their wolf or bear form, and druids are bolstered by their allies of nature, including plants and spirits. These gifts were borne from necessity, as their homeland, Scosglen, is so dangerous that only those willing to cut off pieces of their humanity a slice at a time to see one more sunrise could ever hope to survive.
The “shaman” mastery inGrim Dawnarguably captures the essence of the unstoppable hermit with powers of nature’s wrath and all her insidious poisons and traps. However, the druid, created by pairing the shaman with the arcanist (a scholar of destructive ice and fire magic), completes the package.
Players gain proficiency with massive weapons and command over storms and thunderbolts from the druid’s shaman side as they fight with summoned allies and place down totems of natural destruction to obliterate themassive hoards of enemiesswarming to take them down.
Once a ranger hits level 80 and saves up enough hero points inGuild Wars 2’sfirst expansion, “Heart of Thorns,” they gain access to the druid elite specialization. Along with the usual ranger utilities (bows, axes, greatswords, pets), they gain the ability to wield staves, cast glyph spells, and channel astral forces to heal allies or infect enemies with conditions.
Their astral avatar form alters their glyph skills, giving them access to even more action-packed abilities so long as they channel the power of the stars. Although the elite specialization trait changes their class symbol and profession skills, druids are free to continue using any of their other ranger skills, and theirpet of choicewill continue to be ever-present.
True to their roots in thePathfindertabletop system, druids inPathfinder: Kingmakerare versatile spellcasters and shape-shifters who can adapt to nearly any situation by tapping into the primal forces of nature. With access to a bounty of nature-based spells, they can heal allies, summon wild creatures, and control the battlefield with entangling vines or devastating weather effects.
During character creation inKingmaker, druids choose their dominion specialty from the classical elements or a favored type of animal to fight alongside them in battle. As part of theirvow to protect nature, druids view metal weaponry like iron shields and armor as forbidden.
The popular tabletop gameDungeons & Dragonspopularized the concept of the druid as a class, and as one of the most iconic adaptations of the pen-and-paper RPG, it’s no surprise that the druid is a playable class inBaldur’s Gateseries. InBaldur’s Gate 3, druids can hone in on one aspect of the archetype as they gain more experience in the world.
With the Circle of the Land subclass, druids gain a suite of nature-themed magical spells. The Circle of the Moon grants powerful wild shapes, such as a bear, raven, or elemental, for the druid to assume. The Circle of the Spores augments the druid with a symbiotic fungus, allowing them to sense the thoughts of living creatures, infect foes with blight, and even raise and command the dead.
