pawsplay
Hero
In addition to agreeing with what has already been said, I'll add that as primary casters, with a level-based animal companion, they also have a lot to lose by multiclassing or prestiging, which is another limiting factor.
Pathfinder 1E Are druids overpowered in Pathfinder?
In addition to agreeing with what has already been said, I'll add that as primary casters, with a level-based animal companion, they also have a lot to lose by multiclassing or prestiging, which is another limiting factor.
Mark Chance
Boingy! Boingy!
In my current campaign, two players run druids with animal companions. The ranger still dominates combat. No, druids aren't overpowered at any level.
Flatus Maximus
First Post
Focus on this.
The more I think about how to make a melee-focused druid, the more I think suckage. Your AC is going to be in the auto-hit/crit-me levels, unless you skip spell casting altogether...and even then I'm not sure. I would love for someone to prove me wrong.
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Prove you wrong in regards to which of your druid perceptions?
It seems you are saying you will have low AC or terrible spell casting.
If that is correct then what do you count as low AC and less than decent spell casting. I guess level 10 is a good number to use.
If I misunderstood I apologize in advance.
It seems you are saying you will have low AC or terrible spell casting.
If that is correct then what do you count as low AC and less than decent spell casting. I guess level 10 is a good number to use.
If I misunderstood I apologize in advance.
StreamOfTheSky
Adventurer
Sounds right. Even in 3E, where druids were CoDly, their AC kinda sucked. And I mean full AC, with the natural armor (unless you took a form with hugen at armor at the expense of your offense, I guess). The expense of wilding clasps and beastskin armor adds up. Thier touch AC was universally abysmal unless iin a graceful flying form meant for stealthy spellcasting mroe than combat.
In PF, the better combat sizes actually decrease your natural dexterity. You get more nat armor than you lose from dex, but the touch AC definitely suffers. And with difficulty getting armor to apply while wildshaped (and shield, if your DM is wisely using RAI instead of RAW, since RAW a shield bonus sticks while wildshaped), never mind that druids have crap proficiencies anyway...I'll bet their AC is probably pretty terrible for a melee character.
And druids do get level 9 spells, but they also have probably the worst overall spell list (I'm sure some will disagree with me...). And since ultimately casting is the most powerful thing, that's notable. Not saying druids are a bad class in PF. They're solidly "middle tier" or maybe even the lower end of high tier with the spellcasting used well. Perfectly viable class to play, still loads of flavor and cool abilities. They're just not as powerful as the other 3 prime casters anymore, IMO, and I find it silly to ask if druids are overpowered in PF before/without inquiring about the cleric, sorc, and wizard.
Flatus Maximus
First Post
Not sure about Pathfinder, but I remember reading somewhere that AC=level+15* or so is a good ballpark for 3.5. Obviously AC depends on many factors...
*: Say plus-or-minus 5 depending on class.
EDIT: Someone's already done the math for 3.5.
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Using that table as the standard a druid should not have trouble with AC, but every DM is different, and are not so open about how easy it is to get items.
I actually find that you should have an AC of 20+ level, but pathfinder monsters are a littler more difficult than 3.5 ones so that may be why.
Flatus Maximus
First Post
While using wild shape? At level 5 I don't even think you could crack 20, for example, even with dumping all your cash into AC.
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