So, first some background. Right now, our group of six (five players and a DM) are playing a new Pathfinder game, using just the four core classes. We had another game that we plan on continuing as soon as the three Alpha Releases are all out (I mean, only my character, the Necromancer, and another, the Rogue, can update so far). We have a Bard, Paladin and Druid, so we have to wait for AR2 for most and AR3 for the last. Our current game is unrelated, with a Gnome Wizard specialising in illusion, a Halfling Rogue going for much sneakiness, an Elf Fighter with some interesting agility, a Half-Elf Cleric worshiping the god of magic [can't remember name], and a Human Wizard/Fighter gish.
The player of the party Druid in the old campaign was looking at the domains, and figured, based on his character, he'd be going for Animal. However, when he looked at the domain, he realized that for Druid it sucked. Here's why:
- Every spell is a Druid spell. This is true of some of the others, too, so it's not as big a deal.
- The 1st level ability. Another extremely weaksauce animal companion?
- the 8th level ability. A bad version of wild shape? Why?
For Druids' sake, this domain needs revamping to kill the overlap, assuming druids keep such abilities. Thanks!
I don't see what the problem is.
1) Druids have six domains to choose from. If you don't like the Animal domain, you've got five others to choose from.
2) In 3.5, druids didn't get any kind of domain at all, so presumably this is a step up from nothing. Why look a gift horse in the mouth?
3) If a druid takes the Animal domain, he gets some druid spells as spell-like abilities. I don't think that's any worse than a cleric taking a domain that gives cleric spells as SLAs or a wizard specialist getting wizard spells as SLAs.
4) Almost all of the domain abilities are weak -- the Animal domain is no exception. The 3.5 domain ability was Speak with Animals 1/day; this is at least as good as that, IMO.
5) Even if it's weak, the ability to have a hippogriff mount or an earth/air elemental scout all day can be handy. Heck, if you use your "companion" as a mount, it's practically as good as a paladin's mount of the equivalent level (hippogriff/dire wolf/griffon).