In 5th Edition tonight, the newbie wanted to play a druid. And did a darn good job at it!
In 3.5, we had another newbie that wanted to play a druid, and then didn't use an animal companion because she was afraid it would get hurt.
In fact, one of my first 3.0/3.5 PCs was a druid.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Because it's so obviously powerful. Like really really obviously powerful.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I guess turning into a grizzly bear at 2nd level IS pretty powerful...
But none of them (other than me) were power gamers. The newbie tonight kept opening doors and going into new rooms and getting into all kinds of trouble. She basically made 1 giant encounter out of 4 or 5 other encounters! ;-)
Maybe it's the combo of spells + animals?
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I think it's the same reason a lot of new players try out monks and rangers. You don't need system mastery to see they get a lot of tools to play with. Personally I recommend a class like them to start out with, that way you can see what type of character you like (melee, spellcaster, etc.)
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Because druids have cool toys?
Their spell list is all about big SFX. Explosions, transformations, summons, weather manipulation. That sounds so much cooler than the (oh so useful) condition removal clerics get.
A ferocious animal companion. Quite a few newbies want the bear, because having a bear companion sounds awesome. (The stats disagree.)
Turning into a sabretooth tiger yourself!
Because you can say this.No, you can't. T-Rexes are gargantuan and druids can't shape into animals larger than huge.
But the animal companion version of the T-Rex is chooseable.
Since it is stated out it is a choice.
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/druid/animal-companions#TOC-Ty rannosaurus
I'm talking about TOTAL newbies, who haven't really read anything about the classes.
In 3.5/PF, I think rangers are the best class for newbies, since it slowly introduces all sorts of rules-sets (bonus feats, pets, spells, terrain features, Perception and Stealth, etc. etc.).
But we're playing 5th Edition, and all the classes are designed to have at least 2 or 3 "apprentice" levels where you learn how to play the class. In 5th Edition, druids are actually the easiest spellcasters to learn, since they don't really get any other class features at 1st level. At 2nd level, they get wildshape, but they don't get an animal companion anymore. :-(
This newbie used to play WoW, so she kept opening doors and exploring the dungeon while everyone else was fighting the monsters she kept exposing. LOL. At least she was nice enough to heal people who fell to 0 hit points due to her shenanigans. :-D And fortunately, she's playing a hill dwarf, so she wasn't able to run TOO far ahead of the rest of the party..... ;-)
Wow, the newbie druid players Ive seen... were bad, really bad... making their turns take forever.
Was funny when the AC fell into the river and I learned the druid ignored my advice to let it have a rank in swim...
In 3.5, the newbie druid's husband pretty much ran her summons, and she often wildshaped into a mouse and hid and just cast spells.
In 5th Edition, levels 1-3 are REALLY easy, and the rules are much more streamlined.
| 6 people marked this as a favorite. |
I've been playing PFS for two years, in an area that has a player base of somewhere around a hundred all told. I've seen exactly two druid characters in that entire time, and both were by very experienced players. It's almost like anecdotal evidence is just anecdotal. :-)
every once in awhile
there is a glimmer of hope on these forums
As a newbie I started with bard, the only person I've played with that I know for certain was a complete newbie played a witch, and... I don't think I've ever seen a druid in play, actually.
|
I haven't played a druid in pathfinder, although I did in 3.5 and in 2nd. I have seen three at PFS games over the last year and a half. One was a Saurian Shaman nightmare with a velociraptor that took the precise strike and outflank teamwork feats.
The second had a roc companion, that was used to smuggle ancient osirion artifacts past a city inspector and was only useful in one fight because everything else was indoors/underground.
The third was an ifrit plague druid of Urgathoa with a +17 initative bonus at level 4 or 5.
I honestly don't see this trend either. But my first After Sundown character was a Witch (Dryad). Nature magic is cool.
I played a 3.5 elf druid from levels 1 through 16. At 1st level, I didn't buy a backpack because if I had, I wouldn't have been able to afford anything to put in it!
I had a wardog animal companion, and she eventually had the highest AC in the party--and Spring Attack, so she almost never got hit.
And the druid was very versatile. SUPER Listen & Spot, archery, summons, tanking, Diplomacy, scout, blasting, healing, Improved Counterspelling, battlefield control, buffing, etc. etc.
So they're really fun!
I think its because its the only core class with an animal companion at level 1.
Pet classes are popular. There should be more of them. Especially non-magical pet classes.
I think its because its the only core class with an animal companion at level 1.
Pet classes are popular. There should be more of them. Especially non-magical pet classes.
Are there any non-magical archetypes with an animal companion? Excluding mounts, of course.
The Mad Dog Barb gets an animal companion I believe, though barbarians are magical martials via their rage powers.
Are there any non-magical archetypes with an animal companion? Excluding mounts, of course.I think its because its the only core class with an animal companion at level 1.
Pet classes are popular. There should be more of them. Especially non-magical pet classes.
Well, you can have a functioning animal companion on any class through using 3 feats. Only fighters can afford that kind of investment though.
I am not aware of a non-magical Hunter, Druid, Cleric, Inquisitor, Shaman or Oracle. There are non-magical Rangers, but they get their companion late.
There is a Brawler that gets a companion too. Multiple barbarians get animal companions too.
Though Druid will probably remain as the most popular to new players because its the only core class that has animal companion printed directly into its table at level 1.
When I first began D&D, the DM brought me into his game knowing I had no experience. He recommended a Fighter. A friend of mine recommended a Druid instead because it was a no-brain-to-win class (his insistence).
I've also heard others tell me that their first characters or the first characters of others they've played with have been Druids at the insistence of other players, because it's hard to mess one up.
It's not true, you can mess up a Druid. But it looks great on paper, all those abilities.
The Mad Dog Barb gets an animal companion I believe, though barbarians are magical martials via their rage powers.
I never really thought of the Barbarian as being magical... I suppose they are. I wish Fighters would get a bit of that magic juice after level 10 or something...
@Adam B. 135
That Brawler archetype seems cool. Thanks. I think there's a spellless ranger (skirmisher?) that might count.
I've introduced Pathfinder to a number of new players. I think only one of them started with a druid. So, there's my anecdotal evidence.
My first 3.5/PF character was a bard.
Of everyone else I've seen, I think the rogues have it: druid, summoner, cleric, bard, fighter, rogue, warpriest, samurai, rogue, barbarian, rogue, rogue, cleric, and wizard.
Yup, 4 rogues.
It's one of my biggest pet peeves about this class:
After about 4th level, pretty much all roleplaying just goes straight out the window. Even with experienced players, it's all, "i r a grizzly bear! Rawr!".
Haha, I guess that's a kind of roleplaying.... If someone really wanted to play a grizzly bear at my table, they'd probably wake up my kid.
who doesn't want to change into animals?
I went straight for Oracle when I started, but I was not a fan of prepared casting (still not but I can deal with it) and I wanted that Cleric list of support goodies. I didn't go Druid until I joined a campaign where metal was rare and nobody else was picking the class.
I've been playing for right at a year. I still have yet to play a non-martial class. That is, out of the five meatspace characters and about five online characters I play. I just don't like dealing with the spells and all that. Druids are the bane of my existence as a GM, because even experienced players ask me about which spells to choose each day and what feats and stuff compliment them.
I see a lot of druids on new players too. It's odd, because they are one of the more fiddly classes at level 1. I am often forced to control the AC to begin with(which leaves a sour taste in my mouth) because their turns end up dragging so long they create friction.
The Mad Dog Barb gets an animal companion I believe, though barbarians are magical martials via their rage powers.Which if I'm correct, is not Core.
So? No archetypes are core.
Druid get a lot of kool fantasy stuff. You can change into other things. You can summon animals to fight for you. You have defensive spells. You have offensive spells. Even just the low level entangle that makes the plant rise up and fight for you.
Plus the fluff and name sounds a lot like characters in many of the popular novels.
All that being said, it is one of the more complex classes to play. I don't tell newbies not to play it though. What I say is:
Druids can be fun and powerful, they aren't really simple for a beginner though. If you want to give it a try, we will help you. But you will have a bit more studying and reading needed than if you were running a barbarian or fighter type.
Yeah, druids are really fun.
My next PC will probably be a druid.
EDIT:
Or a Life Oracle....with murderous command...
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I haven't played druid until I had about 10 years of experience in rpgs...
Uh... That was well over ten years ago...
Crap. I am getting old.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
I haven't played druid until I had about 10 years of experience in rpgs...
Uh... That was well over ten years ago...
Crap. I am getting old.
Nawww......
You been old for a while my good man.
Tut tut Old Chap.
/hat top.
In all my years of DMing, I don't think I've ever had a druid in a game.
That's strange to realise.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
I must say that I cannot recall anyone playing druid around me (except me) either. During the previous 3.5 campaign we had a sort of beef with a divine force that inhabited certain druid NPC quest giver we didn't exactly liked (because of our own rash interpretation of quest: gnolls are disrupting neighborhood, do something with it), and in current campaign we explicitly do not trust druids after (because the party is miserly and greedy and skims on proper revival) to reincarnations in a row we got two party members reincarnated as gnomes. Now we suspect a druidic conspiracy (a druid who cast the spell both times seemed to be surprised with the results of the second casting being the same as the first).
I must say that I cannot recall anyone playing druid around me (except me) either. During the previous 3.5 campaign we had a sort of beef with a divine force that inhabited certain druid NPC quest giver we didn't exactly liked (because of our own rash interpretation of quest: gnolls are disrupting neighborhood, do something with it), and in current campaign we explicitly do not trust druids after (because the party is miserly and greedy and skims on proper revival) to reincarnations in a row we got two party members reincarnated as gnomes. Now we suspect a druidic conspiracy (a druid who cast the spell both times seemed to be surprised with the results of the second casting being the same as the first).
I would suspect the conspiracy to be of the DM. Maybe the idea of reincarnating players into gnomes amuses them.
Suggest an all gnome theme game and see if their eyes light up. :P
It's weird that you mention that. A druid was my first character. A Dwarven Druid in 4e, to be exact. And my ex is wanting to play a druid as her first character. Weird...
GM was surprised to. He rolled in front of us.
When i was a noob and only had the beginners box, I went for the core rulebook...
... Because I read a description of druid.
What I see more often than not these days is tables full of Kitsune and Tieflings.
We've mostly switched to 5th Edition, and we're seeing lots of dragonborn and tieflings.