The fury of a storm, the gentle strength of the morning sun, the cunning of the fox, the power of the bear – all these and more are at the druid's command. The druid however, claims no mastery over nature. That claim, she says, is the empty boast of a city dweller. The druid gains her power not by ruling nature but by being one with it. To trespassers in a druid's sacred grove, to those who feel the druid's wrath, the distinction is overly fine.
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 run through 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.
Adventurers: Druids adventure to gain knowledge, especially of animals and plants unfamiliar to them, and power. Sometimes, their superiors call on their services. Druids may also bring their power to bear against those who threaten what they love, which more often includes ancient stands of trees or trackless mountains than people. While druids accept that which is horrific or cruel in nature, they hate that which is unnatural, including aberrations (such as beholders and carrion crawlers) and undead (such as zombies and vampires). They sometimes lead raids against such creatures, especially when the creatures encroach on the druid's territory.
Characteristics: Druids cast divine spells much the same way clerics do,. Their spells are orientated toward nature and animals. In addition to spells, druids gain an increasing array of magical powers as they gain experience, including the ability to take the shapes of animals.
The weapons and armor of a druid are restricted by traditional oaths, not simply training. A druid could learn to use a two-handed sword, but using it would violate the druid's oath and suppress he druidic powers.
Druids avoid carrying much worked metal with them because it interferes with the pure and primal nature that they attempt to embody.
Alignment: Druids, in keeping with nature's ultimate indifference, must maintain at least some measure of dispassion. As such, they must be neutral in some way, if not true neutral. Just as nature encompasses dichotomies of life and death, beauty and horror, peace and violence, so two druids can manifest different or even opposite alignments (neutral good and neutral evil, for instance) and still be part of the druidic tradition.
Other Classes: Druids share with rangers and many barbarians a reverence for nature and a familiarity with natural lands. Druids dislike the paladin's devotion to abstract ideals instead of “the real world, “ they don't much understand the urban ways typical of a rogue, and they find arcane magic to be disruptive and slightly distasteful. Druids, however, are nothing if not accepting of diversity, and they take little offense at other, even those very different from them.
Weapon and armor proficiency: Druids are proficient with the following weapons: club, dagger, dart, shortspear, longspear, quarterstaff, scimitar, sickle, and sling. Their spiritual oaths prohibit them from using weapons other than these. They are proficient with light and medium armors but are prohibited from wearing metal armor (thus may only wear padded, leather, or hide armor). They are skilled with shields but must use only wooden ones.
A druid who wears prohibited armor or wields a prohibited weapon may lose their ability to use their magical powers while doing so and for an unspecified time thereafter.
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.