Tell me why Druids are the most powerful class

[Pielorinho]

Don't dismiss the fact that druids can summon elementals at lower levels than their other spellcasting friends. A Huge Earth Elemental attacks for +20/+20 (due to earth mastery) most of the time and deals 2d10+9/10. This is less than the dire bear, but the elemental is likely to survive longer due to having dr 5/- and elemental traits. Also factor in its much superior feats Power Attack, Cleave, Great Cleave, Awesome Blow, and Improved Bullrush and you have a melee machine. Add in Augument Summoning and you are golden. Too bad all summon spells are shut down by protection from alignment spells.

Good point! I thought elementals had SR, but they don't; still, there are some options, such as dispelling the circle, that can come in handy.

Awhile ago I was trying to figure out the druidic battlefield spells. While firestorm is awful nice, you just can't go wrong with Elemental Swarm, either summoning earth elementals or air elementals. The latter go into cyclone form and just snatch up everyone on the battlefield; the former earthglide under the army, pop up in the middle of them, and great cleave everyone within reach into dust.

Daniel

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

Wildshape (Polymorph)... changes your form (& type), but doesn't change the size, that is normal to the form you just assumed.

Not sure where you're getting that; size is mentioned very prominently in the Wildshape description in the SRD:

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.

I don't know what the answer is to the question, but I think I could make an argument that wildshaping involves size change. I'd also like to see an actual cite of whether this can be done or not.

 

[RigaMortus]

I wonder. Can you Wildshape into a larger size animal than normal? For example, a Wolf is Medium sized normally. Can one Wildshape into a Large or Huge sized Wolf (once they get to the appropriate level of course)?

 

[Brother MacLaren]

That's what I'M sayin'...

I'm just using a different body... the size of that body has no relevance.

I agree - though I really think the relevant point for the DM should be something along the lines of "Can a non-Animal Growth druid be effective in combat against comparable foes? Is an Animal Growth druid excessively effective in combat against comparable foes?" - that is, focus more on the actual impact on the game than on playing Warriors & Lawyers and being a strict constructionist.

But since this board is for debating the literal meaning of the rules as written, I'd say that they should stack. Not every spell that causes instant death is a Death spell (e.g. Disintegrate, Holy Word). And not every spell cast by an evil caster for an evil purpose is an Evil spell. Is "size-affecting spell" a similarly specific term? I think it is meant to be. I think polymorph/wildshape/shapechange et. al. should be considered to give you a new form. But if in play an Animal Growth druid is consistently and considerably more powerful than the fighter classes (taking into account the round spent to cast the spell), then I'd say restrict it - in which case there should be a 3rd/4th-level spell that has the non-growth effects (the DR is nice).

Any horror stories on this? Any horror stories from campaigns where 4 encounters per day are the norm and PCs only sometimes have time to prepare?

 

[Urbanmech]

Any horror stories on this? Any horror stories from campaigns where 4 encounters per day are the norm and PCs only sometimes have time to prepare?

I guess my horror story is more on my end as a player. The one time I used Animal Growth and Dire bear shape, it got me killed. As a huge creature I took up a lot of room and made an inviting target for enemies who couldn't get past me to the rest of the party. A couple of failed saves and a full round attack by a buffed monk and that was all she wrote. Sure it is great to be a huge dire bear, but sometimes being huge is as much a hindrance (with squeezing and rooms that aren't that large) as a benefit.


I really think that the druid’s true power lies in their versatility. At high levels there really isn't anything they can't adapt to. Wild Shape provides fighting abilities and mobility and scouting. Spells provide the rest.

The 3.5 druid spell list is quite nice with great spells at every level. A druid can wake up in the morning and ask, "What do I feel like doing today?" Melee fighter, wildshape and self buff. Ranged damage dealer, produce flame, call lighting, flame strike, fire seeds, fire storm etc. Get to one place really fast, fly in wild shape, tree stride, or transport via plants. Druids may not be the most powerful class but they definitely hold the position of most versatile.

 

[youspoonybard]

Don't dismiss the fact that druids can summon elementals at lower levels than their other spellcasting friends. A Huge Earth Elemental attacks for +20/+20 (due to earth mastery) most of the time and deals 2d10+9/10. This is less than the dire bear, but the elemental is likely to survive longer due to having dr 5/- and elemental traits. Also factor in its much superior feats Power Attack, Cleave, Great Cleave, Awesome Blow, and Improved Bullrush and you have a melee machine. Add in Augument Summoning and you are golden. Too bad all summon spells are shut down by protection from alignment spells.

I noticed that no one mentioned Elemental Wild Shape yet - but if you do get it, remember you get all of the elemental's feats just for turning into the form.

And even though you can't initiate an Improved Grab from a touch attack, good use of reach can make it so that your target cannot make an AoO anyway, especially if your target is generally "weak" on grappling - mages and skill users tend not to have huge reach.