Tiers of Partial Druids? (3.5)

[lunar2]

so, the question here is that if a druid had only a portion of its class features, what tier would it be?

wildshape druid: wild shape features are its only class features.

nature druid: has all class features except wildshape and spells.

caster druid: spellcasting is its only class feature.

now, obviously the caster is the most powerful of the three, but how powerful is it really, with the druid's more limited spell list (compared to cleric or wizard)?

[Greenish]

Caster's probably still t1. Wildshape is t3. Animal companion t5 (mayybe t4).

[drew2u]

After an awesome game in which my druid's signature spell was "Green Blockade" I wonder how well a verdant druid plays. Anyone have ideas on that, too?

[Mystify]

wildshape ranger is tier 3, and its wildshape is more constrained. It would suck for the first 4 levels having absolutely nothing, but once it gets going I would say tier 3.

Nature druid is probbly tier 4 or 5. You do have the full animal companion, which beats out the ranger's. 3/4 BaB is poor, but workable. In a reversal of the wildshape druid, it would work for the first 4 levels, then fall apart as the rest of the classes features are few and far between. They aren't even that good. +2 knowledge nature and survival? Flavorful, not really that awesome. Wild empathy? depends on the campaign. Woodland stride... not very exciting. You have more manuevarability in very specific circumstances, and nothing to do with it. Trackless step is generally useless, as you are carrying around a party who will leave a track. A bonus against fey spells is highly circumstancial. Venom immunity is nice, but scattered from everything else. A thousand faces is kinda cool, but its a relatively low level spell, and arguably should be part of the wild shape druid. Timeless body is generally not very useful within a campaign. So really, the question is how powerful is the AC? I'd say tier 5, since you are basically playing the companions at that point, which is comprable to a fighter.

caster druid is tier 1 still. Their spell list is pretty awesome. For instance, they still get shapechange, immediately trumping the wildshape druid upon acquisition.

[DeAnno]

Caster would be a rather low T1 (probably decisively lower than any other current T1).

Wild Shape is a solid T3.

Animal Companion, Wild Empathy, A Thousand Faces, and "the rest" could be T4, if only because you get two sets of useful actions (presumably you would use feats and gear to make yourself halfway competent outside of the animal).

[Randomguy]

What about with ACF's? Spontaneous spellcasting instead of normal, or shapeshift variant/ aspects of nature variant instead of wildshape?

[Aegis013]

Caster would be a rather low T1 (probably decisively lower than any other current T1).

I don't know, with basically no class features to speak of, any divine full casting progression PrC is going to become open to them. This could make them about on par with the other T1's, still, unless you're talking strictly Wizard 20/Cleric 20... etc.

[Greenish]

What about with ACF's? Spontaneous spellcasting instead of normal, or shapeshift variant/ aspects of nature variant instead of wildshape?Spontaneous casting drops druid to t2 pretty much by definition. Shapeshift and Aspects of the Nature are straight nerfs, but don't stop spellcasting from keeping it t1.

[Gavinfoxx]

Combining as many of these as possible:

Shapeshift Variant (Player's Handbook II)
Deadly Hunter Variant (Unearthed Arcana, SRD)
Druidic Avenger Variant (Unearthed Arcana, SRD)
Spontaneous Divine Caster Variant (Unearthed Arcana, SRD)
Spontaneous Affliction (Exemplars of Evil)
Spontaneous Rejuvenation (Player's Handbook II)

Generally nerfs a Druid down to Tier 3...

[DeAnno]

I don't know, with basically no class features to speak of, any divine full casting progression PrC is going to become open to them. This could make them about on par with the other T1's, still, unless you're talking strictly Wizard 20/Cleric 20... etc.

I'm not so sure. Wizard has the Sor/Wiz list, and Cleric has Turn Undeads and Domain slots. Archivist and STP Erudite are weird cases but pretty definitely have better spell lists than Druid too (in some campaigns Archivist is debatable but at least it has class features). Artificers are weird little bundles of futz, but I would take their schtick over Druid only casting.

PRCs won't really change any of the stuff going on between those guys, it mainly comes down to spell lists.

[Mystify]

I'm not so sure. Wizard has the Sor/Wiz list, and Cleric has Turn Undeads and Domain slots. Archivist and STP Erudite are weird cases but pretty definitely have better spell lists than Druid too (in some campaigns Archivist is debatable but at least it has class features). Artificers are weird little bundles of futz, but I would take their schtick over Druid only casting.

PRCs won't really change any of the stuff going on between those guys, it mainly comes down to spell lists.

Though you could dip cleric and use DMM with the druid if you wanted to. Or you could find a prestige class that offers turning pool, go into that, then DMM cheese. Without the delicious class features holding them back to base druid, they can take delicious PrC features instead, and end up losing a lot less than they would otherwise.The druid's spell list is not shabby.