[3.5/PF] Must-Have Druid Spells At Each Level

[FaerieGodfather]

Sure, Druids are nine-level casters... but how good it their spell list, anyway? What are the best, must-have spells for Druids from each spell level, from 3.5 and Pathfinder sources?

[Biggus]

I've often thought that Druid's spell lists were a bit lacklustre compared to Clerics and Wizard/Sorcerers. Having said that, they do have some good ones (all either PHB or SpC unless stated):

1) Entangle, Faerie Fire, Longstrider, Enrage Animal, Snowshoes
2) Barkskin, Bull's Strength etc, Resist Energy, Lesser Restoration, Mass Camouflage, Healing Lorecall, Kelpstrand, Nature's Favor, Mass Snake's Swiftness, Wings of Air
3) Greater Magic Fang, Primal Instinct (Dragon Magic), Evard's Menacing Tentacles (PHB2), Girallon's Blessing, Lion's Charge, Mass Resist Energy, Mass Lesser Vigor
4) Freedom of Movement, Dispel Magic, Greater Resistance, Sheltered Vitality, Greater Wings of Air, Enhance Wild Shape
5) Animal Growth, Baleful Polymorph, Death Ward, Owl's Insight
6) Ironwood, Greater Dispel Magic, Bite of the Werebear, Energy Immunity, Superior Resistance. Liveoak
7) Heal, True Seeing, Aura of Vitality, Brilliant Blade
8) Bombardment, Brilliant Aura, Deadfall
9) Foresight, Shapechange, Mass Death Ward, Nature's Avatar

Plus spontaneous casting of all the Summon Nature's Ally spells; with the right feats and items these can be very powerful.

EDIT: also, have a look at this (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?439991-Being-Everything-Eggynack-s-Comprehensive-Druid-Handbook).

[Piggy Knowles]

Darrin also has an excellent list here: http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=12183941&postcount=4

[AvatarVecna]

A quick perusal of Eggynack's handbook (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?439991) can do you wonders.

[FaerieGodfather]

Thank you for the recommendations.

Is there anything Pathfinder-specific, since we've got 3.5 so thoroughly covered?

[Psyren]

Yeah Pathfinder has a couple. Small list:

Beastspeak: converse with your allies in animal form, and also allows you to cast if you don't have Natural Spell yet. You can cast this in Wild Shape without needing Natural Spell, and it's particularly useful if your GM has banned that feat.

Strong Jaw: Many animal attacks get hefty amounts of dice, particularly once you're able to get Large or larger forms. As this is a virtual size increase it stacks with wildshape and lets you hit like a truck. In many cases the average increase will be equal to an additional +4 or more untyped Strength.

Animal Aspect: This is a nice toolbox for getting around without burning your wild shape uses.

That's on top of all the good core ones of course.

[AvatarVecna]

Ant Haul is probably not really a great spell, but because Druids tend to have animals in play, and animals.tend to meet their CR in fairly straightforward ways (ie being big and strong and tough), it can combo well for great Carrying Capacity with buffs affecting animal size and...maybe Str? I vaguely recall that Ant Haul exists because some small change in PF makes Bulls strength and the like not buff CC, but I can't actually recall where that rule is. Anyway, a hig quadruped animal with Ant Haul isn't a bad substitution for extradimensional spaces in a pinch, although whether that makes it worth preparing depends on how.much youre hauling and if you wanna spend slots instead of gold.

[Psyren]

Ant Haul is probably not really a great spell, but because Druids tend to have animals in play, and animals.tend to meet their CR in fairly straightforward ways (ie being big and strong and tough), it can combo well for great Carrying Capacity with buffs affecting animal size and...maybe Str? I vaguely recall that Ant Haul exists because some small change in PF makes Bulls strength and the like not buff CC, but I can't actually recall where that rule is. Anyway, a hig quadruped animal with Ant Haul isn't a bad substitution for extradimensional spaces in a pinch, although whether that makes it worth preparing depends on how.much youre hauling and if you wanna spend slots instead of gold.

Quite the opposite actually - temporary boosts do all the same things permanent ones do. (https://paizo.com/paizo/faq/v5748nruor1fm#v5748eaic9rbg) The devs just recommend you not do all that recalculation during combat (which would slow it down even more) unless you absolutely have to. For example, if your ally gets killed in combat and you need to carry their corpse, a Bull's Strength or Ant Haul can help buff you so you can run away. But most spells that do this kind of thing only show you the most common/relevant stuff that gets affected by a temporary buff so you can skip over the other stuff.

[Alexvrahr]

The thing is a druid can get whatever spells on their list they like. If the 'must-have' spell for today is stone shape or plant growth no problem, no matter if you wouldn't have either on your default adventuring list.

Anyway, a few PF spells to note that you won't see in D&D 3.x.

1) Cheetah's sprint (vrooom!), frostbite (a surprisingly good buff to a natural attack)
2) Ashen path (see thru smoke & fog, and breathe those more easily), pale flame (produce flame on steroids), visualization of the body (all-day buff)
3) Communal resist energy (protect all the party at once Edit: ah, D&D 3.5's version is mass resist energy), mass feather step (let all the party beat difficult terrain at once)
4) Caustic blood (lots of damage to those attacking you), explosion of rot (a surprisingly good blast spell)

Higher level PF druid spells aren't as good on the whole, and I'm less familiar with them, but I think there are some good ones there.