CoDzilla? Someone needs to explain this to me.

[CleverNickName]

Here's the original context:

Nice. The pic really contributes to the post.

I never really had a problem with the cleric or druid at my table. My players have had both in their party for years now, and I haven't seen any of the power balance problems that the OP mentions. My players are my friends (and my spouse, in the case of the druid) so we all work together to make the game is fun. We don't have any min/maxers actively trying to break the game with loopholes.

(Well, except for the guy who plays the barbarian. But he's on medication now, and it seems to be helping.)

 

[Engilbrand]

That's the point. Neither is a problem unless people want to break them, then they break easily. It's why people ranting about everything new being broken are ridiculous. Is new stuff broken? It can be. Can it be broken as easily as the Cleric or Druid? No. But there's no problem with any material if the players work well together.

 

[Dausuul]

That's the point. Neither is a problem unless people want to break them, then they break easily. It's why people ranting about everything new being broken are ridiculous. Is new stuff broken? It can be. Can it be broken as easily as the Cleric or Druid? No. But there's no problem with any material if the players work well together.

Not true. I have caused serious balance issues in a game simply by playing a druid and picking what I thought was a good animal companion and set of feats/spells. I had not, at the time, heard of CoDzilla, and had no reason to think druids were any stronger than the other classes. No intention to break anything, no desire to overshadow the other players--but within about two sessions it was clear that my animal companion, by itself, was tougher and more deadly than any of the party's melee warriors. I voluntarily scrapped that character so I wouldn't hog the spotlight.

When you can break game balance purely by accident, there's a problem.

 

[Hejdun]

Yeah, I'll echo that. As a druid, I have to try really hard not to overshadow the party. Our DM is the kind that likes to play the dice as they lay, and the campaign is really open-ended (meaning you can get into trouble pretty easily), so sometimes I feel obligated to unleash the full power of a Druid just to bail the party out of a bad situation. Which is followed by the DM commenting on just how powerful druids are.

Seriously, after level 6 you have so much flexibility it's ridiculous.

 

[Voss]

That's the point. Neither is a problem unless people want to break them, then they break easily. It's why people ranting about everything new being broken are ridiculous. Is new stuff broken? It can be. Can it be broken as easily as the Cleric or Druid? No. But there's no problem with any material if the players work well together.

And a car left running by the curb can only be stolen if someone wants to steal it.

But actually... you can break these classes accidently. And newbie can wander in and just pick spells and feats that just make sense to coherent character concept and dominate a party. You don't really have to make an effort.

 

[szilard]

I, too, played a non-optimized Druid (I avoided summoning and almost never used my animal companion)... and easily overshadowed the rest of my group accidentally.

Most of the problem, of course, was that it was a game that was heavily based on wilderness encounters, animals (lots of dinosaurs), and armies (and the high-level druid is an army-killer).

-Stuart

 

[Hejdun]

I, too, played a non-optimized Druid (I avoided summoning and almost never used my animal companion)... and easily overshadowed the rest of my group accidentally.

Most of the problem, of course, was that it was a game that was heavily based on wilderness encounters, animals (lots of dinosaurs), and armies (and the high-level druid is an army-killer).

-Stuart

Yeah, our campaign is also based on wilderness adventures against large numbers of foes. Needless to say, Entangle is getting a workout. Natural Spell and wildshaping as anything with flight is also pretty much a game breaker. There are limitations to a druid, such as dungeoneering and city intrigue, but for open land battles, the druid is the undisputed king.

 

[WampusCat43]

I need to subscribe to this newsletter. My druid is 7th level in my PbP game, and other than my ape companion occasionally ripping the arm off somebody, I don't see much imbalance.

 

[Mr. Patient]

Not true. I have caused serious balance issues in a game simply by playing a druid and picking what I thought was a good animal companion and set of feats/spells.

The druid at my table is the same way. He's core only, and the player is not a powergamer at all. He just picked the most logical feats and spells and ended up with a monster. And it's not just the power; it's the time spent during his turn in combat, as we slog through the claw/claw/bites and improved grabs of a half-dozen bears. Hooray.