I know Druids can be evil, but how evil can they really be?

[Thyrkill]

I am in the process of creating an evil NPC for my party to battle with in a future part of my campaign. I have in mind an elf Druid who has been corrupted and gone over to the "Dark Side."

After doing some research into the class, I find this to be more of a challenge than I thought. I am curently stuck on 2 main hurdles: 1) Though Druids can be NE, the PHB implies that if they stray from the Druidical path too much (my NPC would warp and twist nature to his evil purposes) thay lose their Druid powers and abilities. 2) I run my campaign in the Realms and there does not seem to be a suitable evil power for him to worship or have been originally corrupted by (as far as I know anyway).

I was hoping to get some input and help on this so that I can get past these hurdles. I understand, ultimately, that I can do what I want and justify the NPC's existence in my world, but I was hoping for a more creative solution.

Thanks,
Matt

 

[Volaran]

Evil druids I've run tend to be extremists. Some felt they had to take an active, violent hand at curbing the expansion of civilization, others almost feral. Eberron has two great examples of possible evil druids that come to mind. The Ashbound sect detests arcane magic as unnatural and inherently corrupting. The Children of Winter, who embrace death and decay as part of the natural order and actively make sure it happens. Neither of these are inherently evil positions, but one can easily see a member taking them to extremes.

Complete Divine also had an interesting prestige class for ex-Druids called the Blighter, describing it as a druid who turned away from nature and in turn had nature abandon her. They focus on plague and destruction, indeed 'drawing their power from nature' by sucking the life out of everything nearby just to use their daily spell alotment. They spread disease, wildshape to undead forms, ect. I have not had a chance to use this for an NPC, but it strikes me as best for someone both evil and quite insane.

 

[Turanil]

Evil druid nemesis: I think it's an excellent idea, that will make a good break from the typical necromancer.

Deity worshipped: Druids don't need worship a god, so this isn't necessary in any way. Here also would make for a good change from the traditional dark god's cultist.

Evil elven druid. Does he really need to be "corrupted by the dark side"? Maybe he's just totally racist and want to destroy all these other races that build cities, cut trees, etc. Maybe he intend to make a genocide of all races but elves, where he see them all "impure", no better than orcs, plus all must be eradicated to restore wilderness to pristine condition of the origins. To this end he creates bad plants and poisonous crops that plague mankind and else, while the elven forests are of course protected and cared for. Let the elves, at least those he lives with being themselves evil (maybe because of his teachings for the 500 last years). Really, this elf can be extremely evil without being corrupted by infernal taint.

 

[Zandy]

Check back on the Wizards website; they had an article on a nasty blighter which I am using in my current campaign right now.

You'll have to go back about a year or so... dig around, I'm sure its still there. Then you can adapt the article for your needs.

 

[Sammael]

2) I run my campaign in the Realms and there does not seem to be a suitable evil power for him to worship or have been originally corrupted by (as far as I know anyway).

Talona is the perfect deity for your druid. There is an entire sect of Talontar druids in the Unapproachable East (south of Narfell), led by the Rotting Man, Chosen of Talona, and the Blightlords.

These evil druids embody the rotting and decay aspects of nature. Other examples of evil druids include those of Malar, Auril, and Umberlee.

 

[Presto2112]

Another possibility would be an underground druid. the Underdark, or whatever it is called IYC, has an ecology all its own, and imagining a drow or duergar druid isn't all that difficult.

 

[Sammael]

Deity worshipped: Druids don't need worship a god

In Forgotten Realms they do. All divine spellcasters must worship a deity. That's the way the setting works.

 

[BlueBlackRed]

Evil druids can turn into ecoterrorists obviously.

They can also bring out nature's truly violent side.

Large neutrally aligned animals will easily be controlled by them.

They can do hit and fade attacks on settlements & cities on the edge of a forest.

They can contact powerful, intelligent, and evil beings of nature with requests of assistance and promise of new nesting grounds.

And finally, they can convince various fey creatures to stay out of it, because after all, the druid is helping the forest and all of its creatures.

 

[Alzrius]

I am in the process of creating an evil NPC for my party to battle with in a future part of my campaign. I have in mind an elf Druid who has been corrupted and gone over to the "Dark Side."

After doing some research into the class, I find this to be more of a challenge than I thought. I am curently stuck on 2 main hurdles: 1) Though Druids can be NE, the PHB implies that if they stray from the Druidical path too much (my NPC would warp and twist nature to his evil purposes) thay lose their Druid powers and abilities. 2) I run my campaign in the Realms and there does not seem to be a suitable evil power for him to worship or have been originally corrupted by (as far as I know anyway).

Ironically, question two is sort of an answer to question one. If your evil druid is the servant of a specific god, and meets the alignment and other prerequisites for the class, he won't lose his class abilities. Basically, so long as said evil god approves of what your druid is doing, they will continue to grant spells and abilities.

As for what Realms god to choose from, there are quite a lot that are "evil nature". Looking for one that's specifically about corrupted nature, however, points to only one name: Moander.

Now, Moander is dead, having died very shortly after the Time of Troubles, killed by Finder Wyvernspur. The "rot to rebirth" aspect of his portfolio was taken by Finder, and the "corruption" aspect was taken by Lolth. However, few people know about this, as Finder only has two priests, one of whom is a saurial (the saurials all know Finder killed Moander, but they have little contact with the outside world, IRC). Likewise, Lolth is keeping quiet, still granting spells to many of Moander's priests in his name. Why?

Because Lolth wants to use Moander's guise to make inroads in corrupting surface elves. I think your evil elf druid may be in for a nasty shock sometime soon.

For more on this, check out Moander's entry in the 2E product Faiths and Avatars.

 

[Stone Angel]

Maybe your evil druid takes technology from society and uses it against it. I.E making Iron Clad Maulers and the like.

He could just be selfish, so his own people destroy one another and now hates mortals (Little Drummer Boy) and seeks revenge.

Perhaps he believes that he is Natures Fury incarnate and that the mortals are interlopers and unwanted we goes to take back the land with relentless vengance.

If he takes the leadership feat he would have a ton of minions. Minions+called creatures+summoned monsters.

Good luck

The Seraph of Earth and Stone