Topic: Animists and Druid Sects (Eberron Conversion)

[EltonJ]

Eberron has different druid sects.  First are the Ashbound, which see themselves as fanatical Environmentalists.  They think use of Essence and Arcane magic is a blight on the land.  Next are the Children of Winter who are all about death and decay.  They can summon vermin (centipedes and the like).  Next are the Gatekeepers, which defend against extraplanar threats like demons and daelkyr.  Then there are the Greensingers, which are connected to the fairies.  Finally, there are the Wardens of the Wood, which defend the Eldeen Reaches.

I figured the regular Animist would represent the Wardens.  However, the regular Animist doesn't represent the others as much.  I think the other four sects of druids could be represented by specialty Priests.

[netbat]

You might want to try lifestyle training packages as an alternative if they are all supposed to be "druids". The "Protector" TP from ChCo might fit the Gatekeepers, perhaps modified a bit to be more Eberron specific. Otherwise, develop your own TPs, give the appropriate training package spell lists(Insect Mastery for the Children of Winter for example) and set the flavor to fit the setting.

I always thought RMSS could have fixed the profession bloat issue by using TPs and TP spell lists to give casters flavor and differing spell lists rather than creating new professions every time you wanted a caster with a different focus and set of base spells. That way the core system would be generic and the TPs could get you setting or campaign specific character sub-archetypes. It would also clear up some of the confusion between "is a profession who you are or what you do".

[EltonJ]

You might want to try lifestyle training packages as an alternative if they are all supposed to be "druids". The "Protector" TP from ChCo might fit the Gatekeepers, perhaps modified a bit to be more Eberron specific. Otherwise, develop your own TPs, give the appropriate training package spell lists(Insect Mastery for the Children of Winter for example) and set the flavor to fit the setting.

I always thought RMSS could have fixed the profession bloat issue by using TPs and TP spell lists to give casters flavor and differing spell lists rather than creating new professions every time you wanted a caster with a different focus and set of base spells. That way the core system would be generic and the TPs could get you setting or campaign specific character sub-archetypes. It would also clear up some of the confusion between "is a profession who you are or what you do".

So, training packages then.  Ah. Okay.