WotC_Dave: Druid!

[MaelStorm]

I would like to see a druid that uses wildshape for its utility rather then its combat. Turn into a bird and scout the land. Turn into a wolf and track your opponent. Turn into a house cat and spy on your enemy.

Thats what made wildshape fun.

I think that in terms of spells, the druid should cast summons, but summon elements in the forms of attacks. Like summon sylph and blast your opponent into the stratosphere, or summon salamander and burn your enemies to death.

The druids other spells should include wood shaping and strong nature magic dealing with plants and animals.

When wizards errated wildshape to take all the flavor out of it (the special qualites of the animal and its skill bonuses) it made wildshape into a purly combat option, it really took away what was great about wildshape, and thats using your cunning and ingenuity to use common animal shapes to your advantage.

combat wildshape would be good for a paragon tier but doesn't seem to fit as being the bread and butter of the class.

So i make a plea to wizards when they publish the druid, to make it more like the above. Heck I will help write it if thats what is needed to make it happen.

Yes, I totally agree with you. Roleplaying and combat options makes a class very attractive and versatile too.

After a lot of splatbooks and the PHB II will be released their will be tons of new options and powers. I'm pretty sure a lot of DM and player's will tinker with the system to create variants of existing classes. Even now, some people are already starting, it will be interesting to see what people will come up with.

 

[Graf]

I mean, seriously...spellcasting dinosaurs? I don't think so.

Now I want to play a spellcasting dinosaur.

But seriously, spellcasting as a creature isn't necessarily bad. It's really really awesome. Like Epic level awesome.

Didn't Nwm, use some spellcasting in animal form at various points (I want to say when he was stopping that entire army and hitting them with lightning and summoning dire eagles).
But just like fly it's an ability that could easily be moved 'up' levels.

 

[Moon-Lancer]

Yes, I totally agree with you. Roleplaying and combat options makes a class very attractive and versatile too.

After a lot of splatbooks and the PHB II will be released their will be tons of new options and powers. I'm pretty sure a lot of DM and player's will tinker with the system to create variants of existing classes. Even now, some people are already starting, it will be interesting to see what people will come up with.

thanks, If the 4e druid ends up not being as evocative as it should be, I will try my best to remake it while trying to barrow as much as I can from the old druids in d&d and the good parts of the new 4e druid.

Unless necromancer does an awesome job and beats me to it.

 

[Moon-Lancer]

Whats this "summoning" crap? Druids get help from nearby animals, not by "BAMF"ing them in from "someplace else" and then handwaving their demise. The creatures slain protecting the druid mean less animals in the forest.And broken, in the casters better than combatants dichotomy. Turning into a bird is going to have the same effect as a fly spell, so don’t expect that for many levels.

as ainatan said, if they don't cast spells while in wildshape it is not a problem. or at least it shouldn't be.

If wildshape works as a move action or minor action to sustain or somesuch, people wont feel as vulnerable in wildshape and will be more willing to wildshape and be ok with casting spells outside of wildshape. The problem with 3.5 wildshape is its a standard action. So basically for every wildshape a character looses at the minimum 2 rounds were they cannot cast spells. This is why wildshape doesn't work well without the help of feats. If it takes less time to wildshape and its not a expendable resource, players will be more likely to use wildshape even though they cant cast spells. This way they still have a choice between the two, but its not as much of a deal breaker were the player would rather not wildshape at all rather then being stuck with one or the other for a long amount of time.

 

[Pale Jackal]

Mostly because otherwise it's a cleric. Sure, he lives in the woods, can't wear metal armor, and has to kill his supervisor in order to advance in level, so he feels a little different. But mechanically, he's not terribly differentiable from a cleric.

Brad

Indeed. If the druid's just casting spells, it seems like he could be modeled as a cleric of nature... just call'em a druid for flavor.

 

[ideasmith]

Posted By: WotC_Dave, 3/26/2008 9:32:01 AM

• Call his role “hybrid.” But don’t assume that he can cover all roles. Just a couple of ‘em.

I like the hybrid role - if they can balance it, and if they specify each time which roles the class is a hybrid of. This brings to mind some other possible roles:

Noncombat
For those players who don't want their characters doing much in combat.

None
I've designed a homebrew class that would have this role.

 

[DandD]

Every class will be able to be good at combat, while still being good at non-combat stuff

At least, that's what the game designers claim.

 

[pgmason]

We've had a Druid in our 3/3.5 campaign. She's steadfastly refused to take the natural spell feat. While she's still the most versatile and useful member of the party due to her wide range of abilities, the choice of whether or not to go into wild shape gives her interesting tactical options, and means she doesn't overshadow anyone else too much. She mostly sticks to her own form and casts (especially as she's our only healer), but is perfectly capable of being a sneaky spy (raven or weasel), or a combat monster (dire bear) if the situation demands it. Removing that one feat would make the druid much more balanced, and in many ways more interesting to play.

 

[Klaus]

Yes, there is a draft druid. From his blog.

So Yeah, the Druid
Posted By: WotC_Dave, 3/26/2008 9:32:01 AM


The mention of the druid in my last blog entry was semi-intentional. I finished my design work on the druid over the weekend.

Now before anyone gets completely crazy, it’s worth noting what my job is: mechanical designer. That means I’m sometimes (but not always) the very first person to work on a particular design. But I’m no means the last. At this point, the druid class I wrote up has a conceptual buy-off from the immediate members of my team and the lead developer. But it could—and maybe should—change radically as it works its way through the design/development/ playtesting/editing /folding/spindling/ mutilating process. So keep that in mind.

(As an aside, my stuff gets altered beyond recognition all the time—that’s part of the business. I’m the department’s Harlan. Nothing wrong with that. Heck, I wrote the original Ninja of the Crescent Moon. Some of my stuff should get altered beyond recognition.)

So what’s the druid look like right now? Some tidbits:

• Call his role “hybrid.” But don’t assume that he can cover all roles. Just a couple of ‘em.
• If you like what the 3.5 Player’s Handbook II did to the 3.5 druid, then you’ll probably like this guy, too.
• He doesn’t do much with the classical Greek elements (air/fire/earth/wat er), but he’s got a lot of weather-related magic. Again, that’s the direction we were taking the class in latter-day 3.5 products.
• Not a lot of animal summoning. Plenty of wild shape.

And what’s in my druid file? The class description, of course, and all the powers (eighty of ‘em at this point, give or take). Plus there are some druid (and druid-friendly) feats, four paragon paths, an epic destiny (available to those who aren’t druids, too), and some rituals. Oh, and some druid-friendly magic items.

In other words, he’s ready for playtesting. Anyone wanna DM?

Out of Context: The Dwarven alphabet is much easier to decipher if you hold it right side up.

Music: Timbalada, Timbalada (Beware, album cover is NSFW)

Timbalada?

Awesome! :win:

 

[fba827]

As someone who hasn't had a chance to play or touch the phb2 book for a while -- In general terms, what were some of the major changes made by the PHB2 to the druid?