Let me elaborate. I understand to some degree the concept behind a druid: keepers of balance, tree-huggers, shamans, preserver of nature, of community, and so on. Yet having named these enormous over-generalisations, I can't wrap my head around their... role. Their purpose. Not their purpose as a class, but purpose in a party.
I will admit to inherent bias here. When I think druid, I think secrecy. Seclusion. Holier-than-thou; yes, even more so than your generic lawful stupid paladin. I think of somebody raised into something cult-esque where tradition is everything and all that matters is nature (or any derivatives thereof).
I can imagine characters from all the other classes in Pathfinder (including the Magus) coming from a wide variety of societies, whether it be tribes, cities, villages, and such, but for the druid I am having difficulties. I'm unable to see how a druid would at all be involved in any adventuring party without it being "for the sake of nature" (or its destruction), and I am having difficulties imagining a druid as anything other than a stick-in-the-mud.
So, what I ask of you is: can you show me the druid in a wider perspective? Anecdotes, character backgrounds, NPCs, ect. I want to see the "extremes" of druids. I want to know how it is ... "logical", I use that word with caution, for a druid, for instance, to have grown up in a city alongside the other adventurers as children without being ... "corrupted" to a stick-in-the-mud. I want to know how a druidic villain can be interesting without resorting to "the end justifies to means." (actually, that one is pretty neat, I suppose).
I want to see the druid as more than my own narrow view. And please refrain from writing an enormous essay about how wrong I am - I am asking so that I may expand my view in the first place.
Let me elaborate. I understand to some degree the concept behind a druid: keepers of balance, tree-huggers, shamans, preserver of nature, of community, and so on.
I want to see the druid as more than my own narrow view. And please refrain from writing an enormous essay about how wrong I am - I am asking so that I may expand my view in the first place.
They are there to drive the party nuts every time some animal wants to eat a PC and the druid insists on trying to take to the animal first.
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I have not usually found Druids to be a problem in my games. Occasionally, you can get the "stick in the mud" that you describe. However, I think that most any adventuring hook can apply to a Druid as well as anyone else. They might be adventuring for the excitement, or the glory, or to save the kingdom, or even (God forbid) because their *friends* are involved!
As an example, I have a Druid PC in a game I am running now (Rise of the Runelords). She's a fairly shy 14-year-old girl whose secret hideout was a small glade just outside of town. But she still gets along well with the other PCs and the townsfolk in general. She likes nature and is happy there, but that doesn't mean that she can't function in society as well.
A good analogy might be a vegetarian. There are plenty of people who are vegetarians for a variety of reasons. That doesn't mean, however, that they can't interact or be good friends with meat-eaters. And not everything about them is centered around their diet; they have lives and jobs and go out to movies just like everyone else. It's just one aspect of the person, not the whole thing.
The same way you can have a fighter who likes to make pottery in his free time, you can have a druid who has other interests -- plenty of which can be good adventure hooks.
Does that help?
My girlfriend plays druid ALL the time. Her MO is to kick ass, basically. If there's an injured animal, she'll help it. If an animal attacks her, she fights back. If she kills it, it's natural for her to have defended herself, just as it was natural for a predator to attack her. However, she doesn't just leave corpses, she'll take the meat, and use as much as possible.
It's a very neutral view. And it's humanoids' nature to create civilization, something many druids dislike, but tolerate. It also has a lot to do with their PERSONAL outlook.
As for party roles: druids can do anything. They can shore up any weaknesses a party may have, if they are played properly, with the exception of arcane casting.
Druid could be not necessarily wilderness related. At least, not completely.
I can definitively see a druid as a guardian of the harvest in human or halfling society as an example. Sort of a link between nature and civilization, "the one of us who talks with nature".
Not an enemy of civilization.
Think of the druids as natury clerics.
A cleric of war isn't necessarily JUSt involved with any nation or plot of land being at war- they are interested in wars wherever they go.
Druids aren't necessarily just worried about the forest they live in. Now, true, they certainly CAN be but they are interested in nature globally as well. The natural world, the natural cycle. They don't have to be a "tree hugger" to be a druid. A druid going against undead because they break the natural cycle or against the Orc kingdom because they are torching forests and their typical disregard for nature generally, or whatever is going on in your campaign.
keep in mind also though that Druids are people too and they do not have to dedicate every eye blink of everyday to furthering the divine whims of their patrons.
They can stick with adventurers who are doing worldly good just to make sure the proper balance is maintained even if it isn't (immediately) being threatened.
AP's especially tend to deal with conflicts on a tiny scale that grow and grow into "Omg we're about to save the world!". Druids are just as apt to want the world, and the natural order, saved as any other character class out there.
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Druids are primarily the intellegent connection to the natural world. They are the shamans and wisemen and women who bring us closer to the land and teach us the secrets of the spirits and the old ways.
In many ways they are the magical counterpart to the Ranger. Both can be ruthless, smart, and dangerous. One just uses old magics and powerful shapeshifting arts to get what they desire.
The reaons for the armor/weapon restrictsion are a bit of Gygaxianism but carry over today much the same way arcane spellcasters have the arcane spell penalty. But in this case, going outside of their restrictions breaks the taboo the old gods and spirits put on their actions. It's a price they pay for the power they claim.
You'll find Druids can be friendly to farmers, cunning hunters that help explorers at the price of a few favors, spirit dealers who negotiate for safe passage to a dangerous ruin from the local spirits, expert guides, healers in the old ways, beast masters, storm callers, and sometimes real bastards.
Don't be afraid to play them any less mysterious and dangerious then they really can be.
The idea of the Nature protecting, Neutrality crazed, Druid is unfortunally a carry over from 1970's and 1980's mentalities of what being eco-friendly and "treehugger"ish.
Druids ain't that.
A druid may decide to join an adventuring party because because they feel their efforts would be better spent abroad rather than at one location. Traveling abroad, especially with adventurers (and the situations adventurers inevitably find themselves in...) allows the druid to maintain the natural order and balance which many pursue on a broader scale. Adventurer's deal with arch-villains and evil despoilers on a fairly regular basis after all.
I have an Orc that is a druid because he works for a dragon and it bestowed upon him mystical power, he can also turn into snakes >P cause there reptiles (and I'm a serpent shaman)
A class doesn't really need to be what it was made to represent as long as you can use its abilities to represent what you want.
The point of druids is to provide a kick-ass class, that girls love to play.
A class doesn't really need to be what it was made to represent as long as you can use its abilities to represent what you want.
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That's exactly what I wanted to say except that it would have taken me two paragraphs.
The point of druids is to provide a kick-ass class, that girls love to play.
Facts:
1. Druids are mammals (most of the time).
2. Druids fight ALL the time.
3. The purpose of the druid is to flip out and preserve nature.
Generally, I view there being two types of druids.
"Micro"-druids = druids that protect and study a small area in great detail. These are the typical druids who have groves and protect it. They know every flower and bird within their realm of interest.
"Macro"-druids = druids that protect and study a large area in superficial detail. These are the typical druids that go and adventure.
As for druids coming from a wide range of backgrounds, keep in mind the following quote from a badly portrayed Jeff Goldblum character:
Dr. Ian Malcolm: "No, I'm simply saying that life, uh... finds a way."
Even in big cities there is "natural" life: dogs, cats, rats, bugs, mold, raccoons, etc.
So, what I ask of you is: can you show me the druid in a wider perspective? Anecdotes, character backgrounds, NPCs, ect. I want to see the "extremes" of druids. I want to know how it is ... "logical", I use that word with caution, for a druid, for instance, to have grown up in a city alongside the other adventurers as children without being ... "corrupted" to a stick-in-the-mud. I want to know how a druidic villain can be interesting without resorting to "the end justifies to means." (actually, that one is pretty neat, I suppose).
My character is currently a bard/druid. We were fighting a necromancer, and my character was concerned that the necromancer's activities would create an unnatural imbalance that can't be allowed.
Of course, as a multiclassed character, she joined the party before she became a Druid. She always played the Nature Character role, with maxed ranks in Survival, etc. But even if she had started out as a druid, the threat posed by evil cults, necromancers, or other evils may bring the dedicated druid into the party.
Also, druids are people, too. They can be greedy, adventurous, curious, bored, in love, seeking revenge, the whole gamut of motivations. A druid might want to accompany a party to Bard's Lair in order to experience the Dosa Mountains. A druid may be the best friend of a city rogue, and the two may go on adventures together. A druid may be interested in a share of the lost pirate treasure of Al Charago.
I can say I have never seen a druid as a "stick in the mud"; They are whatever you use to fill in the blanks. Our current druid is an elf, that adventures to defend her people and their forest home, as well as for the joy of adventure.
Like others have said, druids are people too.
I'm about to start playing a druid as a replacement character who's more of a politician than anything. He was the head of a tribe of people from the hard north of the campaign world. The area where its all wilderness, where the holy men are druids because they keep folks alive.
Sure he doesn't like people harming the natural world, sure he thinks cities are a bit dirty, but cities are also the natural habitat of most of the civilized races.
If he comes across a city that is being overly harmful to nature, he'll explain to them in perfectly logical terms why they should change their ways. (Everyone likes to eat.)
If they refuse to change... well maybe he'll manufacture some sort of disaster to prove his point.
"Well that flood wouldn't have been possible if you didn't clear cut all those forests... let me help you replant"
Animals attack sometimes, and he'd prefer to use natural empathy or plain knowledge to avoid a confrontation "that bear has cubs, lets go around", but if its unavoidable he'll defend himself.
My point is his weapon of choice is his maxed ranks in diplomacy (and intimidate), his weapons of last resort are magic, wild shape, and a big f'ing wolf that hangs out with him.
His reason for adventuring? He owes a debt (He's LN) to an npc who knows the party, that npc asked him to help protect the party sorc, who's important to one of the plotlines in the game. So he's there to defend the person who has a hit on her, and is foolish enough to adventure anyway. If he can help maintain nature's balance in the meantime, all the better.
I rolled up a half-elf druid in an old 2E game. Her background was half Romani, half elf and her big desires were to see the world and have adventures. Nothing too complex. Of course, she was quickly thrown into a Fight the Invasion campaign with the rest of the party. . .
I have also seen my share of the stereotypical stick in the mud druids. Cities are Bad. Don't Hurt Nature. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. Blah blah. I guess it's better than no character at all. Not fun to hang around in camp but definitely useful in a fight.
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wow every one is looking at the true neutral aspect of the druid. the new druids can be NG, LN, CN, and NE. i mean think about the alignments in corrilation with nature. A lawful neutral druid might be a farm based druid who keeps framing orderly as to minimize the over all damage to the very aspect the hold dear and quite honestly control, While lets say a Chaotic neutral druid, might wonder about setting forest fires, or stopping drought as they see fit, though nature themed. I mean originally yes the trade off for the uniqueness of spells and the better non-buldgeoning weapons were all there as an alternative to a cleric, but in the past few incarnations of the game they have become more than nature activists and party stick in the muds having to truely balance nature... ie slay a deer, by planting a tree etc. to a more fluid concept revovling around the original but with more leway like extra alignments. The are less like advocates and more like awesome tribal shamans, or farmers, or even odd fishermen and lumberjacks, who respect nature and the nature world so deeply that the draw power from their environs instead of some old school cult-addled hippie or crazed PETA member. But something akin to a primal weilding cleric, or sorcerer
Suburban druid: played in a comedy dnd campaign
Urban druid: nature is everywhere, whether it be in the sewer systems, the dump, the parks, the zoos, or the people. People are mammals, remember.
Any apocalypse narrative brings in the druid, as it affects both ecosystems and people.
There's the more vicious druid: "Nature, red in tooth and claw"
I like playing druids because you can base your roleplay on feelings rather than needing facts. A sort of 'go with your heart' type of thing.
A druid who is pigeon-holed into one thing is being played like any other class who is being overly simplified. People aren't simple, characters don't need to be, either.
If you must put a unified concept on the class, I like to think of the druid as someone who dances to a different music. Fighters think about attack and defense, clerics about the tennants of their faith, wizards are concerned with arcane power. A druid hears the sound of the world and follows that muse.
First edition had all druids as part of a single group, clustered in areas by grove, but ultimately all one group. To the extent that the higher levels of druid had limited numbers and progression involved defeating those above you in the organization. Pathfinder does not include this, but there is a holdover in thought that all druids share a single goal. Incorrect.
You can play a druid as someone who feels a greater connection to the simpler world than the complex. Religion is reverence without the need for a god, politics is style rather than country, war is about outcomes rather than victory, etc., etc., etc. Rely on yourself rather than needing your allies to do for you.
A druid can be someone with their own strength who has chosen to act in such a way as to be an example for others to follow. Or they can be someone who acts as they see fit, without needing the approval of another or a hierachy to verify their choices.
First off, I've played many druids over the years, and so I can provide a few snapshots of them if you'd like - but I don't think I've ever played a stick-in-the-mud. The thing to remember is that in most cases, Druids revere nature... and nature is, at times, cruel, unforgiving, violent. A druid isn't going to be cool with the wholesale slaughter of all the Aurochs in an area, but unless he's become very unhinged (and they can make fun villains when they are) he's not going to start stalking hunters -- because animals up the food chain eating animals below is part of nature.
So, just to provide an example of a druid that worked well in a party (3.x, not PF -- probably would have worked even better now, really):
Veran was a Half-Orc druid (NG): He was born of his human mother after a raid, immediately shunned by his adopted family (his mother was always good to him, even if it made her sad, telling him stories about heroes and knights and all that), his stepfather was cruel to him -- and so he often retreated into the woods as a child. So, he found peace and solace in nature and came to revere it for that reason. Eventually, he found a kitten (of the cat, small) variety and began to bring it food (companion animal: check). So, Veran believed very strongly that the strong should protect the weak - based on the stories his mother filled his head with, based on what happened to his mother, and based on having seen it in the wilds (mothers caring for their cubs, pack animals protecting each other and licking each other's wounds, etc). That was his primary driving force -- to help the helpless. However, he was "grounded" in nature - it was his solace and the source of his peace of mind and strength. He didn't hate cities by any means -- though he never felt he fit in, he also liked the anonymity. (In fact, he liked bigger cities more than smaller ones for just that reason)
Another druid I played didn't start 'til L3 so I didn't backstory as much, but basically grew up in an area where there was a lich, and so his whole "driving force" was loathing of undead, which are unnatural abominations. He was a life-revering type who tended to pack a lot of healing spells -- and loved the way his shillelagh crushed the skulls of skeletons.
Another thing I would point out, the APG archetypes do a pretty good job of opening up doors beyond the "standard" view of a druid (however, I would say that there's even less standardization amongst druids than clerics). For instance, there's no reason that a tribe that would produce a beast-totem barbarian couldn't produce a beast-shaman who has almost the exact same mindset.
I think your problem is that you're thinking of all druids as belonging to one sect that creep around and are generally the way historic (or historical fiction) Celtic Druids are presented -- but that's about the same as assuming all rogues and back-alley thugs who are beholden to the guy who runs the Thieves Guild.
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Just to throw my two cents into this - I remember an article in an old Dragon Magazine (25+ years ago) that featured Druids. They treated the "society" of druids alot like the catholic church in the real world. That is to say they had their version of a pope, cardinals, bishops, etc. The titles where different of course and the society did not worship any one god per say but devoted themselves to the study and "realistic" preservation of nature as a whole (including human towns and villages). They where however opposed to large cities as these upset (in their view) the balance of nature. The off shot of the society is that they where also an intelligence agency also which provided information to anyone (for a price or favor).
Hope this helps everyone here,
Arbarth
Old School GM
Facts:
1. Druids are mammals (most of the time).
2. Druids fight ALL the time.
3. The purpose of the druid is to flip out and preserve nature.
I can't stop thinking about druids!!
Honestly, I try to think of my PCs as adventurers first and <insert class here> second. Otherwise I tend to end up with motivation problems. If I keep asking myself "why is this character an adventurer?", I think I've done something wrong from Step 1.
So if I make up a druid, she might end up being an intrepid explorer and defender of niceness who happens to be a nature lover and spellcaster.
I think your problem is that you're thinking of all druids as belonging to one sect that creep around and are generally the way historic (or historical fiction) Celtic Druids are presented
You're right. I have this idea in my head of what a druid is and it conflicts with what being a person would entail; there's this notion that druids "shackle" themselves to stick-in-the-mud asocial traditions that makes it difficult for me to imagine them differently. Of course, A LOT of the responses in this topic have shown me other aspects of druids and for that I am grateful.
Thank you.
Do continue with your anecdotes, I'm happy to read more.
Druids are primarily the intellegent connection to the natural world. They are the shamans and wisemen and women who bring us closer to the land and teach us the secrets of the spirits and the old ways.
Pretty much this. In one Forgotten Realms adventure I just ran, one druid was in charge of the local timber industry in order to make sure that the trees were cut responsibly in ways that would not harm the forest. He helped the party out by acting as an expert consultant of sorts in their investigations of elves supposedly going crazy and attacking the town for breaking the elf-human treaty. Interacting with and appeasing/manipulating the natural world could go for a PC role. For a while in my game we had a more saage PC druid in the party who was mostly apathetic about the city (as opposed to really being a stick in the mud) since there was a crazy demonic cult that took his attention first and foremost.
As for villains that aren't simply vanilla eco-extremists, you can have druids play the role of emphasizing more destructive or wicked aspects of nature. The god of the hunt may have druids who serve as wardens for the "hunting man is the greatest game" sort of ventures, for example. Brutal, survival of the fittest types with quasi-Darwinian philosophies. Others might include plague druids or fungal druids. I find madness and druidism make for eerie and off-beat villains.
I also wouldn't get too stuck on the ‘70’s Lorax hippy view of Druids. That’s just one take on the relationship between people and nature. I’ve perhaps studied this more than most and I really like playing druids. Just as clerics are powered by many different divinities, druids can have quite a range of views even if they are all still inspired by nature.
LN druids might have a very systematic view of nature like the Christian Great Chain of Being. Humans might even be on top, but still have a responsibility to be good masters or stewards of nature.
CN druids might focus on the strength of biodiversity and constantly keep things turning over or possibly in social revolt so diversity is maintained.
NG druids could be most like the Lorax uptight tree guard model, but could also push for models of cooperation and harmony in society that benefit people and nature.
NE druids might see their work in culling out the weak and sickly, (that is everyone except themselves) or possibly see that as a benevolent act so the world becomes healthier and stronger.
N druids might see their duty as crusading against aberrations and outsiders who warp the natural balance.
None of these views require that they have to stay in the woods and never interact with other people. I think Druid beliefs can merely be inspired by nature not chained to a tree. I’ve played a barbarian druid with no higher motivation than slaying baddies and growing strong as a bear, a halfling swamp druid that lost her tribe to slavers and only lived to stick it to the evil empire and a Mwangi who was ousted from his tribe for maintaining the old ways after his tribe converted to worshipping Sarenrae. His new tribe just happened to be his fellow adventurers.
Just to throw my two cents into this - I remember an article in an old Dragon Magazine (25+ years ago) that featured Druids. They treated the "society" of druids alot like the catholic church in the real world. That is to say they had their version of a pope, cardinals, bishops, etc. The titles where different of course and the society did not worship any one god per say but devoted themselves to the study and "realistic" preservation of nature as a whole (including human towns and villages). They where however opposed to large cities as these upset (in their view) the balance of nature. The off shot of the society is that they where also an intelligence agency also which provided information to anyone (for a price or favor).
Hope this helps everyone here,
Arbarth
Old School GM
If I recall, in those days there was not only a level cap on druids, but there was considered to be only a single druid at that level in the entire world, and to reach that level you had to actually challenge that druid in some way. The interaction with the high level druids in that world started somewhat before the "challenge the prime druid" need, but druidic society was laid out for the player.
Druids should be people who appreciate and revere the natural world. Some druids can see humanoids and technology as a blight on that natural world, other druids can see the same thing as just another part of the natural world. My druids tend to be in the second group, and as such don't harass hunters, hug trees or generally go around like a smelly, self-righteous, naive hippie.
Probably my favorite active PC right now is my half-elf/half-dryad female seventh level druid. She has more flavor and is more interesting than most characters I've played over the years. Growing up in a dryad oak grove she is incredibly naive about "civilization" but she's learning how to get along.
If I recall, in those days there was not only a level cap on druids, but there was considered to be only a single druid at that level in the entire world, and to reach that level you had to actually challenge that druid in some way. The interaction with the high level druids in that world started somewhat before the "challenge the prime druid" need, but druidic society was laid out for the player.
Yeah, it was extremely hierarchical in OD&D and you had to literally fight up the ranks for levels 12-14 with L.14 being the highest ranked and singular Great Druid. I think higher level Hierophants were added later, but Gygax was definitely heavily influenced by the 19th Century Neo-Druid movement which was more akin to Freemasonry than the RL Celtic Druids.
wow every one is looking at the true neutral aspect of the druid. the new druids can be NG, LN, CN, and NE. i mean think about the alignments in corrilation with nature. A lawful neutral druid might be a farm based druid who keeps framing orderly as to minimize the over all damage to the very aspect the hold dear and quite honestly control, While lets say a Chaotic neutral druid, might wonder about setting forest fires, or stopping drought as they see fit, though nature themed. I mean originally yes the trade off for the uniqueness of spells and the better non-buldgeoning weapons were all there as an alternative to a cleric, but in the past few incarnations of the game they have become more than nature activists and party stick in the muds having to truely balance nature... ie slay a deer, by planting a tree etc. to a more fluid concept revovling around the original but with more leway like extra alignments. The are less like advocates and more like awesome tribal shamans, or farmers, or even odd fishermen and lumberjacks, who respect nature and the nature world so deeply that the draw power from their environs instead of some old school cult-addled hippie or crazed PETA member. But something akin to a primal weilding cleric, or sorcerer
My druid is Chaotic Neutral. She sees death as a part of life, but she might also decide to save the life of an enemy with her Stabilize orison. Or she might not. Nature is unpredictable, sometimes.
The point of druids is to provide a kick-ass class, that girls love to play.My daughter plays a halfling druid. She and "Kitty", her tiger, are a potent combination in combat. Kitty likes to play with new toys, which usually means shredding opponents. Sometimes toys double as food.
I don't know where the idea of Druid as a "girl's class" came from. Maybe it's because the 3rd Edition PHB portrayed the iconic druid as a hot elf chick.
Or maybe it's because a humanities geek might actually know what a Druid is before picking up the Player's Handbook, and that might be one way that female players get into the game.
But mechanically, I see the Druid more as a "guy's class". Women certainly can be druids, but like the Wizard and the Fighter, the Druid provides opportunities for strategic and tactical thinking. Traditionally, guys seem more likely to get into this "wargaming" aspect.
My experience has been that the Fighter class is perhaps the most popular with the gals, although some of them like playing Sorcerers, or Rogues. And I suppose you find a few animal-loving, Pocahontas-inspired, female druids.
I always get a little frustrated by the way that certain classes get put into repeated stereotypical roles. Paladins are the most obvious example of this, but it happens to most classes in one way or another. Sometimes when I talk to gamers I've just met and we compare notes on favorite PCs, I'll hear "Dude! Your druid uses a BOW!? Are you kidding, that's so not optimized!"
My usual response is "Oh, huh.... I guess my character didn't have the Players Handbook to read... She just grew up, developed her interests and has gone out adventuring."
For years I played a wizard whose single goal in life was to learn how to create artifacts. He spends/spent all of his "free time" doing spell research on creating magic items. He had a tower full of magic items he created himself in his pursuit of the ability to create artifacts.
"Dude, uh I don't know how to tell you this... but hey man, PCs can't make artifacts. Didn't you know?"
Well, nobody has explained that to my wizard. All he knows is that his world has artifacts and that according to history, myth and legend, they were made by powerful wizards or sorcerers. So he figures it's just a matter of learning the right spells and developing the level of power needed.
So yeah, he's not the most optimized combat wizard in the world, but dayum, he can make stuff!
In no way do I see the Druid as a "girl's class" I love druids they are one of my favorite classes to play, it's just that most girls i've gamed with like to play druids, or at the least like the concept of the class, although alot of the girls i game with are hippies so that might make a difference lol!
When my half-elf/half-dryad druid was level 6, she was mind-controlled by a powerful evil magic user. My GM handed me a note that said "Try to kill the rest of your party."
When the dust settled, my druid was out cold on the floor.
But so were two of her party members, and the cleric survived almost entirely due to an AC buff the druid had placed on him before being mind controlled.
In the first round her mountain lion animal companion quite literally gutted the sorcerer (pounce, grapple, claw, claw, bite, rake, rake) while my druid entangled the rogue and cleric. In the second round the rogue and animal companion squared off and the cleric squared off against the druid.
Wild-shaping into a mountain lion herself, she avoided the cleric's axe attack and then, because the cleric had waded in to use his axe, full attacked the cleric, doing massive damage. But not quite enough because his very high AC meant she didn't hit with every attack. On his next turn he used some one-shot magic item to knock her unconscious. I don't remember what it was, but I do remember the party showing my druid a lot more respect after that fight.
"Girl's class?" Well, only if the girl is a bad-ass killing machine.
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I advise taking a look at "The Dark Tapestry". The fiction from the Legacy of Fire Adventure Path. The protagonist is a Druid and, well, very much not any of the things described in the first post.
It's recently available as an EPUB bundle and quite a fun story, too.
Some of the author's own words on Channa Ti (the druid in question) are available here, and are somewhat instructive on their own (though much more so in combination with the story).
There is really only two things that I think are "required" for a druid character concept. One by RAW, the other by definition.
RAW: Alignment must include at least one "neutral" on one axis.
Definition: Druids must revere and protect "nature."
That's pretty much it. Druids can be good, evil, lawful, chaotic, heroes, villains, sane, insane...
My druid began adventuring out of pure and simple revenge. Once that revenge had been delivered, she went back to her forest and began rebuilding the oak grove that had been destroyed (the reason for her revenge). She continues adventuring because she was sought out by members of her first group to combat a corruption of nature that was destroying a nearby town.
She has no desire for treasure, she adventures purely out of a sense of need to protect the balance of nature. When this current campaign is finished, she may well be retired unless some other GM wants to run another campaign with a nature theme. If it's just a dungeon crawl or some conflict between nations or factions of humanoids, she would politely decline. In fact she would be hard pressed to come up with a reason to intervene in a conflict between orcs and humans. She really doesn't see that much difference between the two races.
There is really only two things that I think are "required" for a druid character concept. One by RAW, the other by definition.
RAW: Alignment must include at least one "neutral" on one axis.
Definition: Druids must revere and protect "nature."
I actually disagree with the second part -- the PRD says:
Druids worship personifications of elemental forces, natural powers, or nature itself. Typically this means devotion to a nature deity, though druids are just as likely to revere vague spirits, animalistic demigods, or even specific awe-inspiring natural wonders.
The degree of flexibility in that is amazing. You can, literally, be a druid who reveres the "survival of the fittest" mentality, or the destructive powers of storms, fires, lava, earthquakes, etc. (And some of those make excellent villains).
In fact, one of the best foes I've ever seen in a campaign was a blight-worshipping (for the sake of rebirth, natural cycle-style) druid who believed that his power over nature reflected his natural mastery of it -- and he was to use and abuse it because in the end, he was "purifying" everything by bringing about that rebirth.
Cept a druid still loses thier abilities if the cannot revear nature or they wear metal armor.
Personally, something i'd like to see is an alterntive version of druid called a Creator. Basically a Creator isn't so tree huggerish, and instead of preserving the natural order, the Creator seeks to create the natural order.
It is because of Creator we have creatures like Owlbears and Platapi. etc.