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<blockquote data-quote="Kaisoku" data-source="post: 5249644" data-attributes="member: 58447">The change basically means that a Druid who wants to excel at physical combat will need to focus on it, instead of being a wicked spellcaster that could suddenly become a monster in melee combat as well with barely any effort.Most &quot;battle&quot; clerics need to forgo a high Wisdom score and rely on magic items (+6 Wis headband) to cast their highest level spells, in order to have the base combat stats to be an effective melee character.The same now applies to Druids. Wildshaping gives a slough of utility, and a decent buff package for going melee, but you need to make a base set of stats that is intended for melee combat (Str and Con at least, and probably Dex too).Oh, and if you get your Animal Companion a +Int item (or take even one level adjustment to ability scores in Int), he can pick any feat at that point and take advantage of the nice new feats out there (and pump any skill either, for that matter).Pathfinder has some really nice feats too. Like Vital Strike (4d8 bites anyone?)... or Greater Trip (on a wolf no less). Or Greater Grapple on a grabbing animal.Plus, the simple idea of the creature learning your language so you can forgo the need of tricks or empathy to get your meaning across. It might not be able to speak back, but complicated commands can be shouted across the battlefield.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Kaisoku, post: 5249644, member: 58447"] The change basically means that a Druid who wants to excel at physical combat will need to focus on it, instead of being a wicked spellcaster that could suddenly become a monster in melee combat as well with barely any effort. Most "battle" clerics need to forgo a high Wisdom score and rely on magic items (+6 Wis headband) to cast their highest level spells, in order to have the base combat stats to be an effective melee character. The same now applies to Druids. Wildshaping gives a slough of utility, and a decent buff package for going melee, but you need to make a base set of stats that is intended for melee combat (Str and Con at least, and probably Dex too). Oh, and if you get your Animal Companion a +Int item (or take even one level adjustment to ability scores in Int), he can pick any feat at that point and take advantage of the nice new feats out there (and pump any skill either, for that matter). Pathfinder has some really nice feats too. Like Vital Strike (4d8 bites anyone?)... or Greater Trip (on a wolf no less). Or Greater Grapple on a grabbing animal. Plus, the simple idea of the creature learning your language so you can forgo the need of tricks or empathy to get your meaning across. It might not be able to speak back, but complicated commands can be shouted across the battlefield. [/QUOTE]

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