Would a Druid romance a vampire?
in Role Playing
Doing an all female run through of BG/BG2, thinking of rolling a shapeshifter and romancing Hexxat. Obviously the werewolf/vampire romance sounds fun and very Underworld, but as a Druid wouldn't my PC view Hexxat as an unnatural abomination?
4
Comments
Using your knowledge of controlling your own desires through lycanthropy, you attempt to help her rediscover what she has lost.... which can be trying at times, but you do see her humanity and attempt to nurture it out.
I must disagree> druids aim to balance the world.
which means - dead should stay dead.
such as undead hunter wont go romance with vampries
Maybe fallen druid? who commit a crime against his circle, in ORDER to save a vampire crush.
Most Druids would consider them abominations but the Bhaalspawn isn't "most" Druids.
Any Druid though would want to "cure" Hexxat and make her realize that being a vampire is neither natural nor something she can ignore.
She wouldn't go: "Oh you're a vampire? Cool! Join us!"
My Paladin took Sarevok with him and could take Viconia. But he always tried to change him and would change Viconia as well.
Though he wouldn't take Dorn with him.
In the end, it's up to you. Even if it conflicts with lore, it makes for an interesting dynamic and relationship.
Perhaps, because CHARNAME wasn't raised and taught into a traditional Druidic Circle but instead Candlekeep, they would be more open-minded on the matter.
Unlike Paladins, Druids have traditions not a Code of Conduct that makes them Fallen if they deal with such evil or unnatural creatures.
Druids are trully priests. They are specialized priests of Sylvanus. Sylvanus is a good aligned god of nature or life.
Vampire, feed on life and are link to the ethereal plane like all undeads.
Thus, vampire are against the dogma of Sylvanus and thus druids.
But the genre is called fantasy and it is suppose to be unrealistic you myopic manatee...
...
whoops, sorry, forgot where i was for a second.
So, I would say romance between a druid and Hexxat is to be excluded.
http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Eldath
http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Mielikki
http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Shiallia
http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Rillifane_Rallathil
http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Sheela_Peryroyl
http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Selûne
http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Relkath_of_the_Infinite_Branches
Note that a few of the above teach the concept of "redemption".
A shadow druid may even worship the following:
http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Talos
http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Auril
Technically, Druids fall under the Priest umbrella in ADnD 2E. But they're not specialist Clerics.
"The druid is an example of a priest designed for a specific mythos. His powers and beliefs are different from those of the cleric. The druid is a priest of nature and guardian of the wilderness, be it forest, plains or jungle." - ADnD 2E Player's Handbook
They also don't follow Silvanus only. They follow a variety of nature deities.
Also Silvanus isn't good aligned either. He's True Neutral and he's the deity of wild nature and forests.
You could also be a Cleric of Silvanus and not be a Druid.
Druids and Clerics serve different purposes and have different philosophies.
"All speciality priests of Silvanus are druids."
There can be of course other gods, especially for other races than humans, but Silvanus is the core god of the druidic class.
@Archaos
Since we're talking of the Forgotten Realms, a rulebook dedicated to this universe should take precedences over the corebook. In other contextes, yes you would be absolutely right.
EDIT: Class section of Faith & Avatars page 184: Druids are specialized priests who fulfill the needs of nature deities... listing deities they can worship next.
I stand corrected on the deities list, but they are still priests in the Forgotten Realms campaign setting rather than a distinct clerical class. Their power comes from nature gods and these gods would obviously (even the neutral ones) opposed to anything undeed as it is a violation and in contradiction with their core dogma. A druid going that way would, in a rp context, be stripped of his powers at least.
It's an interesting question, and some fair points made on both sides of the debate. I lean towards siding with those who are saying "no", because I find it difficult to imagine that someone could be so committed to natural order that she chose to become a Druid, and yet simultaneously so willing to overlook the unnatural abomination of undeath that she could romance a vampire. Instead I'd expect a Druid to be disgusted and repelled by a vampire, and I can't see a credible role-playing reason why our Bhaalspawn would think much differently on this point than other Druids ... otherwise, she surely wouldn't have chosen to be a Druid at all.
Putting aside differences to work alongside a vampire for some greater cause, yes ... pitying a vampire's condition and hoping that she might somehow earn some sort of redemption, perhaps ... but romantic involvement, no, I can't quite see that.
However, there are a few things to consider. Iirc from one of the previous discussions of vampire morality, one of the few canon examples of a good vampire in FR is one who was redeemed by a Druid deity.
There's also the thought that a druid of a very predator- and/or might-makes-right-focused druid deity like Malar might appreciate the vampire's hunting and preying qualities too.
Vampires have fangs and claws.
Druids love bats.
Vampires can turn into bats.
Druids can heal themselves from injuries involving blood loss.
Vampires drink blood.
...
I think from this we can ascertain most dating sites would match vampires and druids due to clear oppositional chemistry.
But yeah, I suppose, to me, this would somewhat similar to the dilemma faced by a catholic priest deciding to get married. Sure, they can do it, but they must leave the priesthood. So maybe a druid could decide but maybe have some MAJOR repercussions (similar to what I think was mentioned before, becoming fallen).
Now as to the Lost Druid kit, I am not sure as these guys animate dead and such and have some severe anguish within them going on. The ol Lost Druid kit however, would not let this druid advance to the Grand druid level for example.
But given the bloodline of a god thing, maybe just precluding them from having the druid stronghold, as I just have trouble seeing the rest of the druids taking to the druids mate being a vampire. Course this would have to be role-played as the game would not notice.
It would be interesting to have a mod that allow a druid to mold the stronghold into a version of how their particular kit operates.
For example a hivemaster might want the old movie 'Kingdom of the Spiders'(with William Shatner) thing going on in an area, hehheh.
As to deities, I still pretty much go with the old 1st ed druids as worshipping nature , as a power in and of itself, as opposed to some personification of nature.
As for simply the issue of Hexxat being a vampire, well I'm not sure she's a full vampire because she can't level drain. She seems to have an amulet that turns her into a vampire. Also she has a human form and a vampire form that looks like completely different people so it's like that amulet has the spirit of a vampire in it to give her the power of a vampire.
Her boss is Larloch, a powerfu lich. And it says on http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Larloch
> He can, at Hexxat's choosing, grant her her wish of becoming human again (at the cost of her own life due to how much she had aged).
So if you turn her human, she dies.
Oh and here's some info:
http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Blueflame_ghost
Larloch bound the spirits of multiple liches to items. Liches are quite powerful so he could even more easily have bound the spirit of a vampire to an amulet.
So many modern things today go against nature, such as birth control pills. Not only do they short-circuit how biology designed human pair-bonding to work, women pee them out, it goes into the water, and affects fish.
Then it causes male fish to grow eggs: https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/02/160203-feminized-fish-endocrine-disruption-hormones-wildlife-refuges/
There's a similar thing happening to frogs, which is a viral meme: (link, funny videos)
So if you role play a druid that doesn't mind "them putting chemicals in the water that turn the freaking frogs gay"... as the viral meme goes, then yeah you can romance a vampire just fine.
I am not speaking whether something is right or wrong. Simply whether or it is natural.
Nature is full of horrible parasites. Without a lot of unnatural things, people get full of them. Wild animals also are normally full of them. Obviously parasites are very wrong, but they are natural and druids in AD&D are supposed to accept them as part of nature.
Most of the way humans in First World countries live their lives are not natural.
Stay up late with bright artificial light.
Spend nearly all their time sitting down.
Heat and cool their environment to comfortable levels.
Irrigate areas that normally should be desert, including pumping water from wells. Where I live the farmers all get water from deep underground in wells, not even diverting streams.
London in its natural environment would be a swampland, but mankind altered this.
A druid keeping to what is natural would be opposed to keeping ants and other bugs out of your home. They'd also be opposed to keeping termites from eating your home. People also sometimes get bats, raccoons, mice, etc. infesting their homes and a druid would oppose efforts to get rid of them.
I notice at least in the game, full-blood elves can't be druids. Elves seem to use magic to alter nature to make it more safe and pleasant. You know so the next random disease doesn't afflict them or a pestilence doesn't destroy their food source.
http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Druid
From this description, they want to keep nature from being messed up by:
* Mankind, you know levels a large area then grows 100% of the same plant everywhere.
* The undead.
* Aberrations, means not deformities or twisted creations by mages but HP Lovecraft, which is a real thing there and people might actually take this comic seriously: http://www.thelovecraftsman.com/2011/04/who-will-be-eaten-first-when-elder-gods.html
That description of druids reminds me of the Harpers.
http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Harper
> The Harpers were a semi-secret organization dedicated to promoting good, preserving history (including art and music of old) and maintaining a balance between civilization and nature by keeping kingdoms small and the destruction of animal and plant life to a minimum.
This sounds a lot like the whole druid motto in ways.
1) The forgotten realms has lots of little kingdoms. It's not one giant government spanning a huge area. So if you're an outlaw in one country, you just go somewhere else. This is what makes the world nice. In modern times, if the government's after you, the have treaties about everywhere to track you and various alliances of governments like to police the entire world.
2) It's a bit like earth 40,000 years ago where there was far more diversity of humanoids. Neanderthals, denisovians, and a bunch not even discovered yet roaming around.
Both seem sorta druidic about keeping a lot of genetic variation of plant, animal, and humanoid life. This is different than the modern world where there's powerful governments, lots of laws, and a push for sameness.
So I think technically a druid could romance someone undead, but if there were other druids around, say a community or that druid stronghold, they'd be opposed to it. But they'd be opposed to a druid simply traveling with someone undead. Hmmm come to think of it, I haven't heard Jahiera or Cernd have conflicts with Hexxat but technically they should want her out of the party and even oppose an alliance with Bodhi.
http://www.thelovecraftsman.com/2014/04/behold-terrifying-tree-stump-of-cthulhu.html
A tree stump took the form of one.