Are Druids regarded as the most powerful class in 3.5?

[Nifft]

Clerics still have my money as "most powerful." A fully buffed cleric of Strength with his divine power, righteous might, etc. going would still wreck a battelfield...

A Cleric with the right equipment would wail on a Druid who didn't have the right equipment (specifically +5 Wild Dragonhide Fullplate for a +13 AC boost).

But a Druid with mediocre equipment would wail on a Cleric with mediocre equipment. Druids are far more powerful as a class, but some of their abilities negate the use of some equipment (like magical weapon when Wildshaped).

And most importantly... you can't dispel Wildshape. You can dispel every Clerical buff.

Cheers, -- N

 

[Thomas Percy]

Druid was most combat-powerful class I played 3,5e.
Flexible, good skills, flashy spells, shapechange to powerful bear form.

I played 3,5 Wiz, Ftr, Pal and shadowcaster.

 

[Henry]

And most importantly... you can't dispel Wildshape. You can dispel every Clerical buff.

Cheers, -- N

Or you can anti-magic field it, and you're back to square one.

A druid in his wild plate and shaped into a tyrannosaurus Rex would still be hard-pressed against a cleric with his buffs, even if the Spell Compendium's doors were opened to both.

However, I do want to thank you for pointing out "Wild" to me in the core rules -- I missed that damned thing on the page for six months while playing my druid!

 

[Nifft]

Or you can anti-magic field it, and you're back to square one.

Yeah, but...

A druid in his wild plate and shaped into a tyrannosaurus Rex would still be hard-pressed against a cleric with his buffs, even if the Spell Compendium's doors were opened to both.

... all Druids can fly. A Druid could Wildshape into something large enough to drop rocks on the AMF'd Cleric. Or he could fly away until the duration of the Cleric's buffs are over -- Wildshape and greater magic fang are all-day, while the Cleric's big guns (divine power, divine favor and righteous might) are measured in rounds.

If the fight takes place outside -- or at least in the open -- my money's on the Druid.

Cheers, -- N

 

[Hammerhead]

In the AMF, Druids win b/c of they have Clifford the Crimson Dire Wolf on their side.

And a T-Rex is by no means the most effective wild shape form, especially if you open your monsters up to non-core. Furthermore, in regards to the Cleric vs. Druid fight off, most of the best cleric buffs are lacking in duration. The Wild Shape is not.

 

[Henry]

If the fight takes place outside -- or at least in the open -- my money's on the Druid.

Cheers, -- N

OK, I'll concede, if the fight between the two is in the great outdoors, or in an open enough area, the druid takes it home. As I said, one of my favorite tactics was instantaneous conjurations while zooming along at eagle speed, which beat the heck out of both SR and Anti-magic fields.

 

[Bad Paper]

I have DMed a druid from level 1 to 16, so far. She has enough XP for 17, now, so when she wakes up I have a bigger headache on my hands.

Not that the goal of any DM should be to kill his players, but the only times I have managed to kill this druid were when I have caught her out of wild-shape. Once at level 8, before she picked up Natural Spell (oh the irony of a treant killing a druid with his animated trees), and once at level 14 or so, when a beholder caught her in its antimagic cone (and her AC dropped by 20 on the front line battling two two-weapon fighters).

She is damn hard to kill, so I consider a combat successful if I merely manage to shut down, exclude, or kill her animal companion. And I beat up the rest of the party enough that she is always coming to their rescue.

Clerics are irritating and powerful, but I don't think they are as self-sufficient as druids. A druid on her own is still deadly; a cleric on his own is dead.

 

[FunkBGR]

Druid wins, hands down

It's harder to judge the higher in level you get, because the conditions of a battle matter so much - but look at their spells. Then look at them again. A Cleric has to go "toe-to-toe" to use most of its super-spells. A druid just stands back, and rains destruction down upon the cleric, at any level (Produce Flame, Call Lightning, Flamestrike, Call Lightning Storm, etc.). Antimagic Field sucks for the Cleric, because it doesn't get its spells - while the Druid still gets his animal companion and himself.

I view it the same as a Cleric trying to act like a Fighter at higher levels, and the Druid acting like a Sorc/Wizard at higher levels. Most people agree the Sorc/Wizard will hands down, beat the Fighter.

Also - don't forget that a Druid has a creature with good Fort / Ref on backup, that usually can either grapple like a mofo, or at least occupy the Cleric and cause problems, such as tripping them, or even just blocking charging.

Yeah, Druid for the win.

 

[IcyCool]

A druid just stands back, and rains destruction down upon the cleric, at any level (Produce Flame, Call Lightning, Flamestrike, Call Lightning Storm, etc.).

The bolded spells are hardly capable of "raining down destruction".

Antimagic Field sucks for the Cleric, because it doesn't get its spells - while the Druid still gets his animal companion and himself.

Both of which are pathetically easy to hit. And once the Cleric kills the animal companion, the druid had better hope that his quarterstaff will be enough to kill the injured Cleric.

Don't get me wrong, the Druid is pretty good all around, but he isn't amazing at any one thing. I'm still of the opinion that the Cleric is still king among the classes, but YMMV.

 

[Henry]

I will ask -- who says the Cleric has to go toe-to-toe? Most of the really effective cleric examples I've seen have been archers. You can make a powerful cleric melee fighter, but they can use archery to make a point, too, no pun intended.

And both classes have some VERY effective ranged spells, as well as the ability to call in summoned help, so I would suggest it's a little closer than the one-sidedness people are suggesting. In fact, many of the spells that clerics get, the druid only gets anywhere from 2 to 4 levels LATER than the cleric. In only a few cases, such as flame strike, does a druid get his powers sooner than a cleric.