Druid circle 1, and some personal thoughts.

[1dboy]

Druid circle 1 is such a strange circle. There's hardly any spells there, but druids are given large amounts of spell slot items and gear to load them up. On average, I'm constantly preparing a lot of endure elements (which is nice), grease (which I cant use half the time), and.. thats about it.

Sand splash is kinda cool but I personally don't see much reason to use it.

I think druids should get a spell similar to astral blade like astrologians get, something that scales off either, survival, herbalism, etc, that doesn't last as long as flame weapon, but is nice to cast and doesnt make you feel like your level 1 slots are just completely dead.

Or maybe even just protect / shell. Bards get shell, but not protect. Maybe druids too?

I'm really not sure what role a druid is meant to fit. All I currently feel like is a barkskin bot that can fight in the front. At least pre-wildshape removal, they could shape shift. Now it just feels like I'm a sub optimal caster and a sub optimal fighter. Whatever the objective of the new druid direction is meant to be, it needs to be a bit more defined. If I'm meant to be some sort of evocation spammer, then why was the main evocation (sand pillar) nerfed to 1d4 and not kept to 1d6? Just seems strange. If I'm meant to be a front liner, I don't get any thing that helps me beyond blood rage and body of the sun- clerics can do more damage than I can with divine favor and divine power, fighters do it better, etc.

I'm really trying to understand the role of a druid. I understand that the dms wanted a new direction, but the new direction seems to be lost in translation, and the application of the new direction of druids doesn't feel 'that good'.

I've only been playing for a few days, but already I see a lot of annoyances with druid. If the DMs could clarify what the ultimate role of what the druid should be, I guess that would help?

Otherwise I might just be a barkskin bot for the entirety of this PC and that's a silly role to fill IMO.

[Anonymous Lemur]

I think you might be overlooking some aspects of druid that maybe aren't so apparent when starting out given how much of the early game is in the city areas.

They have +2 AB in almost all high end quest areas (coiled canyon, Nazaru, Dalzoc etc) which means the same ab as fighter. They suffer a bit when not paired with rangers, given their greatest strength is the ability to drop a grease (which is extremely effective on the above 3 listed quests) and safely take out enemies who are constantly falling over.

They aren't capable of self-buffing with everything they absolutely need like a cleric is, however with those missing buffs sourced from another player, they come out a bit ahead on the back of the +2 AB and immunity to web/grease/tangle. At least in the average questing environment. They are naturally at a disadvantage in "city" areas.

I can definitely see how at times they might not be the most exciting class to play though in a mechanical sense, but they definitely have all the tools to be very solid when played to their strength. I also think the recent nerf to their physical damage spells was really not needed. I can't imagine those spells, even before the nerf, being particularly strong unless multiple people were somehow casting them with perfect co-ordination, but that can be said for just about any spell.

[1dboy]

Alright I'm giving it a bit more, and some things I noticed.

-The druid pet is really strong, BUT...
-20 hr cd is insane if it dies. Make it maybe 12 hr, or remove it?
- More often than not I find myself using body of the sun / blood rage as a GSF transmutation druid, and continuously find little reason or merit in using evocations.
-Level 1 spell circle just needs more spells. I have MORE known level 2 spells than I do level 1. It doesn't make any sense.
- The druid grove placeables provide nothing at 8+, which I'm sure is by design. Last setting druids got small items and rings for finding them. At this time, I have no reason to pursue any of them.

Druid is an OK class but I feel that the shapeshift being gone really does hurt it more than it helps. It's basically the perfect summoner class now days; being able to use a strong pet to handle questing, without having to go to the front line yourself.

It just needs a better identity though. That's all I'm seeing that's the problem. Like I said. It's the barkskin buff bot class.