Playtest: The Druid (merged)

[Derulbaskul]

I was really hoping that this would be a real playtest of either 30 levels or even 10 levels like the bard. Dang, I wanted to play around with this....

 

[RangerWickett]

I would hope there will be feats that let you specialize in a particular animal type, and give you some traits of that animal. Or maybe those will just be paragon paths.

Biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiird Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan!

I wonder at what level you'll get a utility that makes you large or gives you reach.

 

[Pseudopsyche]

I am not sure you can do that, exactly, since you can only shift to/from once per round (see last line of the ability). So you'd use the ability once that round to shift to the form. And you're have to wait until next round to use the ability to shift back to humanoid form.
Of course, it is past 1am here and I'm tired so I may be misreading what you said or misreading the power....

Well, switching forms every round is still a much more fluid implementation of wild shaping than we had in 3E.

Anyway, I also think the free shift upon reverting to humanoid form is a nice touch. It's true that even without this free shift, a druid who begins her turn in beast form next to an enemy could still revert to humanoid form as a minor action, shift away as a move action, and use a ranged attack as a standard action. But that would leave her only a square apart from her foe. With the free shift, she can use her move action to move to safety. I think this is the dance Cadfan mentioned, the ability to move fluidly from melee with one enemy to attacking from several squares away the next round to perhaps engaging another enemy in melee the following round.

 

[I'm A Banana]

"You can wild shape into a bear. In bear form, you have the following bear themed powers. As you level up, you will get additional bear themed powers, as you master your form." It doesn't seem that I'm getting this. The wild shape powers previewed so far don't go into this much.

I'd put good money down on a Paragon Path for this stuff a la the ranger's beast companions.

Not a lot, but it's a bone.

Aside from that, nothing's stopping you from fixing it in the fluff: your powers are all about your specific form, even if a druid who can turn into a totally different form does the same thing theoretically, it won't matter in actual play.

Overall, I don't mind it. I like a lot of the human-form powers, and the beast-form powers get away with it pretty well. I didn't need a wildshaper, but it doesn't seem to weaken the weather-mage, so I'm okay with it being there. The biggest complaint I could have is that grasping claws has dumb fluff that doesn't match the mechanics, but since that applies to large swaths of the core books, it's a drop in an ocean, there. Really, the preview pulls it off okay.

I'm down with it. It's inoffensive, and I look forward to playing a Priest of the Old Ways some day.

 

[thecasualoblivion]

They could easily do a beast companion Druid by removing Wildshape and adding a Beast Companion that all the Druid Beast At-Wills and powers would emanate from.

 

[Runestar]

Am I missing something, or is a wildshaped druid unable to benefit from weapon proficiency bonuses?

 

[thecasualoblivion]

Am I missing something, or is a wildshaped druid unable to benefit from weapon proficiency bonuses?

It is unable, but wildshaped attacks are implement attacks that target Fort/Reflex/Will.

 

[ppaladin123]

Am I missing something, or is a wildshaped druid unable to benefit from weapon proficiency bonuses?

No weapon proficiency bonuses.....but they are implement powers. Also, they target non-AC defenses so they should be relatively accurate.

 

[Starfox]

Say, what was the wording about how you count as your own ally in 4E? I am wondering about that and how Call of the Beast is worded.

"Hit: The target can't gain combat advantage until the end of your next turn. In addition, on its next turn the target takes psychic damage equal to 5 + your Wisdom modifier when it makes any attack that doesn't include your ally nearest to it as a target."

Hehe, this power is really cool for a solo druid. "My closest ally? That would be the wife, back in waterdeep."

And no, you are not your own ally.

 

[Phaezen]

After having a more considered look at the preview, they seem to have captured the essence of the D&D druid better than I had dared hope.

A nice set of nature themed spells, giving the ability to control the battlefied. Also has a decent shifting ability, with the option of using powers to make your shifting more versatile (Fleet Pursuit, Skittering Sneak). And they have even thrown in some leader abilities (Barkskin, Fires of Life) to complete the set.

Phaezen