Imperialus
Explorer
OOC: Son of a gun, you're right, sd! Never mind. Now back to IC stuff... except for...
OOC: How in the heck did I miss that all these years? 1E druid's spell progression is just whacked from 1st level to 12th level -- they get 7th level spells a good healthy jump before any other class.
Figured I'd shift this over here.
One of the key thing's I've found with balancing some of the 'wonkier' classes is that a DM really needs to focus on bringing their alignment and code of conduct restrictions into play. I think a lot of it is also due to the fact that the Druid's XP and spell advancement table needs to be shortened to fit 14 levels as opposed to the 29 that are listed for the cleric. Also no strongholds, the need to fight it out with other druids once you hit 12th level, and the attribute requirements (especially if you roll 3d6 in order) made druids, rangers, monks, paladins and even assassins rare and special characters.
That said, Druids are still a pretty rockin class. I played one from 2nd to 5th level at one point.