[3.5]Aspect of Nature Druid?

[Picasso007]

So, as I continue to beat things into shape for the primitive game I'm working on, I'm wondering if I might want to bring in the UA Aspect of Nature variant. I haven't seen much in the way of discussion on it beyond "Munchkins hate it!" Which is a bonus, of course, I'm just wondering if everyone else hates it just as much.

So, yeah, has anyone else used the Aspect of Nature variant before? What did you like/dislike about it?

[Shadow_Elf]

I think maybe this belongs in General Roleplaying Games? I don't see the Homebrew factor in this question.

And I don't know anything about 3.Xe.

[Human Paragon 3]

I've never personally used it, but I kind of dig it. It's obviously weaker than wild shape, but the idea of just drawing strength from nature is a good one. I've made a couple builds that incorporate it, but only theoretical builds, not yet in practice.

I think given the full spellcasting the class already has, the physical bonuses are nice ones. Also, unlike wild shape, you can cast in aspect of nature form. It's a matter of preference, really. Unless your party is insanely optimized, you would be plenty strong.

[Picasso007]

I think maybe this belongs in General Roleplaying Games? I don't see the Homebrew factor in this question.

Err, you're probably right, actually. There was initially more "homebrew" in my post, considering other options, but I took them out since they were basically distracting from my main question.

Gaurd Juris, I'm actually worried about the opposite effect. As it stands, druids are the only full casters in my homebrew setting, so if things get to higher levels, they'll become huge anyway. I'm just trying to move back the point where they become completely dominant. I'm also evaluating a couple other caster classes for inclusion, which should help as well. I'm just half worried that my players are going to feel that anyone who didn't choose to play a druid is an out-and-out idiot.

To make things more homebrewy, two of the other things I was thinking of doing to help restrain (not nerf! "restrain"!) the druid was to disallow Natural Spell (to get rid of the "dire bear with full casting" effect) and put some mild restrictions on animal companion selection (characters will be picking a personal totem, so perhaps encouraging them to pick a companion that fits with their totem.)

[Sjiriki]

Err, you're probably right, actually. There was initially more "homebrew" in my post, considering other options, but I took them out since they were basically distracting from my main question.

Gaurd Juris, I'm actually worried about the opposite effect. As it stands, druids are the only full casters in my homebrew setting, so if things get to higher levels, they'll become huge anyway. I'm just trying to move back the point where they become completely dominant. I'm also evaluating a couple other caster classes for inclusion, which should help as well. I'm just half worried that my players are going to feel that anyone who didn't choose to play a druid is an out-and-out idiot.

To make things more homebrewy, two of the other things I was thinking of doing to help restrain (not nerf! "restrain"!) the druid was to disallow Natural Spell (to get rid of the "dire bear with full casting" effect) and put some mild restrictions on animal companion selection (characters will be picking a personal totem, so perhaps encouraging them to pick a companion that fits with their totem.)

Well, there's a totem variant druid. Let's you pick a totem animal, and get +2 to druidd level to determine their abilites, but you have to stick with that and its dire counterpart. You could also only wildshape into your totem animal with normal wildshapes, again normal or dire version. Look on crystalkeep, I can, unfortunately, not acces it right now.

Also: Shapeshifting druids from PHB 2. Easier, less super, but allows more adaptability due to the fact shifting is free action and unlimited times a day. There are additional druid shapes, homebrewn, lying around the forum. It has some pretty neat shapes.