Druid thoughts/suggestions

[Gilerth]

These are my thoughts and observations from playing a druid main. I am greatly enjoying the game, and want to stress that these are not complaints, just suggestions that I think would bring druids more in line with the 3.5/Pathfinder SRDs.

Animal companion
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To reflect the intent and design of the ability in the SRD, this should be a 1/1 ability to summon a scaling companion. The timer on the ability reset could be set to one or two in-game days (so 2 or 4 hours), giving the druid both mechanical and roleplay incentive to protect their companion, and adding to the usefulness of spells like, 'Heal Animal Companion' and 'Greater/Magic Fang'.

Shapechange
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Since druids in the SRD can change shape beginning at level 5, the shapechange skill should be changed to level 15. Additionally, since the SRD says that druids can remain in their animal shapes for 1 hour per level, the time limit on the skill should be adjusted to reflect that, so that at level 50 a druid can remain in animal shape for 250 RL minutes (4 hours, 10 minutes RL/50 game hours), if they choose to.

If that seems excessive, perhaps a static extended time limit, like 2 RL hours per use of the ability. Deciding to revert back to their humanoid form before the time limit expires does nothing, as the ability is still used.

Also, it seems that GM Shapechange does not allow changing into humanoid shapes, which I am told it once did, to reflect the level 13 ability from the SRD, A Thousand Faces.

Finally, shapeshifting can be dispelled. Since it is not a spell, that should not work.

Animal Empathy
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A wider variety of mobs should be able to be claimed, and once claimed they should be able to pass between zones. Also, claimed mobs of sufficient size should be mountable.

Additional Thoughts
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Shillelagh - this is a classic druid spell that would be great to have. It could either summon a temporary enchanted staff/club, or act as a limited version of 'magic weapon' that only affects staves/clubs.

Ironwood - Could this be added as a material, so that druids/rangers could make weapons and armor out of it?

Since the 'Produce Flame' spell can be used as a source of fire to conjure fire elementals in places where you otherwise could not, would it be possible to have smiliar spells (Produce Water, etc.) to allow summoning other elementals in non-standard places?

For 'pass plant', can it be modified to bring pets along? Per the SRD description of the spell: "You can bring along objects as long as their weight doesn’t exceed your maximum load. You may also bring one additional willing Medium or smaller creature (carrying gear or objects up to its maximum load) or its equivalent per three caster levels. Use the following equivalents to determine the maximum number of larger creatures you can bring along: A Large creature counts as two Medium creatures, a Huge creature counts as two Large creatures, and so forth. All creatures to be transported must be in contact with one another, and at least one of those creatures must be in contact with you."

I encourage any other druid/ranger players to chime in on this with any additional thoughts, and I thank you for taking the time to read this.

[Glim]

I'd point you to this thread: viewtopic.php?t=22410

Lots of discussion for druids over the years.

As a druid player, the largest issue imo is that the class is balanced in 3.5 for having shapechange and their animal companion (animal empathy) be a major part of combat. Both of those mechanics are not great for combat here.

The rest of what you said, largely I agree with though.

[Ralthasar]

If coding a new material and injecting it into the game is too hard, maybe allowing druids to restring metal gear to ironwood could help with that? You could just remove the entirety of that and allow them to just say that metal is ironwood anytime they wear it. Thus removing the restriction from an ooc stand point but allowing druids to RP out true to character.

I like the rest of it, though. Druids need some love.