So You Wanna Play a Druid in a Tier 4ish Campaign...

[SowZ]

Could I just say, 'No spellcasting' and keep it balanced? d8 HD, okay BAB, animal companion, and wild shape are still intact. But there is no spell list. How would that work?

[Kalaska'Agathas]

You might try the Wildshape Ranger variant. I believe it is from some issue of Dragon or another. Basically, it's a Ranger, but with Wildshape.

[darksolitaire]

Don't really know, casting is part of the charm of druid. Is he a skilled player and knows his way around the druid tricks? If he is not, it might not become a problem.

Wildshape Ranger is from Unearthed Arcana, and Mystic Ranger is from Dragon 336. They can be used together, and make for excellent druid-lite.

[Gnaeus]

Is the player responsible?

If he is, tell him he is the most powerful PC in the party, and ask him to play nice. See if he will take crafting feats and make items for his friends. Ask him to focus on areas that aren't already covered in the party, so he isn't stepping on toes. Point out that you understand that he is able to turn into a fleshraker with a fleshraker companion sharing Venomfire, but you would rather if he not try to outmelee the fighter. Just because a core druid can be stronger than any 2 tier 4 characters, doesn't mean he can't be built in a party friendly way.

If he isn't, wildshape ranger may be the way to go.

[Fouredged Sword]

Make his animal companion be non combat focused, like a hawk or a horse or something.

Tell him to take spells that do interesting things, buff, aoe damage or assist the party, not dominate combat himself.

Tell him to not use wildshape to take combat forms - turn into a eagle to fly around - ok - fleashraker - no.

Then he should be fine acting as a batman druid.

[gbprime]

Or you could substitute Wild Shape as per Unearthed Arcana. A druid with no Wild Shape is much less likely to chew game balance to shreds.

[Silva Stormrage]

I would ask the player why he wants to play druid. He might want to play FOR the cool nature caster feel. If he likes the casting aspect I would suggest using the spontantous caster variant in Unearth Arcana and this (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/variantCharacterClasses.htm#druid) variant as well. That should make him reasonable.

[graeylin]

i'm playing a non wildshaping druid, and loving it. I still hold my own in the spell department. It's not a bad debuff at all.

[Gnorman]

Shapeshift variant from PHBII!

Okay, maybe not, since you're still a full caster... but I find it a nice way of keeping the druid's strengths while adding a few rational weaknesses. No longer can you stay in animal form and cast spells for example. Shapeshift is much less abusable than wild shape, and actually encourages a druid to invest in physical attributes.

[Curious]

Make him play a Totemist.

[Karoht]

IF spellcasting must be preserved, have him only able to cast Summon Nature's Ally spells. Still very fun, easy enough to deal with, yet helpful in situations where it is called for.

[Rogue Shadows]

Could I just say, 'No spellcasting' and keep it balanced? d8 HD, okay BAB, animal companion, and wild shape are still intact. But there is no spell list. How would that work?

I'd say yes, but I'd extend Wild Shape so that he has it from level 1 on.

[big teej]

as someone stated earlier.

if the player is new and doesn't know any tricks of it. I'd say let him have the druid as written.

in my school group I started from scratch. a player took a druid.

ya know what?

the fighter, paladin, and rangers are consistently out-performing the druid, across the board. and I don't forsee that changing.

[SowZ]

I think if it happens I'll talk about it and possibly show him this thread, maybe not, but essentially make most of what was suggested here an option. A no wild shape druid, wild shape ranger, or some of the other things suggested seem like they could work.

[Ivellius]

Could I just say, 'No spellcasting' and keep it balanced? d8 HD, okay BAB, animal companion, and wild shape are still intact. But there is no spell list. How would that work?

To ignore everyone else's posts and simply answer your question, yeah, it'd work. He has better skills than the fighter, a better companion than the ranger, and eventually will turn into animals. Arguably he evens gets a fighter as a class feature, so there's that to consider.

Depending on his animal selection, he's not going to be very versatile early. But taking a wolf, for instance, means he'll compete (or the wolf will) with the fighter as a valuable melee contributor. A mount makes him much more mobile and/or improves his damage on charges. A smaller animal brings some scouting to the table, and vipers can poison people if you want.

Once he gets wildshape, his versatility improves, though again it's limited--this time by daily uses.

But overall, yeah, I'd say he probably comes out to at least a Tier 4 class. He can handle animals well (maybe Track or some other skill that you want to focus), and wildshape is probably enough to bump him into Tier 3 (you can turn into a lot of different things).

If you like the flavor of a "nature warrior," the Totemist from Magic of Incarnum is also a pretty good fit. You don't turn into magical beasts, just parts of them!

[mootoall]

Taking away his Wild Shape only balances him with other T1 casters. Take away his spellcasting, and until lvl 5 I'd say he's T4 or lower, and wildshape gets him up to solid T3.

[Cicciograna]

Change Wildshaping to Aspect of Nature Variant (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/classFeatureVariants.htm#wildShapeVariantAspectOfN ature).

Tell him that he no longer knows every spell on Druid list, but must have a sort of "prayerbook", a set of bark tablets where druidic spells are inscribed, with the same rules as a Wizard Spellbook.

Ban Natural Spell (although Wildshape has already been nerfed, but whatever).

Drop the spontaneous casting of Summon Natural Ally.

Tell him that between Spellcasting, Animal Companion and Wildshape AoNV he can only pick 2.

As an EXTREME maneuver you could cap his spells at 6th level and give him the spell progression as the Bard.