Not a Druid, but I ran a Warforged Warden in 4e once, basically a tank with nature magic flavor. It was for a one-shot the DM said to bring our best builds for because he was going to try to kill us. Maybe one-shot isn’tthe right word, ot was literally just a long combat encounter with no real story. I made the Ultimate Tank, on every level. Warforged refused to die in that system, Wardens had great defensive options and a particularly good “Mark” that made disincentivized enemies from hitting your friends. But not just from a gameplay standpoint, 0erfect metagame tank too. DM specifically had a chip on his shoulder about both the race and class. Had an enormous backstory (for a one-shot character) to boot, drawing from the lore about one Epic Class that was trying to create the Ultimate Spell.
So there’s a society that is totally elevated by advanced magics in every part of everyday life. One of their newest tricks is making a sentient spell, bound to this network of crystal spires. It was made to help them research this Ultimate Spell, some of the researchers argued it would be the foundation The Spell would be built upon. It helped them hunt for it, but it only passed along some of what it learned. Eventually, it turned on its makers, with its incredible knowledge of magical theory it hijacked much of the magic in their society and used it to wreak havoc, without anyone knowing why it was happening. When it was eventually found out, it Unleashed terrible magic of its own, including new and terrible spells it had developed from its research with no known defense. As it went, it constructed additional spires, and wove a web of crackling energy between them to better surveil its territory and project its power. It very nearly destroyed the entire world, before it started to encounter powerful resistance.
In one of the oldest forests, its magic quickly waned the further it tried to project its magic. And an army of Druids and other Primal warriors and spellcasters rode out to meet it. The forest began to grown unnaturally fast, and spread the dampening effect. At this point, the spell was nearing the culmination of its research, a single all-encompassing spell that could rewrite reality as it saw fit. But it was forced to divert more and more of its attention to the war. As things deteriorated, it decided to use some nigh forgotten techniques and start mass producing Warforged. It helped stem the tide of nature’s champions, but they had gathered too much momentum to be stopped.
Desperate, it diverted all attention towards a specific aspect of The Spell, focusing on a single aspect of reality. In the final hours, as the forces occonverged on it’s final, massive crystalline framework keeping it “alive,” it summoned a single Warforged, and threw it back in time, centuries. It was covered in bark, and instructed to imitate a woodland spirit, infiltrate the Druid circle of the ancient forest, and exterminate them before they became a threat. It made its way to forest, and was welcomed. However, soon after he arrived, several of the wolf animal companions returned to the village, and immediately attacked him. They ripped off some of the bark, exposing his metallic frame. At that moment, the old guardian spirit of the forest was roused to great anger, and blasted him with raw power, the very essence of nature washing over him.
When he regained consciousness, the bindings on his mind had been withered and destroyed by the onslaught, and some nature magic had been permanently imbued into him. He told them of his mission, and warned them of the danger to come. It was then the elders made it their mission to spend the next centuries preparing for the war to come, gathering up forces and setting powerful wards. Centuries later, the only reason they had stood a chance was because of their forwarning. By the time it made warforged, there was nobody left who knew the name of the spell, only forest folk had survived, and it never communicated anything but orders to the warforged. But because of the latticework of energy it knitted across the land from spire to spire, they called it the Sky Net.
Between the class and race, I had a million ways to spend Healing Surges when I was unconscious in combat. Every time I got back up I played this on my phone. Was glorious, and we survived that one-shot.
