Druid

Athasian druids are the protectors of Athas’ dying landscape. Patient and often unforgiving, they try to preserve and reclaim the barren lands that surround the Tyr region. Well armed with spells and abilities from the Spirits of the Land, they work to bolster Athas’ failing ecology.

Often, druids prefer to remain hidden, observing the behavior of creatures and people before passing judgment. Travelers to an oasis are often unaware they are being observed; wanton destruction of the oasis will find themselves under the full fury of the druid and his many abilities.

Making a Druid
Druids cast divine spells through the powers granted them by a spirit of the land. A druid develops a special relationship with the land’s spirit. As a druid travels the tablelands, she is recognized by the spirit of the land as a friend. The spirit grants the druid’s spells, while the druid protects the land and reinforces the spirit. In addition to spells, druids receive special abilities as they gain in knowledge and power.

Races: Druids come from all races common in the Tablelands, although some have more natural talent than others. Half‐elves, with their natural affinity for animals, make good druids. Their often‐lonely existence also lends itself well to a lone druid caring for a piece of Athas. Pterrans are often druids, as it follows their Life Path, the Path of the Druid. Aarakocra, muls and Thri‐kreen are also good candidates for druids. Halflings druids often hold a position of respect and authority among their tribe. Halfling druids are rarely found outside of the Forest Ridge, though. Half‐giants, with their slow wits, make poor druids. Of the savage races, tareks sometimes have druids in their numbers, but rarely do other creatures have the patience or ability to care for a particular piece of Athas.

Druids get along well with most of the races of the Tablelands, provided they respect the natural order of the land. Creatures that kill without need or destroy out of sheer pleasure will find an enemy in the druid.

Alignment: Druids understand the harsh cycle of life and death, of predator and prey, and so one component of their alignment must be neutral. Good druids will tend to help the people they protect, if they serve as protector of a village. They will leave visitors alone, letting them refill their water pouches at no cost, provided there is no abuse. Neutral druids will put the concerns of their guarded lands first, and will not hesitate to punish those that break any rules the druid has determined. Evil druids often rule by fear; some people of the Tablelands prefer the justice of the druid to that of the city‐states, even though the druid may be harsh and cruel. The evil druid will often make the villagers work for their protection, helping to plant trees or shrubs, or repair any damage done by a Tyr-storm. Evil druids that guard an oasis or similar geological feature often demand a toll or gift of small bands for the use of their land. Druids are rarely chaotic or lawful since they all have elements of both: they worship the laws of nature and completely ignore the laws of other authorities if they conflict with their own. Furthermore, they must abide druidic law or be hunted by their kin. Since there are so few druids around and their death would leave their protectorate unprotected, only chronically repeat offenders accrue this punishment - however, since druids are among the most effective of Athasian assassins, those marked for death never escape it for long. Also a druid's death also removes their name, status, and accomplishments. They are in essence forgotten as would be any dead individual animal or plant so stories of rogue druids do not get passed along in druidic oral history.

Class Features
An Athasian Druid has the following class features:

Class Skills
Add Stealth (Dex) to the Druid's class skills and remove Swim (Str).

Weapon and Armor Proficiency
Druids are also proficient with the alak and blowgun in addition to her other weapon proficiencies.

Spells
An Athasian Druid adds these spells to her spell list in addition to those found in the Core Rulebook.

Nature Bond (Ex)
A druid selects from the Athasian Cleric Domains or Athasian Animal Companions when forming her bond with nature.

Nature's Speech (Ex)
At 4th level you become able to speak with animals everywhere, as if under the effects of the speak with animals spell.

This ability replaces Resist Nature's Lure.

Playing a Druid
You are a humanoid servant devoted to Athas and all of its elements equally. As a guardian, tender, warrior, and sometimes assassin, you further the cause of nature and help to make Athas verdant again. You, like nature itself is neutral. You see the balance of all things. You know that every living creature is part of the food chain, and birth and death are the natural order of life. This is one of the reasons druids harbor such intense hatred for the defilers. Their magic of decay lies outside the normal cycle of life. Matter should not be destroyed, but converted to a form that will eventually return to the earth. Defiling magic destroys that which should never be destroyed, and its practice is an abomination to druids.

Religion
A druid is an individual who has devoted themselves to the balance of nature on Athas, and in particular someone who has sought out or been chosen by one of the few living spirits left in the barren land, protecting and nurturing them and the natural balance they represent. Individual druids do not necessarily recognize one another as kin or as brothers in a religion; each conducts their affairs as they see fit in their quest to restore the balance of nature and protect their spirit’s lands. Most druids recognize the various spirits as a manifestation of Athas itself, though some few more primitive or uncultured individuals or groups may believe the spirit to be a god and treat it as such.

Other Classes
Druids get along with most classes, though they despise wizards. Magic is the cause of Athas’ current state, so say the druids, and while they may tolerate preservers for a short while, defilers are slain on sight. Templars are usually not welcomed by druids, as the templar is responsible for a city that encroaches on nature, and templars serve the sorcerer‐kings, Athas’ most powerful magic users. Elemental clerics are well received by druids, as they often share the same goals. Druids are usually at odds with paraelemental clerics, though. The paraelement proliferation on Athas is usually at the land’s expense, destroying what the druid tries to accomplish. Rangers are probably the druid’s best allies. They often share the same goals, and the druid may even call upon the ranger for help in controlling a species that has become problematic or detrimental to an area. However, the ranger and the druid may sometimes be at odds, if the ranger is determined to eradicate his favored enemy while the druid seeks to protect that particular species.

Combat
Your ability to summon creatures and to turn into them is your primary weapons. Consider using them to aid your companions in flanking maneuvers, or better yet to harass enemy spellcasters (many of whom are easy to hit), especially if they are defilers. Few foes are prepared for an opponent who can call such potent beings to service, so youʹve also got the advantage of surprise. Though somewhat skilled at both combat and spellcasting, you are more suited to guerrilla warfare— tracking enemies to their lair ambushing them while they sleep, or engaging in other sue surreptitious tactics. With woodland stride and trackless step, you can usually escape through the wilderness before your enemies know what hit them.

Advancement
You profit most from remaining a druid thought your advancement, so that your animal companion and wild shape continue to improve as you gain levels. If you do multiclass, a level of barbarian is an excellent choice; the benefits it grants to combat and movement regardless of when you take that 1st level. During their time of wandering, a young druid learns about the world, its ecology, the balance of nature and the ways of its creatures. After a few years of peregrination, most druids decide to settle in order to watch over a specific patch of land lands, watching over them and protecting them, and straighten their bond with a Spirit of the Land. Such druids become grove masters

Druids on Athas
"“The druids are no longer hunted in force by the sorcererkings. The kings believe there simply aren’t enough left to threaten them. But the templars, and even some elves I know, have been well rewarded for delivering the heads of wasteland druids.” ―Jurgan, Urikite earth cleric"

Perhaps the only thing rarer to see in Athas than a wizard is a druid. After centuries of persecution, they were forced to either die in the hands of the agents of the sorcerer‐monarchs, or to watch their beloved land wither and die before their eyes.

Because of that, druids are usually loners and avert to social interaction. They live off the land, within the land, and they have sacrificed their entire lives for the land, very little besides it occupies the mind of a druid.

Daily Life
A druid adventures to learn about Athas, to protect nature, and to further his own aims. Druids usually spend their days in contemplation of nature, and tending their lands; one may watch over a particular stretch of open desert, another may protect a belt of scrub grass within it, while still another might watch over a small oasis that borders on both, always hidden and always watching. The Athasian druid is a wanderer who hunts down a powerful defiler that has despoiled the wastes, or a visionary who tends the land and teaches the local population how to live in harmony with their surroundings. The Athasian druid fights for an almost lost cause, and it matters not if that cause is revenge himself against those who destroyed his land and friends or a ceaseless desire to bring green and hope to Athas.

Notables
Druids very rarely become famous, since they usually avoid social interaction combined the fact that it might put their lives at risk since usually sorcerer‐kings and defiler usually put a reward for the head of a notorious or troublesome druid. A legend claim that Mearedes the druidess came to the island of Shault when its forest was all but dead and she managed to nurture it back to its vibrant health.

Organizations
Ever since the Eradication, a n anti‐druidic jihad led by sorcerer‐kings more than 1,500 years ago, no specific druidic organization exists, although some form temporary alliances with Veiled Alliance members from time to time.

Legends say that the druids who remained after the Eradication gathered on a high mesa somewhere in the northern Tablelands. It was there they decided that they should scatter to the most remote reaches and farthest regions of Athas, there to bide their time, waiting for the day when they were powerful enough to challenge the sorcerer‐kings again. This was a long time ago, and the druids have yet to return to the cities of the defilers. Some say that they will never return and that their seclusion and isolation have destroyed whatever power they once wielded as a circle. Others say that the druid’s long wait is indicative of their cunning, and that their plan is to insure that the next confrontation with the kings won’t end in defeat.

NPC Reactions
Druids are natural loners, and usually avoid social interactions unless they have to. In such cases, those who are directly benefited from the druid’s work of tending the land begin two steps nearer helpful, while defilers and evil paraelemental clerics begin two steps nearer hostile.