First off the only divine classes I like are the oracle and maybe the druid, I've never tried one but they seem cool, the general consensus of my oracle was that he was evil so I thought I'd try coming up with a pitch for a druid. The problem is that I have never played a society adventure that seemed like anything a druid would remotely care about. Am I looking at the druid wrong? They seem to only be concerned with matters that don't directly deal with society. The pathfinders don't seem to be very like minded when it comes to druids.
Hm, maybe I'm also looking at pathfinders wrong. Always thought of them as people who wanted to use their physical and/or mental prowess for profit. They just seem to be self righteous mercs to me. This does not sound like a Druid to me, so perhaps both my perceptions are off.
Unfortunately I don't have the freedom of buying many expensive and hard to justify books, especially when I can't even say this will allow me to play with new classes and stuff. If it's just a lore book it will never be bought by me. Anywhere online I could simply educate myself?
I see druids as someone who sees themselves as a tool for nature, not the other way around.
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I like to view the Pathfinder Society as a group that uses backdoor options to obtain shiny objects and bend the world to their will. Though admittedly they have become more mercenary in season six apparently a result of the cost of the heroics of season five.
More to the topic, druids aren't the only class that seems at odds with the society based on their class description. Witches stand out to me as another such class. The thing is a lot of people join the Society with their own motives in mind. If you want to keep things really simple you could always just claim that your druid lacks faith that the Pathfinder Society acts in the best interest of nature and he joined with the primary intention of keeping the other field agents honest in this regard.
Honestly I just don't want to make investments into something I don't have to, I can make any backstory that would fit the bill without any materials, the materials that include what my character is capable of however, are necessary as the society has deemed them to be and if some form of question arises of whether I am actually capable of something I have information that can clear up the squabble if that makes sense. I do kinda like rainy day ninja's thought though.
Contributor
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Druids can also learn much by traveling the world and learning about ancient histories, artifacts, and magicks - it's also a way to travel to different environments and potentially meet other Druids (either in scenarios or during "downtime" or during travel montages or after scenarios, etc) on somebody else's dime.
Or, perhaps your Druid owes his/her life to a Pathfinder, and wants to repay that debt?
Or maybe you secretly don't like the Pathfinders, but, in order to defend nature against them (and those like them), you need to learn more about how they work.
Or maybe you want to try and use the Society to educate those you meet (fellow agents, NPCs in scenarios, etc) about how being more in tune with nature will benefit everyone?
I can see lots of reasons for a "classic" Druid to join the Society :)
Never mind, just looked it up and apparently neutral good is an allowed alignment, this solves a lot of my problems.
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While the Pathfinder Society is a great organization for furthering our understanding of the unknown, it is often reckless in it's exploration of the world. This is because most people are far too hasty. They make decisions without considering the consequences and are careless when interacting with the environment around them.
If I can even slightly reduce the impact we as Pathfinders make to the world we travel in, then at least I'm doing something. Even if it's just reminding my companions that not every hungry animal we encounter requires a lethal response.
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You're not the only person. I've heard this before and can't find my previous answers so I'll make them up again.
See nature first hand: Its kind of handwaved most scenarios, but druids are traveling huge distances and getting to see nature in all its many splendored glory along the way. Travel affords one the opportunity to see the many facets of nature from different angles that you'd never to get to see sitting in your home forest.
A more cerebral approach might be to study nature with a scholarly bent. Think of the kid collecting those wildlife explorer cards (whistles innocently) wanting to know everything about the animals they revere. Well someone has to get that information, as in going to the animal and observing it in its natural habitat. In a D&D world, this is freaking dangerous. Better take some friends. Ruins aren't the only kind of knowledge that pathfinders study. In addition to knowing for knowings sake, understanding the habbits of animals gives field agents an edge when the animal is in between them and the artifact.
Pathfindering as a hobby: Pathfinders spend a LOT of time.. well.. not pathfindering. Your druid could just also happen to have an interest in archeology and history the same way modern day holy men have hobbies outside of their religion.
If i fight for you, do I get to kill the aspis? The aspis consortium is a roving ecological disaster. The enemy of my enemy is my friend. Join the pathfinders, kill the aspis.
Nature red in tooth and claw: While a little more esoteric than most druids get, the struggle for survival is just as real and primal as any forest. Pathfinder Druids get to observe first hand a daily struggle of kill or be kill, fight or flight,
Cash: Adventuring pays well if you survive. Cash gives you options. You can either buy your own forest and evict the lumberjacks, or buy enough magical items to turn them all into squirrels.
Minimizing the impact of the society on the ecosystem: While not quite as bad as the aspis, pathfinders tromping through your forest tend to leave the place a bit denuded when its not on fire. Steer them around killing the local wildlife.
Oddballs: Animal companion union represenative,
The same reasons as anyone else: love of adventure, your mentor was a member, your loved one is on a team and you want to keep people alive, you owe the pathfinders a debt... it doesn't have to do with you being a druid at all.
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No class is made to have one, and only one, type of flavor.
There are champions of good Druids, champions of evil Druids, champions of law Druids, and champions of chaos Druids.
They have different wants, needs, and desires.
The biggest difficulty in finding a valid reason for a Druid to be a Pathfinder, is in imagining different types of Druids.
You will find one.
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My Druid is from Irrisen, he is of noble birth in Irrisen and much to his mothers horror a member of The Heralds of Summer's Return. He joined the pathfinders to rise through their ranks and eventual be named a venture captain, and then create an Irrisen Lodge and bring in allies for there Heralds to overthrow the Winter Witches.
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My druid has the long term goal of slaying the Kraken that rules Wanshoo. In order to do so, she needs both personal power and allies. Together with a debt to the Lantern Lodge that made joining the Society a very good approach. Its a relatively safe way to gain power (is, levels and magic)
She doesn't care one whit about the whole "knowledge/archaeology thing".
While time in PFS is very fluid, for most characters they probably go from recruit to Venture Captain in only a few years. It should not be seen as necessarily a life long commitment.
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My druid's parents were archeologist, so she kinda got the the interest into old things from them. She likes to wander the world, but cannot quite afford it on her own. She also is quite motherly and likes to look after people who don't remember to do it on their own.
These are the main reasons she joined Society. Though mostly I just invented them afterwards, I just wanted to play a character who has a Pygmy Hippo tagging along with them.
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Venture-Captain, California—San Francisco Bay Area North & East
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My druid (Now into the storm kindler prestige class) is all about finding out what's up with the Eye of Abendego. The society gives her resources to sail around and learn things.
Of course, by the time they actually visit the eye she's far too high level to go with them, but...
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My druid (Now into the storm kindler prestige class) is all about finding out what's up with the Eye of Abendego. The society gives her resources to sail around and learn things.
Of course, by the time they actually visit the eye she's far too high level to go with them, but...
In what book is the Storm Kindler? It sounds like it would eventually be a good fit for the druid character that I just started.
In an attempt to not derail the conversation too greatly, that same character joined the Pathfinders to travel more widely, and grow in power. Her backstory is that she wanted to learn from the Master of Gales (in the Shackles) and he basically told her, "Come back when you actually know something, and I'll see if you're worth teaching."
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My druid (Now into the storm kindler prestige class) is all about finding out what's up with the Eye of Abendego. The society gives her resources to sail around and learn things.
Of course, by the time they actually visit the eye she's far too high level to go with them, but...
In what book is the Storm Kindler? It sounds like it would eventually be a good fit for the druid character that I just started.
It's in Paths of Prestige, according to Archives of Nethys
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I don't have problems with the Pathfinder part, but sometimes it's hard to figure out a faction motivation.
Yup. I generally found it easier with the old factions. After all, everybody comes from somewhere and making your character at least somewhat patriotic is usually pretty easy.
I miss the Shadow Lodge. It was always my default for characters that didn't fit other factions. Grand Lodge doesn't fit that bill well for me since too many of my characters don't trust the Decemvirate very much.
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My Druid is a member of Liberty's Edge, his belief is that nature should be free or or if it must be bound by work in a mutually beneficial labor relationship (example, the cart horse pulls the cart but gets food and shelter and is taken care of, so both sides are better off for it)
Slavery is only beneficial to the slaver and not the slave.
Since all things share a part of the natural balance all things should be free and since slavery is against that balance it must be destroyed so the balance is maintained.
That is why my druid is a Pathfinder
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You don't have to love the Decemvirate that much or at all to fit in with the Grand Lodge, since you're not likely ever to meet them. Joining the Grand Lodge simply means that you are a Pathfinder who does not have loyalty or obligation to an outside faction.
That's not what the guide says. Goal : loyalty to the Decemvirate above All.
As written, it us NOT at all the default faction.
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You don't have to love the Decemvirate that much or at all to fit in with the Grand Lodge, since you're not likely ever to meet them. Joining the Grand Lodge simply means that you are a Pathfinder who does not have loyalty or obligation to an outside faction.
That's not what the guide says. Goal : loyalty to the Decemvirate above All.
As written, it us NOT at all the default faction.
House hufflepuff
I just consider the reasons people would sign up for the French Foreign Leagion (ala Bugs Bunny), see the world, meet new and interesting people, get paid to do it.
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One dawn morning in the month of Rova, just as the leaves were stating to fall from the trees, my druid Nev arrived in Absalom with his wolf Kira, after a voyage from Andoran, his homeland. As he climbed down from the boat and looked back with a smile across the bay, a wind picked up and leaves were swept up the road further into the city, whirling and dancing to a song that could only have come from Gozreh.
Nev followed and the leaves ended up clustered around the gate to a grand building set in wide green grounds. The gate was emblazoned with a sign that he would soon learn represents The Open Road.
Nev doesn't know why he was led to the Pathfinder Society, but then, he's never been one to question Gozreh, who can be mean and works in mysterious ways...
He is loyal to the Grand Lodge. He doesn't really understand the politics, but he knows that Gozreh has a plan for him and the society. That's all he needs to know.
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First off the only divine classes I like are the oracle and maybe the druid, I've never tried one but they seem cool, the general consensus of my oracle was that he was evil so I thought I'd try coming up with a pitch for a druid. The problem is that I have never played a society adventure that seemed like anything a druid would remotely care about. Am I looking at the druid wrong? They seem to only be concerned with matters that don't directly deal with society. The pathfinders don't seem to be very like minded when it comes to druids.
I have a Lion Shaman Druid, a Garundi from Osirion. I only use her in the Osiriani based Modules and Scenarios. I use the justification that because she is a member of the Scarab Sages faction, that she would only be interested in working with the Pathfinder Society on the Osiriani based missions to recover the stolen or lost treasures of Ancient Osiriani origin.
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If you can't find a reason why Class X or Race Y would join the Society, then you're thinking is too one dimensional.
Where did your character grow up?
Who was their mentor?
What inspires them?
What alignment are you?
What interests them?
Do they have a profession?
What are they afraid of?
What are you bad at?
What are you good at?
What motivates them?
Even after you've figured out all of the above, allow the adventures you undertake to further mold your character. Hopefully by the time you retire them they've noticeably changed and evolved from whence they began.
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Venture-Captain, California—San Francisco Bay Area North & East
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You don't have to love the Decemvirate that much or at all to fit in with the Grand Lodge, since you're not likely ever to meet them. Joining the Grand Lodge simply means that you are a Pathfinder who does not have loyalty or obligation to an outside faction.
That's not what the guide says. Goal : loyalty to the Decemvirate above All.
As written, it us NOT at all the default faction.
They really need to revise that entry. While it was once true, it doesn't really fit with how the faction plays out anymore. If you look at what the GL actually rewards you for doing in the past year or so... They're starting to look a lot more like the shadow lodge. Look after other pathfinders and take care of each other.
Last druid I played was an orphan that grew up in the wild, protected by sympathetic forest spirits until one day a group of adventurers ran across her and after a series of events she glommed onto them and left the forest to see the wider world.
Played her very much as a 'wild child' who found many civilized customs to be baffling and strange. Quite a few times she gave her fellow adventurers headaches with her inability to understand the importance of such concepts as personal property, appropriate manners, and, well, clothing.
-j
