Dark Druids (New)

All Druids accept that death is a part of life. However, some Druids become fascinated and corrupted by death, turning their backs completely on the living. Such Druids are called Dark Druids and are hated and spurned by all other Druids.

The Holy Symbols of Dark Druids are symbols of Death, such as skulls and bones, though a lightning blasted tree is also traditional.

Guildmaster: The Dark Druids, like their light counterparts, recognise no formal command structure. Some claim ‘Richard’ to be the overall leader, which is almost certainly a pseudonym.

Requirements

A member of the Dark Druids must

be a Human, Elf or Half-Elf
not use/manufacturer any metal weapon or wear/manufacturer any metal armour
learn Death as their Primary Sect

Tax: 0%
The Druids have no need for money.

Advanced Training

A member of the Dark Druids has access to

Miracles, Miracle Masteries, Religious Ceremony and Consecrate Item in the Sect of Death above level 4.
Armour Masteries

Bonuses

A member of the Dark Druids gains the following bonuses.

[LOSE] He may use the title Acolyte up to Guild Rank 10, Druid above Guild Rank 10 and Hierophant above Guild Rank 100.

[LOSE] The ability to add half the level of their Unholy Symbol to Fear miracles.

[KEEP BOUGHT] He may learn Recognise Creature, Recognise Smell and Recognise Tracks at 2/3 cost up to and including the Mastery skill.

[KEEP BOUGHT] Ability to learn the following extra miracles, which form part of the Death list.

Low Level
Level 0	Level 1	Level 2	Level 3	Level 4
Tree Drain 10	Tree Drain 20	Tree Drain 30	Tree Drain 40	Tree Drain 50
			Instant Tree Drain 10	Instant Tree Drain 20
	Control Animal 1		Control Animal 2
	Control Plant 1		Control Plant 2

				Dire Form 1

High Level
Level 5	Level 6	Level 7	Level 8	Level 9	Level 10
Tree Drain 60	Tree Drain 70	Tree Drain 80	Tree Drain 90	Tree Drain 100	Tree Drain 110
Instant Tree Drain 30	Instant Tree Drain 40	Instant Tree Drain 50	Instant Tree Drain 60	Instant Tree Drain 70	Instant Tree Drain 80
Control Animal 3		Control Animal 4		Control Animal 5
Control Plant 3		Control Plant 4		Control Plant 5
	Rot
	Dire Form 2		Dire Form 3		Dire Form 4

Tree Drain <n>: Range: Self
Duration: 1 Minute
Type: —
Target: Tree
Effect:
This miracle allows the Dark Druid to drain the life from a touched tree to heal himself. Every minute the Druid is healed of <n> points of Life damage and <n> points of Body damage, spread intelligently (i.e. it goes to the worst location at the Player Ref’s. discretion). If the Druid stops touching the tree, the miracle also stops and must be recast.
A tree drained of roughly 100 points will die.

Instant Tree Drain <n>

Range: Self
Duration: Instantaneous
Type: —
Target: Tree
Pre-requisite: Tree Drain <n>
Effect:
This miracle allows the Dark Druid to instantly drain the life from a touched tree to heal himself. The Druid is immediately healed of <n> points of Life damage and <n> points of Body damage, spread intelligently (i.e. it goes to the worst location at the Player Ref’s discretion).

A tree drained of roughly 100 points will die.

Control Animal <n>

Range: 20’
Duration: 15 minutes
Type: Offensive, Mental
Target: Animal
Resisted by: Willpower
Effect:
The targeted Animal must obey the commands of the caster if it fails to resist. Control is immediately broken if:

the caster ever attacks the Animal,
the Animal is killed,
another character casts a Control Animal of the required level or higher.

After the duration, control reverts back to a previously cast Control Animal (if its duration has not expired). Otherwise, the Animal becomes free willed.

See ‘Typical Willpower scores for animals’ under Befriend Animal.

Control Plant <n>

Range: 20’
Duration: 15 minutes
Type: Offensive
Target: Plant
Resisted by: Willpower
Effect:
The targeted Plant must obey the commands of the caster if it fails to resist. Control is immediately broken if:

the caster ever attacks the Plant,
the Plant is killed,
another character casts a Control Plant of the required level or higher.

Unintelligent Plants (Shambling Mounds) are willing to attack even if they face certain destruction. However, if the Caster orders an intelligent Plant (Treants, Dryads etc.) into a situation where it will obviously be destroyed, his control will be broken.

After the duration, control reverts back to a previously cast Control Plant (if its duration has not expired). Otherwise, the Plant becomes free willed.

Rot

Range: Touch
Duration: Instantaneous
Type: Offensive
Target: Person
Effect:

The touched location begins rotting, losing 1 wound per second until it is severed, after which the effect ends. Any life healing, or wounds healing to the affected location, ends the effect prematurely. The target cannot concentrate as long as one or more of its locations are rotting.

A location severed by Rot has rotted away, and must be regrown to be usable. Multiple locations on a single target can be rotting at once, but casting Rot on an already rotting location has no effect.

Dire Form <n>

Range: Self
Duration: 15 Minutes
Type: Non-stackable
Target: Person
Effect:

The character partially turns into a primordial manifestation of the death that occurs in nature, typically appearing as a corrupted, destructive version of another druidic form. The caster may select <n> options from the following list:

DR2 [Normal]. Additional selections increase the DR by 2 each time.
All Death miracles the target casts require 1 less standing (minimum 1). This can only be selected once.
The target may cast Tree miracles while in Dire Form, and counts as touching every tree within 20’ of them for the purposes of Tree Drain and Instant Tree Drain. Additional selections increase the range of this effect by 20’ each time.
The target may cast Animal miracles while in Dire Form, and their Hand and Claw attacks strike for Unholy damage equal to (and instead of) half their normal damage. Any other power damage active on their hands/claws is suppressed until the effect ends. Additional selections increase the Unholy damage inflicted by 2 each time.

Example: Dark Thunder Claw has claws that strike for 6 Lightning 1. He casts Dire Form 2 on himself, choosing the above option once. His claws now strike for Unholy 3. If he had chosen it twice, he would instead strike for Unholy 5.

The target may cast Weather miracles while in Dire Form, and may cast one Innate Thunder Clap of a level they already know. Additional selections increase the number of times this can be done.
The target may cast Seasonal miracles while in Dire Form, and gains a 10’ Aura of Fear 1 centred on themselves. Additional selections increase the potency of the Aura by 1 each time. The caster can choose not to target their allies with this Aura. The Fear effect from this Aura is not boosted by the caster’s Willpower or Unholy Symbol.

While in Dire Form, the target can only cast miracles from the sect of Death, with the exceptions noted above.

The target of Dire Form must have dedicated themselves to the sect of Death. Dire Form can only be learnt and cast if Death is the primary Sect of the caster and target.