| Kazejin |
So for those who have seen the Inner Sea Magic book, whats everyone's opinion of the Tempest Druid archetype?
The reason it catches my eye is that it replaces the ability to spontaneously cast Summon Nature's Ally, with the ability to spontaneously cast your domain spells from Nature Bond. If your domain gives you good enough utility spells, this could be a potent thing.
But, lemme give the run-down of the archetype for those who are unfamiliar, so it would help me gather as many opinions and/or advice as possible.
Nature Bond - You have to take a domain instead of an animal companion. The domain you select must be one of the following choices: Air (CRB), Weather (CRB), Aquatic (UM), Swamp (UM); OR you may pick one of the following subdomains: Cloud (APG), Storm (APG) Wind (APG)
The options there are limited, so that's why I'd like extra opinions. I referenced Treantmonk's Druid guide for advice, but his primary criteria for domains was how often the spells are functional, rather than their actual potency. Since Tempest Druids can spontaneously cast their domain spells, the criteria for their usefulness would be different in this case, right?
Shodden Shore Sense - +4 to Knowledge(Nature) and Survival, but only in coastal and marshy lands. Replaces Nature Sense. Better than Nature Sense when you're in the correct terrain, but this is obviously far less versatile than Nature Sense... but I don't think Nature Sense is gonna make or break anyone's build, so its not a huge loss, imo.
Electrical Resistance - Gain Electricity Resistance 5 at 3rd level, and you can use a standard action to temporarily pass this to an ally for 1 hour, after which the ability returns to the druid as normal. Replaces Trackless Step. This is a pretty small benefit, but Trackless Step isn't necessarily super-effective either. (You can't be tracked, but your adventuring buddies can; so the usefulness was always a little sparse.) Still not a big loss, imo.
Eyes of the Storm - At 4th level you can see through the first 10 feet of magical fog, mist, gas, wind, rain, or similar inclement weather conditions, ignoring any concealment it might grant. This distance increases an extra 5 feet for every 4 levels after 4th. Replaces Resist Nature's Lure. Again, comparing two things that are both situational advantages. But, this has some synergy with a few of the domain spells you might pick up, so I kinda like it.
Bend Bolt - Now here is something that might really be an unfair trade. Essentially, when a lightning-based effect happens near you, you can alter the course of the lightning bolt by 5 feet (the given rules are more precise to the effect, but this is what it amounts to). This is a cool idea, but extremely situational. It might spare you from the enemy mage's lightning bolt, but this ability goes unused if something lightning based never comes at you. And you have to give up Venom Immunity for it. Well... technically Venom Immunity is situational as well, because if nothing ever attempts to poison you, then it makes no difference. But I'd imagine more situations where poison effects would be relevant.
So thats the Tempest Druid in a nutshell. The most important part of it is certainly the replacement of spontaneous summon spells with spontaneous domain spells; at least in my opinion.
So what does everyone think of it? Worth it? Not worth losing spontaneous summons? Don't wanna lose the other features it replaces? Lemme know what you all think.
...And if someone made a thread on this already, please do forgive me. My search didn't find anything on it, though.
ruomadajneen
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I'm playing a Tempest Druid in PFS. I'm not level 5 yet, so I haven't missed spontaneously casting SNA quite yet, and the extra fog clouds and obs mists are really fun.
I did weather domain. I don't use a trident because I can target better things than their AC with my terrible to hit, but I throw nets around. I'm excited to wild shape and natural spell, but overall I might suggest you play regular druid with a cool domain.