Bara's page

Thank you for the excellent responses! The original point that kicked off our debate was:

Training an animal to scout for the party, when that animal could potentially set off a trap and die, is grounds for the druid losing their druidic powers.

I’ll give some more context to the OP below.

I am playing a Chaotic Neutral Druid/Barbarian who sees himself as part of nature rather than seeking to protect it. He has awe and respect for the randomness and raw power of nature. In battle he fights like a wild animal. He sees other animals as prey or predators. Undead and aberrations are abominations that should be destroyed. Out of combat he is an individualist and trickster. He loves playing practical jokes, values freedom and does things for his own amusement.

My DM played a rather different style of druid for years in the early editions of AD&D. He has a very set view of how a druid should be played. He has ruled that if my character trains an animal to scout for our party then my Druid powers will be taken away. Obviously the DM’s decision is final and I’ll abide by this rule. It was also suggested that if I post here, I’d see that the overwhelming majority of other players/GMs agree that using an animal as a scout is very un-druids like.

"Role: While some druids might keep to the fringe of battle, allowing companions and summoned creatures to fight while they confound foes with the powers of nature, others transform into deadly beasts and savagely wade into combat."

Would a druid really allow animals and summoned creatures to fight while keeping at the fringe of battle? Aren't animals used in this way being exploited by the druid?

Our group had a lively debate about the ethics of being a druid.

Argument One
Animals cannot be exploited in any way for the personal gain of the Druid. Take a canary in a coal mine for example. If dangerous gases leaked into the mine, the gases would kill the canary before killing the miners, thus providing a warning to exit the tunnels immediately. A druid can absolutely not use a canary in this way. Druids are likely to be vegetarians’ and not kill animals for food if they have other options. Training an animal to scout for the party, when that animal could potentially set off a trap and die, is grounds for the druid losing their druidic powers.

Argument Two
There are many types of druids and not all have to be played the same way. There may be some druids that hold animals in such high regard that they would never sacrifice an animal needlessly. But the same rules do not to apply to all druids. A Storm Druid could in fact sacrifice an animal to their god. Alternatively it is fine for a druid to have no god at all. A poster on theses boards describes a dwarven druid that considers the greater mystery of the earth. "Before the dwarves recognized the deities they knew rock, lava, gems and metals. The earth spoke to them and if you listened it would tell you its story". A dwarf druid played in this way is perfectly acceptable and it is reasonable for such a druid to enjoy a suckling roast pig. It is not appropriate to apply strict rules about animals to all druids in the same way.

Agree?/disagree? Interested in hearing other opinions.

Tab-targeting is a way of allowing the player to select their target; so is click targeting. I don't want to play a MMO where my ability to click on a target is important, I want to play a MMO where I make decisions, see their results, and adjust my techniques on the fly to maximize performance. I've got lots of other multiplayer competitive games to test my ability to combine reflexes and tactics, like TF2.

How does tab targeting increase your ability to make decisions, see their results and and adjust your techniques on the fly to maximise performance? The opposite is true! Tab targeting significantly reduces the number of decisions/techniques a player can employ.

Tab targeting is completely immersion breaking. The world and environment don't mean a thing in a tab targeting game. It doesn't matter if you hide behind a tree to avoid enemies. The enemies will see a stupid artificial little red circle on the ground around your character no matter what you do. The tree you're hiding behind doesn't provide cover from archery or spells... *Stopping myself from going on a 100 page rant*.

PFO using the TF2 engine for combat is 100 times better than PFO coping WOW's tab targeting fail.

My biggest wish for Pathfinder Online is no tab targeting combat. The standard press TAB, 1, 2, 3, 4 found in WOW, EQ, WAR and so many others is extremely dull.

The ideal combat system is FPS based: Active blocking, use of terrain and aiming of spells/weapons etc.

Darkfall Online has the best MMO combat system of all time. Darkfall has many issues but the combat system is fast paced, exciting and skill based.