Druids - Likes and Dislikes?
- Thread starter TheLe
- Start date
The Human Target
Adventurer
Wik said:
It is much more along the lines of what needs to be done. WILDSHAPE is one of the most over-complicted and possibly abusable aspects of the game.
Also, taking it completely away from the class and replacing it with 9 specific chape changing spells would be a step in the right direction as well.
Make them similar to the Astral Construct chain of spells in the Expanded Psionics Handbook.
Wik
First Post
I was just thinking along the lines of "aspects". You take "aspect of the predator", and you get +X STR, +X CON, +X DEX, and a melee attack that does X damage. You take "Aspect of the bird", and voila! You can fly! "Aspect of the Elemental" and you can set crap on fire, or let one of the wits in your group make some stupid pun (sorry, our druid is "stoned" right now... har har har). You could have a list of about six, seven aspects, all really easy to apply in play, and you'd be done.
I think it could also be cool if druids had a limited summon list, so they could only summon a few different types of creatures, that improve as the druid casts higher-level summoning spells. If the druid player only had two summoning options, odds would be better he'd already have them statted up, right? To compensate for the weakening of versatility, put some bonus on them (they all have a minor aspect of the elemental! Flaming Birds! An Airy Flock of Seagulls!)
I think it could also be cool if druids had a limited summon list, so they could only summon a few different types of creatures, that improve as the druid casts higher-level summoning spells. If the druid player only had two summoning options, odds would be better he'd already have them statted up, right? To compensate for the weakening of versatility, put some bonus on them (they all have a minor aspect of the elemental! Flaming Birds! An Airy Flock of Seagulls!)
Psion
Adventurer
I dislike that, after Player's Option pulled all priests together, the druid has been calved off again.
I dislike that druids went from being worshippers of a Celtic-like pantheon and other nature deities/spirits to "nature" itself. Okay, even if you do define nature as apart from deities (not a notion I care for), why the heck does "nature" care what sort of weapons you use? The druid weapon restrictions sound to me like religious restrictions.
Along the same lines, I can see why druids have knowledge( nature), but don't see what they don't have knowledge (religion).
I sort of like the way World of Warcraft RPG made the druid into another variant of a priest, like 2e spells & magic, and would like to see the 3e druid and cleric restructured in a similar way.
I could see both druids and clerics plugging into the optional spontaneous domain rules that are in unearthed arcana. Clerics as a default have spontaneus healing domain; druids have spontaneous "beastcalling" domain (picture a domain that's all summon nature's ally). Now you can use swap out this spontaneous domain.
I dislike that druids went from being worshippers of a Celtic-like pantheon and other nature deities/spirits to "nature" itself. Okay, even if you do define nature as apart from deities (not a notion I care for), why the heck does "nature" care what sort of weapons you use? The druid weapon restrictions sound to me like religious restrictions.
Along the same lines, I can see why druids have knowledge( nature), but don't see what they don't have knowledge (religion).
I sort of like the way World of Warcraft RPG made the druid into another variant of a priest, like 2e spells & magic, and would like to see the 3e druid and cleric restructured in a similar way.
I could see both druids and clerics plugging into the optional spontaneous domain rules that are in unearthed arcana. Clerics as a default have spontaneus healing domain; druids have spontaneous "beastcalling" domain (picture a domain that's all summon nature's ally). Now you can use swap out this spontaneous domain.
The Human Target
Adventurer
Wik said:
See thats good too.
I'm thinking the point of all this is that pretty much anything is better than WILDSHAPE.
Viktyr Gehrig
First Post
Olgar Shiverstone said:
Disagree on Caster Level, but absolutely agreed on Animal Companion. Half-strength Animal Companion is useless at best-- and more often a liability.
I like the general idea of a Duid, the role playing aspects of a sort of caretaker to nature (or some portion thereof). I also like Wild Shape, though I would prefer if it were kept a little more to regular animals.
I don't like animal companions. It's just not that fun to deal with the little buggers in most cases.
Most of all I really hate that Druids spend so much of a game summoning animals to die. This should be the exact opposite of what you would expect from a Druid. If they care about animals, then they should not be wasiting them like that. And if the animals are so unnatural as to be irrelevant, then why is a Duid summoning them.
I don't like animal companions. It's just not that fun to deal with the little buggers in most cases.
Most of all I really hate that Druids spend so much of a game summoning animals to die. This should be the exact opposite of what you would expect from a Druid. If they care about animals, then they should not be wasiting them like that. And if the animals are so unnatural as to be irrelevant, then why is a Duid summoning them.
Monkey Boy
First Post
I dislike the house keeping that comes with running a druid. Wildshape on the fly and work out your stats as a Dire Eagle. Then remember to scratch your equipment. Then factor in all the buffs you have running and things get complex and time consuming.
As has been mentioned a Druid turn can take a long time. Unless you have pre-printed summoned monster cards you will frustrate other players with the amount of time you take to have your go.
When playing COSQ as a Druid I left my bear companion out of the dungeon delve after the first incursion. It didn't make sense bringing him into the underdark and he did not scale well with the combats we were having. Bebliths made mince meat of him. I figured my Druid would somehow be attached to his companion and sent him back to the surface for his own safety. I do not like the disposable pet, it encourages pet names like Bear 1 and Bear 2. That isn't roleplaying a druid at all.
When you level up you need to work out your new stats in perhaps 3 of your most common wildshape forms, level your normal form up, level up your pet and pick new spells. It all adds up to too much work. I think the PH2 fixes this elegantly. No pet and straightforward shifting = no more stress.
Druids are a high maintenance advanced class.
As has been mentioned a Druid turn can take a long time. Unless you have pre-printed summoned monster cards you will frustrate other players with the amount of time you take to have your go.
When playing COSQ as a Druid I left my bear companion out of the dungeon delve after the first incursion. It didn't make sense bringing him into the underdark and he did not scale well with the combats we were having. Bebliths made mince meat of him. I figured my Druid would somehow be attached to his companion and sent him back to the surface for his own safety. I do not like the disposable pet, it encourages pet names like Bear 1 and Bear 2. That isn't roleplaying a druid at all.
When you level up you need to work out your new stats in perhaps 3 of your most common wildshape forms, level your normal form up, level up your pet and pick new spells. It all adds up to too much work. I think the PH2 fixes this elegantly. No pet and straightforward shifting = no more stress.
Druids are a high maintenance advanced class.
Druids were always my favorite class to play in old version. I think they are mosly fine in the new one, although I strongly dislike most of the direct damage spells in Complete Divine (for purely thematic reasons). My strongest disappointment is that they did not change the class into more of a generic shaman like the one in Green Ronin's shaman's book.
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