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On the other hand, the demise and harvesting of animals and plants is part of the natural cycle of life and death. Digging a big hole in the ground to extract ore and then smelting it at temperatures in excess of 1000 degrees Farenheit (fueled by artificial furnaces) for several hours is not exactly part of the natural cycle.
Really, though, it's a legacy thing carried over from some of the earliest renditions of druids in the d20 system.
Its an old celtic tradition that iron blocks magic (hence why cold iron hurts fey).
besides, mining is horribly destructive to the environment. You can replace a deer. The hill they mined, the poluted water they pumped out of it, and all the trees they cut down for support beams? Not so much. Dead critter is a renewable resource.
There's always leaf armor or stone plate if you're feeling particularly tree huggy.
On the other hand, the demise and harvesting of animals and plants is part of the natural cycle of life and death. Digging a big hole in the ground to extract ore and then smelting it at temperatures in excess of 1000 degrees Farenheit (fueled by artificial furnaces) for several hours is not exactly part of the natural cycle.
Every last bit of that is natural. All standard laws of chemistry and physics operate properly.
Defining "natural" to mean "part of the natural world" is sort of silly. Because then you could argue that everything is natural. Even undead, as they appear spontaneously, some would even say naturally. This is not a useful definition.
Natural is usually used to mean X steps removed from what is made by mindless processes. Where X is something reasonable small.
It's a themed, and somewhat faulty balance mechanism. Much like needing to take 5 foot steps or less to use full iterative attacks, mages having arcane failure for even the lightest armors yet none for holding a staff in each hand (you can gesture while carrying two large poles, yet not so much if wearing leather armor?).
It's just one of those things. Wildshape and spamming summon nature's ally spells usually makes up for the low AC.
You need a free hand to make somatic components. So no dual-staffs. And its not really a balance mechanism. Dragon-hide is pretty cheap at only 2x price. It's mostly just for flavor.
Symbolically, metal has been a representation of technology and civilization for a loooong time. You could always argue the facts and logic, but that's not really the point. Refined metal just symbolizes civilization and has since the classical era.
I allow druids to wear metal armor in my games however the wild armor ability is restricted to hide armors... Makes a little more sense to me at least.
To make metal armor you have to dig ore up, smash it up into bits, smelt it to separate the junk from the pure metals using a technological process, and then take the hopefully fairly pure metal and put that through a whole other technological process to forge it into what you want. Compare that with cutting the skin off of an animal, maybe treating it, and then wearing it.
i have no problems with Druids wearing metal Armor, just like i have no problems with Wizards wearing Armor either. the mechanism doesn't really do much to balance the classes as much as it forces them to be a bit more selfish with their resources. removing the need for things like the wild armor enchantment and removing weapon or armor restrictions on class abilities is my kinda thing, as is removing alignment restrictions or alignment in general
the difference between dragonhide plate and normal plate isn't really that big in price and at best, it allows 2 wands of cure light wounds for party healing or something, or if you wear mithril plate as a druid without requiring the wild tax, it just allows bear forms to compete.
in fact, the only reason the armor restrictions and enchantment tax existed in 3.5. was because they needed something to balance the fact the druid could take forms that were better damage dealers than a non ubercharging fighter, have a pet that was a better damage dealer than a non ubercharging fighter and have full spells on top of that when most theoretical martial builds were uberchargers or divine casters who could fill a martial role.
Druids that worship Gorum can still wildshape and wear metal armor, since he too likes the idea of full plated tigers tearing heads off.. It doesn't meld into their bodies either (which could be an argument towards leather armors- they are made of biological compounds, and easier to work with when the body is being morphed about; works for an excuse for wildshape at least)
So basically, they have to get tiger armor, and eagle armor, and such, and get others to put it on for them (slaves, servants, etc). Not great for players obsessed with turning into anything at any moment, but it seems fair enough when you think about war situation. I mean, really, there are only so many forms that are great on the battlefield, and with a military unit, you could more easily delegate specific roles (I think that the eagles soldiers might end up taking care of spellcasting, since they can only wear light armor anyway and still fly, which means like...1 AC loss; also, they can get where they need to be with little trouble.)
That brings up an interesting facet of the class- if you get past the treehugger bits, druids have a lot of potential in war and power struggles. They are warriors that can turn into beasts that are 32' tall. They can fly through the sky. They are assassins that enter as birds that suddenly grow big beefy arms bearing daggers that coup de grace rulers in their sleep. They can turn into earth elementals that lies in ambush under the ground.
Overall, what do you DO when nature strikes back?
One issue I have with 'druids can't wear armour' bit is that most druids can use metal weapons just fine. So it feels a bit arbitrary to me.
I don't buy into druids = tree-hugger and protector of environment theme. It's ok if you want to make your druid like that, but it shouldn't be the definition of the druid.
And like Trigger said, druids can use metal weapons (indeed the sickle, one of the symbol of the druids, is made of metal). They have spells affecting metal objects as well and they have no qualm about their friends wearing/using metal.
Originally in D&D, druids were a caste, a (somewhat) secret society. The "no metal armour" thing was part of their vows as they were initiated in the druidic circle. Heck, perhaps even the druids don't remember the origin or the purpose of this vow, but they follow it and enforce it nonetheless.
I see it more as code of conduct like "if you must protect yourself, don the skin of an animal" rather that "thou shall not weareth armours of metal"
I don't buy into druids = tree-hugger and protector of environment theme. It's ok if you want to make your druid like that, but it shouldn't be the definition of the druid.
Well, one way to play them would be 'survival of the fittest- Law of the Jungle' type (particularly good for NE).
Really, play the Shere Khan angle (...and I always go with the Tail Spins version...which I vaguely remember as the least druid industrialist imaginable...might have had a softer moment or two, but darn if I remember them)
Defining "natural" to mean "part of the natural world" is sort of silly. Because then you could argue that everything is natural. Even undead, as they appear spontaneously, some would even say naturally. This is not a useful definition.
I define it as 'things that happen without the intervention of extradimensional forces'. The universe should be a closed system; it's when planar stuff gets mixed in that 'unnatural' occurs.
How would a druid eat without hunting and if you kill it you should use all of it right not let the skin just rot and go to waste.
How would a druid eat without hunting and if you kill it you should use all of it right not let the skin just rot and go to waste.
how would he eat without hunting?
bread?
veggies?
create food and water?
BUY food?
How would a druid eat without hunting and if you kill it you should use all of it right not let the skin just rot and go to waste.how would he eat without hunting?
bread?
veggies?
create food and water?
BUY food?
Lies! There is only meat!!
Lies! There is only meat!!How would a druid eat without hunting and if you kill it you should use all of it right not let the skin just rot and go to waste.how would he eat without hunting?
bread?
veggies?
create food and water?
BUY food?
But what of the hydrogenated goodness of artificial flavoring?
I assume that is what create food and water does. Summon up doritos and mountain dew (who I am sure are looking for sponsorship deals in Golarion)