Druids and Gorum

[Xuttah]

Iirc Faiths of Balance mentioned something about druids of Gorum wearing metal armor. Does this mean that they wear the armor and lose their abilities or does Gorum wave that requirement?

[Deadmanwalking]

They lose their powers.

That said, it's thematically a cool idea, and it seems within the scope of a Feat to allow such a thing without losing powers, so that's what I'd go with...but that's rather definitively a House Rule.

[darkwarriorkarg]

I seem to recall that they lose their abilities while wearing metal armour, but regain those powers when they remove it, without the need for an atonement.

I don't remember where I saw that referenced, though, and it's definitely a case of fluff not meshing with the crunch.

[Ascalaphus]

Druids don't need Atonement for wearing metal armor. They just lose powers for 24 hours, but regain them afterwards.

[darkwarriorkarg]

It would explain why druids of gorum are rare...

Mind you, I could see something like an archetype "metal druid".

Give up the animal companion, but you slowly gain the Outsider (Native, earth) type. Among the abilities would be the ability to wear metal armour without penalty and something like the oracle discovery that grants you all martial weapons and heavy armour.

Shapeshifting would be modified, of course.

None of this is in any rulset that I know of.

[Suma3da]

Faiths of Balance page 8 wrote:

Almost all of his priests are clerics, yet barbarians, fighters, rangers, cavaliers, war-bards, and battle-druids all give thanks to Gorum and call on him in the heat of battle. If you are one of these, you value nothing so highly as glory and proving your mettle in combat. You might put your skills to the test in service of a higher ideal, as the rare metal-armored druids do, but in the end, you understand that battle is the natural state of all creatures.

Seems to me that Gorumite Druids purposely lose their powers just to prove how badass they are on the battlefield.

[MrSin]

Suma3da wrote:

Seems to me like Gorumite Druids purposely lose their powers just to prove how badass they are on the battlefield.

Wooh! Free xp! I mean err... How brave.

There is a write up that mentioned druids of Gorum are permitted to wear armor, however it doesn't meld in wild shape and they still lose their spell casting when they wear it, so its not the best advantage in the world. It also says they keep barding specifically for their favored wild shape form, and have other people put it on them after they transform. Since they're not getting their powers from Gorum, they don't need permission to begin with either. As far as I can tell its all fluff.

darkwarriorkarg wrote:

Mind you, I could see something like an archetype "metal druid".

That was a thing in a dragon magazine actually, but its not the best. It was actually pretty bleh. Its also pretty silly that druids can't wear natural metals to begin with, imo.

[Xuttah]

So, go out there and kill yourself a tarnished silver dragon then, eh? ;)

[Ascalaphus]

I have an idea kicking around somewhere for the Ironclad Druid. Gives up Wildshape (gasp!) but gains metal armor use and heavy armor proficiency, as well as increasing DR.

I guess it's fueled by my annoyance that although druids get decent weapon proficiencies and good mounts out of ACs, Wildshape is so much better that we tend to ignore all that.