Druids in Freeport

[Neo Mystic]

Hi,

I am going to run the Freeport trilogy for my gaming group and have a minor issue.

One of the players wants to play a Druid...

My first thought is "No, they are a wilderness character". But then the player really wants to play one...

So how would I integrate a Druid into a city-based game? Would the character be able to have any animal companions that the city dwellers won't run from/kill on sight? Why would the character stay in/around the city (motives)?

Thanks in advance for any help.

[Jon Potter]

Okay. You've forced me out of hiding in lurkerdom.

I can think of three options for integrating a druid into Freeport with minimal muss and fuss. Just because it's an urban environment doesn't mean that nature is in absence; it's just pushed to the side for most people. There's no reason that the druid can't keep trying to bring it front and center.

Firstly, there's the ocean. That's a pretty large part of the natural world, and of HUGE import to Freeport, so it seems a good fit for a character who venerates/protects nature. In WotC's "Masters of the Wild" there are a few prestige options for druids who focus on the ocean (and other aspects of the natural world) rather than falling into the ubiquitous 'woodland' mold. That product might give you and/or the player a few ideas on how to explore a non-stock druid type. Animal companions of a marine variety are somewhat problematic for land-based adventures, but if most of your non-trilogy adventures will take place at (or under the) sea, such helpful critters might be particularly valuable.

Secondly, there's the jungle. Every part of Freeport that doesn't abutt the ocean is bordered by jungle. A druid who focuses on the jungle will be closer in many ways to the traditional character type as set down in the Player's Handbook. It will still require some fine-tuning to bring such a druid more fully out of the temperate forest and into the tropical but in general it seems like an easier fit. A Tarzan concept comes easily to mind. The problem with animal companions for this type of druid is not so pronounced as with the former suggestion, but I still don't think that a jaguar or wild boar would be too welcome in the streets of Freeport. Well maybe in Scurveytown.

Thirdly, there's the city itself. This concept is getting pretty far away from the druid "ideal" and should be thought about quite a bit before you implement it; I'm not sure what it will do to your campaign long-term. The so-called urban druid has been explored in other game systems, but not d20 as far as I know. It nonetheless seems feasible. Of course, such a character would likely get most of his/her animal companions from the Vermin category, but if you and the player can both accept that it might make for an interesting variant on the traditional tree-hugger. "Masters of the Wild" presented a similar variant of the Ranger better suited to urban locales.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Jon Potter on 2002-06-24 14:45 ]</font>

[Kalendraf]

The party I'm DM'ing for has a druid. He wound up in Freeport while trying to save a dog which was being mistreated. It was locked in a cage getting loaded onto a boat, and he wound up stowing away on the boat accidentally while he was trying to rescue it. After a scuffle with the captain when they landed, he wound up with the dog which is now his companion.

He got hooked up with the party mainly because of his race: elf. 2 of the 4 original party members were elves and they happened to come across each other late at night and got into a discussion. One thing led to another, and he was in the party.

The character likely feels a bit out of place, but he's learning to deal with it. His shapechange ability has been amazingly helpful so far. I'm planning to work the nature stuff into the campaign more and more, but so far it hasn't been a problem.

FYI, this party also has 2 rangers, which I tend to think of as also being out-doorsy type characters, but it hasn't caused a problem yet.

[timemrick]

I think Jon's hit the best option for druids in Freeport: focus them on the ocean. In spite of the high sea traffic and low number of big sea monsters in the immediate area (see F:CoA), the sea is still mostly wild.

In my own game, I introduced an NPC who was a 1st-level expert/1st-level druid: She had grown up in town and learned the shipwright's trade, but then had fallen in love with the wonders of the sea to the point of becoming a nature-priest.

As far as animal companions go, small animals are least likely to attract hostile notice in town--esp. if they're species already favored by sailors (parrots, monkeys, cats, etc.). A few possibiities for larger creatures include horses and dogs (low-key until they do special tricks) and dolphins (if you're at sea often enough to keep them near).

Tim

[Patrick O'Duffy]

On 2002-05-16 09:15, timemrick wrote:
I think Jon's hit the best option for druids in Freeport: focus them on the ocean. In spite of the high sea traffic and low number of big sea monsters in the immediate area (see F:CoA), the sea is still mostly wild.

Mongoose's SEAS OF BLOOD has a few notes on playing 'sea druids'. It basically boils down to changing a few class features:

- Make Aquan the bonus language instead of Sylvan.

- Limit Nature Sense to the sea, but add to it the ability to predict the weather (druid level/2) days in advance.

- Instead of Woodland Stride, let the druid swim at twice normal speed.

- Instead of Trackless Step, let the druid live purely on sea water for a week per druid level.

That's all you need to change, and it makes a viable Freeport character. I've had a couple of sea druid NPCs in my campaign, and they worked just fine.

--
Patrick O'Duffy

[Neo Mystic]

Thanks for all the replies, they have been of great assistance.

I was talking to the player about the Ocean Druid concept and she was not too keen on it...
Also, as I will not be focusing on the sea initially then most of the ocean abilities will be just as useless as the forest ones... And at least I will be using the jungles/forests.
So I thought about how else I could fit it in...

The islands of the serpents teeth have allot of tropical forest on them so we settled on a druid who is from a nearby druidic society (yet undetermined). Why has she come to Freeport - well druids protect the natural world, and their order has sensed that something is vastly wrong in freeport (as per normal...). So they have sent her to watch the city and to generally act as their eyes within to find out and assist with what is going on - so basically she drew the short straw.

I assume that she will set up a refuge in the nearby jungles.

Also I was thinking about how the colony on Leeward always fails, maybe a group of druids are involved? Maybe they don't mind freeport being were it is but do mind intrusions onto their island. Something to think about later...

And as for the animals - the pirate varieties are valid, and the player will be taking a dog (Riding dog stats) initially. But she plans to pick up a few rats, monkeys, ravens and parrots to act as spies in the city.

How does that sound?