Druid Archetype

[Imre]

I play with a group of rather technical, power-oriented gamers. (I fall into this category myself.)

I hear a lot of talk on this site about how the druid class is one of the most powerful. I don't buy it, and neither do my friends. In comparing the classes, I can only assume we're sticking to core material and using a straight Druid build.

Would someone mind explaining how the Druid comes out at the top?

 

[FreeXenon]

If I am correct it has to do with liberal use of their shapechange ability and Animal Companion for melee, and spells for summoning terrain and combat control.

I will try to find some links for ya.

 

[nittanytbone]

Anything anyone else can do, a druid can do better.

Here is our assumed Druid Build:

Level 1 - SF (Conjuration), Augment Summoning
Level 3 - Craft Wondrous Item
Level 6 - Natural Spell
Level 9 - Extend Spell
Level 12 - Quicken Spell
Level 15 - Empower Spell
Level 18 - Open

Riding Dog Animal Companion

Starts with Alertness & Track for free and can wear armor...
Druid level 3 - Combat Reflexes
Druid level 6 - Ability Focus (Trip)
Druid level 12 - Iron Will
Druid level 15 - Improved Natural Weapon

Low Levels (1-4):

Fighter Role: A druid and his animal companion are better fighters than most fighters. The animal companion is better on the defense than nearly any fighter would be, and can trip to control the battlefield while doing decent damage. The druid can be a decent ranged combatant and use some spells like Brambles to do decent damage output in melee. Buffs like Bull's Strength are shared with the companion.

Arcanist Role: Control spells like Entangle and direct damage like Produce Flame give the low level druid plenty of options. Summonings are quite potent. Faerie Fire negates invisibility of foes, a common trick.

Priest Role: CLW is available, as are many needed curative/protective spells (resist energy, for example)

Thief Role: Spot/Listen make for an adequate point man, as do Speak with Animals spells to gather information. Stealth is still limited. Traps are easily dealt with via summoned monsters or using your animal companion as a mine detector.

Mid Levels (5-10):

This is where the druid comes into his own. More potent spells and wildshape make a potent adversary.

Fighter: Spikes lasts all day. All other buffs are shared with the companion. The druid can shift into a good combat form that matches the foe (grapplers like bears vs. mages, swift lions vs. lighter foes, apes when you need to use a weapon). The animal companion becomes quite potent indeed.

Arcanist: Excellent mid-level spells. Call Lightning for direct damage, Spike Growth/Stones for control, and a very wide variety of summons for situational usage.

Priest: All the cures you'd need (Remove Disease, etc) plus summon Unicorns for healing.

Thief: Shift into something small and innocuous or stealthy for scouting. Can still use summons to clear traps.

I don't play many higher level games, but at higher levels, the druid continues to gain in power as they get more and more forms to shift into and to summon. Polymorph comes into play, and quickened spells (as for all classes) rock. Shapechange is the big winner at the highest levels.

If you add more books beyond core, druids benefit disproportionately; they can use new feats, new spells, and new monsters all to their benefit.

 

[FreeXenon]

• Are Druids regarded as the most powerful class in 3.5?
• The most powerful class?
• So, druids are powerful, eh?

enough searching for me....

 

[Aust Diamondew]

Being able to wild shape and cast spells via natural spell is why people consider druids to be better even than clerics. nittanybone lays out their advantages pretty well, so I won't keep going on about it.

What classes do you and your friends think are more powerful? Or do you think the druid is on perfectly even footing?

 

[Darklone]

In the last big discussion about this topic, someone summed it up with:

The druid has no weaknesses but all strengths a class can have: good skills, good HD, good saves, good offensive AND defensive spells, animal companion...

If a druid has any weakness at all, then it's his AC. Something taking one level monk takes care of.

You play core class only... do you use the Animal Growth errata then? If not: The druid wildshaping into a strong animal with that buff spell (and he can buff some animals plus himself with one casting) wipes the floor with one or two fightertypes of his own level and perhaps even with a fullbuffed cleric.

 

[moritheil]

I play with a group of rather technical, power-oriented gamers. (I fall into this category myself.)

I hear a lot of talk on this site about how the druid class is one of the most powerful. I don't buy it, and neither do my friends. In comparing the classes, I can only assume we're sticking to core material and using a straight Druid build.

Would someone mind explaining how the Druid comes out at the top?

Broadly speaking, the general idea is that a druid is almost as powerful a spellcaster as a mage, but has fewer weaknesses, more hit points, more skill points, and better saves. He even has an edge over fighters in melee, depending on how he is built.

I personally believe that clerics are more powerful, but that's not a core-only analysis; that's due to DSP/DMM and other such feats, and the fact that clerics get better prestige classes.

 

[Jhaelen]

What classes do you and your friends think are more powerful? Or do you think the druid is on perfectly even footing?

Though I'm not the one your question was directed at, I'd like to note, that in my player's opinion the most powerful character in the group is the kineticist, not the druid.
I don't agree with them since the ability to dish out lots of damage in a short period of time is only one aspect of 'powerful' and it also depends a lot on the player's ability to think tactically. The druid's more flexible regarding his role in the party:
He's the best tank, can spontaneously summon critters, heal and buff allies or use damaging spells, just as the situation requires.

As a DM I'm glad the party has a druid just as I'm glad they have a kineticist. It doesn't really bother me, if a single class is considered more powerful unless it interferes with the other players' fun because he's hugging the spot-light all the time.

 

[Brother MacLaren]

The druid is extremely powerful with one non-core feat: Rapid Spell. Without that, their spontaneous summoning becomes less useful. It's the only thing from Complete Divine that I can bring myself to use for my 19th-level druid, everything else is too much. I've also handicapped him a bit by NEVER buying a single magic item, only having what he could craft on his own or win in combat -- so no Wild Armor yet. And even so, he's the most powerful PC (but then, there are no other single-classed spellcasters in the party). Rapid Spell is essential, though, as before that summons were shut down in the middle of casting by enemies throwing Silence.

The biggest weakness of the class is the specific gaps in the spell list. You don't get a lot of the good status-removing spells that clerics have, and you never get Mass Heal, so your party kind of still needs a cleric. You don't have the super-versatile spells like Lim Wish, Miracle, Wish, or even the Shadow spells; you are stuck with what you had prepared. You have pretty limited save-or-die (Baleful Polymorph, Finger of Death, and to some extent Sunbeam), so your combats will take a long time. The only worthwhile 9th-level spell is Shapechange, which has a host of problems on its own and may not be allowed by all DMs. I use my slots for Quickened spells or a Rapid SNA VIII.

But, in general, it's a very powerful class. I'd say second to the cleric, but not by much.

 

[Gerion of Mercadia]

The "power" of a druid comes from three elements...

1. Ye animal Companion
2. Ye Shapechanging (now based on Alternate Form - not polymorph)
3. Ye spellcasting

The Restrictions of the class, with the exception of alignment - can be worked around.
Druids make for great "5th characters" in a party - as do bards.

Where druids have a tendency to get their butts in hot water is any kind of "urban" campaign.