Playtest: The Druid (merged)

[mach1.9pants]

Am I the only one who saw the Preview of the druid and immediately thought of making a warforged/druid who transforms into mechanical beasts and is basically a transformer?

Yeah, it was probably was just me.

LOL most definitely only you...although I am 100% sure that my 3 and 4 yr old boys will be right with you!

 

[Victim]

Am I the only one who saw the Preview of the druid and immediately thought of making a warforged/druid who transforms into mechanical beasts and is basically a transformer?

Yeah, it was probably was just me.

I saw the same idea on RPG.net at least once, so I doubt it.

 

[James McMurray]

Oh, and what the heck is an aftereffect? New keyword there?

Only if you consider the PHB "new."

Seems more of a teaser than a playtest. Not much we can break with only level 1 and 2 abilitities.

Did they say it was supposed to be playtest stuff? I don't see that in the article or the dragon ToC. But I can't find the release calendar, so maybe they said it there.

Call of the Beast + Bravura Warlord = Bravura can has no downside kthx.

There's still a down side. Instead of "someone gets CA" it's "the druid's action is restricted to using one of his At Wills."

I don't think Flame Seed is much better than Cloud of Daggers either, but it might be. Its area only gets greater if you use it on a large or larger creature

Fire Seed hits all adjacent squares and Cloud of Daggers hits a single square, so it's area is always bigger by at least eight to one.

What happens if you have a negative dex mod? Do you go shift backwards

You get ridiculed for your build?

 

[tuxgeo]

It looks very cool. It doesn't seem to have any summon spells at these levels, but a lot of wildshape goodies.
Also, it seems to be a primary controller but with secondary class roles. Strange, but fair enough i guess.

Can someone compare it to the druid-clone in the advanced players guide?

I'll hit some of the basics here:
APG's "Nature Priest" is Divine instead of Primal, and emphasises CHA more than DEX. Both classes use WIS and CON.
Nature Priest gets Light Shield Proficiency, WotC Druid does not.
Both classes get Simple Melee weapons; WotC Druid also gets Simple Ranged, while Nature Priest gets handaxe, longspear, and sling instead.
Both classes can use Staffs; Nature Priests can use Fetishes (treat them as magic Wands), WotC Druids can use Totems.
Nature Priest is less hardy: 10 + CON score HP, +4 HP/Level, 6 + CON mod. healing surges/day (rather than WotC Druid's 12, 5, 7).
Nature Priest Skills List has Religion instead of Arcana, Dungeoneering instead of Diplomacy; total of 7 Skills instead of WotC Druid's 9 Skills.
Rituals: Nature Priests get +CHA mod. to Nature checks on Nature Rituals; but it is not stated in the APG that they start play owning a Ritual Book.
Nature Priests have a choice among 5 At-Will Prayers: one each doing Fire, Lightning, Thunder, Poison, or Cold damage, all attacking FORT or REF.
Nature Priests may quickly run out of Minor Actions to sustain their powers: 2 of the 4 Level 1 Encounter Prayers are Sustain Minor, and 3 of the 4 Level 1 Daily Prayers are Sustain Minor, and 3 of the 4 Level 2 Utility Prayers are Sustain Minor, and 3 of the 4 Level 3 Encounter Prayers are Sustain Minor. . . .
Nature Priests do not Summon; they Conjure, instead. The conjured effects have no will of their own, and generally can neither make Opportunity Attacks, nor flank (because, with no OAs, they don't threaten on the enemies' turns), unless explicitly allowed to do so in a specific prayer.

For further confusion, there is also a "Druid" class in the book "Forgotten Heroes: Fang, Fist, and Song" from Goodman Games; it gets Animal Companions (choose one and stick with it); Wildshape 1 per Tier per Day, into different shapes for different purposes (or even "Porpoises"); and could learn to Summon Treant at Level 5 (lasts until the end of the encounter, so you don't actually have to sustain it). This FH Druid uses the Summoning keyword, but I haven't seen where that is defined yet; it is explicitly stated that the summoned Animal Companions can be destroyed with a single hit (modified by luck); but the FH Druid can simply summon a new Animal Companion next encounter. (Disposable Animal Companions: Affinity with Nature or Callous Exploitation?)

 

[Plane Sailing]

I don't think Flame Seed is much better than Cloud of Daggers either, but it might be. Its area only gets greater if you use it on a large or larger creature, and then it only kills minions better if they're all adjacent to that creature.

Also note that Fire Seed requires you to hit; Cloud of Daggers does not. I thought Druid seemed strong at first glance, but I think its actually pretty good having looked over it a few times.

All you have to do is target something near minions (or even the ground near them if you are allowed, and I seem to remember discussion that clarified you can) - as long as you can get the minions into the effectively burst 1 around the target, they are all dead (unless someone shifts them out before their turn).

Cloud of Daggers only affects a single square, so it is about 1/9th as effective as a minion autokill/blockade which creates a zone affecting all the squares around the original target square.

That's why I consider it a better minion autokiller than cloud of daggers, Much bigger area.

Cheers

 

[abyssaldeath]

Am I the only one who saw the Preview of the druid and immediately thought of making a warforged/druid who transforms into mechanical beasts and is basically a transformer?

Yeah, it was probably was just me.

There was someone on the gleemax forum that suggested the same thing. He named him Optimus Prime. The someone else changed it to Optimus Primal.

 

[thalmin]

All you have to do is target something near minions (or even the ground near them if you are allowed, and I seem to remember discussion that clarified you can) - as long as you can get the minions into the effectively burst 1 around the target, they are all dead (unless someone shifts them out before their turn).

Cloud of Daggers only affects a single square, so it is about 1/9th as effective as a minion autokill/blockade which creates a zone affecting all the squares around the original target square.

That's why I consider it a better minion autokiller than cloud of daggers, Much bigger area.

Cheers

Burst is only if you hit the original target.

 

[Oni]

All you have to do is target something near minions (or even the ground near them if you are allowed, and I seem to remember discussion that clarified you can) - as long as you can get the minions into the effectively burst 1 around the target, they are all dead (unless someone shifts them out before their turn).

Cloud of Daggers only affects a single square, so it is about 1/9th as effective as a minion autokill/blockade which creates a zone affecting all the squares around the original target square.

That's why I consider it a better minion autokiller than cloud of daggers, Much bigger area.

Cheers

So we've got:

Cloud of Daggers: 100% chance to kill 1 minion.
Scorching Burst: 50/50 chance to kill any given minion in a burst1 area.
Fire Seed: 50/50 chance to either kill all or none of the minions in a burst1 area.

 

[Phaezen]

After rereading the article, I am getting a definate force of nature vibe from the druid, rather than a tree hugging hipp vibe. Me likey.

The level 3 powers are now up:
Battering Claws - nice for pushing oppenents across the battlefield. YOur friendly neighbourhood strikers and defenders will like this.
Call Lightning - gives the opponenets a choice, do you take the penalty to hit, or do you take the damage.
Predators Flurry - the images of the druid dashing across the battlefield flatening foes is awesome.
Tundra Wind - a bit of close support firepower.

The druid's non-Beast Form powers seem to have a large damned if you do, damned if you don't component.

Defenders and melee based strikers should enjoy working with a well played druid.

Phaezen

 

[Cadfan]

I don't think it makes sense to evaluate a power's strength purely as a minion killer. That's only one of the purposes of the powers in question. You will almost inevitably find yourself using these powers against non minions at least some of the time.