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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Felix" data-source="post: 2058750" data-attributes="member: 3929">Ahem. Aparrently I was vague. "Level of effectiveness" means that the Druid can get the job done, not that he does everything exactly as well as the other guy. But since I don't want to be vague about it...Melee: The Druid can Wildshape and tangle up with foes. Specifically: The fighter is supposed to be the best at this. Against single foes he will be able to Wildshape to change into a bear form and grapple the heck out of them. The low AC will become much less of a problem, and the natural attacks will allow the Druid to dish out a fair amount of damage and stop the enemy from doing the same. A fighter would use his weapon to deal damage, and rely on his AC to protect his HP. When confronted with multiple foes who threaten to overwhelm, the Druid can easily withdraw wheras the fighter is left in a sea of baddies.Healing: Not as good as the Cleric, but he can prepare Cure spells, and Wildshape heals himself.Specifically: Like the Cleric, Ranger and Paladin, the Druid can easily use Wands to dispense healing. No, he is not a Cleric, but he can prepare Cure spells, to supply backup healing. He heals himself "naturally" when Wildshaping so as to not draw so much healing away from the rest of the party. This helps. And in my experience, the role of party healer is played about half the time by a wand.Scouting: Again, Wildshape is key here, and he can become a fairly innocuous rat in urban environments, or a hawk in natural ones. As such he is generally undetectable by enemies because he is in plain sight. Nature Sense gives the Druid a slight edge over the Ranger in Survival, as long as it's not about tracking Favored Enemies.Specifically: The Druid also has Spot and Listen on his skill list. The druid can become an innocuous animal through Wildshape; this is better than a good Hide and Move Silently check in many cases as it can't be defeated by an opposed skill roll. The Druid can fly while doing so. The Druid can Survival it as good as if not better than the Ranger (again, except when tracking Favored Enemies) and it isn't impossible for the Druid to take Track.Support Spells: The Druid has some great buffs, and while Summon Nature's Ally doesn't have the punch that Summon Monster does, he can do it at a whim. He has the best caster's anti-melee abjuration in the game in Anti-life Shell. Can Scry for "free", and pretty much anywhere.Specifically:Do you want me to post all the spells, or can you check them out on your own?Attack Spells: These don't really come into their own until the higher levels, but when the Druid reaches 5th level spells he starts laying the hurt down. If you are skeptical, read Sepulchrave's story hour... in it you will see a single druid laying waste to an Army with strong clerical support.Specifically: The Druid has very good range on his spells, which Clerics do not. This means he contends with the Sor/Wiz list for blasting. While this selection is not as varied as the Sor/Wiz list, there are good spells for killing things here.Flame StrikeIce StormSpike StonesBaleful PolymorphCall Lightning StormWall of FireFire SeedsFinger of DeathSunburstWhirlwindElemental SwarmShamblerStorm of VenganceSkills: Outdoorsy in nature, but they arn't bad; Listen and Spot go a long way, specially for casters. And while Clerics, Wizards and Sorcs languish under 2+INT for skills, the Druid has a nice 4+.Specifically:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The Rogue is the king of skills, but like many complain, spells overtake skills at higher levels. And the Druid has spells. And what mechanical stuff the Druid can't do (Open Lock, Disable Device), he can get around with Meld Into Stone, Stone Shape, Warp Wood, Wood Shape etc. Also thanks to Find the Path and Scrying, he knows a hella lot more about where he's going than a Rogue.</li> </ul> <ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Spot, Listen, Know(nature), Survival, Diplomacy, Spellcraft, Concentration, Handle Animal, Heal, Ride, Swim, Craft, Profession. Those that are very useful are bolded. This allows the Druid to operate in the wild, and Diplomacy allows him to operate fairly well in urban environments. No, not as well as a Bard, but then, the Druid doesn't have to be as obvious about his operations as a bard thanks to Wildshaping.</li> </ul>Information Gathering: In natural environments the Druid is the best info-gatherer in the game, what with Stone Tell, Speak with Animals and Speak with Plants. In urban environs, he has Diplomacy as a class skill, and the role-playing advantage of being able to say that he represents Nature... and that Nature is something the urbanites don't want to upset.Specifically: The Diviner is going to be the best at this, what with his bevy of Detect spells. But outside of that, the Druid has...<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Speak with Animals will get information out of any animal after a successful Wild Empathy check. Not all animals live in the wilderness, so you could get info about a place by asking the animals that live nearby in the city.</li> </ul> <ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Commune with Nature will tell you where anything is within a few miles. This is in many ways superior to Commune and Contact other Plane because you don't have to deal with misleading answers or the potential for a stat decrease. It's either a mile in that direction up a tree, or out of range.</li> </ul> <ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Druidic Scrying is the best in the game because it is free and can be done anywhere.</li> </ul> <ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Stone Tell and Speak with Plants will get you information about what has passed either in the wild or underground. No other class can do this as accurately.</li> </ul> <ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Find the Path anyone? Only kina a good spell.</li> </ul>Character Interaction: Again, the Druid can rely on Diplomacy to help here. It won't be as powerful because the Bluff, Sense Motive and Know (royalty) skill are cross-class, but it can be strong. The Druid's spell list does not help much here. It's campaign specific, but a society of druids is common, and a built-in support for the Druid character.Specifically:Ah, the weakness. Druids can't interact with NPCs as well as Bards.</blockquote>

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