Druid

The Pros and Cons of a Druid

The druid's many abilities make for a versatile and powerful character who can excel in almost any surroundings.

Druid Assets

When you chose a druid, you gain access to many spells that affect plants and animals, but the class offers other potent spells and useful powers as well. Below are several assets you have going for you when you play a druid.

• • Animal Companion: At 1st level, a druid has an animal ally that trusts her implicitly and generally obeys her orders. As the druid advances in level, the animal becomes even more powerful.

• • Nature-Related Abilities: Even a beginning druid can influence animals and get along in the wild. As she progresses in level, she gains additional abilities that improve her movement through natural terrain, allow her to resist natural venom, and eventually even negate the ravages of time.

• • Wild Shape: Beginning at 5th level, the druid can assume some animal forms. Depending on the exact shape she chooses, she can improve her mobility, fighting power, stealth -- or even all three. Additional druid levels allow her to wild shape into smaller and larger animals, and eventually into potent elemental forms as well.

• • Good Fortitude and Will Saves: A druid uses the best save progression in the game for Fortitude and Will saves (see Table 3-1 in the Player's Handbook). This natural mental and physical strength helps her resist most effects that fool her mind, assault her spirit, or attack her body -- including charms, compulsions, illusions, fear,polymorphing, poisons, and even disintegration. Furthermore, the high Wisdom score that a druid needs for her spellcasting also gives her Will save a hefty boost. Few other classes can match a druid's saving throw bonuses.

• • Good Spell Selection: The druid spell list is packed with spells that manipulate energy or the natural world, such as entangle, warp wood, produce flame, chill metal, heat metal, call lighting, stone shape, and flame strike. Many of these spells are useful for attacking foes, and others provide handy abilities on a temporary basis. The druid also has access to lifesaving spells such as slow poison, neutralize poison, remove disease, and the ever-popular cure spells. In addition, she can cast defensive spells, spells that bolster her allies, and spells that summon aid. Best of all, she has access to the whole druid spell list, not just the spells that she can place in a spellbook or master for a personal spell list.

• • Spontaneous Spells: A druid can spontaneously convert any spell she has prepared into a summon nature's ally spell. This ability allows her to load up on attack or utilitarian spells and still conjure up help if she needs it.

• • Good Hit Points: The druid's 8-sided Hit Dice give her a fairly impressive hit point total.

• • Good Attack Bonus: A druid's base attack bonus -- +3 per four levels -- is second only to that of the more martial classes, such as the fighter. So if your druid decides to enter combat, she can make a pretty good showing.

Druid Weaknesses

The druid's many advantages come at a price. Here are a few of the disadvantages you should keep in mind if you're considering a druid character.

• • Mediocre Weapon Selection: The druid is proficient with only a limited array of simple and martial weapons that fit the druidical ethos. Her selection includes a few very serviceable weapons, but they're not the most deadly ones available.

• • Mediocre Armor Class: The druid has access to defensive spells such as barkskin that improve her Armor Class, and to spells such as stoneskin that can help her withstand damage. However, she is proficient with only light and medium armor, plus all shields (except tower shields). To make matters worse, her armor and shield cannot be made from metal. These limitations still allow her a decent personal defense, but her Armor Class definitely isn't the best, and she's likely to suffer for it during any prolonged battle.

• • Poor Reflex Saving Throws: Druids have the worst progression for Reflex saves in the game (see Table 3-1 in the Player's Handbook). Thus, they aren't so great at getting out of the way when things get rough.