Tell me why Druids are the most powerful class

[RigaMortus]

It's the first thing on MY list to make permanent... YMMV.


Mike

And are the trees in your world made of lollipops, and the clouds are cotton candy?

 

[Terath Ninir]

People presume the druid is powerful because they equate the *number* of powers the class has with *quality* of powers. The perception is further skewed because, while polymorph was needlessly and ridiculously gutted in 3.5, wild shape wasn't.

As a final problem, druids shouldn't be able to polymorph to a form with more HD than they have. They can do so freely, whether by the letter of the rules or by DMs not paying enough attention -- the end result is the same; DMs tend to pay attention to only the size, not the HD. So a druid can turn into a ridiculously powerful form despite the fact that it has more HD than she has levels.

Most importantly, though, is that most of the munchkins who think druids are powerful DO NOT PLAY THE CLASS CORRECTLY. The roleplaying elements should be more than enough to keep most people from playing a druid. Druids should not want to go into cities or dungeons, and should be more concerned with protecting nature than being a 1337 dire bear uber ninja. But your average munchkin doesn't roleplay, so they look only at the kewl powers.

So, it's a combination of the incompetent bumbling at WotC when polymorph was nerfed, and people who roll-play druids instead of roleplaying them, that gives them their highly undeserved reputation of being the most powerful class.

 

[mikebr99]

And are the trees in your world made of lollipops, and the clouds are cotton candy?

yeah... aren't yours?

 

[mikebr99]

The perception is further skewed because, while polymorph was needlessly and ridiculously gutted in 3.5, wild shape wasn't.

Care to elaborate?


Mike

 

[Pielorinho]

Most importantly, though, is that most of the munchkins who think druids are powerful DO NOT PLAY THE CLASS CORRECTLY. The roleplaying elements should be more than enough to keep most people from playing a druid. Druids should not want to go into cities or dungeons, and should be more concerned with protecting nature than being a 1337 dire bear uber ninja. But your average munchkin doesn't roleplay, so they look only at the kewl powers.

Well, that's campaign specific. For example, the game I played a druid in involved a threat to destroy the world (and I've heard of at least one other campaign with a similar overarching plot, too ). In such a case, my 22-wisdom druid made the decision to set aside his dislike of cities and dungeons in service of the greater good. I figure to do otherwise would've been poor roleplaying.

Daniel

 

[mikebr99]

Well, that's campaign specific. For example, the game I played a druid in involved a threat to destroy the world (and I've heard of at least one other campaign with a similar overarching plot, too ). In such a case, my 22-wisdom druid made the decision to set aside his dislike of cities and dungeons in service of the greater good. I figure to do otherwise would've been poor roleplaying.

Daniel

Why you nasty 1337 dire bear uber ninja!!




Mike

 

[Felix]

Originally Posted by RoTG: Wild Life - Tricks and Training for D&D Animals
Although it's easy to imagine an animal benefiting from magic equipment beyond a simple saddle and a suit of barding, fitting a mount's physiology to the list of item slots available to characters is not an easy task. Try the following variant list of item slots for quadruped animals (and other monsters when appropriate).

I was assuming Core. And what is "RoTG"?

It's the first thing on MY list to make permanent... YMMV.

I like Arcane Sight better myself.

But as far as Detect Magic goes, what do you do about the hawk circling 100' above?

As a final problem, druids shouldn't be able to polymorph to a form with more HD than they have. They can do so freely, whether by the letter of the rules or by DMs not paying enough attention...

Wild Shape (Su): At 5th level, a druid gains the ability to turn herself into any Small or Medium animal and back again once per day. Her options for new forms include all creatures with the animal type. This ability functions like the polymorph spell, except as noted here. The effect lasts for 1 hour per druid level, or until she changes back. Changing form (to animal or back) is a standard action and doesn’t provoke an attack of opportunity.
The form chosen must be that of an animal the druid is familiar with.
A druid loses her ability to speak while in animal form because she is limited to the sounds that a normal, untrained animal can make, but she can communicate normally with other animals of the same general grouping as her new form. (The normal sound a wild parrot makes is a squawk, so changing to this form does not permit speech.)
A druid can use this ability more times per day at 6th, 7th, 10th, 14th, and 18th level, as noted on Table: The Druid. In addition, she gains the ability to take the shape of a Large animal at 8th level, a Tiny animal at 11th level, and a Huge animal at 15th level.
The new form’s Hit Dice can’t exceed the character’s druid level.
At 12th level, a druid becomes able to use wild shape to change into a plant creature with the same size restrictions as for animal forms. (A druid can’t use this ability to take the form of a plant that isn’t a creature.)
At 16th level, a druid becomes able to use wild shape to change into a Small, Medium, or Large elemental (air, earth, fire, or water) once per day. These elemental forms are in addition to her normal wild shape usage. In addition to the normal effects of wild shape, the druid gains all the elemental’s extraordinary, supernatural, and spell-like abilities. She also gains the elemental’s feats for as long as she maintains the wild shape, but she retains her own creature type.
At 18th level, a druid becomes able to assume elemental form twice per day, and at 20th level she can do so three times per day. At 20th level, a druid may use this wild shape ability to change into a Huge elemental.

A DM"s mistake should not be blamed on the designers.

And nor should role-playing restrictions balance mechanics.

 

[Pielorinho]

Why you nasty 1337 dire bear uber ninja!!

Am not! Don't make me use my giant-unseen-claw-of-death on you!

Daniel

 

[Henry]

Most importantly, though, is that most of the munchkins who think druids are powerful DO NOT PLAY THE CLASS CORRECTLY. The roleplaying elements should be more than enough to keep most people from playing a druid. Druids should not want to go into cities or dungeons, and should be more concerned with protecting nature than being a 1337 dire bear uber ninja. But your average munchkin doesn't roleplay, so they look only at the kewl powers.

I disagree with the concept that a druid is city-exclusive, and for that matter that cities, in particular D&D cities, are nature-exclusive. It's as hard to keep nature from intruding into a city as it is keeping water from flowing through a sieve. Lichens, shrubs, moss, and algae grow where city-dwellers take a single day off from cleaning. Insects, rats, arachnids, and small animals dwell even if said city-dwellers work to actively eradicate them. A D&D city is as much nature as nature-despoiled, as stone buildings, wood beams, and dirt floors exist in abundance, surrounded by fields of crops and animals existing solely to support said city. Natural caves will have the same situation - It'll certainly have a different form of life, and you won't find large predators wandering around, but it's not something where the default D&D druid would find absolutely nothing familiar.

Animal Item Slots

Assuming Rules of the Game is official, then that is correct. I'll be darned; in 3.0, Masters of the Wild took a totally different stance. OTOH, if everybody is always running around with permanent detect magic, then that's a totally different ballgame, one that isn't played out in any game I've ever played in 24 years, so I'm unfamiliar with the situation.

 

[mikebr99]

I was assuming Core. And what is "RoTG"?

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/re/20031125a

I like Arcane Sight better myself.

But as far as Detect Magic goes, what do you do about the hawk circling 100' above?

Not much... but when the s**t starts hitting the fan, animals go the other way... if a hawk is still circling after a few flame strikes... [points] THERE's YOUR TARGET, RANGER!

Mike