Alternate Druid? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Alternate Druid? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Iry
06-23-06, 12:31 AM Both of the groups I play with seem to think the Druid's Wildshape ability is thematically inappropriate for the world in which we play in. One went so far as to disallow Druids on the principal that Shapeshifting was downright unheard of in that world. I myself have always felt a little awkward shifting around willy-nilly, and want to get opinions on a simple alternative.

So, the purpose of this post is to ask wether an alternative would be Balanced...

What's Lost: All ability of the druid to Wildshape is removed, including Elemental Wildshape.
What's Gained: For the purposes of having an Animal Companion, calculate Effective Druid Level as 50% higher. Round fractions down.
What's Accomplished: You've still got a woodland focused caster except he has a much greater emphasis on his animal companion. You might go so far as to say he becomes a pet specialist.

Now, the druid is a very powerful class to start off with. The Loss of the Wildshape ability is an astounding blow, and the class still stands strong even with the loss, but I don't feel confortable simply taking without trading. The Trade Off results in a much stronger animal companion. While the Trade Off seems to be a definite power down it appears to be only a slight decrease overall. I know this can be abused with things like Supermount(tm), but I've no intention of doing so.

So, opinions? Changes? I tried to keep it very simple and straightfoward.
*Also Posted in Classes Board*
Phoenix Knight
06-23-06, 01:19 PM I think that it then becomes a problem of the druid being totally wrapped up in his animal companion.

Not to mention, you could wind up with a companion that makes the other players feel inadequate.

Actually, maybe you should just allow two animal companions of base value (or maybe lowered for the second one). I think that's less likely to be a balance issue. Of course, that's without crunching the numbers.

Another option is that druids were known as a diviners, so you could allow spontaneous divination spells in addition to spontaneous nature's ally spells. While it seems a small power boost, the advantage of never having to memorize a single category of spell could add up over a campaign.
Verelor
06-23-06, 04:41 PM A good alternate druid

Ultimate Druid (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=168687)

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Iry 06-23-06, 12:31 AM	Both of the groups I play with seem to think the Druid's Wildshape ability is thematically inappropriate for the world in which we play in. One went so far as to disallow Druids on the principal that Shapeshifting was downright unheard of in that world. I myself have always felt a little awkward shifting around willy-nilly, and want to get opinions on a simple alternative. So, the purpose of this post is to ask wether an alternative would be Balanced... What's Lost: All ability of the druid to Wildshape is removed, including Elemental Wildshape. What's Gained: For the purposes of having an Animal Companion, calculate Effective Druid Level as 50% higher. Round fractions down. What's Accomplished: You've still got a woodland focused caster except he has a much greater emphasis on his animal companion. You might go so far as to say he becomes a pet specialist. Now, the druid is a very powerful class to start off with. The Loss of the Wildshape ability is an astounding blow, and the class still stands strong even with the loss, but I don't feel confortable simply taking without trading. The Trade Off results in a much stronger animal companion. While the Trade Off seems to be a definite power down it appears to be only a slight decrease overall. I know this can be abused with things like Supermount(tm), but I've no intention of doing so. So, opinions? Changes? I tried to keep it very simple and straightfoward. Also Posted in Classes Board
Phoenix Knight 06-23-06, 01:19 PM	I think that it then becomes a problem of the druid being totally wrapped up in his animal companion. Not to mention, you could wind up with a companion that makes the other players feel inadequate. Actually, maybe you should just allow two animal companions of base value (or maybe lowered for the second one). I think that's less likely to be a balance issue. Of course, that's without crunching the numbers. Another option is that druids were known as a diviners, so you could allow spontaneous divination spells in addition to spontaneous nature's ally spells. While it seems a small power boost, the advantage of never having to memorize a single category of spell could add up over a campaign.
Verelor 06-23-06, 04:41 PM	A good alternate druid Ultimate Druid (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=168687)