Druids may be my favorite class. The second character I ever played was a druid, and my wife played one to great effect many years ago. They're just so cool, with so many abilities, great spell selection (like Entangle), and awesome spell ability, as was pointed out in the video.
I riled up my first Druid ever about two years ago. He’s 4th level now I believe (I don’t get to play too much). The more you read into the class it’s very cool and unique. Thanks for posting!!
Really enjoying your channel. I see lots of Traveller fans... However, I certainly love the AD&D e1 stuff. Keep that coming. Looking forward to the Paladin and Cavalier class reviews. Cheers, Ole
D8, Scimitar, immediate Poison Use and Darts, and Call Lightning were the best features to roll up a druid. I played several. You mentioned all of these but I think Poison Use was grossly understated. Handling poison in AD&D was tricky business (most classes and alignments couldn't access it at all) and Druids had a strong argument for MAKING the stuff. You wanted a cleric in the party for undead in a Dungeon Crawl but by all other metrics, the druid was better until you got to the Highlander leveling system.
Great vid and great little houserules for the Druid! Yes indeed, very underrated class with lots of fun and creative play at the table! They are my second favorite class..Magic-User being first, of course! 🤓
A Druid was my first and did a long time only character. Thorengil the Wise. I made it to arch-Druid ( the old school method of fighting). But the group broke up and I never got a chance to go further
I also love the Druid class. It is very under-rated, and I have only had one at the table (in decades). I do not take the fighting for levels away though. I treat it like the lawful good revised monk - they duel until someone reaches 0, but it is only 30% real damage. If the player loses, he can challenge again in 1month (game time). But to balance out a loss, the player can keep collecting XP to half of the next level.
When it comes to combat duels to gain a level, I grant the challenged higher level character the privilege of dictating the terms and conditions of the duel. This would include options of weapon or spell selections, whether damage will be actual or subdual, and whether combat will be lethal or non-lethal.
Druids and Bards (& Thieves) have the fastest level progressions in the game. Now, if you’re keen on rule nuances, then this can be very significant. Because Divine spells of 3rd level or above are granted by an agent of the Deity directly, this means that the role playing DM may grant, refuse, or alter the spell selection of 3rd to 7th level spells, and/or pronounce judgments or warnings to the Priests regarding their behaviour, or make demands of the Priests by way of Divine commands (Quests), as the DM dictates appropriate. Under no circumstances is this a friendly chat session or source of information to the Priests - there are other prescribed avenues for that. Knowing this, both the player and the DM better be on their toes! This can potentially have a HIUGE impact on the game play! Now, the reason this has such significance here, is because Druids gain access to 3rd level spells at only the 3rd level of experience, as early as 4,001 experience points. This is basically the earliest point in the game when an agent of a Deity will have any kind of direct interaction with ANY character.
great video! i started out in 5e but i love seeing and learning about older systems and rules. druids are my favorite class and i still think theyre still so underrated! love your content, would love to see more stuff like this!
Our DM allowed druids to wear hide armor, which he borrowed from 2nd Edition. It gives AC of 6, but is considered bulky, and could not be found in every locale.
Sadly, nobody ever played a druid at our table. I didn't see one in play in any edition until 3.5. I think part of the reason was that they didn't get Cure Light Wounds until 2nd level, and having a healer who couldn't heal right away was no good. I had planned to play one in 2nd edition, but our campaign (where I played a gnome illusionist/thief) ran long.
I'm so out of my depth with AD&D, but even as a 5e only player I find these dives into the mechanics of older versions of the game to be really interesting. It's so interesting and kloogy the part about there being a hard cap on how many high level druids there could be in the world. On one hand, it only makes sense that if there were a million 10th level druids running around that the world would be unrecognizable. Yet at the same time, it's weird how Gary was so tied to the idea that the rules for player characters had to be perfectly in keeping with the rest of the world. I think as a player I would find that equal parts unnecessary and awesome.
Need to mention the Racial limitations on Druids. Human or Half-elf only originally... These were ridiculous. I live in New Zealand and had to wait a very long time to get my hands on a copy of Unearthed Arcana so I could create Elven Rangers, Druids etc....
@@PGIFilms Unearthed Arcana was released in 1985 and The Druids Handbook in 1994. The former also allowed Halflings & Elves (Excluding Drow) to be Druids. However you are correct. the addition of character kits was a great bonus. I had a Wild Elf Druid who used a Scimitar and a whip. Great Fun.
9:25 the original assassin class had a maximum of level 15 and to attain it you had to kill the grand assassin, so this isnt accurate. Druid just follows suit in the class rank system assassin set in place in 1e.
Druids are weak clerics. No metal armor, fewer hit points, fewer healing spells. With the exception of the paladin, all sub-classes were weaker than the primary class.
"Funny, she doesn't look Druish," -Barff, Space Balls.(The only druid joke I know.)
Visit Stonehenge at summer solstice. Lots of "Druid" jokes show up.
These character class videos are great. You almost always mention something I either never noticed or forgot over the years.
Druids may be my favorite class. The second character I ever played was a druid, and my wife played one to great effect many years ago. They're just so cool, with so many abilities, great spell selection (like Entangle), and awesome spell ability, as was pointed out in the video.
I riled up my first Druid ever about two years ago. He’s 4th level now I believe (I don’t get to play too much). The more you read into the class it’s very cool and unique. Thanks for posting!!
My Druid is 2nd level. We'll have a convension, one of these years...
Thanks for going through this class. Always wanted to play a Druid and now starting a DnD 2e with one.
Really enjoying your channel. I see lots of Traveller fans... However, I certainly love the AD&D e1 stuff. Keep that coming. Looking forward to the Paladin and Cavalier class reviews.
Cheers,
Ole
Thank you for making this, my dad played 1e as a Druid and I wanted to know more about that
"...This 'fighting for your right to party'..." Damn! Page 121 gone all Ol' School on us! I wonder who else is going to get that one?
Didn't know if anyone would catch that.
D8, Scimitar, immediate Poison Use and Darts, and Call Lightning were the best features to roll up a druid. I played several.
You mentioned all of these but I think Poison Use was grossly understated. Handling poison in AD&D was tricky business (most classes and alignments couldn't access it at all) and Druids had a strong argument for MAKING the stuff.
You wanted a cleric in the party for undead in a Dungeon Crawl but by all other metrics, the druid was better until you got to the Highlander leveling system.
Call Lightning, fellas.
Great vid and great little houserules for the Druid! Yes indeed, very underrated class with lots of fun and creative play at the table! They are my second favorite class..Magic-User being first, of course! 🤓
I played 2nd ad&d but the druid was my favourite class.
A Druid was my first and did a long time only character. Thorengil the Wise. I made it to arch-Druid ( the old school method of fighting). But the group broke up and I never got a chance to go further
I also love the Druid class. It is very under-rated, and I have only had one at the table (in decades). I do not take the fighting for levels away though. I treat it like the lawful good revised monk - they duel until someone reaches 0, but it is only 30% real damage. If the player loses, he can challenge again in 1month (game time). But to balance out a loss, the player can keep collecting XP to half of the next level.
When it comes to combat duels to gain a level, I grant the challenged higher level character the privilege of dictating the terms and conditions of the duel.
This would include options of weapon or spell selections, whether damage will be actual or subdual, and whether combat will be lethal or non-lethal.
Druids and Bards (& Thieves) have the fastest level progressions in the game.
Now, if you’re keen on rule nuances, then this can be very significant.
Because Divine spells of 3rd level or above are granted by an agent of the Deity directly, this means that the role playing DM may grant, refuse, or alter the spell selection of 3rd to 7th level spells, and/or pronounce judgments or warnings to the Priests regarding their behaviour, or make demands of the Priests by way of Divine commands (Quests), as the DM dictates appropriate. Under no circumstances is this a friendly chat session or source of information to the Priests - there are other prescribed avenues for that.
Knowing this, both the player and the DM better be on their toes! This can potentially have a HIUGE impact on the game play!
Now, the reason this has such significance here, is because Druids gain access to 3rd level spells at only the 3rd level of experience, as early as 4,001 experience points.
This is basically the earliest point in the game when an agent of a Deity will have any kind of direct interaction with ANY character.
great video! i started out in 5e but i love seeing and learning about older systems and rules. druids are my favorite class and i still think theyre still so underrated! love your content, would love to see more stuff like this!
also it might be cool to see some dming advice videos maybe!
had a ranger/druid myself// bad-ass in the woods
Our DM allowed druids to wear hide armor, which he borrowed from 2nd Edition. It gives AC of 6, but is considered bulky, and could not be found in every locale.
Great video.
"Died of natural causes" lol Thanks for the video!
American Delegraph and Delephone
Sadly, nobody ever played a druid at our table. I didn't see one in play in any edition until 3.5. I think part of the reason was that they didn't get Cure Light Wounds until 2nd level, and having a healer who couldn't heal right away was no good. I had planned to play one in 2nd edition, but our campaign (where I played a gnome illusionist/thief) ran long.
I'm so out of my depth with AD&D, but even as a 5e only player I find these dives into the mechanics of older versions of the game to be really interesting.
It's so interesting and kloogy the part about there being a hard cap on how many high level druids there could be in the world. On one hand, it only makes sense that if there were a million 10th level druids running around that the world would be unrecognizable. Yet at the same time, it's weird how Gary was so tied to the idea that the rules for player characters had to be perfectly in keeping with the rest of the world.
I think as a player I would find that equal parts unnecessary and awesome.
I don't think Unearthed Arcana was ever play tested. The barbarian class is ridiculously overpowered.
The restrictions on barbarians are rather severe, including XP needed. Every player I have ever had play a barbarian died before 3rd level.
I can concur
Of the 'standard' classes, Druids get to 7th level first! IMO - except for armor - they should be considered a F/MU! ;)
Need to mention the Racial limitations on Druids. Human or Half-elf only originally... These were ridiculous. I live in New Zealand and had to wait a very long time to get my hands on a copy of Unearthed Arcana so I could create Elven Rangers, Druids etc....
2E Druid Handbook was an awesome addition that introduced Druid-like templates for other races, like the Halfling "Leaf Tender"
@@PGIFilms Unearthed Arcana was released in 1985 and The Druids Handbook in 1994. The former also allowed Halflings & Elves (Excluding Drow) to be Druids. However you are correct. the addition of character kits was a great bonus. I had a Wild Elf Druid who used a Scimitar and a whip. Great Fun.
9:25 the original assassin class had a maximum of level 15 and to attain it you had to kill the grand assassin, so this isnt accurate. Druid just follows suit in the class rank system assassin set in place in 1e.
Druids are weak clerics. No metal armor, fewer hit points, fewer healing spells. With the exception of the paladin, all sub-classes were weaker than the primary class.
Please do an episode on the assassin in AD&D. What house rules did you use?🙏
Coming soon.