That Lanky Bugger
2007-02-08, 01:30 PM
The problem with Druids is pretty complex, unlike the Cleric. A Cleric's main power comes from a few hideously powerful spells. Without those three spells the Cleric is mostly in line with the other classes. A Druid's problem, however, is spread out over her abilities. Specifically, her problems is her Wildshape.
Druid
HD: d8
Druid
{table]Level|BAB|Fort|Ref|Will|Special
1|+0|+2|+0|+2|Animal companion, nature sense, wild empathy
2|+1|+3|+0|+3|Woodland stride
3|+2|+3|+1|+3|Trackless step
4|+3|+4|+1|+4|Resist nature’s lure
5|+3|+4|+1|+4|Wild shape (1/day)
6|+4|+5|+2|+5|Wild shape (2/day)
7|+5|+5|+2|+5|Wild shape (3/day)
8|+6|+6|+2|+6|Wild shape (Large)
9|+6|+6|+3|+6|Venom immunity
10|+7|+7|+3|+7|Wild shape (4/day)
11|+8|+7|+3|+7|Wild shape (Tiny)
12|+9|+8|+4|+8|Wild shape (plant)
13|+9|+8|+4|+8|A thousand faces
14|+10|+9|+4|+9|Wild shape (5/day)
15|+11|+9|+5|+9|Timeless body, wild shape (Huge)
16|+12|+10|+5|+10|Wild shape (elemental 1/day)
17|+12|+10|+5|+10|
18|+13|+11|+6|+11|Wild shape (6/day, elemental 2/day)
19|+14|+11|+6|+11|
20|+15|+12|+6|+12|Wild shape (elemental 3/day)[/table]
Class Features
All of the following are class features of the druid. If a Class Feature is not explicitly listed here, it works per the SRD's Druid entry (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/classes/druid.htm).
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.
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.
Wild Shape (Su)
At 5th level, a druid gains the ability to turn herself into any Small or Medium animal and back again once per day. Her options for new forms include all creatures with the animal type. This ability functions like the alternate form special ability, except as noted here. The effect lasts for 1 hour per druid level, or until she changes back. Changing form (to animal or back) is a standard action and doesn’t provoke an attack of opportunity. You do not regain lost hit points as if you had rested for a night.
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.)
A druid can use this ability more times per day at 6th, 7th, 10th, 14th, and 18th level, as noted on Table: The Druid. In addition, she gains the ability to take the shape of a Large animal at 8th level, a Tiny animal at 11th level, and a Huge animal at 15th level.
The new form’s Hit Dice can’t exceed the character’s druid level.
At 10th level, a druid can use some uses of her wild shape to heal herself as well as transform. When using wild shape to tranform into another form, she will regain hit points as if she had one night's rest. At 14th level she can do this twice a day, and at 18th level she can do this three times a day.
At 12th level, a druid becomes able 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.)
At 16th level, a druid becomes able to use one of her wild shape uses to change into a Small, Medium, or Large elemental (air, earth, fire, or water) once per day. These elemental forms count against her normal wild shape usage. Due to the draining nature of changing into a being of pure elemental energy, these transformation last for 10 minutes instead of 1 hour. 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. At 18th level, a druid becomes able to assume elemental form twice per day, and at 20th level she can do so three times per day. As noted, these uses count against her uses of Wild Shape.
Feat Change
Alternative Spellcasting [General] (replaces Natural Spell)
Prerequisites: Ability to cast 3rd level Arcane or Divine spells
Benefit
You can complete the verbal and somatic components of spells while in a form which would normally not allow you to cast spells. You substitute various noises and gestures for the normal verbal and somatic components of a spell. Spells cast in this manner are counted as being 2 Spell Levels lower for the purpose of determining it's Saving Throw DC and 4 Character Levels lower for the purpose of determining any level-based effects.
You can also use any material components or focuses you possess, even if such items are melded within your current form. This feat does not permit the use of magic items while you are in a form that could not ordinarily use them, and you do not gain the ability to speak.
Example: Juni the Druid is Level 13 and has a Wisdom of 20 (+5). Spotting a group of soldiers heading towards the party, she casts Flame Strike on them while in the form of a sparrow. Normally the spell would have a range of 230 feet, deal 13d6 damage and have a Reflex Save DC of 19. However, because she's in the form of a sparrow, the spell instead has a range of 190 feet, deals 9d6 damage and has a Reflex Save DC of 17.
Summary of Changes: The only real change has to do with the Druid's Wild Shape ability. While the Druid can still Wild Shape, she's no longer able to do it practically all day. Likewise, I've taken back the Druid's ability to spend hours at a time hanging out in an Elemental form. The ability to change into an elemental and still cast spells is powerful, so I dropped the duration to 10 minutes to keep it as something reserved for battle.
Unless the Druid is in an epic battle, 10 minutes is going to be more than enough time to be an elemental for the battle the whole way through. This means that the Druid has to think a little more carefully about how often she's willing to use the ability. Likewise, counting the Elemental transformations against her normal Wild Shape transformations was a move to make the Druid think a little harder about when she transforms and why.
The big change was Natural Spell, a feat which is plainly broken and needed to be fixed.
○ Natural Spell as a feat was, put bluntly, broken beyond belief. For a Wizard or Sorcerer to try to match the ability to cast while in a form other than their original, they'd have to take both Still and Silent Spell for the spellcasting, a proposition which would require them to take two feats AND cast their spells in a slot two Spell Levels higher than the original spell. Alternative Spellcasting now fills a niche and gives the Druid a reason to take Still and Silent spell as well as opening the feat up to Wizards and Sorcerers. The power reduction is explained as a loss of power due to the fact you're not using the REAL words and gestures, but vaguely appropriate substitutes.
I'd especially appreciate feedback on this CoDzilla variant, guys. Unfortunately the crew I'm running which tested my Cleric variant doesn't play Druids normally so I've been unable to get an idea about what an experienced Druid might think of these changes.
Druid
HD: d8
Druid
{table]Level|BAB|Fort|Ref|Will|Special
1|+0|+2|+0|+2|Animal companion, nature sense, wild empathy
2|+1|+3|+0|+3|Woodland stride
3|+2|+3|+1|+3|Trackless step
4|+3|+4|+1|+4|Resist nature’s lure
5|+3|+4|+1|+4|Wild shape (1/day)
6|+4|+5|+2|+5|Wild shape (2/day)
7|+5|+5|+2|+5|Wild shape (3/day)
8|+6|+6|+2|+6|Wild shape (Large)
9|+6|+6|+3|+6|Venom immunity
10|+7|+7|+3|+7|Wild shape (4/day)
11|+8|+7|+3|+7|Wild shape (Tiny)
12|+9|+8|+4|+8|Wild shape (plant)
13|+9|+8|+4|+8|A thousand faces
14|+10|+9|+4|+9|Wild shape (5/day)
15|+11|+9|+5|+9|Timeless body, wild shape (Huge)
16|+12|+10|+5|+10|Wild shape (elemental 1/day)
17|+12|+10|+5|+10|
18|+13|+11|+6|+11|Wild shape (6/day, elemental 2/day)
19|+14|+11|+6|+11|
20|+15|+12|+6|+12|Wild shape (elemental 3/day)[/table]
Class Features
All of the following are class features of the druid. If a Class Feature is not explicitly listed here, it works per the SRD's Druid entry (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/classes/druid.htm).
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.
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.
Wild Shape (Su)
At 5th level, a druid gains the ability to turn herself into any Small or Medium animal and back again once per day. Her options for new forms include all creatures with the animal type. This ability functions like the alternate form special ability, except as noted here. The effect lasts for 1 hour per druid level, or until she changes back. Changing form (to animal or back) is a standard action and doesn’t provoke an attack of opportunity. You do not regain lost hit points as if you had rested for a night.
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.)
A druid can use this ability more times per day at 6th, 7th, 10th, 14th, and 18th level, as noted on Table: The Druid. In addition, she gains the ability to take the shape of a Large animal at 8th level, a Tiny animal at 11th level, and a Huge animal at 15th level.
The new form’s Hit Dice can’t exceed the character’s druid level.
At 10th level, a druid can use some uses of her wild shape to heal herself as well as transform. When using wild shape to tranform into another form, she will regain hit points as if she had one night's rest. At 14th level she can do this twice a day, and at 18th level she can do this three times a day.
At 12th level, a druid becomes able 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.)
At 16th level, a druid becomes able to use one of her wild shape uses to change into a Small, Medium, or Large elemental (air, earth, fire, or water) once per day. These elemental forms count against her normal wild shape usage. Due to the draining nature of changing into a being of pure elemental energy, these transformation last for 10 minutes instead of 1 hour. 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. At 18th level, a druid becomes able to assume elemental form twice per day, and at 20th level she can do so three times per day. As noted, these uses count against her uses of Wild Shape.
Feat Change
Alternative Spellcasting [General] (replaces Natural Spell)
Prerequisites: Ability to cast 3rd level Arcane or Divine spells
Benefit
You can complete the verbal and somatic components of spells while in a form which would normally not allow you to cast spells. You substitute various noises and gestures for the normal verbal and somatic components of a spell. Spells cast in this manner are counted as being 2 Spell Levels lower for the purpose of determining it's Saving Throw DC and 4 Character Levels lower for the purpose of determining any level-based effects.
You can also use any material components or focuses you possess, even if such items are melded within your current form. This feat does not permit the use of magic items while you are in a form that could not ordinarily use them, and you do not gain the ability to speak.
Example: Juni the Druid is Level 13 and has a Wisdom of 20 (+5). Spotting a group of soldiers heading towards the party, she casts Flame Strike on them while in the form of a sparrow. Normally the spell would have a range of 230 feet, deal 13d6 damage and have a Reflex Save DC of 19. However, because she's in the form of a sparrow, the spell instead has a range of 190 feet, deals 9d6 damage and has a Reflex Save DC of 17.
Summary of Changes: The only real change has to do with the Druid's Wild Shape ability. While the Druid can still Wild Shape, she's no longer able to do it practically all day. Likewise, I've taken back the Druid's ability to spend hours at a time hanging out in an Elemental form. The ability to change into an elemental and still cast spells is powerful, so I dropped the duration to 10 minutes to keep it as something reserved for battle.
Unless the Druid is in an epic battle, 10 minutes is going to be more than enough time to be an elemental for the battle the whole way through. This means that the Druid has to think a little more carefully about how often she's willing to use the ability. Likewise, counting the Elemental transformations against her normal Wild Shape transformations was a move to make the Druid think a little harder about when she transforms and why.
The big change was Natural Spell, a feat which is plainly broken and needed to be fixed.
○ Natural Spell as a feat was, put bluntly, broken beyond belief. For a Wizard or Sorcerer to try to match the ability to cast while in a form other than their original, they'd have to take both Still and Silent Spell for the spellcasting, a proposition which would require them to take two feats AND cast their spells in a slot two Spell Levels higher than the original spell. Alternative Spellcasting now fills a niche and gives the Druid a reason to take Still and Silent spell as well as opening the feat up to Wizards and Sorcerers. The power reduction is explained as a loss of power due to the fact you're not using the REAL words and gestures, but vaguely appropriate substitutes.
I'd especially appreciate feedback on this CoDzilla variant, guys. Unfortunately the crew I'm running which tested my Cleric variant doesn't play Druids normally so I've been unable to get an idea about what an experienced Druid might think of these changes.