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Zman
2012-12-31, 07:10 PM
This fix is party of a larger work aimed at rebalancing the Classes to Tiers 2-4. See my homebrew signature for more details.

Note, I am aware that I may not be removing the Tier 1 classes from Tier 1, but my modifications should limit their power to a noticable degree.

The Druid can do it all. Seriously, they were like 2.5 party members in one. I'm looking to give the Druid options, but putting a price on its power and versatility. This was by far my most difficult WIP fix.

Summary of ChangesThis fix gives the Druid options, but does not give them the full Spellcasting, Wild Shape, and Animal Companion options that they had previously. As normal, 9th level spells have been removed. Now at character creation the Druid is forced to choose where they will specialize and what aspects will lag behind. Also, Wild Shape choices have been reduced.

Edit: Druid becomes a Spontaneous Caster


Druid
{table=head]Level|BAB|Fort|Ref|Will|Special

1st|+0|+2|+0|+2|Druidic Powers: Wild Shape, Spellcasting, Animal Companion, Nature Sense, Wild Empathy

2nd|+1|+3|+0|+3|Woodland Stride

3rd|+2|+3|+1|+3|Trackless Step

4th|+3|+4|+1|+4|Resist Nature's Lure

5th|+3|+4|+1|+4|

6th|+4|+5|+2|+5|

7th|+5|+5|+2|+5|

8th|+6/+1|+6|+2|+6|

9th|+6/+1|+6|+3|+6|Venom Immunity

10th|+7/+2|+7|+3|+7|

11th|+8/+3|+7|+3|+7|

12th|+9/+4|+8|+4|+8|

13th|+9/+4|+8|+4|+8|A Thousand Faces

14th|+10/+5|+9|+4|+9|

15th|+11/+6/+1|+9|+5|+9|Timeless Body

16th|+12/+7/+2|+10|+5|+10|

17th|+12/+7/+2|+10|+5|+10|

18th|+13/+8/+3|+11|+6|+11|

19th|+14/+9/+4|+11|+6|+11|

20th|+15/+10/+5|+12|+6|+12|

[/table]


Alignment: Any Neutral
Hit Die: 1d8

Class Skills:
Climb(Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Handle Animal (Cha), Hide(Dex), Heal (Wis), Jump(Str), Knowledge(nature) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently(Dex), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Spellcraft (Int), Spot (Wis), Survival (Wis),and Swim (Str).
Skill Points at 1st Level: (4 + Int modifier) × 4
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 4 + Int modifier

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Druids are proficient with the following weapons: club, dagger, dart, quarterstaff, scimitar, sickle, shortspear, sling, and spear. They are also proficient with all natural attacks (claw, bite, and so forth) of any form they assume with wild shape (see below).

Druids are proficient with light and medium armor but are prohibited from wearing metal armor; thus, they may wear only padded, leather, or hide armor. (A druid may also wear wooden armor that has been altered by the ironwood spell so that it functions as though it were steel. See the ironwood spell description) Druids are proficient with shields (except tower shields) but must use only wooden ones.

A druid who wears prohibited armor or carries a prohibited shield is unable to cast druid spells or use any of her supernatural or spell-like class abilities while doing so and for 24 hours thereafter.

Druidic Powers

At 1st level the Druid gains access to an Animal Companion, Wild Shape, and Spellcasting, but must choose what degree of focus each will recieve. The Druid can choose one Good, one Average, and one Poor progression in any combination. Once made, this decision is final. For example a Druid could choose to have Good Spellcasting, Average Wild Shape, and a Poor Animal Companion or a Druid could posses Good Wild Shape Ability, Average Animal Companion, and Poor Spellcasting. There is one exception, a Druid who choses to have a Good Animal Companion recieves Average Spellcasting and Wild Shape abilities.



Good Spellcasting
{table=head]Level|0th|1st|2nd|3rd|4th|5th|6th|7th|8th

1st|3|1|—|—|—|—|—|—|—

2nd|4|2|—|—|—|—|—|—|—

3rd|4|2|1|—|—|—|—|—|—

4th|5|3|2|—|—|—|—|—|—

5th|5|3|2|1|—|—|—|—|—

6th|5|3|3|2|—|—|—|—|—

7th|5|4|3|2|—|—|—|—|—

8th|5|4|4|3|1|—|—|—|—

9th|5|4|4|3|2|—|—|—|—

10th|5|4|4|3|2|—|—|—|—

11th|5|5|4|4|3|1|—|—|—

12th|5|5|5|4|3|2|—|—|—

13th|5|5|5|4|3|2|—|—|—

14th|5|5|5|4|4|3|1|—|—

15th|5|5|5|5|4|3|2|—|—

16th|5|5|5|5|4|3|2|—|—

17th|5|5|5|5|4|4|3|1|—

18th|5|5|5|5|5|4|3|2|—

19th|5|5|5|5|5|4|3|2|—

20th|5|5|5|5|5|4|3|3|1
[/table]


Average Spellcasting
{table=head]Level|0th|1st|2nd|3rd|4th|5th|6th

1st|3|1|—|—|—|—|—

2nd|4|2|—|—|—|—|—

3rd|4|2|—|—|—|—|—

4th|5|3|1|—|—|—|—

5th|5|3|2|—|—|—|—

6th|5|3|2|—|—|—|—

7th|5|4|3|1|—|—|—

8th|5|4|3|2|—|—|—

9th|5|4|3|2|—|—|—

10th|5|4|4|3|1|—|—

11th|5|5|4|3|2|—|—

12th|5|5|4|3|2|—|—

13th|5|5|4|4|3|1|—

14th|5|5|5|4|3|2|—

15th|5|5|5|4|3|2|—

16th|5|5|5|4|4|3|1

17th|5|5|5|5|4|3|2

18th|5|5|5|5|4|3|2

19th|5|5|5|5|4|4|3

20th|5|5|5|5|5|4|3
[/table]



Poor Spellcasting
{table=head]Level|Special|0th|1st|2nd|3rd|4th

1st|Nature's Blessing|3|1|—|—|—

2nd||4|2|—|—|—

3rd||4|2|—|—|—

4th||5|3|—|—|—

5th||5|3|1|—|—

6th||5|3|2|—|—

7th||5|4|2|—|—

8th||5|4|3|—|—

9th||5|4|3|—|—

10th||5|4|3|1|—

11th||5|5|4|2|—

12th||5|5|4|2|—

13th||5|5|4|3|1

14th||5|5|4|3|2

15th||5|5|5|3|2

16th||5|5|5|4|3

17th||5|5|5|4|3

18th||5|5|5|4|3

19th||5|5|5|4|4

20th||5|5|5|5|4

[/table]

Nature's Blessing

You can cast most of your Druid spells faster than normal. If the spell normally requires a standard action, you can cast it as a swift action. If it normally requires a full round to cast, you can cast it as a standard action. Spells with longer or shorter casting times are not affected by this feat.

Wild Shape (Su): At 1st level, a druid gains the ability to turn herself into any Small animal and back again at will. Her options for new forms include all creatures with the animal type selected from Monster Manual I. Other forms may be permissable at your DM's disretion. This ability functions like the alternate form special ability, except as noted here. The effect lasts for 2 hours per druid level, or until she changes back. The Druid can stay in animal form for a maximum of 2 hours per druid level per day. Changing form (to animal or back) is a Full Round Action and doesn't provoke an attack of opportunity. Each time you use wild shape, you regain hit points equalto your Hit Dice, this can be used a maimum of 1/2 your class level times/day. The Druid also gains any Special Qualities of the seleted animal.

Any gear worn or carried by the druid melds into the new form and becomes nonfunctional. When the druid reverts to her true form, any objects previously melded into the new form reappear in the same location on her body that they previously occupied and are once again functional. Any new items worn in the assumed form fall off and land at the druid's feet.

The form chosen must be that of an animal the druid is familiar with.

A druid loses her ability to speak while in animal form because she is limited to the sounds that a normal, untrained animal can make, but she can communicate normally with other animals of the same general grouping as her new form. (The normal sound a wild parrot makes is a squawk, so changing to this form does not permit speech.)

In addition, she gains the ability to take the shape of a Large, Tiny , and a Huge animal as she levels. See Table: Wild Shape. The new form’s Hit Dice can’t exceed the character’s Effective Character Level(ECL).

A druid may gain the ability to use wild shape to change into a plant creature with the same size restrictions as for animal forms. (A druid can’t use this ability to take the form of a plant that isn’t a creature.)

A druid may gain the ability to use wild shape to change into a Small, Medium, Large, Huge, Greater, or Elder Elemental (air, earth, fire, or water). In addition to the normal effects of wild shape, the druid gains all the elemental’s extraordinary, supernatural, and spell-like abilities. She also gains the elemental’s feats for as long as she maintains the wild shape, but she retains her own creature type. A character counts as having the required ECL to Wild Shape into a Greater or Elder Elemental.



Table: Wild Shape
{table=head]Level|Poor|Average|Good

Maximum Form HD|1/2ECL|3/4ECL|ECL

1st|Wild Shape(Small)|Wild Shape(Small)|Wild Shape(Small)
2nd|||Wild Shape(Medium)

3rd||Wild Shape(Medium)|Wild Shape(Standard Action)

4th|Wild Shape(Medium)|Wild Shape(Standard Action)|Wild Shape(Large)

5th|Wild Shape(Standard Action)||Wild Shape(Move Action)

6th||Wild Shape(Large)|Wild Shape(Tiny)

7th||Wild Shape(Move Action)|Wild Shape(Swift Action)

8th|Wild Shape(Large)||Wild Shape(Huge)

9th|Wild Shape(Move Action)|Wild Shape(Tiny)|

10th||Wild Shape(Swift Action)|Wild Shape(Plant)

11th|||

12th|Wild Shape(Tiny)|Wild Shape(Plant)|Wild Shape(Small Elemental)

13th|Wild Shape(Swift Action)||

14th|||Wild Shape(Medium Elemental)

15th||Wild Shape(Huge)|

16th|Wild Shape(Plant)||Wild Shape(Large Elemental)

17th|||

18th|||Wild Shape(Huge Elemental)

19th|||Wild Shape(Greater Elemental)

20th|Wild Shape(Huge)||Wild Shape(Elder Elemental)

[/table]


Table: Companion Druid Level
{table=head]|Poor|Average|Good

Compaion Druid Level Progression|1/2 ECL|3/4 ECL|ECL

Minimum Companion Druid Level|ECL-6|ECL-3|ECL

[/table]

Animal Companion (Ex): A druid may begin play with an animal companion selected from the following list: badger, camel, dire rat, dog, riding dog, eagle, hawk, horse (light or heavy), owl, pony, snake (Small or Medium viper), or wolf. If the campaign takes place wholly or partly in an aquatic environment, the following creatures are also available: crocodile, porpoise, Medium shark, and squid. This animal is a loyal companion that accompanies the druid on her adventures as appropriate for its kind.

Companion Druid Level: See Table: Companion Druid Level to calculate a Druid's level for dealing with an Animal Companion. Druids with Poor or Average Aninal Companion Progression do not use their full class level for determining the power of their animal companion.

A 1st-level druid’s companion is completely typical for its kind except as noted below. As a druid advances in level, the animal’s power increases as shown on the table. If a druid releases her companion from service, she may gain a new one by performing a ceremony requiring 24 uninterrupted hours of prayer. This ceremony can also replace an animal companion that has perished.

A druid of 4th level or higher may select from alternative lists of animals (see below). Should she select an animal companion from one of these alternative lists, the creature gains abilities as if the character’s druid level were lower than it actually is. Subtract the value indicated in the appropriate list header from the character’s druid level and compare the result with the druid level entry on the table to determine the animal companion’s powers. (If this adjustment would reduce the druid’s effective level to 0 or lower, she can’t have that animal as a companion.)


Spells: A druid casts divine spells, which are drawn from the druid spell list. Her alignment may restrict her from casting certain spells opposed to her moral or ethical beliefs; see Chaotic, Evil, Good, and Lawful Spells, below. A druid must choose and prepare her spells in advance (see below).

To learn or cast a spell, the druid must have a Wisdom score equal to at least 10 + the spell level. The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a druid’s spell is 10 + the spell level + the druid’s Wisdom modifier.

Like other spellcasters, a druid can cast only a certain number of spells of each spell level per day. Her base daily spell allotment is given on Table: The Druid. In addition, she receives bonus spells per day if she has a high Wisdom score. She does not have access to any domain spells or granted powers, as a cleric does.

A Druid's selection of spells is extremely limited. A Druid begins play knowing all 0-level spells and one, two, or three 1st level spells of his or her choice. At each new Druid level, he gains one or more new spells depending on if they chose Good, Medium, or Poor Spellcasting. A Good Spellcaster learns three new spells at each level, a Medium Spellcaster learns two, and a Poor Spellcaster learns one. At no point can a Druid know more spells of a higher level than hey do of a lower level. (Unlike spells per day, the number of spells a Druid knows is not affected by his Wisdom score. These new spells can be common spells chosen from the Druid spell list.

Spontaneous Summoning: A druid can channel spell energy into summoning spells. Summon Natures Ally spells are added to the Druid's list of Spell's Known.

Chaotic, Evil, Good, and Lawful Spells: A druid can’t cast spells of an alignment opposed to her own or her deity’s (if she has one). Spells associated with particular alignments are indicated by the chaos, evil, good, and law descriptors in their spell descriptions.

Bonus Languages: A druid’s bonus language options include Sylvan, the language of woodland creatures. This choice is in addition to the bonus languages available to the character because of her race.

A druid also knows Druidic, a secret language known only to druids, which she learns upon becoming a 1st-level druid. Druidic is a free language for a druid; that is, she knows it in addition to her regular allotment of languages and it doesn’t take up a language slot. Druids are forbidden to teach this language to nondruids. Druidic has its own alphabet.


Nature Sense (Ex): A druid gains a bonus equal to 1/2 her Druid level on Knowledge (nature) and Survival checks.

Wild Empathy (Ex): A druid can improve the attitude of an animal. This ability functions just like a Diplomacy check made to improve the attitude of a person. The druid rolls 1d20 and adds her druid level and her Charisma modifier to determine the wild empathy check result. The typical domestic animal has a starting attitude of indifferent, while wild animals are usually unfriendly.

To use wild empathy, the druid and the animal must be able to study each other, which means that they must be within 30 feet of one another under normal conditions. Generally, influencing an animal in this way takes 1 minute but, as with influencing people, it might take more or less time.

A druid can also use this ability to influence a magical beast with an Intelligence score of 1 or 2, but she takes a –4 penalty on the check.

Woodland Stride (Ex): Starting at 2nd level, a druid may move through any sort of undergrowth (such as natural thorns, briars, overgrown areas, and similar terrain) at her normal speed and without taking damage or suffering any other impairment. However, thorns, briars, and overgrown areas that have been magically manipulated to impede motion still affect her.

Trackless Step (Ex): Starting at 3rd level, a druid leaves no trail in natural surroundings and cannot be tracked. She may choose to leave a trail if so desired.

Resist Nature’s Lure (Ex): Starting at 4th level, a druid gains a +4 bonus on saving throws against the spell-like abilities of fey.

Venom Immunity (Ex): At 9th level, a druid gains immunity to all poisons.

A Thousand Faces (Su): At 13th level, a druid gains the ability to change her appearance at will, as if using the disguise self spell, but only while in her normal form. This affects the druid’s body but not her possessions. It is not an illusory effect, but a minor physical alteration of the druid’s appearance, within the limits described for the spell.

Timeless Body (Ex): After attaining 15th level, a druid no longer takes ability score penalties for aging and cannot be magically aged. Any penalties she may have already incurred, however, remain in place. Bonuses still accrue, and the druid still dies of old age when her time is up.

Ex-Druids
A druid who ceases to revere nature, changes to a prohibited alignment, or teaches the Druidic language to a nondruid loses all spells and druid abilities (including her animal companion, but not including weapon, armor, and shield proficiencies). She cannot thereafter gain levels as a druid until she atones (see the atonement spell description).

THE DRUID’S ANIMAL COMPANION

A druid’s animal companion is superior to a normal animal of its kind and has special powers, as described below.

{table]Class Level|Bonus HD|Natural Armor Adj.|Str/Dex Adj.|Bonus Tricks|Special

1st–2nd|+0|+0|+0|1|Link, share spells

3rd–5th|+2|+2|+1|2|Evasion

6th–8th|+4|+4|+2|3|Devotion

9th–11th|+6|+6|+3|4|Multiattack

12th–14th|+8|+8|+4|5|

15th–17th|+10|+10|+5|6|Improved evasion

18th–20th|+12|+12|+6|7|

[/table]

Animal Companion Basics: Use the base statistics for a creature of the companion’s kind, but make the following changes.

Class Level: The character’s druid level. The druid’s class levels stack with levels of any other classes that are entitled to an animal companion for the purpose of determining the companion’s abilities and the alternative lists available to the character.

Bonus HD: Extra eight-sided (d8) Hit Dice, each of which gains a Constitution modifier, as normal. Remember that extra Hit Dice improve the animal companion’s base attack and base save bonuses. An animal companion’s base attack bonus is the same as that of a druid of a level equal to the animal’s HD. An animal companion has good Fortitude and Reflex saves (treat it as a character whose level equals the animal’s HD). An animal companion gains additional skill points and feats for bonus HD as normal for advancing a monster’s Hit Dice.

Natural Armor Adj.: The number noted here is an improvement to the animal companion’s existing natural armor bonus.

Str/Dex Adj.: Add this value to the animal companion’s Strength and Dexterity scores.

Bonus Tricks: The value given in this column is the total number of “bonus” tricks that the animal knows in addition to any that the druid might choose to teach it (see the Handle Animal skill). These bonus tricks don’t require any training time or Handle Animal checks, and they don’t count against the normal limit of tricks known by the animal. The druid selects these bonus tricks, and once selected, they can’t be changed.

Link (Ex): A druid can handle her animal companion as a free action, or push it as a move action, even if she doesn’t have any ranks in the Handle Animal skill. The druid gains a +4 circumstance bonus on all wild empathy checks and Handle Animal checks made regarding an animal companion.

Share Spells (Ex): At the druid’s option, she may have any spell (but not any spell-like ability) she casts upon herself also affect her animal companion. The animal companion must be within 5 feet of her at the time of casting to receive the benefit. If the spell or effect has a duration other than instantaneous, it stops affecting the animal companion if the companion moves farther than 5 feet away and will not affect the animal again, even if it returns to the druid before the duration expires. Additionally, the druid may cast a spell with a target of “You” on her animal companion (as a touch range spell) instead of on herself. A druid and her animal companion can share spells even if the spells normally do not affect creatures of the companion’s type (animal).

Evasion (Ex): If an animal companion is subjected to an attack that normally allows a Reflex saving throw for half damage, it takes no damage if it makes a successful saving throw.

Devotion (Ex): An animal companion gains a +4 morale bonus on Will saves against enchantment spells and effects.

Multiattack: An animal companion gains Multiattack as a bonus feat if it has three or more natural attacks and does not already have that feat. If it does not have the requisite three or more natural attacks, the animal companion instead gains a second attack with its primary natural weapon, albeit at a –5 penalty.

Improved Evasion (Ex): When subjected to an attack that normally allows a Reflex saving throw for half damage, an animal companion takes no damage if it makes a successful saving throw and only half damage if the saving throw fails.

ALTERNATIVE ANIMAL COMPANIONS

A druid of sufficiently high level can select her animal companion from one of the following lists, applying the indicated adjustment to the druid’s level (in parentheses) for purposes of determining the companion’s characteristics and special abilities.

4th Level or Higher (Level –3)
{table]Ape (animal)|Dire weasel

Bear, black (animal)|Leopard (animal)

Bison (animal)|Lizard, monitor (animal)

Boar (animal)|Shark, Large (animal)

Cheetah (animal)|Snake, constrictor (animal)

Crocodile (animal)|Snake, Large viper (animal)

Dire badger|Wolverine (animal)

Dire bat|

[/table]

7th Level or Higher (Level –6)
{table]Bear, brown (animal)|Dire wolf

Dire wolverine|Elasmosaurus (dinosaur)

Crocodile, giant (animal)|Lion (animal)

Deinonychus (dinosaur)|Rhinoceros (animal)

Dire ape|Snake, Huge viper (animal)

Dire boar|Tiger (animal)

[/table]

10th Level or Higher (Level –9)
{table]Bear, polar (animal)|Shark, Huge (animal)

Dire lion|Snake, giant constrictor (animal)

Megaraptor (dinosaur)|Whale, orca (animal)

[/table]

13th Level or Higher (Level –12)
{table]Dire bear|Octopus, giant (animal)

Elephant (animal)|

[/table]

16th Level or Higher (Level –15)
{table]Dire shark|Triceratops (dinosaur)

Dire tiger|Tyrannosaurus (dinosaur)

Squid, giant (animal)|

[/table]

ACF's

Predator

Level: 1st
Lose: Wild Shape, Spellcasting, or Animal Companion.
Gain: Favored Enemy or Favored Environment(As Ranger) of 1/2 level for Poor Progression, 3/4 for Average, and full for Good. Minimum effective Ranger Level of 1.

Stalker

Level: 1st
Lose: Wild Shape, Spellcasting, or Animal Companion.
Gain: Sneak Attack(As Rogue). of 1/2 level for Poor Progression, 3/4 for Average, and full for Good. Minimum effective Rogue Level of 1.

Most ACFs will no longer applicable. DM discretion on those that may apply.

Zman
2012-12-31, 07:11 PM
Changelog:

1-1-13
Added a Finality clause to the decision.
Boosted Nature Sense

1-27-13
Druids are now Spontaneous Casters

2-7-13
Added Predator and Stalker ACFs.

12-16-13
Clarified ACFs for Predator and Hunter.

toapat
2012-12-31, 08:15 PM
While a decent fix, and perhaps enough to pull them off of T1, i still see a huge problem:

Each of the Druid class features has a different period when it is extremely strong.

At lvl 1? id always go for the full power pet with average spellcasting.
At about lvl 5, id retrain that to full Wildshape and average spellcasting

Zman
2013-01-01, 01:33 AM
While a decent fix, and perhaps enough to pull them off of T1, i still see a huge problem:

Each of the Druid class features has a different period when it is extremely strong.

At lvl 1? id always go for the full power pet with average spellcasting.
At about lvl 5, id retrain that to full Wildshape and average spellcasting

I was thinking different builds would vary between low Tier 1 to Tier 2, which is the goal for this class. Kind of a BuildaDruid.

I wasn't thinking about retraining, but I guess that is possible thanks to PHB2. Will add a once this decision is made its final clause to discourage flipping.

Edit: Thinking about Natural Spell as a bonus feat. Amy suggestions for a universal special ability or change to existing ability?

toapat
2013-01-01, 01:43 AM
I was thinking different builds would vary between low Tier 1 to Tier 2, which is the goal for this class. Kind of a BuildaDruid.

I wasn't thinking about retraining, but I guess that is possible thanks to PHB2. Will add a once this decision is made its final clause to discourage flipping.

Edit: Thinking about Natural Spell as a bonus feat. Amy suggestions for a universal special ability or change to existing ability?

Actually, you should add a "Die or Die harder" clause for taking natural spell. There is a reason it is considered a staple of druid builds.

and you can still pay for a miracle no matter what to change your permanent decisions, even if you lock it from retraining

Zman
2013-01-01, 01:56 AM
Actually, you should add a "Die or Die harder" clause for taking natural spell. There is a reason it is considered a staple of druid builds.

and you can still pay for a miracle no matter what to change your permanent decisions, even if you lock it from retraining

Very true about Natural spell, I considered simly eliminating it as my Druid fix, but figured that wouldn't be well recepted. I pretty much made the build assuming it would be taken, hence my wanting to just give it away and save them a feat,

And thinking about it, choosing Poor Spellcasting could yield a T3 Druid. Either way, I think it at least reduces the powerhouse that is Druid down to a manageable level and gives more character creation options.

Deepbluediver
2013-01-01, 05:40 PM
I like the idea of giving the druid options to what they focus their strength on. Rather than giving increased spellcasting and/or wildshape in conjuction with the animal companion because it's weaker, I would rather find a way to boost the animal companion at higher levels.
One idea might be to let the druid take a magical beast as his animal companion (not at first level, obviously) which frequently offer more options and combat capability.

Here's an idea for nerfing natural spell without banning it entirely:
You can take the feat multiple times; the first time lets you cast 0th and 1st level spells in your Wildshape form. Each additional time lets you cast the next highest level of spells. That way, if the player is really dedicated to casting spells when shapeshifted into a bear, they can spend a lot of resources on it. Since some of your druids have fewer spell-levels, they can get their "full casting" without sacrificing 9 feats.

If you think 1 spell level per feat is too little, you could easily boost it so that every copy of the feat grants two spell levels, instead of just the first one.

Zman
2013-01-01, 06:07 PM
I like the idea of giving the druid options to what they focus their strength on. Rather than giving increased spellcasting and/or wildshape in conjuction with the animal companion because it's weaker, I would rather find a way to boost the animal companion at higher levels.
One idea might be to let the druid take a magical beast as his animal companion (not at first level, obviously) which frequently offer more options and combat capability.

Here's an idea for nerfing natural spell without banning it entirely:
You can take the feat multiple times; the first time lets you cast 0th and 1st level spells in your Wildshape form. Each additional time lets you cast the next highest level of spells. That way, if the player is really dedicated to casting spells when shapeshifted into a bear, they can spend a lot of resources on it. Since some of your druids have fewer spell-levels, they can get their "full casting" without sacrificing 9 feats.

If you think 1 spell level per feat is too little, you could easily boost it so that every copy of the feat grants two spell levels, instead of just the first one.

The incentive to take a Good Animal companion is that you also get Average Spellcasting and Average Wild Shape. I'm not looking to make the Animal Companion stronger, with some minor buffing the Animal can be more powerful than most Core Fighters.

As to weakening Ntiral Spell, that's obviously been accomplished by weakingnSpellcasting and Wildshape. Wiput Full Spellcasting and Full Wildshape Ntiral spell is now balanced.