Why are high level druid spells NERFED

[Fabian Stretton]

A very large percentage of the Druid spells of Lvls 6&7 seem a lot LESS powerful than the spells of 4th and 5th level.

Case in Point - Scouring winds (Lvl 7) - No better than Sirroco lvl 4.
- Yes, it's blinding while they are in it, Sirroco knocks you prone.
For a Lvl 7 spell, I would expect much bigger OR much longer OR much more effective.
Control winds by comparison, HUGE range/area and at +4 wind levels is much nastier on an already windy day, and TWO of them = real life tornado will level just about anything.

So - why is it that most of the Druid spells above Lvl 5 have been NERFED

[Fabian Stretton]

PS - it's hard to pick ANY of the Lvl 7 spells with the equivalent power of Firestorm. (It's why I said MOST)

[Ragoz]

There are a few spells that are quite strong even if the druid spell list is rather short of options.

Jatembe's Ire aka Greater, Black Tentacles
Source Severance, use on arcane mode and go to town on most BBEG
Fairy Ring Retreat, divine mage's magnificent mansion. Sometimes you just need a standard action place to escape to.

[The Sideromancer]

It's because most druids don't have a clue what they're talking about when it comes to metaphysics.

Case in point: metal armour. It cannot be banned because "it isn't natural" because there are large amounts of naturally occurring metals and alloys (gold and planetary cores). It has nothing to do with the magic itself since a cleric can cast in fullplate. Since it's completely possible to have a Green faith cleric or a druid of Sarenrae, the sources should interact in the same way. There is no good reason why metal armour stops druid magic, yet it does.

p.s. Sorry, I don't have an actual answer, can't bring myself to play the class.

Edit: planetary cores, not colds

[Mysterious Stranger]

Sirroco is actually a 6th level spell not a 4th. Some may get early access but it is a 6th level spell.

[Drahliana Moonrunner]

The Sideromancer wrote:

There is no good reason why metal armour stops druid magic, yet it does.

It's because oaths have power, and one of the mandatory oaths you take is to forswear wearing skins of worked metal.

[stormcrow27]

Animate Plants works nicely in addition to a prepared Changestaff or Liveoak to bury a group under an assault of trees.

[Rub-Eta]

Wait, how is Sirocco better than Scouring Winds? It deals 1d6 +1 per caster level more damage, but it's fire damage and it allows a Fort save to halve the damage. That's really bad. Knocked prone is also negated by the save. Scouring Winds is also movable, unlike Sirocco, it will have effect in more rounds than one. And as for Control Winds, a Scouring Winds spell also counts as "windstorm" strength, which is the +4 wind level of Control Winds from normal light wind. And don't skip over the "blocks all vision" so lightly, it's far better than the possibility of knocking someone prone.