Questions about druids in 3.5 ed.

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A bunch of us were playing d&d last saturday, and some questions came up concerning druids.


1. Elf druids. Can they or can they not use longbows as a druid? I went with "no" though, because of the druidic oath.

2. When a druid multiclasses to a fighter.....does he get more weapon proficiencies? I would think that when you train to use all kinds of weapons, you violate the druidic oath again.


3. When you sumon an animal...you take the animal from point A to point B. B being infront of you (if you are a druid). And the animal fights something til it croaks. Most of the time. Doesn`t that violate some druid stuff? You sumon a bear that was, a few moments ago, feeding its kids, and then send if face first up against a dragon. For example.

 

1) yes, also rapiers, longswords & composite bows

2)yes, as stated in the player's handbook thee new wording is "A druid who wears prohibited armor or carries a prohibited shield is unable to cast druid spells or use any of her supernatural or spell-like class abilities while doing so and for 24 hours thereafter" notice there is nothing stated about prohibited weapons just armor & sheilds

3) no idea but i like your thinking

 

About 3: Summoned creatures don't die when they're "killed" in combat. They return to the plane the summoning spell brought them from. (iirc)

 

1 and 2: Martaug is right, the book says nothing about weapons. If they gain proficiency from another source, then it's fair game. The restriction only applies to armour, but there are options int eh DMG that get around that too.

3: I never thought about that. I assumed that the summoned creature would be available to answer the call with minimal disruption...

 

I think Faragon is on to something concerning question 3. Its the only explanation that makes sense really. Especially roleplayingwise. If not, the druid would be the biggest threat against nature of all the classes I think.

 

Bored on a friday-night, so I looked it up in the PHB (3.0, but eh. Under the 'conjuration' paragraph of 'schools of magic')

"Summoning: the spell instantly brings a creature or object to a place you designate. When the spell ends or is dispelled, a summoned creature is instantly sent back unless the spell description specifically indicates this. A summoned creature also goes away if it is killed or dropped to 0 hitpoints. It is not really dead. It takes 24 hours for the creature to reform, during which time it can't be summoned again."

As opposed to called creatures:
"Calling: The spell fully transports a creature from another plane to the plane you are on. The spell grants the creature the one-time ability to return to its plane of origin, although the spell may limit the circumstances under which this is possible. Creatures who are called actually die when they are killed; they do not dissapear and reform, as do those brought by a summoning spell (see below). The duration of a calling spell is instantaneous, which means that the called creature can't be dispelled."

 

Isn`t it abit lame that the creature comes back to life again? I mean how does its wounds heal?
And also....Think of the summon monster spell. Technically someone playing a goblin ranger or something, might get whisked away because someone summons him. Or you could have the wizard of your party summon you himself, in a fight. That would avoid permanent death really.

 

no rawgrim, it wouldnt.
look at the spell descriptions, you can't summon a goblin or a PC. there is a set definitive list to use.
http://www.d20srd.org/
also the only spells that i can find listed as callings are the planar ally spells. all the summon monster & summon nature's ally spells are all summons now.

 

Can`t wizards summon goblins any more? If they can`t I stand corrected of course.

 

nope, if you check the link i have in the above post it has all of the summoning tables. it appears they changed almost everything to celestial & fiendish animals and outsiders

 

Actually when a PC or other creature does a few things or is affected by other things, i.e, Storm Lord level 10 (player becomes air elemental), Shade Template (player becomes a shadow), they can in-fact be affected by summoning spells, planar binding, and every other spells that effects outer-planar beings.

They also become immune to spells that their types are immune to, i.e., charm/dominate persons.

As for the summons question I believe you can summon creatures not listed there as long as you meet the requirements of the spell, i.e., CR. I could be mistaken though. It's usually a DM decision anyway .

 

not unless your dm does it by a house rule otherwise the listed creatures are it

yes they can be affected by planar binding, etc. but as stated above not by summoning spells AFAIK

 

As a druid, I'd think you are supposed to use all of your powers sparingly. They come from Nature or its gods, and as their servant you should not use those miracles when they are not needed. Thinking along those lines, you should only summon the bear where it's necessary. Oh, and every now and then, make sure you leave some food out in the open. Remember what Granny Weatherwax said - when you take, you must also give back.

As for weapons, as the others have pointed, in 3.5 they are not prohibited by the oaths, only some armors are. So if you want to wield a spiked chain, you're clear. At least finally druids get to wear scythes without losing their powers... Scythes are imo a lot more "nature-inspired" than scimitars to begin with. What oaths can give you a problem with, however, are armors - unless you're a druid of Mielikki, metal-studded or metal armors can be a problem.

 

Elves aren't proficent with rapiers...

 

I report, you decide.

 

I honestly thought it was only Longsword and Longbow. I bow down to your knowledge

 

There, there ... I'm sure there are other important things in life aside from the current D&D handbooks

 

Yeah, but that's mostly boring...

 

I'm citing the joint excuses of not having my PHB around at the moment, combined with never having played an elf, as my reason for getting that wrong.

 

That's why I love the d20srd.org site: it has most of the mechanics you'll need from 5 books - the Player's Handbook, Monster Manual (mostly 1 with some exceptions), Dungeon Master's Guide, Expanded Psionics Handbook and Unearthed Arcana. The WotC web articles are also quite nice.