I've got a difficult problem.
I recently started DMing a IRL campaign with my friends. We're 3 sessions into it (approx 2 days game time, and already level 2) and the party druid has no idea he can perform magic.
Due to the character's circumstances he's truly unaware that he has any spellcasting potential. I need help thinking of ways to get him casting, because denying the player access to a decidedly important half of his character's abilities is no fun, even if it is in the name of good roleplaying.
The traditional fantasy trope here is that the character is put in a life threatening situation and magic happens to save the day. A bear attacks him and suddenly he can speak with animals or someone is about to run him through and barkskin activates to save his life. Etc. etc.
Dreams or visions are also pretty classic here.
Those two particular tropes are indeed classic, but I was hoping to avoid them, because I've used both just recently, and before on a couple occasions.
There's absolutely no mechanical way to express this though, since generally by the time you're ready to start adventuring a character is supposed to be far past the 'I just discovered my powers' phase.
The character has a special backstory which I guess I should have included in my original post. I'll take a moment to edit it before the hour is up.
Describe his powers in his dreams. If he can wild shape have it that he imagines himself running as a wolf as he dreams, or soaring like an eagle. For spells have it that he imagines his skin crusty, or calling lightning or curling someone's wounds. Write these out and hand them to the player when he rests.
An alternative is for an NPC character to sense the ability to spell cast. I believe some spells can reveal highest caster level. Maybe they coach the player to begin casting.
Last option is to have a spirit guide or familiar that leads through the process of beginning to cast.
Damn... I missed my window of opportunity and lost a great explanation because of it. I've had to retype it here now. Anyway...
The druids backstory revolves around him not even being from the setting I built. The player came in without any fore knowledge of my custom setting, and he pitched to me a character idea to work with that.
His idea was that he could be a planeswalker from the Magic the Gathering metaverse. He explained that a planeswalker doesn't automatically know of their abilities when they first receive the "spark" and are instead teleported to the general area of another planeswalker (who it is assumed will teach them.)
My dilemma is that his chosen backstory, while suitably druidic and tribal, sees no use of magic as we know it.
We also agreed that the finding of this planeswalker should be an important part of his story arc, which is why I can't justify bringing them together so soon.
The most relevant clue the party has of the druids potential comes from the party wizard casting detect magic on him out of personal curiosity. All she saw was static (as opposed to any particular aura of magic, the static is meant to represent an energy the spell was not designed to understand, that is, one from an extra-universal source.)
From what I can remember of the MTG lore a planeswalker usually manifests their magical abilities before they spark and planewalks for the first time.
Chandra for example was considered a pyromancer before she discovered her spark.
Spells triggering in their sleep could be a useful variant of the get out of trouble trope.
Oh and a bit obvious maybe but have you asked the player how he imagines the characters first manifestation of magic going? They might already have an idea about how they'd like it to go.
From what I can remember of the MTG lore a planeswalker usually manifests their magical abilities before they spark and planewalks for the first time.
Chandra for example was considered a pyromancer before she discovered her spark.
Spells triggering in their sleep could be a useful variant of the get out of trouble trope.
That's probably a Chandra trait rather than a planeswalker trait. My character took his inspiration from Ajani, and is basically a catfolk from naya (I think that's the correct spelling?).
If he can wild shape have it that he imagines himself running as a wolf as he dreams, or soaring like an eagle.
This is plausible, and unique enough to my group to be used. Not likely to be enough though.
An alternative is for an NPC character to sense the ability to spell cast. I believe some spells can reveal highest caster level. Maybe they coach the player to begin casting.
Last option is to have a spirit guide or familiar that leads through the process of beginning to cast.
A PC attempted that, but hasn't yet mentioned it to our druid.
I tried the spirit guide idea last session, but it flubbed, or rather, I flubbed it.
Honestly, I think me and my party are all inept at roleplaying even though we want to make everything believably in character.
I tried the spirit guide idea last session, but it flubbed, or rather, I flubbed it.
Luke didn't recognize Yoda at first, either. Personally, I love the idea of a cranky spirit guide who keeps coming back and harassing the druid until s/he gets the idea.
Honestly, I think me and my party are all inept at roleplaying even though we want to make everything believably in character.
Don't be too hard on yourself. Role-playing is a skill, and like any skill, it takes practice and attention to improve. The cardinal rule is to have fun; if the players are laughing at this druid's ineptitude, and the druid's player is laughing along with them, then you're doing a good job.
On the other hand, if everybody is frustrated that the party's druid isn't pulling their weight, then it's time to let go of your own narrative expectations and just say, "You wake up and find this world's magic has infused you. Here are the spells you know you can cast." Shrug it off, and be confident that the next big reveal will go better.
Luke didn't recognize Yoda at first, either. Personally, I love the idea of a cranky spirit guide who keeps coming back and harassing the druid until s/he gets the idea.
I tried the spirit guide idea last session, but it flubbed, or rather, I flubbed it.
That would have worked and been awesome, save for the fact I used an NPC ranger's animal companion as the pseudo guide and then revealed it as such the same session. Lost all the mystique.
That would have worked and been awesome, save for the fact I used an NPC ranger's animal companion as the pseudo guide and then revealed it as such the same session. Lost all the mystique.
Next session, introduce a second would-be spirit guide. Have the two of them start arguing over which one gets to mentor the druid. Let the druid choose between them.
It's short on mystique, but it hangs a lampshade on the clumsy reveal of the first guide, and it grants the druid more agency.
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Send them into an overgrown forest.
"The thick briar bushes are impeding your progress, tearing at your clothes and leaving irritating scratches on your skin. Deep puddles of mud or worse splash onto your cloaks and suck hard on your boots with each step.
[Druid PC'S Name] you find yourself stepping with relative ease. Unconsciously you notice your feet falling into just the right places to avoid the largest puddles and the thorns seem not to adhere to you add they have all you allies.
You feel a kind of deep calm and serenity in the forest, like you have a previously unknown bond with everything around you. "
Fancifully describes woodland stride, and mentions a bond with the forest.
Maybe even throw in a combat to emphasize the full movement speed compared to allies.
The main problem with this concept is that Druids are prepared spellcasters -- so he can't spontaneously start casting spells in a crisis if he hasn't prepared them. Maybe he subconsciously prepares certain spells each morning?
Make it a talking animal (his companion, if he has one) show up and be a spirit guide type thing. The other teacher will have sent the animal out to contact him. This also gives you a great plot hook to pull the PCs toward your planned adventure -- maybe the animal's master is testing several possible people with the spark, or is busy doing something else and can't get away right now, or maybe is held captive and can only send the animal to call someone to rescue him...
Druids can spontaneously convert a prepared spell into summon nature's ally, so you can probably justify him converting "unprepared" spell slots that way, at least at first.
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Your first problem is that you players backstory should have been in the backstory, not in the game.
The character he made is a druid, someone who has learned to commune with the natural world and cast magic. The backstory for a character should explain how he got there, how he got that first class level. Your player only went half way, and is expecting to do the rest in game. That has all the problems you are encountering.
At this point, what I would do is make the player finish the job. Make him explain how his character figures out his powers and actually becomes a first level character. You can add a bit of downtime into your campaign if you need to accommodate his story (if an old hermit takes him into the woods for a week of training for example) and then you move on with a character that is actually ready to begin play.
In general I have found that a characters backstory is a whole lot better for making a fun and memorable character the simpler and more direct it is. The backstory is just to give you a grounding from before things get interesting, it really doesn't need, and often shouldn't be all that special itself. The goal is to play the interesting parts, not be an epilogue to them.
First of all, thanks to everyone who commented while I was asleep, a quick perusal has already given me several more great ideas!
But, now I have to go to work, so I'll return again in 10 hours to make replies.
I suppose that what this guy should have done was have his character begin play with one level in a non-spellcasting class and then gain a Druid level when he discovers how to cast spells -- and he then gets the opportunity to retrain away his non-Druid levels as he becomes more confident in his spellcasting ability.
Druids are prohibited from wearing metal armour, maybe he has been wearing something like that and when it's finally removed he discovers his magical abilities. A dream or vision or just the extreme sensation that the metal is constricting or smothering him would be a good in character hint.
Your first problem is that you players backstory should have been in the backstory, not in the game.
I respectfully disagree. While it is common practice to bring your backstory to the table, it can also be fun and fulfilling to work out the details as you move forward with the main narrative of a game. This requires some flexibility from a GM -- otherwise, it can seem like players are trying to hand-wave in-game challenges by claiming their characters have conveniently encountered similar things in their pasts -- but if you're all working together, it brings a fun improvisatory spirit to storytelling.
As an example: in my current campaign, there is a one-legged cleric of Desna. The player started the campaign with no idea how her character lost her leg, or how she found her faith. We left those questions open, and as plot points came up, she grabbed onto them. "Oh, are cyclopes going to be a big deal in this adventure? Maybe I lost my leg while exploring some ancient cyclopean crypt...?" Sometimes I even "cut away" to short flashback scenes, Lost-style, to let players expand on their newfound character seeds.
I believe that the key to roleplaying isn't backstory, but interplay. Talk to the druid about how s/he can learn more about magic by observing or interacting with other characters. It could be fun to watch them try to learn from the party wizard, as Lucy_Valentine suggested, but failing spectacularly because of the differences between arcane and divine magic.
You might consider hallucinogenics (self-ingested or poisoned), feverdreams, longterm sensory deprivation, hypnosis, trance states or similar things we know of from real world spiritualism (the general term, not the Blavatsky-thing) and occultism as triggers. Sure, they're not really all that family friendly kind of fun but I was shooting for suggestions that haven't been offered yet.
Keep in mind that he is a druid not a sorcerer, or wizard. Druids are divine spell casters with a reverence to nature hard coded into the class. If he does not revere nature he is an ex-druid not a druid. I always picture a divine spell caster as praying or otherwise asking whatever power he draws upon for help. Simply put him in a situation where something from nature is out of whack and needs to be fixed, but he has no way to fix it. When he asks for help have his plea answered.
The only thing he can do without preparation is cast summon natures ally, so maybe have him pull that off when he needs some help. Or he could just find a few scrolls/wands etc and realise he can use them perfectly.
When an NPC meets the party, he can ask the planeswalker what kind of caster they are. Because, detecting if someone is a caster/melee/whatever is an important skill.
When he states he is not a caster, the NPC says poppycock, he can feel the magic in the guy.
Another clue is in activating wands. Some are easy for him, but no one else, or only for casters. That alone should indicate he can cast.
Also, druids are wisdom based. They should get clued in relatively easily, as that is an intuitive thing.
I agree, a spontaneous SNA sounds perfect.
/cevah
If the player really wants his Druid not to cast spells, you could make his inability to cast spells into a major drawback that is worth a feat. To gain the ability to cast spells, he would have to forfeit a feat to cancel out that drawback.
Or you and the player could dig around a little for an archetype of any class that grants an animal companion and wild shape but no spells. Is anyone here aware of such an archetype?