On Classes And Their Place In Faerûnian Society

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Even after almost a decade of NWN gaming and almost a decade of roleplaying experience, I find myself stumbling across many places where classes are treated, and removed, completely out of the context of the world. This is not surprising in the least; many experienced players work out their concepts by giving much more focus to their backstories or to their in-game roleplay than to how their character's race, class, alignment, attributes, skills and abilities mold who that character truly is in the world. This leads players towards objectifying theirs and others' determined class, or wield a determined weapon, or bear greater specialization in a certain school of magic. The common reaction a player gets to some of the events that take place in the world can be quite devoid of setting context, and occasionally, this bleeds into roleplay, wether one notices or not. We tend to think “A wizard? Yay, artillery to shoot at the orcs!”, rather than “holy crap, this guy has learned and mastered an Art both incredibly difficult and incredibly rare in the world, he can toast my face off by wiggling fingers and speaking funny jibber-jabber. These guys are usually geniuses, to boot. Gods know why this bloke is here. Best to keep an eye on the bloke, and not annoy him”. This can be distressing to roleplayers expecting their characters' presence to be reacted to in a more passing and lingering way than simply “Oh look, another bloke, time to sell more loot”. While it is understandable that this is a computer game, one must also consider that this is a role-playing game – we should all keep in mind not only our own context towards the setting, but others'.

Having this stupendously long paragraph in mind, I decided to elaborate a guide into how classes are seen in Faerûn. Right after alignments (Concerning which there is another essay in this forum), classes are direly mistreated and ignored, seen more as matrixes of skill development rather than actual paths of growth that have an effect not only in the characters themselves, but also in the world around them. Character builds should not, in any way, shape or form, be taylored lightly – disconsideration in even a slight skill point allocation may result in the objectification of the entire character build, which leads to empoverished roleplaying in the name of hakkzohrz m0nSt4h k33L sk1lLz. Resources pulled from the Campaign Setting and several other works have been employed towards elaborating the detailed descriptions of the base classes, their place in Faerûn, how they typically earn their place in the party, community and the world, and in the annals of local, regional and world history and legends.

It is my hope that this leads to players no longer ignoring eachother's individual place in the world. This may sound to you as an imposition upon your roleplay, that you must always take these things in consideration when interacting with other characters. While following the guidelines and rules here present will account for a much more lore-friendly, rich-roleplay-encouraging and character-depth-enhancing environment that improves the experience for everyone involved, you are not forced to follow what is described in these lines (except in the cases where guidelines stop being such to become rules such as with paladins, alignments, and multiclassing in general). This may be so due to a number of reasons – maybe your character can't stand religious banter and show clerics the respect they are earned, or maybe your wizard sees fighters as the apexes of physical prowess and worthy of utmost admiration. Whatever may motivate you towards following, or not, what is here laid out when playing your characters, what is asked of you is to at least be aware of what is here explained – there are those who do base their roleplay in these official guidelines, rules and Lore estabilishments, and knowledge of this matter will prevent clashes and grievances best avoidable by proper information, not to mention that the entirety of the Lore was woven around the way classes are treated in the Faerûnian society.

Please do not post in this thread, as each post shall be dedicated to a single class. A feedback thread shall be created elsewhere for discussion.

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Free of the comforts and constraints of civilization, barbarians survive in lands that civilized folk only dwell in when they can hide behind high walls. The cosmopolitan nature of some parts of Faerun is confusing to barbarians, but city folk are used to odd sights and usually accept barbarians without batting an eye.
Most Faerunian barbarians are humans or half-orcs. They come from places such as the Cold Lands, the North, the High Moors, Rashemen, and tribes ranging across the Western Heartlands. Dwarven barbarians come from icy wastes of the north, the jungles of Chult, and hidden pockets in remote mountains and hills. Elven barbarians are usually wild elves from the warm southern forests, such as the Wealdath or the Chondalwood. The only known barbarian halfling tribes live deep in the Chondalwood, rarely venturing out of the forest's green embrace.
Barbarians of other races are unusual, but not unheard of. Halfelven barbarians are sometimes found among human tribes native to The North or in Western Heartlands, or in the Yuirwood where
humans and elves lived together in the wild for generations. Drow, moon elven, sun elven, gnome, or planetouched barbarians are generally individuals who for some reason were raised among barbaric peoples.
Preferred Character Regions: Regions in which barbarians are commonly found include the Chondalwood (ghostwise halflings and wild elves), Chult, the Hordelands, the Moonshaes, Narfell, the Nelanther Isles, the North, Rashemen, Vaasa, and the Western Heartlands. In addition, some shield dwarven, wild elven, wood elven, and half-orc cultures give rise to barbarians.

The most common barbarians in the Northern regions are the Uthgardt, a black-haired, blue-eyed people descended from the Ruathym Northlanders.

The Barbarians' Path

Barbarians do not just train in their skills. Rather, their abilities are an inherent consequence of their life-style and culture. This means that a character cannot randomly take barbarian after first level – barbarians must always start as such upon first level. While they may come to multiclass, they will usually abandon their path if they become passionate about other pursuits, sometimes to the point of being exiled from their tribes if they are proven to be violating sacred oaths.

The prospective barbarian trains towards their role the moment they learn to walk. Ironically, the child living among barbarian tribes often finds the happiest childhood available in the Realms – rather than stifled by city life and obligation towards their parents' trades, children are actively encouraged to play in the wilds, where they can learn the basic skills they shall need when they reach adulthood. This does not mean that they are left to gambol unfettered – adults usually watch them from a discrete distance, letting their children familiarize with their surroundings.

Adventuring

In the Savage Frontier, the most common barbarian adventurer is the Uthgardt nomad seeking out his fortunes in the world. The tribes present in the region, the Tree Ghost and Thunderbeast, are mostly peaceful, not showing an inclination towards outright aggression towards others, unless pressured by outside threats. The activities of these tribes have ensured that they are well respected in the High Forest and the Savage Frontier in general, which has shed a much more favourable light upon barbarians that most in the more coastal settlements of Faerûn do not share.

Alignments

Barbarians are never lawful. While they may be honorable, their hearts are wild, and it is this wilderness that gives them their prodigious strength. Evil and especially destructive barbarians are rare among the Tree Ghost and Thunderbeast tribes – the most common example are half-orc barbarians giving in completely to their orcish lust for destruction and blood-letting.

Religion

Barbarians tend to worship the nature deities, since they most often depend on the wilds to survive. Evil barbarians tend to follow the deities of Fury; Auril and Talos are popular choices. Among the Uthgardt, the chief deity is Uthgar and the totems he represents among each tribe. However, the worships of Tempus, Ilmater, Torm, Tyr, Helm and Talos are beginning to spread among them, some even being quite prevalent in several of the tribes.

Background and Culture

Barbarians do not regard themselves as barbarians, since this would imply that they think of themselves as uncivilized or savage. This is not the case – they will most typically name themselves as warriors of their tribes. Many things may lead barbarians toward adventuring, from simple curiousity to ritualistic travel (such as the Rashemi dajemma) to even exile. Most barbarians would not abandon their tribes without very good reason, unless they are tribe-less to begin with.

Barbarians cannot read or write, which poses a significant obstacle to dwelling amid civilized society. They also tend to be taught, or self-teach, rudimentary Common, sticking almost always to their mother languages and not having any curiousity in learning other tongues unless they further their immediate goals; many Uthgardt learn the orcish tongue in order to better understand their arch-nemesis. Uthgardt native languages are a specific dialect of Illuskan.

Relations with other classes

Barbarians hold deepest respect and admiration for druids and clerics. Typically the shaman of their tribes, or the embodiment of their Gods' power upon the world, the words of clerics and druids of the Gods they worship are seen as divine commands to be heeded and respected without question, since they guarantee their survival, as well as the survival of their way of life. They tend to regard clerics and druids of other faiths with detached, but marked respect – while barbarians are free-spirited folk, they cannot deny the power of the Gods, and thus they tend to, at the very least, give them grudging respect. Rangers and fighters are viewed with similar respect, though more akin to the respect found in brothers in arms; while rangers are, typically, experts of the wilds, fighters are the foremost experts in martial skill, both of which traits a barbarian can relate to. They do not hold special views over rogues, typically recognizing their value in a party. Paladins and monks, with their spiritual, lawful ways, often clash with the most often chaotic nature of barbarians, though this does not escalate, usually, into outright hostility. Bards are most definitely loved by barbarians – their fascination for music and tales finds good echo in the barbarian, who sees in the bard not only a source of entertainment and inspiration, but a possibility for eternal life in the form of tales about the barbarian's exploits. Sorcerers and wizards, on the other hand, are met with immense suspicion and apprehension – barbarians do not trust what they do not understand, and the academic, obtuse nature of arcane magic does not find echo in them, who frequently suspect such practitioners of magic to be dealing with evil powers and demons. They find sorcerers slightly more agreeable than wizards, mostly due to their charismatic nature, yet this is usually nullified by the mysterious aura most sorcerers tend to weave about themselves.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting
Player's Handbook
Masters of the Wild

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Faerunian bards are as likely to create their own heroic sagas as they are to sing of others' exploits.
In both the Dalelands and the wilderness of the North, a semisecret society known as the Harpers recruits courageous bards of good alignments to carry on a millennia-old fight against evil. While not all bards are Harpers, the noble deeds of this group have given bards something of a heroic glow that they might not have in other worlds. Good bards who are not Harpers often carry themselves as
if they were, a type of self-fulfilling prophecy that frequently causes common folk to look to bards for more than a good song,

Preferred Character Regions: Bards are common in many lands, including Amn, Chessenta, Cormyr, the Dalelands, the Dragon Coast, Evermeet, Luiren, Impiltur, the Moonshaes, Silverymoon, Tethyr, Thesk, Unther, the Vast, Waterdeep, and the Western Heartlands. Gold dwarven, moon elven, sun elven, lightfoot halfling, and strongheart halfling bards are also common.

The Bard's Path

Music is a universal thing. It can be played by anyone, anywhere. Some may even manage good singing. Bardic music, however, transcends all mundane notions of good music. Bardic music is magical, born from a talent both supernatural and wondrous, and none in the world can succeed in the musical arts as readily and well as even a simple beginner bard of level 1. It is music that touches the souls of even the bleakest, darkest man – it is no lie to say that the music of the bard can bring light to places it would otherwise never reach.

Some think bard magic is something that is taught, and that the only thing you really need is musical talent. This idea is false. Bards draw magic from their souls, just as sorcerers. However, the source of this magic may come to have several origins; just as sorcerers, bards may find that their powers are due to ancestry of an exotic nature, most ordinarily, fey or draconic. Another way of acquiring talent for bardic magic is via pacts with fey creatures, who bestow their blessings upon the supplicant. This most often happens upon a whim of the fey, who spy on prospective young talents and grant them the ability of using magic, often when they are still on the womb. Similar pacts may be stricken with demonic or devilish entities, as well, although they are far less common than fey origin. Whatever the origin, without the magical talent, no one may become a bard; either one is, or one isn't. Thus, if one is not a bard after first level, one must undergo a great amount of extended training and conditioning towards the bard's style of work, as well as having the required magical talent.

Bardic magic manifests from the bard's heart and soul. The music of a Good bard bolsters minds and hearts, bringing courage and hope while using their tricks and skills to thwart evil. The music of an Evil bard, on the other hand, manipulates and enthralls, subtly influencing the enraptured audiences into “willingly” give whatever the bard wishes.

By mastering a great amount of skills, variate magical abilities and martial prowess, the bard is the jack of all trades, and the master of none. He has arcane spells like a wizard, stealth skills like a rogue, combat ability like a fighter, and healing skills like a cleric. Each of those characters is better than the bard in his or her own field of expertise, but the bard can provide backup for everyone.

Adventuring

The bard is the adventurer by excellence. Always seeking opportunities to learn, they relish the opportunity of entering long-forgotten ruins, discovering ancient works of magic, traveling through unknown lands, and learning new songs and tales. Bards love to accompany heroes (and villains), joining their entourage to witness their deeds firsthand – a bard who can tell a marvelous story from personal experience earns much respect amongst his peers. In this light, they are also known to take upon themselves the mantle of heroes.

In the Savage Frontier, foolish would be the Good bard not wanting to be recruited for the Harpers, and the most invoked reason for wandering the Savage Frontier is, indeed, due to news of Harper activity. The semi-secret society's activities in the region are a sure-fire way of gaining fame and prestige, as well as giving bards the opportunity of fighting the good fight and finding new sources of knowledge and wealth. Evil bards tend to find simpler folk easy to prey upon – the rustic folk of the Savage Frontier is rife for the evil bard's practices.

Alignments

The spontaneity of the bard's lifestyle, guided by wanderlust, whim and intuition rather than tradition and law, makes them incompatible with a lawful alignment, though they retain all of their arts if they eventually become lawful.

Religion

Bards have a great amount of deities to worship. Human bards most often follow deities that hold travel, trickery and music in their portfolios, such as Finder Wyvernspur, Selûne, Oghma, Shaundakul, Tymora and Lliira. Elven bards find common patronage in Corellon Larethian, Hanali Celanil and Labelas Enoreth. Dwarven bards look to Sharindlar and Marthammor Duin. Gnome bards look toward Garl Glittergold for inspiration.

Background and Culture

Unlike sorcerers, bards are most often instructed in their art in either bard colleges, or by bard mentors. Urban bards are most often taught in bard colleges; Bard colleges are common in great metropolises, such as Waterdeep or Silverymoon, while, on wilder lands, the method of mentorship, or even self-teaching, is most common. While this setup is reminiscent of wizard training, beware; bards are masters of the informal and are far from disciplined, and their learning often takes on very informal and spontaneous aspects. Bards may come from all walks of life, from the lowliest street urchin to the high nobleman's child, and are universally loved by all in Faerûn – their combination of great looks, charismatic demeanors and cheerful dispositions wins them a great many friends, admirers and, in many cases, lovers. Their reputation as peerless scoundrels, as well as the Harpers' influence, ensures that bards enjoy a level of influence and popularity in Faerûnian society few beyond rulers and powerful heroes can brag to have.

Relations with other Classes

If a bard is hated by anyone, he is doing a horrible job as a bard. Universally appreciated and appreciating of other careers and paths, the bard is everybody's friend, and all can find something to appreciate in a bard's talents. Rogues and sorcerers find the most kinship with the bard, but that is like strawberries and blackberries in a red fruit salad; sure, you like these a lot, but the others are awesome as well!

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Player's Handbook
Song and Silence
Faiths and Pantheons
Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting

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Faerunian clerics do not serve just a cause, philosophy, or abstract source of divine power, as in other settings. The Torilian deities are very real, and events in recent history have forced these divine beings to pay a great deal of attention to their mortal followers. All clerics in Faerun serve a patron deity. (In fact, most people in Faerun choose a deity as their patron.) It is simply impossible for a person to gain divine powers (such as divine spells) without one. You may not have more than one patron deity at a time, although it is possible to change your patron deity if you have a change of heart. You cannot multiclass into another class that requires a patron deity unless your previous patron deity is an acceptable choice for the new class.
For example, you cannot multiclass as a druid unless your patron deity is a nature deity (since all druids have nature deities as patron deities).You may also bypass this restriction by abandoning your old deity outright. See the Religion section of this chapter for more information on patron deities. In some lands, worship of multiple deities takes place in the same temple. For example, many smaller dwarven cities have a single temple for all of the dwarven deities, and the people of Rashemen worship Chauntea, Mielikki, and Mystra in the same locations. The clerics in these temples still choose a single deity as a patron, but not all clerics there share the same patron.

Preferred Character Regions: Clerics of different deities are favored in different lands. Consult the Dms, or pose the questions regarding most common places of origin on the Discussion Thread.

The Cleric's Path

Across all of Toril, people respect and fear the divine powers. The deities of Faerun take an active role in the world, promoting the causes they favor, watching over the domains for which they are responsible, and constantly seeking to increase (or at least defend) their temporal power by protecting their worshipers and encouraging the active expansion of their faiths. Mortals who deny the deities who made the world and govern its basic forces are rare indeed, although a few powerful beings such as the enigmatic shams and phaerimms acknowledge no entity as. their superior. Human (and humanoid) souls who refuse the gods come to a bad end after death, lacking a deity to speak for them upon the Fugue Plane. What befalls primal creatures such as the sharns, no one can say.

Some Faerunians zealously follow one deity. Others make sacrifices to many deities, while upholding one as their personal patron. Still others sacrifice to as many deities as possible, shifting allegiances as their circumstances and needs warrant; it's a rare Faerunian who hasn't occasionally hoped to avert the baleful influence of an evil deity with a propitious gift, or thanked a good power for an unexpected blessing. The belief system of most Faerunians generally centers on a particular deity whose interests and influences are most likely to affect them, but acknowledges other gods as significant and important, too.

Divine magic can play a significant role in society, but not always through the direct intercession of a cleric or druid wielding divine spells. Deities of prosperity and plenty such as Chauntea answer
their worshipers' prayers with abundant harvests and fair weather. Gods of plague and famine—Talona, primarily—demand placation and send all manner of blights and epidemics against those foolish enough to deny their power. These supernatural influences tend to balance each other, with the extremes of bounty and famine generally unlikely to occur. Chauntea finds a way to bring forth some sustenance in even the worst blights, and Talona manages to mar even the most plentiful harvest in some small way.

All of the clerics, soldiers, shrines, churches, abbeys, temples, and holy sites dedicated to a particular deity are collectively referred to as the Temple, or Faith, of that power. Neither term is exactly accurate, since the Temple of Tyr includes many temples to Tyr, and the Faith of Tyr refers both to that deity's followers and the system of beliefs they hold. The Temples of the great powers—Bane, Chauntea, Tyr, and a handful of others—are as powerful as small kingdoms. A dozen
major temples in great cities across Faerun house hundreds of clerics and soldiers dedicated to the deity. Hundreds of small temples and shrines in the towns and villages of countless lands serve thousands upon thousands of worshipers, A militant faith can gather an army of crusaders, while a mercantile faith holds lands and properties of staggering expanse. Almost all faiths sponsor high-level clerics, champions, devotees, and secular agents who look after the faith's interests and defend it against those who resent its power.

Most of a Temple's clergy are not clerics. They're experts, aristocrats, even commoners who serve as advisors and counselors to the faithful and officiate at routine observances. A cleric usually leads any particular temple, shrine, or order, judiciously using her spells to aid sick or injured followers and assist the local authorities in maintaining law and order in the community as it suits the deity in question.

As direct intermediaries between the earthly and the divine, clerics often hold codes of conduct more strict than a paladin's. When roleplaying a cleric, be sure to investigate as much as possible about your patron deity. Ask your friendly Dms for information in this matter, or your friendly know-it-alls in the forums.

Multiclassing is only allowed according to each deity's dogmas and dictums. Refer to the following link for more on multiclassing with clerics; frsavagefrontier.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=rules&action=display&thread=102

Adventuring

If clerics are a rare sight in Faerûn, adventuring clerics are even rarer. Depending on the deity, it might be more, or less, common to find the cleric of a certain deity in a certain area, or even adventuring at all. Generally speaking, clerics only adventure in order to advance the goals of their deities in either abstract ways, such as an Ilmater cleric bringing healing as he travels, or in particular ways, such as a cleric of Tyr ordered to chase after a specific criminal in order to bring him to justice. This holds true for Good, Neutral or Evil clerics – their duties are, above all and foremost, to the Gods they serve. Of course, clerics are people too – they may have any, or all, of the common reasons for adventuring.

In the Savage Frontier, you can practically find clerics of all faiths wandering the area, or worshipped by the locals.

Alignments

All. The vast span of deities acting in Faerûn cover all prisms of alignment. Clerics cannot go one step beyond their patron's alignment – a cleric of Tyr can be Lawful Good, Lawful Neutral or Neutral Good, but never Chaotic Good or True Neutral, for instance.

Religion

Any. The amount of religions available, and the expressive detailings of them, can be found in the sourcebook Faiths and Pantheons, and the detailing of each church would be unfeasible for the purpose of this guide, since it would be required to post every single line of said book. Refer to the Dms, or ask in the forums, for express information on specific clergies.

Background and Culture

Existing alongside the feudal relationship of a rural province or guild organization of a trading city, the powerful temples of Faerun's deities parallel the king's authority. The lowest-ranking acolytes and mendicants are rarely reckoned beneath the station of a well-off merchant, and any cleric or priest in charge of a temple holds power comparable to that of a baronet or lord. The high priests of a faith favored in a particular land are equal to the highest nobility.

Many of Faerun's temples are implacable enemies or bitter rivals. In most rural regions, folk tend to follow one or two deities who are particularly active or actively supported in their immediate locale.
If a powerful and benevolent temple of Tempus happens to stand just outside a small town, many townspeople will worship Tempus, even if farmers are generally more inclined to the teachings of Chauntea and merchants might otherwise follow Waukeen.

Clerical life can come to anyone, anywhere, anytime of their lives, from the lower branches of society to the highest, from as young as six to as old as sixty. The most common dates of ingress into a church occur shortly after adulthood, at fifteen, though later callings are not uncommon.

Devotion and divine spark are the traits of a cleric, and are the determinant part of his or her connection to a divine power – this gift for the Power (the name given to divine magic – thus, the two great sources of magic in Faerûn are named the Weave and the Power) is more uncommon than a wizard's ability to store spells in their minds, however. Unlike wizards, clerics have more reasons to adventure, though, which makes them a more common sight than a wandering wizard.

Relations with other Classes

The diversity of clerics makes it impossible to pinpoint appreciations or dislikes universal to all clerics of all deities, except something very important; agreement, or not, to the cleric's patron deity's dogmas will dictate whether the cleric will enter conflict or long friendship with members of the party. Clerics tend to find an easy spot in any party, given their ability to heal and the deepest respect they command in Faerûnian society, but their interpersonal relationships will invariably pass with agreement, or not, of the cleric's dogma. The cleric of Torm will never agree with, or tolerate, evil deeds. The cleric of Cyric will simply not leave that innocent little girl free of torment.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Player's Handbook
Faiths and Pantheons
Magic of Faerûn
Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting

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Like clerics, the druids of Faerun receive their spells from a particular patron deity, always a deity of nature or animals. However, druids do not necessarily see a clear division between nature and the
divine forces that rule nature. While many people think only of forests when they think of druids, druids care also for the mountains, deserts, lakes, and even the swamps of Faerun.
Nature deities include Chauntea, Eldath, Gwaeron Windstrom, Lurue, Malar, Mielikki, Nobanion, Shiallia, Silvanus, Talos, Ubtao, Ulutiu, Umberlee, Anhur, Isis, Osiris, Sebek, Set, Thard Harr, Aerdrie Faenya, Angharradh, Deep Sashelas, Rillifane Rallathil, Baervan Wildwanderer, Segojan Earthcaller, and Sheela Peryroyl. Mielikki, who is famous for the number of druid/rangers who worship her, has more lenient spiritual oaths than most deities that druids worship in the Realms. Druids of Mielikki can use any of the standard armor or weapons that rangers normally use (all simple and martial weapons, all light and medium armor, and all shields) without violating their spiritual oaths.

Preferred Character Regions: Lands where druids hold sway include Aglarond, the Chondalwood, Chult, the Great Dale, the High Forest, the Moonshaes, the North, the Vast, the Vilhon Reach, and the Western Heartlands. Moon elves, sun elves, wild elves, wood elves, ghostwise halflings, and lightfoot halflings commonly produce adventuring druids, too.

The Druid's Path

The channelers of Nature's powers, druids are very much like clerics of their chosen deities, with a added thirst for lore of the wilds that makes them very similar to wizards. They do not generally look upon their deity's teachings, however, as axioms that require following or spreading; druids hold their feet very close to the ground, the teachings of their gods a gateway towards understanding the primal forces of Nature. Thus, to druids, the gods are Nature, and Nature is the gods – there is not a direct link with the divine force, as happens with clerics, established with prayer and devotion. That link is established with rock, tree, grass, earth, all that which comprises Nature, and to commune with it is to commune with, and help maintain, the works that the gods made possible, thus serving the Cosmic Balance in the end. This is why druids must have a patron deity at all times – not only are the gods their teachers and guides, but without the deities, there would be no Nature to even speak of.

As a neutral force of Cosmic Balance maintained by the Nature Deities, Nature is at the same time above, beyond and comprising of alignments. Good and Evil are a part of it, but the druid cannot allow himself an overly passionate demeanor – it would mean diverging too much from Cosmic Balance, with which all druids are in contact. This means no druid can ever diverge from a Neutral alignment in the Good/Evil and/or Law/Chaos axis. They can never become Lawful Good, Chaotic Good, Lawful Evil or Chaotic Evil, without losing all of their powers and animal companions permanently. Furthermore, diverging from the patron deity's alignment results in permanent loss of druidic powers as described before, unless they align with one of the other nature deities.

Druids hold the same multiclassing restrictions as clerics. For a full listing of these restrictions and the alignments of the nature deities, consult this thread; frsavagefrontier.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=rules&action=display&thread=102

Adventuring

It is common to find druids adventuring outside of their places of origin, and their most immediate reason for this is the search for knowledge of the wilds. As they seek to understand the natural world, wandering is encouraged amongst all druids, although they usually prefer to remain close to the preferred grounds of their gods' teachings; Sylvanus for the wilderness, Chauntea for farmlands, Umberlee for the seas, and so on. This is not so much due to personal preference, but because this might bring unnecessary conflict with other forces active in the area. For this reason, a good amount of druids prefer not to make themselves known in urban areas, unless they hold gardens where they may take refuge.

Alignments

Neutral Good, Neutral Evil, Lawful Neutral, True Neutral or Chaotic Neutral are the only alignments allowed for druids. To diverge from them is to lose powers permanently and be unable to take further levels of this class.

Religion

Any Nature Deity. Druids are required to follow one patron as a guide for the earning of their powers. The information regarding these deities can be found in the sourcebook Faiths and Pantheons, and the detailing of each church would be unfeasible for the purpose of this guide, since it would be required to post every single line of said book. Refer to the Dms, or ask in the forums, for express information on specific clergies that support druids.

Background and Culture

To become a druid, one requires an affinity for the natural forces. This affinity is earned through years of teaching, experience, wanderings and insights. Some druids receive their guidance from more experienced druid hermits, others look toward druid circles for the knowledge. This training usually begins at any able-bodied age, hopefully at as tender an age as possible, to ease the learning process, and most all who wish to learn the druidic ways are well accepted by their elders. It is exceedingly difficult for anyone without a high level of wisdom and empathy for the world around them to achieve druidic prowess without guidance.

Both outside and inside druid circles, age and wisdom are greatly valued by druids, and are the determining factor for station among them, beyond the amount of druidic power commanded. The older, wiser and powerful a druid is, the better respect and reverence is garnered from his peers.

The druid circles of northern Faerûn compose of, usually, small numbers, around ten or twelve druids, and restrict their activity to a single region. In times of great peril to the wilds, druid circles' elders gather into one larger circle and call out for a single Archdruid to lead them. This Archdruid is the closest thing to a high pontiff that druids have, and is, as the title appropriately conveys, most usually the wisest or the most powerful druid in all the circles. While the title is common among all circles, as it denotes a circle leader, the Archdruid of such a gathering commands a vast influence in the wilds comparable to that of Khelben Arunsun in the cities of the Sword Coast.

Druids follow very strict oaths of service to Nature. While some deities have specific approaches to Nature and additional guidelines for their druids to follow, all druids, with the exception of followers of Mielikki, must shun metal of all kinds. Even carrying gold pieces and currency can be considered a violation to their oaths. For this reason, while druids hold the proficiencies they hold, they can only wear leather (higher-grade armor must be made of ironwood and consecrated), and cannot wield metallic weapons such as scimitars. Sickles are an exception, as it is a symbol of their practice. While they do not have to shun those who wear or work with metal, as their oaths are personal codes of conduct rather than a doctrine to be preached and advocated, druidic teachings hold that contact with such molded, refined things are a false comfort best left for civilization.

Upon analysis of the patterns the dogmas of Nature deities form, one can clearly separate three main branches of druidic teachings; the branch of Balance, lead by Silvanus and advocated by him and all those under him; the branch of Fury, lead by Talos and encompassing the Deities of Fury themselves; and the branch of the Elements, which comprises the worship of one of the four Elemental Lords, which are Kossuth, Istishia, Grumbar and Akadi. While all of them are a part of Nature and what constitutes it, these different schools of thought separate very different methodologies, practices and even abilities. While no one branch can be considered wholly Evil or wholly Good, Balance most often attracts the Good druids, while the Fury attracts the Evil ones. Nonetheless, one may find evil in the Balance and Elemental schools – only the Fury presents total unity of alignment in evil, with neutral members being very rare.

Druids have a language of their own, called Druidic. This language is secret, only known to members of this class, and is the language used to transmit secret knowledge of the wilds among themselves. To teach this language to a non-druid is grounds for permanent loss of powers, a strong testament to how sacred this language truly is.

Relations with other Classes

Like clerics, druids tend to feel most comfortable in the company of like-minded individuals. They find barbarians, some clerics, and rangers to be most easily agreeable and easy to get along with. All others find difficulty in doing so; druid teachings and lore are only slightly less obtuse than wizardly knowledge, which leads to many of the civilized classes finding themselves at a complete loss in understanding them. Paladins and rogues hold this difficulty closest to their hearts, as their lifestyles wholly depend on civilization, and thus cannot fathom the wilds as anything more than a source of resources or a hiding place for evil brigands. While wizards and sorcerers can find kinship with druids, the focus on civilization present in the arcane classes lead them to a wide estrangement which strong friendship and mutual understanding usually abates completely.