Next D&D Druid, Part 3

As per my last D&D Next post and This Page on Coast website, I thought that the Playtest Packet released on 19SEP13 was going to be the final one. To my surprise, a new playtest kit is out. I made this discovery by chance when I went to http://dndplaytest.wizards.com/ to re-download the documents again. The file is renamed "101413_DnD_Next_Public_Playtest" so it's a safe bet that it was released on 14OCT13.

I'm happy to report that in general, this revision of the Druid class is better then it's former D&D Next incarnations. It's still inferior compared to 3.5 and Pathfinder Druid in my humble option but it's nice to see that Wizards of the Coast is making notable progress. I'm confident that they will release a decent final product when the new edition of Dungeons & Dragon is published.

Below is "The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly" list from my last two druid previews. Overall, my main complains of the D&D Next class are still valid but there are some sufficient improvements.
 


  The Good                                The Bad                                               ...And The Ugly

 Wildshape at Level 2                Limited Wildshape Forms                    No Animal Companions
                                                   (Improved since last Packet) 
       
  "At Will" Cantrips                   Druid Circles                                        Natures Ward Removed
  (4th Ed Style At Will                (The Class is less Versatile,                  as a Standard Ability 
  Powers)                                    Forces Specialization)                         (Poison/Disease Immunity)    

  Evergreen                                "Spell per Day" Reduction
  (Slow Aging)                            (Compared to D&D 3.0/3.5)
       
  Beast Spell/Speech                   No Summoning Spells
  (Now Standard Abilities)

"Per Day" Limit Removed
 from Wildshape


Wildshape Retooled: Druids are no longer restricted to a set number of Wildshapes per day. Instead, Druids are able to Wildshape once after a long rest (8 hours) or a short rest (1 hour.)  At level 8 this improves to twice between rests. Effectively, a druid will have the opportunity to shift around 3 or so times a play session at level two depending on how many short rest the party takes. In my personal experience playing D&D 4.0 (which at a similar "Second Wind") and Numenera (which also uses a rest system) groups generally take two short rest a session.  

The other notable improvement over the previous playtest material is that WotC finally ditched the "unlocking forms" as a Druid levels mechanic. In the last playtest document, here is how the form progression worked:

Level 2- Hound; Level 5- Steed; Level 7- Fish and Rodent; Level 9- Bird. 

This time around a Druid has access to all available forms as soon as they receive Wildshape. At level 2, Druids can now transform into a bat, a cat, a deer, a dog, a fish, a hawk, a horse, an owl, a raven, a snake, a toad, or a weasel. They can stay in these forums for 1 hour plus half there Druid level and they take on the stats and abilities of there new forums. The only way to gain more forums is to specialize in shape shifting by selecting "The Circle of the Moon" as there Druid Circle at level 3. 

These forums provide a Druid with a large amount of useful abilities and skill bonus/advantages but for the most part these forums won't help much in combat. Without the Moon Circle forums, shifting drops your hit points total to match the animal your transforming into. I admit this makes logical sense but it drastically reduces a Druids combat survivability. Also, the playtest PDF doesn't say anything about these basic forms scale up as a druid levels so this problem is only going to get worse over time.  

In short, Wildshape is not a combat ability anymore unless you pick "The Circle of the Moon." This circle adds combat orientated shape to a Druid's arsenal.


Moon Circle Changes:  Last playtest this Circle granted two "Battle Forum," bear and great cat, at level 3 and then give you ways to improve these forms. The abilities "Giant Battle Shapes," "Ancient Battle Shapes," and "Behemoth Shape" would greatly enhance the Druid's bear and great cat forms. Now, the Moon Circle just unlocks more increasing combat capable shapes over time. Sure, they give it a fancy name like "Monstrous Shapes" but it's essentially just grating two additional animals per tier:

Level 3 "Battle Wild Shape," Dire Wolf and Panther forms.  
Level 6 "Mauler Shapes," Brown Bear or Tiger.
Level 10 "Monstrous Shapes," Cave Bear or Triceratops.

As I said in "Wildshape Retooled," these animals are built for combat. They have a healthy amount of hit points, good STR score, and decent natural attack. The AC is still a little on the low side but that can't really be helped. Maybe there will be ways to shore up a Druid's defense while shifting down the line, such as the "Wild" armor enchant in Pathfinder. It's expensive, +3 enchant at 9,000 gp including masterwork armor and +1 enchant costs, but it's worth it. 


Beast Spell/Speech: These two abilities were formerly Circles abilities but now all Druids get them. Beast Speech is granted at level 7, allowing a Druid to talk normally while shifted. Beast Spell is earned at 20 and lets the Druid cast spells while Wildshaping. It may not seem like a big advancement in the grand scheme of things but it makes more sense. Wildshape is a core feature of the Druid class so it's great that all Druids can now benefit from these abilities regardless of which Circle they pick. 


Overall: This latest is definitely a step in the right direction. I've finnally found a local gaming group playing D&D Next so I'm really looking forward to actually playing the new Druid Class in the next few weeks.

If you have not already, I highly suggest signing up for the D&D Next Play Test.

Next D&D Druid, Part 2

For those of you who don't know, for almost a year Wizards of the Coast has conducted a semi-open play test for the next edition of Dungeons & Dragons, the project being creatively code named "D&D Next." This has been an ongoing process since May 24th 2012. As per the Wizard's website, the Playtest Package download released 19SEP13 on  is the one and marks the end of the public testing.

The final public package for D&D Next has been out for a month now and I think it's time to put out some more into on my favorite class. This post is primary just an updated version of "Next D&D Druid, that was written a few play test document ago. Changes have been made and now is the prefect time for an update.

  The Good                                The Bad                                               ...And The Ugly
  Wildshape at Level 2               Very Limited Wildshape                         No Animal Companions
                                                 Animal Forms                                       

  Cantrips - D&D 4.0                Druids are less Versatile, having            "Natures Endurance" (Poison/
  Style At Will "Weapon             to specialize by choosing a Druidic        Disease immunity) has been   
  -Like" Spells                           Circle                                                    Removed as a Default Ability  

  Evergreen- Slow Aging            Large Reduction of "Spell per Day"
                                                 Slots compared to D&D 3.0 and 3.5
         
                                                  No Summoning Spells


Quick Update: Since my last Druid post, "Wildshape" has moved to level 2 and "Druid Circe" to level 3. "Nature Endurance" has been removed and replaced with the Circle feature "Land's Endurance." This new ability work just like it's predecessor, providing the Druid with immunity to poisons and diseases. "Nature's Ward" was also moved to a Circle feature and "Healing Trance" was removed completely.

The Circle have been heavy adjusted. "Circle of the Oak" has be replaced by "Circle of the Land," which has different abilities..."Circle of the Moon" remains mostly the same.

This version of the play test ditches "Attack Bonus," "Spellcasting Bonus," and expertise dice of prior packages in favor of a catch all "Proficiency Bonus." It's a straight up level dependent bonus when you use or do almost anything your character is proficient. It looks like this:

  

                               1 to 2; +1                 7 to 10; +3             15 to 18; +5

                               3 to 6; +2                 11 to 14; +4           19 and 20; +6

This bonus applies to all skills and tools/kits checks your proficient  with; attack rolls with weapons your proficient with, and spells casts while using a focus.

Wildshape: The Druid's supernatural ability to change their physical forum to that of an animal they are familiar with has been the classes "signature ability" for many years. D&D 3.0/3.5 Druids gained the ability to shape change into medium sized animals once a day starting at level 4 and would become more powerful as the character takes druid levels. In 4.0 Druids had the opportunity to shape change but it wasn't automatically given. The player would have to choose to take Shape Changing daily powers.

This current incarnation of the Druid class can Wildshape at level two but are restricted on what animal form they can take. By default, the form progress goes like this:

2- Hound, 5- Steed, 7- Fish and Rodent, 9- Bird. 

To gain more shape shifting options a Druid has to "specialize in wildshaping" by selecting the Moon as their Druid Circle.   

Spell Casting: Basically, it's 3.5 Spell Casting with a few 4.0 traits. Daily Spell Slots are back and Druids once again have nine levels of spells at their disposable. The down side is that the actual number of spells that can be cast per day has be drastically reduced compared to 3.5. At the maximum level of 20, druids will only be able to cast 19 spells, divided between 9 spell levels, per day not counting Cantrips which are at will and free or Circle of the Land extra/bonus spells. This is a vast reduction compared to a D&D 3.5 Druid's 39 base spell slots, not counting 0 level or bonus spells granted by high spell casting ability score. 

The "Circle of the Land " is the Druid's spell casting specialization option. It gives the Druid an a free spell slots and added spells to the Druids spell list base on which of the seven lands they became a Druid in: Coast, Desert, Forest, Grasslands, Mountain, Swamp, or Tundra.

Circle of the Land: Originally, this was the Druid's extra spell casting option but it's received a substantial upgrade. In this incarnation, it has a lot more flexibility and a lot more options to players. A Druid that picks this Circle at level three gains a Land Type which grants one free specific spells at 3, 5, 7, and 9 based on their choice. For example, below are two of the seven choices available:

              FOREST:                                                          TUNDRA
              3- Augury, Barkskin                                           3- Augury, Spike Growth
              5- Call Lighting, Plant Growth                             5- Sleet Storm, Slow
              7- Divination, Freedom of movement                  7- Freedom of Movement, Ice Storm      
              9- Commune with Nature, Plant Door                 9- Commune with Nature, Cone of Cold
  
Also, they gain bonus spell lots and the following unity abilities: Land's Stride, Nature's Ward, Land's Endurance, and Beast Spells. I already spoke about "Land's Endurance,  Land Stride (A.K.A Woodland stride)  and Nature's Wards (A.K.A Resist nature's lure) work similarly to there 3.5 counterparts. "Beast Spells," allows Druids to cast spells in any forum, is very useful but it's too bad that you have to wait till level 20 to get it. My Pathfinder Druid can do that at level 5 by taking the Natural Spell Feat.

Circle of the Moon: This Circle has not changed much since my last post but there are a few differences. Right when a Druid selects this Circle they gain the ability "Moon Shapes" which heals hit points equal to your Druid level when reverting from a Wild Shape and gives the Druid a +2 to STR/|DEX while in Hound form. Last play test they give extra forms as soon as get a circle but this time around you have to wait level 6 to receive extra forums. here is the breakdown for your Circle fourms:

                       6- Cat and Bear (Battle Shapes)       14- Ancient Battle Shapes
                       10- Giant Battle Shapes                    16- Behemoth Shape

Lastly, at level 20 a Moon Circle member gets "Instinctive Wild Shape" which allows the druid to Wild Shape an unlimited times per day. Once again, Pathfinder already does this and they don't require a feat or any other specialization either. All Druids can Wild Shape at will it at level 20 by default.   

No Animal Allies: I covered this at length on my last post so I'll keep it short this time. In D&D 4th edition Wizard of the Coast moved away from summoning spells and player controlled companions for all classes. When first released there were absolutely no powers or abilities that dealt with summoning or companion creatures but they added in a splash of it with later 4.0 release. Unfortunately, it looks like D&D Next is also going down this road.

To me, it feels like the Druid Class is missing a core element without gaining really anything in return. In the Pathfinder RPG, Druids can choice to forgo a animal companion by selecting a Cleric domain as their "Nature's Bound." Sure they are giving up an animal ally but they are getting something almost as good in return.  

Overall: So far, I really don't like what I'm seeing with my favorite class. I'm not saying that D&D Next is bad, that too early to tell but this class really needs an over hull. D&D Next Druid is a striped down 3.5 model with a few 4.0 additions. They took away a lot of what makes a Druid awesome and they give us practically nothing new in return.  

If you have not already, I highly suggest signing up for the D&D Next Play Test.

The Next D&D Druid

The semi-open playtest for the next edition of Dungeons & Dragons, the project being creatively code named "D&D Next," has been ongoing since May 24th 2012. Being a proactive RPG geek  I jumped on the opportunity to beta test the release of the next installment of the world's most well known Table Top Role Playing Game.

Every few months Wizards of the Coast updates their playtest material based on user feedback. Seeing the evolution of the game over the last year has been very interest but what I really want to discuss is the next version of my favorite D&D class: the druid.   

The Good                                The Bad                                               ...And The Ugly
Wildshape at Level 1               Very Limited Wildshape                         No Animal Companions
                                               Animal Forms                                       

Cantrips - D&D 4.0                Druids are less Versatile, having 
Style At Will "Weapon             to specialize by choosing a Druidic
-Like" Spells                           Circle                

Natures Endurance-                Large Reduction of "Spell per Day"
Immunity to poisons                Slots compared to D&D 3.0 and 3.5
and disease
 
Evergreen- Slow Aging           No Summoning Spells


Wildshape: The Druid's supernatural ability to change their physical forum to that of an animal they are familiar with has been the classes "signature ability" for many years. D&D 3.0/3.5 Druids gained the ability to shape change into medium sized animals once a day starting at level 4 and would become more powerful as the character takes druid levels. In 4.0 Druids had the opportunity to shape change but it wasn't automatically given. The player would have to choose to take Shape Changing daily powers.

This current incarnation of the Druid class can Wildshape right from the get-go but are restricted on what animal form they can take. By default, the form progress goes like this:

1- Hound, 2- Rodent, 4- Steed and Fish, 6- Bird of Prey

To gain more shape shifting options a Druid has to "specialize in wildshaping" by selecting the Moon as their Druid Circle. Doing so grants the Druid more combat focused forms such as Bears and Great Cats. These forms come at a heavy cost of missing out on extra spells and spell slots given by the Circle of the Oak.    

   
Spell Casting: Basically, it's 3.5 Spell Casting with a few 4.0 traits. Daily Spell Slots are back and Druids once again have nine levels of spells at their disposable. The down side is that the actual number of spells that can be cast per day has be drastically reduced compared to 3.5. At the maximum level of 20, druids will only be able to cast 19 spells, divided between 9 spell levels, per day not counting Cantrips which are at will and free. This is a vast reduction compared to a D&D 3.5 Druid's 39 base spell slots, not counting 0 level or bonus spells granted by high spell casting ability score. 

I personally don't like this nurfing of spells but I understand where Wizards of the Coast made the change. Practically, Druids, Wizard, Clerics, and other full caster enjoyed a ridiculous number of spells at high levels. It was nearly impossible for a level 20 Druid to use all their spells in any given in game day or real time game session. As a experienced player of druids, at high levels I would have my high slots as my damage dealers and use all my ten or so low slots for healing and utility functions. Having less slots makes life a little bit more challenging for high level caster because they lack the flexibility of having extra spells to burn. 

As I talked about earlier, the "Circle of the Oak" is the Druid's spell casting specialization option. It gives the Druid an a free spell slot to cast the following spells:

1-  Entangle, 2- Augury, 3- Call Lighting, 4- Divination, 5- Cone of Cold

Augury, Divination, and Cone of Cold are not on the Druid's spell list so the only way to gain access to them is through the Oak Circle. I prefer the Moon option but "Cone of Cold" is hard to pass up. It's s a handy spell for a druid to know; 6d8 cold damage to everyone in a 60 foot clone can clear a room real fast.  

No Animal Allies: In D&D 4th edition Wizard of the Coast moved away from summoning spells and player controlled companions for all classes. When first released there were absolutely no powers or abilities that dealt with summoning or companion creatures but they added in a splash of it with later 4.0 release. Unfortunately, it looks like D&D Next is also going down this road.

Once again, I can understand why this was done but I still not like it. In 3.5, when I wasn't Wildshaping I basically a "Animal General" so to speak. Using my animal companion and summoned creatures I would direct them into the main fray while I stayed on the sidelines casting damage dealing or support spells. Sure, it took a few rounds to set this strategy up since summoning spells require a full round action but it's devastating. On my Pathfinder Society Druid, Shamus RavenFeather  has literally saved groups from TPK'ing (Total Party Kill) on two separate organized play scenarios using a similar methodology.

Removing theses additional player controlled assets from the Druid's arsenal makes encounters more challenging and forces players to discover new strategies with D&D Next new class.

Odds and Ends: D&D Next has done a good job of buffing many of the druids miscellaneous abilities as compared to earlier editions.

"Venom Immunity" has become "Natures Endurance;" granting immunity to poisons and disease.

"Resist Nature’s Lure" has become "Nature Ward;" granting immunity to charm and fear effects of Fey and Elemental.  

"Timeless Body" has become "Evergreen" which extends a character's lifespan 10 fold at Druid level 13. 

Overall: I've been keeping up to date on D&D Next Playtest by downloading the PDF maternal from the Wizards of the Coast Playtest Page but I have been unsuccessful in finding a group to actually playtest the new Druid class. So far I have mixed feelings; I like and dislike a lot of what I've read in the latest packet. I reserve judgment until I get some hands on experience with D&D Next and the class.

If you have not already, I highly suggest signing up for the D&D Next Playtest.