Essentials: Druid Preview Is Up!

[TerraDave]

On the issue of choice how can anyone say the new Druid represents anything like any amount of choice? You have Spring -> Wolf or Summer -> Bear and that's it, your weapon choice is pretty well made for you, there are NO companion options at all, etc. It is a very impoverished class from the standpoint of any reflavoring or even variations from one campaign to another.

The PHB2 Essentials rehash book CANNOT come too soon. lol.

It is a more offense oriented companion and a more defense oriented one. We have not seen the powers, high level options, or feats for the class. (And when did the druid have a big weapon selection?)

The other Essentials classes did have SOME choices beyond what was in previews. I assume it will as well.

 

[yesnomu]

I have to say, I'm disappointed. Maybe it's just because when I played a 3.5 druid, I preferred the shapeshifting and spellcasting over the companion and healing--so I like the druid that has the former over the one with the latter.

However, the thing I dislike the most is losing choice of encounter powers for essentially a striker power. How is that an appropriate leader power at all? Even the choice to let your ally move and make an MBA would have been better.

Not to mention, consider this build's round to round, in a fight you've decided you don't need a daily: use your one at-will, attack with your companion, or hit a guy and have your companion attack. That's less options than the slayer! I don't see how the class will end up being fun to play at all at the table.

 

[Zaran]

Thanks for inspiring me with such confidence Bob, SURELY WotC never pulls a giant boner! I mean you know, Rain of Steel really WAS balanced. Battlerage Vigor too! Only nitpickers complained about them, it was really OK

I HOPE you are correct. Honestly I don't believe it. There's no mention of action economy or any callout on that at all. That COULD be an oversight, but personally I don't think it is. I think all the grognards hated the "unrealistic" shared action pool and this being the totally 100% retro worship sub-edition guess what we're going to get? The good old totally unbalanced 3e Druid ala 4e! Really, I wouldn't bet on it, but when HotFK drops just remember that I called it

On the issue of choice how can anyone say the new Druid represents anything like any amount of choice? You have Spring -> Wolf or Summer -> Bear and that's it, your weapon choice is pretty well made for you, there are NO companion options at all, etc. It is a very impoverished class from the standpoint of any reflavoring or even variations from one campaign to another.

The PHB2 Essentials rehash book CANNOT come too soon. lol.

You dont have much of a choice in any part of 4e eCharacters or cCharacters. Your build pretty much tells you what you do. Sure Essentials gives even less choices but it's really nothing new. If they actually have 2 other seasons in the book then you have 4 choices of companion. That's pretty good for a newbie version of the druid.

If the eDruid can use other Druid powers (sans shapechange powers) then I see no real benefit of having a controller druid anymore. That's one thing I dislike about how WotC does things. They pile on new material and feats instead of working out the issues with the old stuff.

 

[BobTheNob]

That's one thing I dislike about how WotC does things. They pile on new material and feats instead of working out the issues with the old stuff.

They havent been TOO bad with Errata (Rain of blows and Battelrage vigor did get fixed ), bot I do agree with this statement.

One of the big problem is that once something is published, its law. No one is willing to accept that certain things (Dragon Magazine, Im looking at you!) should never have found there way into the game, and alot of existing feats/powers/builds even! need to be reviewed for validity

I so much prefer where they are going with essentials. Simple classes with elegant mechanics. Now all they needs if *published* rule subsets for feats and powers in the DDI so we can filter out non-essentials dross and get back to a nice, controlled set of rules where we dont have to spend an hour digging through bloated feat lists.

 

[DracoSuave]

I have to say, I'm disappointed. Maybe it's just because when I played a 3.5 druid, I preferred the shapeshifting and spellcasting over the companion and healing--so I like the druid that has the former over the one with the latter.

Apples and oranges. Different things are different. It's not like the beastform druid has gone away. Now there's another kind of druid.

However, the thing I dislike the most is losing choice of encounter powers for essentially a striker power. How is that an appropriate leader power at all? Even the choice to let your ally move and make an MBA would have been better.

When your power sets an aura next to what you're attacking that affects defenses or combat advantage, yes, that is in fact a leader power. Animal companions have more to do than simply attack things.

Not to mention, consider this build's round to round, in a fight you've decided you don't need a daily: use your one at-will, attack with your companion, or hit a guy and have your companion attack. That's less options than the slayer! I don't see how the class will end up being fun to play at all at the table.

Again, the positioning of your companion makes a rather notable effect on the battlefield. It isn't that your companion attacks... that's just gravy. It's that the companion attacks and buff/debuffs even if it misses. Their auras are the real meat of their stats, from a leader point of view. Your bear hands out defense bonuses just for standing there looking tough. (Note: As you are the bear's ally, it also can apply to you.) The wolf forces combat advantage just by standing there. Hey, that means anything he's attacking grants HIM combat advantage!

Any evaluation of this druid subclass that doesn't take the auras into account is like an evaluation of the cleric class that doesn't take healing word into account. It's incomplete and very short sighted. Those auras make a difference tactically in a way 'yet another power' cannot.

 

[I'm A Banana]

Having an animal friend with an aura is a little weird, fluff-wise, but it's not reality-breaking for me (I can imagine the wolf and the druid in constant communication about how to take down their prey, or the bear protecting the druid like its a momma bear and the druid is her cub).

Wolves absolutely should've been Winter. Summer could've been a predatory cat (a lion or a tiger, reminiscent of the hot plains). Though I bet they wanted both the Wolf and the Bear in the Essentials book, since those are very iconic animal companions. Though, if there was a Summer Druid and a Winter Druid, you might have a nice fire/earth to water/wind elemental split.

It does seem that the action economy is still going to be (generally) shared. Check out how the animal's damage is roughly equal to the druid's baseline damage. I bet it's a one-for-one trade: loose an action to give it to your animal friend. It makes a certain amount of sense to me, sim-wise, because it involves giving your pet some commands, and taking your attention off the thing you're fighting. Without your command, the animal takes its own actions via the aura (which might, on some animals, be damage!) and your powers (which probably hurl a lot of commands at the beast).

Doesn't look distinctly leaderish, but we haven't seen the healing ability from 'em yet.

Like most of the Essentials stuff, I'm grooving on it. The quibbles are minor. The things done right are big. I still want to play one more than I want to play a Core anything.

 

[FireLance]

On the issue of choice how can anyone say the new Druid represents anything like any amount of choice? You have Spring -> Wolf or Summer -> Bear and that's it, your weapon choice is pretty well made for you, there are NO companion options at all, etc. It is a very impoverished class from the standpoint of any reflavoring or even variations from one campaign to another.

You now have the additional choice of playing a sentinel druid. It doesn't take away any of your existing choices. Granted, if you are playing a sentinel druid, you have fewer choices to make (although, as I pointed out earlier, you are still likely to be able to make your sentinel druid distinct through your choice of race, ability score distribution, class skills, at-will power(s), daily power(s), utility power(s), feat(s), personality and goals). However, if you don't like the scope of choices offered to you as a sentinel druid, don't choose to play one in the first place.

 

[AntlerDruid]

I LOVE the Essentials Druid....I have played D&D through all the editions and was very disappointed in the 4E Druid.

This makes up for it

 

[BobTheNob]

Now I do like where they are going with this druid.

Mind you, I would also like to see a essentials take on the shape shifting druid that could sit into another role

 

[RLBURNSIDE]

I wish druids could cast Sow, kite+snare+nuke, then TP hehe

This also makes me happy that the likelihood of the Scout getting an animal is lowered now, but I do hope there are more druid animals to chose from. If there's an eagle + eagle shapeshift power I might play one if we ever TPK.

Awesome preview though. Somebody's doing their job over at Wotc. I just built a dwarf ranger with the new stats and am gearing up for a Scout re-spec for paragon, if all goes well.

The action economy could work out if moving the beast is a minor, standard attacks are shared, and all other powers / auras are either always on, or don't depend on you not giving away your standard to your pet.

Wish Bears would have more HP though. A bear should have more HP than a character. Use him as a meat shield, that's his job, as a servant to the protector of Nature.