NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="kerleth" data-source="post: 6040963" data-attributes="member: 84383">You have a point about the broad nature of the paths drowdruid. I imagine subclasses performing one of two purposes.1)Allowing a class to lean towards a certain archetype or playstyle in it's own unique way. In that case they should be like a cleric's domain or deity choice, in that they have unifying features but are still further customizable within that framework (spell choice, weapon choice, etc) OR2) They function like the fighter's fighting styles and give you a preplanned list of choices that all fit a theme. These should allow the player to say "none of these work for my (insert something the designers couldn't anticipate here), so I'm just gonna pick a la carte." A la carte needs to be even with the default options, so that you are not punished for playing something other than WOTC APPROVED CONCEPT (TM). Perhaps narrowing the paths down more. Something like..... Path of the Iron Fist- This is the unarmed warrior path. Strength, speed, and stamina are key. It would likely have overlap with the Path of the Focused Will, but it sees relying on weapons as a weakness. Abilities to turn an opponents weaponry and armor against them would help make it feel distinct and be very thematically appropriate. Path of the Purifying Flame- This is a more mystical path whose abilities are based on fire symbolism. Some healing (fire cauterizes wounds and cooks food), seeing through deception (fire creates light, and light is often used as a metaphor for knowledge and enlightenment), protection from extremes of cold and heat, and the obvious fire damage. Perhaps even some limited cold damage and effects that mimic freezing. Quenching someone else's internal fire, so to speak. Path of the Opened Eye- This would be all about knowledge and awareness. There would be some overlap with fire's ability to see through deception (not a bad thing when subclasses are organized this way. different combinations can make very different characters). Bonus Knowledge skills. Being able to put together seemingly unrelated facts to come to conclusions no one else would have realized. A few ablities to ignore pain, speed healing, and push your own limits since your "eyes have been opened" and you know how to push past them. Probably with a price, since the body has limits for a reason. Path of the Aescetic- This one would be all about doing without things that everyone else takes for granted. Probably unarmed combat, but not as much of a focus as path of the iron fist. Doing without food, shelter, healing, this guy is almost completely self sufficient. Obviously it would have to be built in such a way that the party gets some perks from all this, so he wouldn't feel tacked on. Path of the Focused Will- This one would take the opened eyes ability to occasionally push oneself and really focus on it. It could push oneself farther and with less drawback. Also much less sagey and more warrior than opened eye. This seems like a good place for a monk wielding weaponry, be it a quarterstaff, katana, or their own hair as a whip. (hokey, I know, but some people would like it.) Path of the Eternal Dance- This one is focused on the concept that each person, plant, and animal is interconnected. Some healing abilities, buffs, and debuffs. Damage dealing would be in the form of knowing anatomy and manipulating your opponents life force. Very "pressure point" like.   Each of these would be unified by the general class framework and probably some sort of unified power structure (ki perhaps?). Also by the fact that their training required them to step aside from normal society. Backgrounds would also help differentiate between the more "religousy" monks and the moe "wuxia" ones.</blockquote>

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