Caster druid

[Lokey]

Actually that's a perfect example of why changing spells sucks, don't have a way to tell players we removed SR check from a spell, and they're too dumb now to figure it out.

File under unfeasible and move on.

[Mixtli]

As long as druids have no way of getting mobility besides blinding speed there will be no wiz (DC) based druid casters, and some of us would like if that was an option.

would be nice if the class could be used as a caster, not only a dragon/elemental...shifter...

*and no - going for only ice storm and inferno is nowhere near good enough to build*

[dethonlegs]

would be nice if the class could be used as a caster, not only a dragon/elemental...shifter...

I made a non hasted toon once (and only once). Begging for haste and constantly chugging pots gets tiring quick. It met the devil angel after a particularity frustrating encounter. That was the first time I watched the cut scene to the end and thought 'never again'.

[Koniption]

Is there a way to perhaps modify one of the natural passive abilities given to druids for example the "Woodland Stride" ability received at 2nd level which is not available to other classes including ranger to give either a flat 30% movement increase in Wilderness areas or scale up based on druid levels e.g 10% 1-10, 20% 11-20, 30% 21-30, 40% 31-35, 50% 36-40 druid levels?

An issue I see attaching it to a passive ability is that Shapechangers would still benefit from the speed whereas another suggestion would be to attach it to a druid spell such as "One with land" (albeit rangers have access) and give it a duration a 1 rd per 2 levels or something similar which would force a shapechanger to drop shape to recast.

Edit: Could it be attached to a token item with a spell-like affect similar to Expedituous Retreat that could not be dispelled?

[Daral0085]

Along the same lines would be to apply a speed buff to druids as an on-skin affect, similar to the ranger speed boost that already exists. Skin buffs are lost upon shifting, so that fixes the "OMG Dragon OP" issue immediately.

[Rufio]

Druids casters are pretty much just Ice storm and inferno spamming machines, which is problematic when they are both in the same spell slot. Inferno by itself isn't a compelling enough reason not to just build a magic domain cleric.

Make crumble affect all creatures (maybe add a SR check for balance), and then you'll have a direct damage spell better than those of a cleric, but inferior to a mage's. Since druids suck at crowd control and can't heal as well as a cleric, they might as well get some better damage. It would put druids somewhere half-way between a cleric and mage in terms of healing and damage dealing. Making this change to crumble by itself might be enough of a reason for me to want to try a caster druid.

[Rufio]

don't have a way to tell players we removed SR check from a spell

I heard that sometimes you post changes in the change log.

[Daltian]

Or give bloodfrenzy movement speed increase. It's druid only. Round per level duration. Also it doesn't sound unreasonable that it gives movement speed increase.

[burrahobbit]

I have a fairly fun druid that I started back when creeping doom was still a stackable spell. I only use him for crafting now. He's AQ'nd with blinding speed and has Dragon shape. Doesnt have an excessive amount of wisdom obviously since it takes allot to get BS but given the available options of offensive casting, basically he is just good at buffing fast. Occasionally when a PM shows up he gets to use bombardment. Other than that, hes...... really fast at buffing.....

[hond]

give a +8 DC to ALL pure casters...hellball friendly is totaly OP retarded as well crumble token....
PvP turn around number of pure hellbaler and crumble/gyth token/roar...
With +8 DC pure caster, spells like Stonehold and SoV allow to a druid to be efective in PvP...the DC bump largely compensated by the way are they floored by KD/IKD...
And max spells damages on pure fighter/barb have to be work even now...fire storm,crumble and bombardment in small area like TC craddle have to be efective....
and finaly ...as i can't make druid in my faction coalition, i don't really care if they don't have speed increase...

[Korr]

don't have a way to tell players we removed SR check from a spell

I heard that sometimes you post changes in the change log.

There were tales for a while about a wiki as well... it has cine been pretty hush hush though!

/e : As a side note, so many of the druid spells do a physical form of damage (piercing usually) which typically is entirely absorbed by characters equipment. 25% 20/- Piercing means that before vine mine / Creeping Doom can do damage it needs to do a total of 30 damage (average 10d6) before starting any real damage. A change to a differing type would boost some of the druid damage.

[Daltian]

Thing is I don't really mind the fact that druid spells are sub par. I just wish that druid had haste/expeditious retreat equivalent spell/ability so we could at least try to play it as a caster.

[Koniption]

There are still a few druid spells that could do with some tweaking :p - I see Druid more of a elemental master (the elemental nuker!)

Call Lightning could scale with Spell Focuses e.g. No SF 10d10, SF 12d10, GSF 14d10 and ESF 16d10

Bark Skin could also be upgraded as past 13 it is replaced by gear. It could become a Damage Shield to aid dedicated casters or dam reduction e.g. using the same scale as Death Armor but doing acid damage instead of magical and/or supplying a little dam reduction say SF 3/-, GSF 5/- and ESF 10/-

Final suggestion is to change how Elemental Swarm operates - I've never found it to be a useful Lvl 9 spell. it would be good to see it become a damage spell. As mentioned a lot of Druid spells are "fire-based" and physical which can be easily bypassed. Elemental Swarm for Druids could become a decent damage spell with No SF doing 4d6 Cold, Fire, Acid, Electrical damage and scale up to 10d6 each elemental type with ESF. It would have a reflex save for 1/2 and Spell Resistance using the "Meteor Swarm" animation and spell design - damaging those around the caster.

[Bargeld]

For arcane casters, there are only 2 benefits for going pure... Hellball and spell penetration. Mord and greater breach can make up for 5 of those levels against everything except high sr monks and a few shapes. This leaves pure hb as the only real reason, and that's more of a novelty. It's better to go 35/5 with bg or sd or in ma 30/10 pm.

Druid casters should follow this thinking as well. Insisting on a viable pure druid caster is just silly. Mix it with 5 or 10 of something to make up for the shortcomings. Sure, beef a couple elemental damage spells so they have some damage options. But my view of a druid is one of defense and protection, not offensive domination. They should be self/party buffers allowing their group to survive better. If you want haste, get bs. Going dc based for the types of spells they have is wasteful, which is true for arcane casters too. The top sorc bg builds don't have 52 chr, they have 38, maxing div shield for 20 dodge cap. PM casters have it much worse due to only 30 caster lvls for spell pen, causing a lot of failures and frustration vs racial sr... But at least they get some extra ac and crit immune as a tradeoff.

If i remember correctly, pure druids get some nasty shape options without shifter even in the mix. Even mixing with some other classes can result in some formidible shape options as well.

If anything, focus on the elemental damages/protections. Maybe even a beefy version of elem shield dealing/protecting moderate amounts of all damage types. Having a reflex based spell with 16d10 or 40d6 damage of any type is over the top.

[Daltian]

For arcane casters, there are only 2 benefits for going pure... Hellball and spell penetration. Mord and greater breach can make up for 5 of those levels against everything except high sr monks and a few shapes. This leaves pure hb as the only real reason, and that's more of a novelty. It's better to go 35/5 with bg or sd or in ma 30/10 pm.

Druid casters should follow this thinking as well. Insisting on a viable pure druid caster is just silly. Mix it with 5 or 10 of something to make up for the shortcomings. Sure, beef a couple elemental damage spells so they have some damage options. But my view of a druid is one of defense and protection, not offensive domination. They should be self/party buffers allowing their group to survive better. If you want haste, get bs. Going dc based for the types of spells they have is wasteful, which is true for arcane casters too. The top sorc bg builds don't have 52 chr, they have 38, maxing div shield for 20 dodge cap. PM casters have it much worse due to only 30 caster lvls for spell pen, causing a lot of failures and frustration vs racial sr... But at least they get some extra ac and crit immune as a tradeoff.

If i remember correctly, pure druids get some nasty shape options without shifter even in the mix. Even mixing with some other classes can result in some formidible shape options as well.

If anything, focus on the elemental damages/protections. Maybe even a beefy version of elem shield dealing/protecting moderate amounts of all damage types. Having a reflex based spell with 16d10 or 40d6 damage of any type is over the top.

I don't think you understood my point. I said caster druid and not pure druid. Actually having to go pure on druid to get the only viable build is what annoys me the most since you end up with melee build that buffs fast and can shoot a hellball and greater ruin.

And saying that we shouldn't build DC based druids may be your opinion, but I wish I was able to build one and play with it without hating every moment of it as I would with a slow caster toon and then find out its useless.

And why is everybody hijacking this thread with suggestions of improved druid spells? Lets keep the spells as they are and just make it mobile as wizard and cleric are. Once we do that we can see if druid spells are really that bad or not!