Primal Power Excerpt: The Swarm Druid

[Jack99]

So, what happens when you move the zone? Does the little "eye" in the middle ever get "filled in"?

For what it's worth, pending official clarifications, I'm going to rule that the zone excludes the central square until it is moved. Once it is moved, the central square also becomes part of the zone. So, the druid can summon creeping doom and stay safely inside the central square (unaffected by the zone) as long as he doesn't move it. Of course, forced movement can make him leave the central square and start his turn in his own zone, even if he does not move it...

Yeah, that would be RAW - not sure if it is RAI though. Still considering what to do with it.

 

[CubeKnight]

Dwarven druids with 18/18 starting stats are going to be very popular.

@Rechan: Close Burst 1 affects the 8 squares around you. Not the square you are in. (PHB 54 and 271). So when Creeping Doom creates a zone, the square in which you are located is not within the zone.

Wilden works, too.

 

[OchreJelly]

I almost think that if "Stinking Cloud" were written today, it would have an effect line similar to creeping doom. Or at the very least it would be more clear on the language of "start of turn" and "enter" for the damage line. Creeping Doom 4E is very cool btw.

 

[Engilbrand]

I'm thinking of making a Warforged character a brief Companion for my players soon. I saw this today, and I think that I've hit upon a flavor for it that I like. The Warforged will disconnect into a number of small automata that wander around attacking things. I'll just reflavor everything to swarms of constructs. I really like that idea, and I want to do something like this in the future for a PC. Maybe a Swarm Druid/Artificer. When it does certain attacks, pieces break off and do what they need to do.
I love reflavoring just about everything that I come across. This is rife with awesome!
(Ignore any connection to Transformers. That's not where I'm going with this idea.)

 

[Nikosandros]

Yeah, that would be RAW - not sure if it is RAI though. Still considering what to do with it.

IMHO, a simple solution is to treat it as a close burst instead of a burst. A movable burst has the aforementioned issue of the hole in the middle and furthermore, a blast makes it more similar to the AD&D spell of the same name.

 

[MaximumHavoc]

@Rechan: Close Burst 1 affects the 8 squares around you. Not the square you are in. (PHB 54 and 271). So when Creeping Doom creates a zone, the square in which you are located is not within the zone.

to be precise:

"unless a power description notes otherwise, a close burst you create does not affect you. however, an area burst you create does affect you." PHB 272

so, in this case--a close burst--the caster would not be affected, but anyone else who happens to be in the origin square would be affected.

i found no rules dictating whether--and if so, when exactly--a burst or blast changes mechanically into a zone. if it does not change mechanically, then i assume that the same rules regarding bursts and blasts persist. in this case, the caster would be unaffected by the effects of the creeping doom zone.

The swarm druid is going to have rather low AC if the player neglects dexterity. When you start off, a AC of 13 might be a decent trade-off for resist 4 all, but at epic level is resist 8-9 all really worth it?

similar to the con-based shaman, i imagine that the swarm druid likely will need to take the chain proficiency feat.

 

[CubeKnight]

similar to the con-based shaman, i imagine that the swarm druid likely will need to take the chain proficiency feat.

That's what I thought as well, but Primal Swarm doesn't work on Heavy Armor

Edit- Random idea: Hybrid Druid|Warden, taking Hybrid Paragon to get the Warden's Con to AC.

 

[Bongo]

The swarm druid is going to have rather low AC if the player neglects dexterity. When you start off, a AC of 13 might be a decent trade-off for resist 4 all, but at epic level is resist 8-9 all really worth it?

Maybe there are paragon or epic druid feats which add more to your resistance.

 

[Shroomy]

Maybe there are paragon or epic druid feats which add more to your resistance.

It looks like the powers will also increase your resistance and/or defenses just look at two of the four examples in the excerpt: scattered form and fog of insects.

 

[SkidAce]

this is just like the "D'ivers" in the Malazon books.

That occured to me also...cool.