6.5 Druid

Rank	Elementalist ✨	Nature Magic ✨	Nature Spell Mastery ✨	Shifter	Wildspeaker ✨
1	Elemental infusion, elemental spell	Nature spells	Plant channeling	Wild aspects	Natural servant
2	Elemental balance		Metamagic	Shift body	Animal speech
3	Elemental power		Spell knowledge	Shifting claw	Nature’s ally
4	Elemental spell+, elemental tranquility		Spell-trained senses	Animal shape	Natural attunement
5	Elemental control		Metamagic+	Shift body+	Animal speech+
6	Elemental power+		Attunement point	Transformative toughness	Nature’s ally+
7	Elemental balance+		Experienced spellcaster	Hybrid aspect	Natural attunement+, natural servant+

Druids are nature spellcasters who draw power from their veneration of the natural world. They worship Nature herself, the over-deity who guides and nurtures all living things. Nature grants her followers influence over her domain in gratitude for their service.

All druids value the continuation of life - in the abstract, universal sense, not the specific sense. Predation is a critical part of the natural world, and most druids have no prohibitions against killing. Life as a whole, across all species and levels of sentience, must continue. The worst nightmare of all druids is a dead world, inhabited only by rocks and memories of the life that once existed.

Individual druids have a great variety of opinions and interpretations about which aspects of Nature’s domain are most important. Some druids treat all forms of life as equal. Others draw distinctions between different forms of life, such as prioritizing the needs of highly sentient or highly complex life over others. Of course, many druids don’t dwell on philosophical questions about the precise value of Nature’s various aspects. They focus more on practical maintenance of the natural world according to their own instincts. Nature’s domain is immense, and her guidance is virtually nonexistent.

Many druids avoid or actively reject overly developed civilization. The details and causes of this aversion can be source of great disagreement between different druids. Civilization tends to displace or kill natural life. It replaces the vibrant diversity of life in a forest with a comparatively bland and homogeneous subset of species. In general, druids who value all forms of life equally and consider diversity to be intrinsically valuable tend to reject civilization most strongly. On the other hand, druids who value life according to its sentience or complexity are typically more tolerant of civilization.

Most druids belong to a specific druidic circle. Druidic circles are groups of druids that share a similar philosophy. Like druids, druidic circles have highly varied structures. Some druidic circles function as communes where all members live together, either nomadically or in a specific area of land claimed by the circle. Others simply have annual meetings to discuss critical matters, with many of the circle’s members living in isolation at all other times.

Since druids tend to be more isolated than most, their attachment to druidic circles may seem odd to outsiders. There are many reasons for this tradition, but foremost among them is the importance of continuity of knowledge in the absence of advanced civilization. Druids are unlikely to simply go to a library in a city to gain important knowledge about the natural world. Instead, they must learn from someone who has the knowledge they lack. This means they need access to wise elders who are willing to pass on what they know. Their wisdom must be kept alive between generations through oral traditions. Druidic circles provide a place for this knowledge transfer to occur, and offer a path to welcoming new druids into the fold.

Alignment: Any.

Archetypes: Druids have the Elementalist, Nature Magic, Nature Spell Mastery, Shifter, and Wildspeaker archetypes.

6.5.1 Base Class Effects

If you choose druid as your base class, you gain the following benefits.

Level	Rank	Durability	Bonus1	Special
1	1	+0	x1	—
2	1	+1	x1	—
3	1	+2	x1	+1 to two attributes
4	2	+2	x2	HP: 2x durability
5	2	+3	x2	—
6	2	+4	x2	Legacy item: rank 3
7	3	+4	x3	HP: 3x durability
8	3	+5	x3	—
9	3	+6	x3	+1 to two attributes
10	4	+6	x4	HP: 4x durability
11	4	+7	x4	—
12	4	+8	x4	Legacy item: rank 5
13	5	+8	x6	HP: 6x durability
14	5	+9	x6	—
15	5	+10	x6	+1 to two attributes
16	6	+10	x8	HP: 8x durability
17	6	+11	x8	—
18	6	+12	x8	Legacy item: ranks 7
19	7	+12	x10	HP: 10x durability
20	7	+13	x10	—
21	7	+14	x10	+1 to two attributes

1. This bonus applies to your accuracy, magical ✨ power, mundane power, trained skills, and defenses.  

Defenses

You gain a +3 bonus to your Brawn, Fortitude, Mental, and Reflex defenses.

Resources

• Attunement points: 4 (see Attunement Points).
• Fatigue tolerance: 2 + your Constitution (see Fatigue).
• Insight points: 1 + your Intelligence (see Insight Points).
• Trained skills: 4 from among your class skills, plus additional trained skills equal to your Intelligence if it is positive (see Skills).

Weapon Proficiencies

You are proficient with simple weapons and the shepherd’s axe, sickle, and scythe.

Armor Proficiencies

You are proficient with light armor and leather lamellar and standard shield.

Starting Items and Equipment

You can start with the following items and equipment:

• Buff leather
• Any two of the following: the shepherd’s axe, sickle, scythe, club, or dagger
• A buckler
• A standard adventuring kit (see Standard Adventuring Kit).
• A rank 0 wealth item (1 gp)

Class Skills

You have the following class skills:

• Strength: Climb, Jump, Swim.

• Dexterity: Balance, Ride, Stealth.

• Constitution: Endurance.

• Intelligence: Craft, Deduction, Disguise, Knowledge (dungeoneering, items, nature).

• Perception: Awareness, Creature Handling, Deception, Persuasion, Survival.

• Other: Intimidate.

6.5.2 Elementalist ✨

This archetype grants you influence over four elements that define the natural world: air, earth, fire, and water. All abilities from this archetype are magical ✨.

Rank 1 – Elemental Infusion ✨

If you do not have access to nature magic, you gain the ability to make a strike imbued with elemental force.

Rank 1 – Elemental Spell ✨

If you have access to nature magic, you learn a spell from any of the mystic spheres associated with the four elements: aeromancy, aquamancy, pyromancy , or terramancy. You do not have to have access to that mystic sphere. As normal, you can change which spell you learn with this ability as you gain access to new spell ranks.

Rank 2 – Elemental Balance ✨

You gain a benefit from each of the four elements.

• Air: You gain a slow glide speed (see Aerial Movement).
• Earth: You gain a +1 bonus to your Fortitude defense.
• Fire: You are impervious (+4 defenses) to Fire attacks.
• Water: You gain a slow swim speed.

Rank 3 – Elemental Power ✨

You gain a +1 bonus to your magical power and mundane power.

Rank 4 – Elemental Spell+ ✨

You learn an additional spell with this ability.

Rank 4 – Elemental Tranquility ✨

If you do not have access to nature magic, you become impervious (+4 defenses) to Air, Earth, and Water attacks.

Rank 5 – Elemental Control ✨

Rank 6 – Elemental Power+ ✨

The power bonuses increase to +2.

Rank 7 – Elemental Balance+ ✨

Your benefits from each element improve.

• Air: You gain a slow fly speed with a maximum height of 15 feet (see Flight). As a free action, you can increase your fatigue level by one to ignore this height limit until the end of the round.
• Earth: You gain a +1 bonus to your Brawn defense.
• Fire: You are immune to Fire attacks.
• Water: Your swim speed increases to average.

6.5.3 Nature Magic ✨

This archetype grants you the ability to cast nature spells. All abilities from this archetype are magical ✨.

Rank 1 – Nature Spells ✨

Your connection to nature grants you the ability to use nature magic. You gain access to one nature mystic sphere, plus the universal mystic sphere (see Nature Mystic Spheres). You may spend insight points to gain access to one additional nature mystic sphere per two insight points. You can only learn nature spells from nature mystic spheres that you have access to.

You automatically learn all cantrips from each of your mystic spheres. In addition, you learn two rank 1 nature spells. You can also spend insight points to learn one additional rank 1 spell per insight point.

Nature spells require verbal components to cast (see Ability Usage Components). For details about mystic spheres and casting spells, see Spell and Ritual Mechanics.

When you gain access to a new mystic sphere or spell rank, you can forget any number of spells you know to learn that many new spells in exchange, including spells of the higher rank.

Advancement: The maximum rank of nature spells that you can learn is equal to your rank in this archetype. Nature spells also increase in power in unique ways based on your rank in this archetype, as indicated in their descriptions.

6.5.4 Nature Spell Mastery ✨

This archetype improves the nature spells you cast. You must have the Nature Magic archetype from the druid class to gain the abilities from this archetype. All abilities from this archetype are magical ✨.

Rank 1 – Plant Channeling ✨

Whenever you cast a spell, you may use a Small or larger living plant within Short (30 ft.) range of you as a targeting proxy. This means the spell determines its targets as if you were in the plant’s location, which can allow you to affect targets outside your normal range.

Rank 2 – Metamagic ✨

You learn how to further refine your spellcasting abilities. Choose two metamagic abilities from the list below.

Some metamagic abilities affect specific spells. Each individual spell can only have one metamagic applied. Whenever you learn a new spell, you may change which specific spells your metamagic abilities affect.

Airborne Spell: Choose a nature spell you know with a standard range: Short (30 ft.), Medium (60 ft.), Long (90 ft.), Distant (120 ft.), or Extreme (180 ft.). It gains the Air tag. In addition, you increase that spell’s range to the next standard range category, to a maximum of Extreme range. You can choose this ability multiple times, choosing a different spell each time.

Flooding Spell: Choose a nature spell you know with a standard area: Tiny (5 ft.), Small (15 ft.), Medium (30 ft.), Large (60 ft.), Huge (90 ft.), or Gargantuan (120 ft.). It gains the Water tag. In addition, you increase that spell’s area to the next standard area category, to a maximum of a Gargantuan area. You can choose this ability multiple times, choosing a different spell each time.

Grounded Spell: Choose a nature spell you know. It gains the Earth tag. In addition, you gain a +2 accuracy bonus with that spell if you are grounded while casting it. You can choose this ability multiple times, choosing a different spell each time.

Incendiary Spell: Choose a damaging nature spell you know. It gains the Fire tag. When you cast the spell, it briefly creates a zone of flames in its area. If the spell does not normally affect an area, the flames appear in the space of each target. During the next round, the spell’s effect repeats in that area. The repeat deals half damage. You can choose this ability multiple times, choosing a different spell each time.

Rituals: You gain the ability to perform nature rituals to create unique magical effects (see Spell and Ritual Mechanics). The maximum rank of nature ritual you can learn or perform is equal to the maximum rank of nature spell that you can cast. When you gain this ability, you can memorize a rank 1 nature ritual from any nature mystic sphere you have access to. Whenever you gain access to a new spellcasting rank, you can memorize an additional ritual of that rank or lower. You cannot choose this ability multiple times.

Rank 3 – Spell Knowledge ✨

You learn an additional nature spell.

Rank 4 – Spell-Trained Senses ✨

You gain a +1 bonus to your Perception.

Rank 5 – Metamagic+ ✨

You gain an additional metamagic ability.

Rank 6 – Attunement Point ✨

You gain an additional attunement point.

Rank 7 – Experienced Spellcaster ✨

You gain a +1 bonus to your accuracy and Mental defense.

6.5.5 Shifter

This archetype grants you the ability to embody aspects of the natural world in your own form.

Rank 1 – Wild Aspects ✨

You gain the ability to embody an aspect of an animal or of nature itself. Choose two wild aspects from the list below. You can also spend insight points to learn one additional wild aspect per insight point.

As a standard action, you can gain the effects of one wild aspect that you know. You cannot change your wild aspect more than once per round. That effect lasts until you activate a different wild aspect you know or until you dismiss it.

The abilities in the list below describe the effects of the aspect. Your appearance also changes to match the aspect’s effects, but the nature of this change is not described. Different druids change in different ways. For example, one druid might grow brown fur when using the Form of the Bear, while another might instead change their face to become broader and more bear-shaped when embodying the same aspect. You choose how your appearance changes when you gain a wild aspect. This change cannot be used to gain an additional substantive benefit beyond the effects given in the description of the aspect.

Many wild aspects grant natural weapons. See Natural Weapons, for details about natural weapons.

Rank 2 – Shift Body ✨

Rank 3 – Shifting Claw

Rank 4 – Animal Shape ✨

Whenever you activate a wild aspect that represents a specific animal, you can fully shapeshift to match that animal’s shape. This cannot increase your size category, but you can shrink by one size category if it is appropriate for that animal. You may choose to reshape any body armor you wear as barding to fit the animal instead of melding it into your form. This means it continues to function, but its bonus to Armor defense is reduced by 2. The armor regains its normal shape if you take it off. For details about shapeshifting, see Shapeshifting.

Rank 5 – Shift Body+ ✨

This ability loses the Attune tag. Instead, it lasts until you use it again.

Rank 6 – Transformative Toughness ✨

You gain a +2 bonus to your Fortitude defense and a +1 bonus to your vital rolls.

Rank 7 – Hybrid Aspect ✨

When you use your wild aspect ability, you can take on two aspects at once, gaining the full benefits of both. When you do, you increase your fatigue level by two. This hybrid aspect only lasts for ten minutes, at which point you choose which single aspect remains active.

6.5.6 Wildspeaker ✨

This archetypes deepens your connection to animals and plants, and allows you to call animals to aid you in combat. All abilities from this archetype are magical ✨.

Rank 1 – Natural Servant ✨

You can use the natural servant ability. This ability requires spending one hour performing rituals in a natural area.

The special ability of the animal that appears depends on your environment, as described below. You may choose a different animal native to that environment that is similar in size and type, but that does not change the animal’s statistics. For example, your natural servant in an aquatic environment may be a dolphin or seal instead of a shark. Unusual environments may have different animals than the standard animals listed below.

• Aquatic: A shark appears that has an average swim speed and no walk speed. It has a bite natural weapon, and it is trained with the Awareness and Swim skills.
• Arctic: An arctic fox appears that has no penalties for being in cold environments. It has a bite natural weapon, and it is trained with the Awareness and Stealth skills.
• Desert: A hyena appears that has no penalties for being in hot environments. It has a bite natural weapon.
• Mountain: A goat appears that can move up or down steep slopes without slowing its movement. It has a ram natural weapon.
• Forest: A wolverine appears that calculates its hit points as a barbarian of your level, rather than as a druid of your level. It has a bite natural weapon.
• Plains: A wolf appears that has the scent ability. It has a bite natural weapon, and it is trained with the Awareness and Stealth skills.
• Swamp: A crocodile appears that has a slow walk speed and an average swim speed. It has a bite natural weapon, and it is trained with the Swim and Stealth skills.
• Underground: A dire rat appears that has low-light vision. It has a bite natural weapon, and it is trained with the Awareness and Stealth skill.

Rank 2 – Animal Speech ✨

Rank 3 – Nature’s Ally ✨

You and your allies within a Huge (90 ft.) radius emanation from you are under nature’s protection. Animals will not willingly attack protected creatures, and will automatically attempt to help if the protected creatures are in mortal danger. For example, if you are attacked while in a forest, nearby birds might start harassing your foes, at the GM’s discretion. If any protected target attacks a creature that this ability protects you from, this ability is suppressed until you finish a long rest.

Rank 4 – Natural Attunement ✨

Your natural servant gains an attunement point. This attunement point is shared among any creatures you summon with your natural servant ability. In addition, you can cast Attune spells on your natural servant if it is within Short (30 ft.) range of you. When you do, the natural servant attunes to the spell intead of you, as if the spell was an Attune (target) spell.

Rank 5 – Animal Speech+ ✨

When you use this ability, you may target any living creature that knows at least one language. If you target a non-animal in this way, you do not gain the ability to speak with and understand the speech of other creatures of the target’s species.

Rank 6 – Nature’s Ally+ ✨

This ability also protects you and your allies from plant animates, elemental planeforged, and all summoned creatures.

Rank 7 – Natural Attunement+ ✨

Your natural servant gains an additional attunement point.

Rank 7 – Natural Servant+ ✨

You may choose to have a Large natural servant appear instead of a Medium natural servant. Increasing its size gives it a +1 Brawn defense bonus, a +1 bonus to Strength for the purpose of determining its weight limits, a -1 Reflex defense penalty, and a -4 penalty to the Stealth skill. It also increases its base speed (see Size Categories).

6.5.7 Ex-Druids

A druid who ceases to revere nature or who changes to a prohibited alignment loses all magical ✨ druid class abilities. They cannot thereafter gain levels as a druid until they atone for their transgressions.