Doric

Doric was a tiefling druid and a member of the Emerald Enclave based in the Neverwinter Wood in the late 15 century DR. Born to human parents, Doric spent much of her life living among a community of wood elves of the North, before embarking on a series of adventures that would take her to the lands south of Waterdeep, to the city of Neverwinter, and even the perilous Underdark. She was a fellow adventurer of Edgin Darvis, Holga Kilgore, and Simon Aumar. "And I'll stay. The problem is bigger than our part of the forest. If you hide away, that's fine. I can be the emissary between you and the outside world. If we solve the issue out there, it'll protect you here."

- Doric, serving her people as a druid of the Emerald Enclave.

Description
Doric had red hair, horns, pointed ears, and a tail. Her tail was prehensile and strong enough to coil around and hold onto things. She typically dressed in green-and-brown leather armor, pants, boots, and a traveler's cloak.

Personality
"So you make plans that fail?"

- Doric to Edgin.

Doric kept an emotional distance to protect herself from other people and her own powers. Her training in the Circle of the Moon meant she put her trust in her natural instincts, and these hardly ever failed her. She distrusted humans, believing them to selfish and hateful. While Doric was sometimes curt, and ever the stoic, she put great value in those friends who took the time to truly earn her trust. She battled tooth and claw for what she felt was a good cause or to protect her own.

Possessions
Doric was bequeathed a set of vambraces and a book of druidic lore that once belonged to the wood elf druid Sunmuir.

For a time she carried a bow, but was not very skilled in its use. She later acquired a slingshot, which she mounted on her left vambrace. She wore leather armor.

Relationships
Doric was born to human parents, and had one biological sister who was also human. Doric's parents locked her away in the attic after her sister was born.

Among the wood elves, Doric became fast friends with an older elven girl named Torrieth. The duo went on hunts together and developed a strong bond over the years.

Doric made several friends among her fellow initiates at the Emerald Enclave, a black-haired girl named Cassa; and her closest comrade, the firbolg Jowenys. A human boy Leander didn't take to Doric and became jealous of her abilities She formed a close bond with the Enclave group's only other tiefling, Open, who served as the camp cook.

Simon Aumar tried to court Doric once, but she broke it off, claiming he made her feel sad, because of who he was rather than anything he did. However, he continued to be enamored with her and she was concerned by his low self-esteem and self-deprecation. Eventually, she allowed him to court her again.

Abilities
"I... I wild shaped into one. That's how I got it to follow me. It followed another owlbear."

- Doric, explaining her powers to Open.

With a druid's wild shape ability, Doric could shapeshift into a variety of creatures, such as a mouse, cat, hawk, deer, axebeak, horse, bear, and even a snowy owlbear. Though this last form was unusual, she could do this because she believed owlbears not to be monstrosities but natural creatures, after she observed them in their lairs and caring for their chicks, and because she'd combined her bear wild shape with her snow owl nature spirit. Needless to say, the owlbear was her favored form for combat. She could maintain her wild shape for as long as 2 hours.

As a tiefling, Doric had natural resistance to flames and other forms of intense heat, so she could handle hot coals in her bare hands. Similarly, she could eat all types of "food" that was entirely inedible by most humanoids, including tree bark, coal, and ash. Any person or creature that harmed Doric would potentially become engulfed in flames.

At any time, Doric could cast the following spells animal messenger, beast sense, and speak with animals and twice per day she could cast cure wounds, entangle, faerie fire, and thunderwave.

Early Life
Doric was born a tiefling to human parents in a village on the Sword Coast, south of Neverwinter Wood. But her parents shunned her for her demonic heritage, even to the point of locking her in the attic of their house. At the age of six, when her parents sired a second, entirely human child, Doric became increasingly bothered by their favoritism for her sibling. When Doric finally came face-to-face with her sibling, her parents drugged her and took her into Neverwinter Wood and abandoned her, thinking she would die there.

Even at such a young age, Doric learned to fend for herself in the forest, foraging and hunting small game. It was there that she met her guardian nature spirit, a forest-dwelling snow owl. One day, a great storm wracked the Neverwinter Wood, and Doric was swept up in a raging current. Fortunately, Doric was rescued by her future, elven guardian, Liavaris. Liavaris and her fellow wood elves offered Doric a home in their village. She found an adopted family and friends among them. However, her tiefling traits and growing druidic powers still set her apart from the wood elves and rangers of the village.

From Elves to the Enclave
"You do have a keen understanding of animals and an empathy for them that goes beyond what rangers feel. I think, and Fenjor agrees, that you should train as a druid."

- Liavaris, to Doric.

One day, Doric went with Torrieth and other elven rangers on a hunt in Neverwinter Wood. After the group caught one deer, Torrieth and Doric were attacked by a bear. In a moment that surprised both friends, Doric rapidly developed an empathetic bond with the bear, and calmed it down enough that it left them in peace.

Liavaris and other senior elves thought it best that Doric was trained in the ways of the druid. She visited a glade that housed some belongings of the elven clan's previous druid―Liavaris's aunt Sunmuir―and prepared for a journey south to the Ardeep Forest, to meet with representatives of the Emerald Enclave. Doric, Torrieth, and the ranger Fenjor traveled south, stopping in the town of Helm's Hold, before the aspiring druid split off from her friends. During her travels, Doric met a young sorcerer named Simon and helped a village with their problematic well. He tried to court her, but she broke it off.

She finished the last leg of her journey at sea, aboard a small skiff that sailed south past Waterdeep.

Training With the Enclave
When Doric arrived at the Ardeep, she immediately impressed the druids of the Enclave, and earned herself a place among a class of initiates. Together they learned wilderness survival skills—of which Doric was already quite proficient—and combat training and also began to tap into the primal magic of druidism. Doric learned she was quite advanced at transforming into animals, an ability known commonly as wild shape, and took on the form of a mighty bear, the same beast that she had bonded with some weeks prior. Though she advanced as a druid and in her powers, Doric faced conflict with fellow initiates and her own beliefs.

There was a call to action among all the Enclave druids when they heard reports of a large wildfire raging through the Ardeep. Doric and other druids that were naturally protected from flames made their way to a forest village that was in the way of the fire's path. She and her fellow student Leander did their best to save some of the townspeople, but encountered a terrified and enraged owlbear. The fearsome monster killed young Leander, and Doric was forced to take action. Combining the bear form she had previously taken, along with that of her snow owl nature spirit, Doric wild shaped into a snowy owlbear herself and managed to truly empathize with the monstrous creature whose home was imperiled.

Doric was troubled by the encounter but remained dedicated to helping the druids in their continuing mission to maintain the balance of nature and civilization.

Return to Neverwinter
Shortly after the vigil for Leander, Doric received a letter from her elven family in the Neverwinter Wood. They requested aid from Doric and other elves of the Enclave, to help turn away the growing logging operations that sprang up on the outskirts of the forest. The wood elves of Neverwinter Wood resisted the rule of the corrupt new Lord of Neverwinter, Forge Fitzwilliam, so he painted them as traitors and enemies of the city. He sent his forces to capture and execute them and destroy their homes. Abandoned sensible logging practices, he also dispatched loggers who cut ever deeper into the woods.

Doric and Jowenys made their way north, traveling across land, by sea, and even via portal, to reach the wood elf village in Neverwinter Wood. Doric received a warm welcome from her adoptive family, and quickly set out to scout the logging camps with elven rangers. Rather than merely scout, the druids and rangers harassed, harried, and disrupted the human logging camps. Doric even managed to save the glade that was home to her owl nature spirit guide, and met it one more time.

Doric returned to her home amongst the elves, and celebrated their victory with both her family and her new friends in the Enclave. Having learned so much of the world beyond the elves, Doric felt she had one more quest to complete, albeit one alone: to return to the house of her biological parents, for one last glimpse of the home she had left so long ago.

Adventuring Life
Soon, Doric was leading the fight against Lord Fitzwilliam's loggers and soldiers, but they couldn't find a way to stop them completely. In one incident in the late 1490s DR, one of the forest's wood elves was captured by Neverwintan soldiers. Just as the soldiers threatened to execute the elf by quartering, Doric transformed from the form of a soldier's horse and into her snowy owlbear form. She handily defeated the soldiers and released the imperiled wood elf, before turning back to a tiefling and stealing a horse for them to make a getaway, and fired her sling from the saddle. This was witnessed by Edgin Darvis, Holga Kilgore, and Simon Aumar, who had suggested they recruit Doric to their cause.

They followed Doric back to the wood elves' treetop village, and introduced themselves, though Doric did not even remember Simon. At the Emerald Tavern there, they explained their quest to steal Forge Fitzwilliam's fortune from Castle Never. Though she doubted their capabilities, knowing that Simon was a poor spellcaster and not knowing what Edgin actually did, Doric eventually agreed to help in order to save her people.

Later, Doric used her wild shape power to infiltrate Castle Never, taking the form of a fly to spy on Forge Fitzwilliam, his wizard advisor Sofina, and their guests Din Caldwell and Porb Piiradost. She learned the vault was protected with a powerful Mordenkainen's arcane seal and that Sofina was a Red Wizard of Thay. But she was interrupted when Sofina sensed her presence and hurled a thunderwave spell her way. In her desperate escape from the castle, she took the form of a mouse, then slipped inside a suit of full plate armor and briefly tried to walk away in disguise, before being discovered. Back as a mouse, she leaped out of a window, and flew away as a hawk, until she was downed by an arrow, and landed as a cat. Fleeing through the streets and houses of Neverwinter in various forms, she growled at a dog to scare it off and donned a cloak for a disguise, but found Sofina still searching for her with magic, seeing through her axe beak form. Turning into a swift-footed deer, she raced through the city and finally dove under a falling portcullis, escaping Neverwinter.

Returning to the wood elf village, Doric shared what she'd learned. To break in, Edgin proposed that they find the long-lost helmet of disjunction that could break all magic. Holga's people, the Elk tribe, had once battled the Cult of the Dragon and the black dragon Rakor for control of the helmet at the Battle of the Evermoors a century ago.

After a stopover in Longsaddle so Holga could catch up with her ex-husband Marlamin, they headed to the Evermoors cemetery to dig up the corpses of fallen Elk tribe warriors, so Simon could use his deathly token and speak with the dead. Doric thought this was "yuck" and the limit of five questions arbitrary. After several attempts, they finally learned from the body of Ven Salafin that a Thayan named Xenk Yendar had retrieved the helmet of disjunction. Edgin was disgusted, thinking all Thayans were killers and corrupted by the Red Wizards' evil. Nevertheless, Doric had heard of him, knowing he'd once worked with the Emerald Enclave to thwart the destructive schemes of the church of Talos, the Storm Lord and that he had a reputation as a holy warrior, healer, and hero.

Fortunately, they could find the heroic paladin Xenk just nearby, in Mornbryn's Shield and, after seeing him in action, Doric remarked he was interesting. In a Harper sanctuary beneath Caldreth's Pickles, Nuts, and Foods, Xenk told them of the evil of the Red Wizards and Szass Tam's takeover of Thay and the turning of its populace to undeath, but Edgin was not interested in details. For his assistance in finding the helmet of disjunction, Xenk required that the thieves share any stolen riches with the Neverwintan people, which to Edgin very reluctantly agreed, swearing it on a Harper book.

Xenk led the party to the Kryptgarden Forest, where an entrance to the Underdark lay. After venturing down into the Underdark, the party passed uninterested intellect devourers and arrived at the ruins of Dolblunde, wherein Xenk had hidden the helmet of disjunction long ago. After negotiating the trapped collapsing bridges, that is triggering and collapsing them before Xenk could finish explaining the intricately complicated technique needed to cross them, Simon noticed Holga had a hither-thither Staff and they used it to cross into the city. Finding and opening the gnomish mechanical box, Xenk retrieved the helm. But that was when a band of undead Thayan assassins led by Dralas showed up, having been sent by Sofina to find and kill the thieves after Doric's spying. Xenk handily took down the whole squad of assassins and impressed the others, while his companions provided a little aid with Doric defeating one as an owlbear but mostly they just watched. But the undead did not stay dead for long; their wounds regenerated and they gave chase. Then they were all interrupted by the surprise appearance of the red dragon Themberchaud, far from his home. He took care of the undead assassins, by simply eating them, but then turned his attention to the others, chasing them around the ruins and its bridges and breathing fire. At last, Themberchaud chased them into a narrow cave, but could not get his head through. The damage caused seawater to leak in. In the end, though, Edgin actually made a plan that worked, organizing his team and getting Themberchaud to breathe gas and create an explosion that would open a water channel and free them.

Some time later, with the helmet of disjunction in their possession, they emerged in the Sea of Swords and swam to shore. There, Xenk said his farewells and departed; though they asked him to stay and assist them, he preferred to let Edgin, Holga, Doric, and Simon use what they had and rise to the occasion themselves rather than for him to keep carrying them himself. Edgin declared them victorious and a fine team of thieves, and ready to go on and rob Castle Never. It wouldn't be so easy, however. Simon struggled to attune to the helmet of disjunction and eventually admitted this to Edgin, revealing to the others that he'd made him lie about being able to do it, which angered Doric and Holga about the wasted time and effort. Doric was scornful of what she saw as more human lies. Edgin's efforts to encourage them to carry on failed and they almost abandoned the quest and went their separate ways, with Doric seeking to return to her people in the Neverwinter Wood. Finally, Edgin argued they were all failures and needed to keep trying and failing, and would only fail if they gave up. Edgin pointed out that Doric could not admit to the Emerald Enclave that she'd given up on the mission. Ultimately, the team chose to remain together and try again. Holga suggested a new plan: using the hither-thither staff to put a portal on a piece of treasure they could smuggle into the vault.

The Neverwinter Heist
After camping on the beach for several hours, they headed back to Neverwinter. From a market, Edgin purchased a painting of the famed travelogue writer Volothamp Geddarm for their plan. First, they removed the canvas, put a portal on the board, and Doric daubed sap on the frame for glue. On the High Road, Edgin hid under leaves as the wagon rolled over and attached the painting to the bottom of the wagon. Working through the portal, Holga removed the floorboards and Doric fell through the portal and into the wagon. But then the painting became unstuck as she tried to pull it through the hole; fortunately, Simon grabbed Doric through the portal and they managed to recover the painting and pull it into the wagon. With it flat on the floor, Holga reattached the floorboards through the portal and Simon closed the portal. Doric replaced the canvas and wild shaped into a fly to leave the wagon.

Heading into Neverwinter during the opening of the High Sun Games, they rented an upstairs meeting room at the Driftwood Tavern, not realizing they were recognized by Jil Torbo of the Absolution Council, who would summon the Neverwinter Guard. In their room, they tried to use their portal, but the painting had fallen flat on the floor, proving to be a nigh-impenetrable barrier. While Doric chiseled a hole in the floor through the portal in hopes of slipping through as a worm, Edgin proposed Simon try again with the helmet of disjunction to break the Mordenkainen's arcane seal. Simon gave them all sending stones with which to communicate.

While Edgin, Holga, and Simon sneaked into Castle Never, Doric continued trying to get through the portal. Finally, just as the Neverwinter Guard were hammering on the door, she managed to make a gap, wild shape into a worm, and wiggle through, then reached through and pulled a tablecloth over the portal just as the guards burst in. Doric found herself in the real treasure store—not the castle vault but in secret tunnels beneath the Neverwinter arena. Sneaking around, she discovered corrupt soldiers of the Neverwinter Guard loading all the treasure aboard an armored ship. Lord Forge had stolen it all. But then a guard crept up behind her knocked her out. With the whole team captured, Edgin pleaded for a fighting chance, that is, to compete in the High Sun Games.

High Sun Games
Doric woke up and found herself a contestant in the High Sun Games, where the companions were pitted against four other adventuring groups and tasked with navigating a deadly labyrinth with a displacer beast, mimics, and gelatinous cubes, among other perils. They did not fare well at first, though Doric found a sword in a chest and saved Holga from a mimic. She got her hand stuck in a gelatinous cube and burned, but at least it pulled off the magic-suppression cuff that had prevented her wild shaping. They reached the center of the maze and safety, but Edgin realized there was still no escape from the maze or the contest. Fortunately, Doric proposed another, very risky way out—they had to leap into one of the gelatinous cubes as it descended, just as a displacer beast pounced, to get to their end goal: the dungeons beneath the Neverwinter arena. Doric turned into a snake, slithered out, and freed her companions.

At the city's docks, Doric and her friends seized the treasure ship from the guards, ambushed Forge Fitzwilliam, brought Kira back into Edgin's care, and prevented the Lord of Neverwinter from fleeing his own city aboard a boat with the accumulated wealth of the city and the Games' spectators. While the group at first sought to sail away and claim the riches for themselves, the sight of Sofina invoking the horn of beckoning death over the arena quickly changed their minds.

Using a hot air balloon with Forge's likeness, along with the hither-thither staff, Doric and her companions were able to redistribute the ex-Lord of Neverwinter's ill-gotten riches to the city's people, leading them out of the arena and wasting Sofina's horrific spell. Enraged, Sofina assault them in a final battle in the city streets. The fighting was furious. The companions evaded the meteor swarm raining down from the sky and battled an animated statue of a juvenile gold dragon. Doric fought bravely in her snowy owlbear form, but was ultimately knocked unconscious for a moment. Simon stepped in and helped her recover, before engaging in a hand-to-hand spell duel with the Red Wizard, before ultimately faltering himself. Finally, all four companions fought the Red Wizard together. Sofina cast a time stop spell, presumably gaining the upper hand. In fact, Simon managed to counterspell the casting, while Doric and the others pretended they were stopped in time. Using her pendant of invisibility, Kira managed to negate Sofina's spellcasting abilities with a magic-suppression cuff from the games, and Doric could once again wild shaped and put the defenseless Red Wizard down for good.

Savior of Neverwinter Wood
With the negation of Sofina's magic, the former Lord of Neverwinter, Dagult Neverember awoke and resumed his resign. His first acts were to award the saviors of Neverwinter medals of heroism and grant formal protection of the wood elves and their land in Neverwinter Wood to the Emerald Enclave. At last, Doric had ensured the safety of her people and forest.

Doric and her new adventuring allies returned to her village in the Neverwinter Wood to celebrate their victory. At the Emerald Tavern, Doric decided she would give her friend Simon another chance at courtship, provided he "calm down" a bit.

Background
Doric is played by actor Sophia Lillis. She was confirmed to be a druid via a promotional video played at the San Diego Comic-Con 2022's Tavern Experience and to be a tiefling by Christopher Perkins and Todd Kenreck in an official Dungeons & Dragons video discussion on the movie trailer, here. The name was also reported as 'Dorig', apparently after being misheard.

In early drafts, Doric was to have pointed canine teeth, but these were later removed. Nevertheless, a set of false teeth was made for Lillis and sent to her after production was complete. She said, "Which I have not touched. I don't know what to do with it."

While druids traditionally cannot wild shape into owlbears in D&D rules, this was considered and included by writer-directors Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley on the basis of "Rule of Cool". The Druid's Call provided an explanation for Doric's ability, perhaps due to her unique perspective.

Appearances

 * Film & Television
 * Honor Among Thieves
 * Novels
 * The Druid's Call • The Junior Novelization • The Quest Begins • Heroes Unite!