General RPG DiscussionDiscussion of all RPGs and non-system-specific topics. DM/GM/player issues, settings, etc. Rules discussion belongs in one the forums below.
Possibly Friday. The Ampersand article has more Druid stuff.
I have a suspicion that this was suppose to be part of the Ampersand article, and someone filling in over the Thanksgiving weekend dropped the ball. Hopefully an actual, full-blown playtest article is still on its way...
__________________ "Sometimes we buy books because we think we're buying the time to read them." - Warren Zevon
There are only two things that I have to say:
1- The fluff of the primal spirit reminded me of Primate Murder.
2- The shapeless mass of claws, fur, and the like reminded me of Nrvnqsr.
That is all.
In general I like the Druid very much. Some concerns:
Did WotC just give level 1 characters/druids access to flight? at-will? during combat?
Did WotC just make it nigh impossible to bind/jail a level 1 character/druid? more so than an Eladrin?
Unless there is some feat or power they didn't list ... no to both.
They have wild-shape at will, however remain your size and get no special abilities other than access to Beast powers. At level 2 you can become Tiny and thus get out of the prison, but that's really once per day. None of the spoiled powers give flight.
Unless there is some feat or power they didn't list ... no to both.
They have wild-shape at will, however remain your size and get no special abilities other than access to Beast powers. At level 2 you can become Tiny and thus get out of the prison, but that's really once per day. None of the spoiled powers give flight.
I have a feeling that if you are shackled the turning tiny won't help anyway, as equipment you are wearing shapes with you.
To everyone who reminded me that you can only Wild Shape once per round: I know.
Here's what you can do:
You're in combat, right?
Minor action, wild shape. Shift back a space taking you out of the threatened area around your opponent.
Move action, move. With an elf this is potentially eight spaces.
Standard action, cast a spell. Your spells are control, so they will hamper your foe's ability to pursue you.
Next round, wild shape, and charge back into battle.
You can vary it up as necessary, but basically, Druids have a partial form of the Shifty power. It does everything that Shifty does, except it requires you to switch "attack modes" each time you use it.
Also, if your spell-centric druid gets caught in melee, he can shift one space, then wild shape and shift another space, and hopefully end up joining the melee in a flanking position. Double shift.
Yes, the shift + wildshape as a minor action is pretty powerful. And kind of ironic, since I am pretty sure Mearls once said that the shifty power of kobolds was too powerful for player characters.
__________________
355 hours played
Gnoguh, human fighter/cleric (kensei->adamantine soldier)
Carric, elf cleric/ranger (radiant servant->saint)
Torn, tiefling wizard/cleric (divine oracle->sages of ages)
Truxas, human feylock/bard (feytouched->feyliege)
Tagron, human rogue (daggermaster->deadly trickster) 21th level Musings of an Epic Virgin
Flight, if going by established models will be a utility power. Warlocks get a flying shadowform at level 10 that lasts till the end of the encounter. I think 1 round of flight with forced landings comes earlier. At lvl 1 with Air Gensi.
I like the druid, and am especially grateful that it is an open look. It is much broader than I thought possible.
Anyway for those people demanding more specific animal forms - The ranger companions in MP show a decent, but still limited variation. There should eventually be PP based on chosen animal, like there are for rangers.
But not likely in the PHBII which will have to include at least a generalist wildshape focused class, and a weather mage focused class. Primal Power is the most likely, but a large enough outcry may get one published for online subscribers, or in 3rd party products.
perhaps as feats, based on MP ranger companions:
Bear Form: -2 AC, -1 to hit, +1d6 damage with all beast form attacks.
Wolf Form: +2 damage with Combat advantage.
Snake Form: +1 AC or +1 to hit with OA.
The APG clearly loses out on the wildshape area, but their nature priest has some lovely summon spells, based on existing wizard/cleric summon effects. I am especially fond of Slashing Tree.
__________________ Game Quote:
"Shut up! a giant blue smurf eats your character...zzzz"
(sometimes its important to stop gaming and sleep)
"You all are the worst emissaries, ever!" the silver dragon declares, shaking with rage.
"Its a game, a game, I'm only playing. " E. Wiggen My PbP games , Roll Dice
Their at wills control better, but the damage tends to be lower, particular with the area of effect attacks. The wizard is still master of blowing stuff up.
You can vary it up as necessary, but basically, Druids have a partial form of the Shifty power. It does everything that Shifty does, except it requires you to switch "attack modes" each time you use it.
Shifty works every round. The druid has to spend one round to go INTO beast form in order to be able to come OUT the following round.
Shifty works every round. The druid has to spend one round to go INTO beast form in order to be able to come OUT the following round.
Oh, you're right.
Still, that doesn't effect the fact that shifting out of beast form also lets you essentially escape melee for free (elf predator druid can travel 9 spaces that round and still attack). And the round you switch to beast form and reenter melee, you don't need the shift as much.
On the whole, I think it looks very promising. Particularly in the implementation of WildShape (BTW, 3e PHB2 had a shifter variant of the druid who could shift every round into generic shapes, and it worked pretty well overall. I think this implementation owes a little to that)
I'm really pleased to see such a wide choice of at-wills. If only the PHB had 8 at-wills per class we would have seen less complaints and/or problems about cookie-cutter PCs.
I'm a bit disappointed in some of the details. I don't like to see all those beast attacks targeting reflex. If a wolf attacks you it attacks vs AC. If a druid wildshaped into a beast attacks you I think that should attack AC too. If worried about the impact of not having a 'proficiency bonus', then I would have much preferred the beast attacks to have a +2 bonus figured in to them. Neater and more appropriate to my mind.
I'm a bit disappointed to see the power creep inherent in things like Flame Seed which really ups the ante for at-will minion killing (it has the autokill benefit of cloud of daggers, but over an 8 (or 9) times bigger area). Wind Prison also looks a bit suspect - hit the low reflex minion with it and when he moves all the giants (or high reflex quicklings) get knocked prone regardless of their defences.
Back to the utilities, two things I really like: Skittering Sneak for tiny animal infiltration, and the Obscuring Mist sustain: minor with the opportunity to grow the area effect. I think that is great, and ought to be back-filled into some of the PHB powers (like cloudkill, which really needs a boost).
Cheers
__________________ Plane Sailing
(Enworld Admin)
If you need to email me click here
"It makes as much sense as having Batman kill his parents and then go on to fight mutants from another dimension." - Rykion
Where did you see that?
Linear Mode
And yet another word from our sponsors
