Elemental druid and tweaks

[sjmdw45]

Originally Posted by Yapadekoi

Hello, I came here seeking the expert's wisdom in balance of advantage/disadvantage...

I'm the GM for a group with a cleric, a druid and a wizard.
The druid feel he lack some punch... The fact the campaign is starting by a long chapter in a city is not helping either... (hello -3 to spell casting).
Well he is not complainign, but rather stoically trying to help the group and failing msot of the time.... It start to become sad...

I recommend checking out the Animal college. Druids can conjure up impressive amounts of HP and damage in the form of swarms and SM 0 to +1 animals, as well as seeking and/or possessing giant and dire animals that they come across.

In a city and on a low point budgets there's a limit to how often he'll be able to conjure up black bears and whatnot, but adding two or three animals to any combat he sees coming is a worthy contribution (three wolves, black bears, or rat swarms = 6 FP, 3 FP per minute to maintain). Remember that your animals can All Out Attack (Double), can Move and Attack with slam attacks, etc. They are expendable and artificial creations which serve to keep the heat off you and the other delvers!

Originally Posted by restlessgriffin

A 125 point build is considerably weaker than a standard Dungeon Fantasy starting character. At 125 points you've got a low level professional adventurer. Unfortunately, Druids are one of (if not THE) weakest character profession archetypes.

Any delver who can use the starting 250 point template to get Create Animal-20 (free SM 0 animals essentially all the time, and free SM +1 animals like karkadanns and grizzlies and tigers whenever you're in nature, after you track down suitable animals with the appropriate spells) cannot possibly be the weakest archetype. That's on top of other neat abilities of course, like Wind Storm, Mystic Mist, Earth Vision, Resist Lightning, Swim, Fog, and of course skills like Poisoning, Camouflage, and Net.

I wasn't impressed with Druids until I took a close look at their spell list, then wow. They are definitely a force multiplier.

[mburr0003]

Originally Posted by sjmdw45

Any delver who can use the starting 250 point template to get Create Animal-20 (free SM 0 animals essentially all the time...

All the time that they are in wilderness. Remember, towns and dungeons (90% of the PC inhabited space) are -1 to -3 Nature's Strength, which impacts casting and maintenance costs.

... and free SM +1 animals like karkadanns and grizzlies and tigers whenever you're in nature, after you track down suitable animals with the appropriate spells) cannot possibly be the weakest archetype.

With skill level 25 and as long as they park their butt in that Primeval pristine never before touched by civilized people wilderness. And then don't leave it. Have fun finding a "dungeon" there... and once your buddies are done setting up camp and chopping down trees for campfires...

I wasn't impressed with Druids until I took a close look at their spell list, then wow. They are definitely a force multiplier.

They can be a good "minion master" or utility/support caster when they're in their own element, which will not be very often unless the game is a wilderness hex crawl. If the campaign is wilderness hex crawl they can come into their own, but even then, I'd rather roll Cleric with an agricultural/animal "house-ruled"* lens, just for the healing.

* Imported from Dungeon Fantasy 7 Clerics.

[sjmdw45]

Originally Posted by sjmdw45

Any delver who can use the starting 250 point template to get Create Animal-20 (free SM 0 animals essentially all the time, and free SM +1 animals like karkadanns and grizzlies and tigers whenever you're in nature, after you track down suitable animals with the appropriate spells)

Originally Posted by mburr0003

All the time that they are in wilderness. Remember, towns and dungeons (90% of the PC inhabited space) are -1 to -3 Nature's Strength, which impacts casting and maintenance costs.

Right, that's why distinguished between nature and other times. Even in town when you're at -3, you've still got Create Animals-17, and can therefore maintain as many SM 0 animals like black bears and rat swarms as you can cast. I just said more about this in the other thread so I won't repeat it here.

They can be a good "minion master" or utility/support caster when they're in their own element, which will not be very often unless the game is a wilderness hex crawl. If the campaign is wilderness hex crawl they can come into their own, but even then, I'd rather roll Cleric with an agricultural/animal "house-ruled"* lens, just for the healing.

* Imported from Dungeon Fantasy 7 Clerics.

I haven't looked at DF 7, but well sure, if you can have the best parts of both a cleric and a druid, why wouldn't you? But even a pure 250-point druid is powerful, even when they're at a -1 to -3 penalty.