Any Word on the 3.5 Druid?

[maddman75]

Its an easy fix.

"Druids have proficiency in the listed weapons, but there is no stupid oath. They are proficient in the armor listed, and if they wear any other armor they suffer arcane spell failure."

Problem solved. Hope WotC does the same.

 

[WizarDru]

I hope they drop the ridiculous weapon punishment, and give druids the ability to cast cure spells spontaneously. After all, clerics weren't given that ability so they'd be more powerful, they were given that ability so they could prepare the many cool and useful spells on their list without the other players complaining that they didn't prepare any healing. Giving druids the ability won't make clerics redundant, since druid cure spells are inferior to cleric cure spells, since aside from Cure Light Wounds they're all at least one spell level higher for druids.

Druids aren't clerics....why should they be given one of the cleric's most powerful abilities? Druids are hardly vastly underpowered. And, according to playtesters like Piratecat, clerics were given more abilities intentionally, so they'd be more attractive. Which makes sense, as many clerics can find themselves trapped in a heal-and-buff support mode. Druids are not known for their powerful healing talents, but of their command of nautre. As such druids have access to some seriously high-powered damage spells with far greater range than a cleric, and with abilities like Wildshape and Thousand Faces, have their own spontaneous abilities to use.

Clerics have many utilitarian spells, but I don't know if I'd consider nearly as many of them cool as you do. Clerics often find themselves placed in a support or non-tactical role, casting heals, divinations, buffs and other such indirect spells, which can be very unsatisfying...especially when you see the druid throw down a Thunderswarm.

 

[Silver Griffon]

I don't have my collection here at work, but I think that it was a recent Dragon magazine where I saw a rules variant that allowed a druid to spontaneously cast summon nature's ally spells. Now, that seems a lot more appropriate for a druid than defaulting to cure spells. And maybe since it was in a recent Dragon it might be a 3.5 rule being tossed out to guage reactions.

 

[TroyXavier]

I could go for spontaneous Summon Nature's Ally spells.

 

[I'm A Banana]

The weapons restrictions aren't bad, they're just ill thought out. I like the idea of only using nonmetal weapons, with those in the list being the initial ones a druid is proficient in. A druid could take scimitar proficiency, but could only use them if they were wooden with Ironwood on them.

Done and done.

And I don't think druids need anything spontaneous, honestly...they're just fine with their prepared high-damage spells. They're versatile and powerful -- a second only to the wizard/sorcerer in attack power and tactical usefulness, with a handful of heals tossed in too.

And some beasts will be changed to Magical Beasts, meaning that owlbears and landsharks may still be off limits, while dinosaurs may not be anymore.

Druids should not be depended on for healing...while a useful ability, it's hardly integral to the class (circle of life and all that).

 

[Argent Silvermage]

I don't have my collection here at work, but I think that it was a recent Dragon magazine where I saw a rules variant that allowed a druid to spontaneously cast summon nature's ally spells. Now, that seems a lot more appropriate for a druid than defaulting to cure spells. And maybe since it was in a recent Dragon it might be a 3.5 rule being tossed out to guage reactions.

Now THAT would be wonderful.

 

[Michael Tree]

Wow. This topic really gets th' fur flying, eh? But seriously: what's the big deal? I'd imagine most DMs are relatively leinent here. Rule Zero is a rule, after all.

My post came across as a lot angrier than I meant it to be. Maybe I should have stuck in a smiley or a eyeroll smiley. It is a pet peeve of mine though.

It's not a big deal, really. It's more a matter of principle. Wizards did so much to remove all the arbitrary absolute restrictions that were common in 2e, but created a brand new one in the druid weapon rule.

Druids aren't clerics....why should they be given one of the cleric's most powerful abilities? Druids are hardly vastly underpowered. And, according to playtesters like Piratecat, clerics were given more abilities intentionally, so they'd be more attractive. Which makes sense, as many clerics can find themselves trapped in a heal-and-buff support mode.

It's not a matter of power. 3e clerics weren't given spontaneous curing to make them more powerful, they were given it to make them more interesting, so they could prepare interesting utility spells without losing healing abilities. This was mentioned in one of the 3e sneak peeks before 3e was released.

Giving spontaneous curing to druids wouldn't make them more powerful, except maybe in solo play. In fact, it would probably reduce their power somewhat, as they would be spending more spells on healing the rest of the party, sharing the healing burden with the cleric, allowing clerics to be more than armored bandaids.

Even if druids were given spontaneous healing, clerics would still be much better at it. But it would be possible to run a game without a cleric, something that is very difficult to do now.

 

[Stalker0]

Eeks! I relly hope not. IMO, they finally got Wildshape to a fun, workable form when they completely disassociated it from polymorph in Masters of the Wild. I'd really be disappointed if they arbitrarily reassociated them.

I completely agree. Polymorph should emulate... but never compete with wildshape. If druids are defined as shapeshifters in 3e, then damn it let them be the shapeshifters!!

Also I think with the new wildshape forms and animal companions, and the new spells druids will be fine. While I do agree the weapon restrictions are kind of dumb, its not a big deal.

 

[The Forsaken One]

Didn't masters of the wild have something on having druids be able to spontaneously cast regeneration spells from that splatbook...? I went with that one and it's nice.... made a player happy.

 

[William Ronald]

I tend to think weapons should follow the culture of a character. So, I could see a Celtic style druid using weapons appropriate to a Celtic culture. A druid from a horse nomad culture, ala the Scythians, might be expected to know how to use a shortbow.

A rule for divine spell failure for any armor heavier than the current ones might make sense, and differentiate them from clerics. A code of conduct might be appropriate, or something to give people a few more role playing hooks.

Good to see you on the boards, TFO!