Question for the devs about future classes

[Perspicacity]

Are you ever going to make druids? If so, when? I love druids? Druids are my bread and butter in table top (After cleric) so when can look forward to shape shifting in to a greater elemental?

and when are we gonna get Kobald as a playable race? That's just funny.

P.S. I would totally pay like 2k DDO points for something like that and I bet I'm not the only one who would. Just sayin, big money... *nudge nudge, wink wink*

[tharvick51]

It wouldnt surprise me if they did make druids in the future, all the other MMO's have it. Though, IMO they need to have the PHB 2 variant on druids that let them shapeshift into 4 set forms that they choose a shape of(like the WoW druid kind of). BTW, cobold is spelled wrong=p its kobold

[Quintun]

Are you ever going to make druids? If so, when? I love druids? Druids are my bread and butter in table top (After cleric) so when can look forward to shape shifting in to a greater elemental?

and when are we gonna get cobald as a playable race? That's just funny.

P.S. I would totally pay like 2k DDO points for something like that and I bet I'm not the only one who would. Just sayin, big money... *nudge nudge, wink wink*

I would not pay 2k DDO points for either idea.

[Spiffyspiffy]

I'd pay 2k DDO points to not have a D&D inspired Druid class in DDO.

There's a reason Druids are so popular an everybody played them in Pen and paper. They're overpowered. Grossly so. You wanna see 2 or 3 druids shortman ToD at level 18? Put em in game as envisioned.

[Visty]

druids are coming...i think late 2007 that is

[Aumvaar]

There's a reason Druids are so popular an everybody played them in Pen and paper. They're overpowered. Grossly so. You wanna see 2 or 3 druids shortman ToD at level 18? Put em in game as envisioned.

I don't recall Druids being so grossly overpowered in earlier iterations of D&D, tho -- like 1st & 2nd edition.

Is it only 3.5 & later when they get bad? If so, would implementing earlier forms be feasible, or even desirable?

[Chimaira]

I'd pay 2k DDO points to not have a D&D inspired Druid class in DDO.

There's a reason Druids are so popular an everybody played them in Pen and paper. They're overpowered. Grossly so. You wanna see 2 or 3 druids shortman ToD at level 18? Put em in game as envisioned.

How, exactly? I have always seen druids as the gimped clerics.

[lurkertroll]

on pnp they become like a wrecking ball when they morph. only the polymorph has no drawback. like a wiz casting polymorphself:dragon risk become a dragon in mind and body.

the most correct answer would be

4+ new charector models for each element. then us casters might say why can't we have polymorph self then. so that would be more charector models and well then people will want polymorph other so they can be beast and such. and such is the first lesson in mudflation.

like when your dm would not give your lvl 1 pally a holy defender.

next thiny you know pallys will want steeds, fighters followers, and so on, and homesteads and royal titles and and

and cavalier class

so that is why.

[Deathknight_Xael]

druids are coming...i think late 2007 that is

lol

[Perspicacity]

How, exactly? I have always seen druids as the gimped clerics.

Dont think of them as worse clerics, think of them as better rangers. Like the ranger they are weak if you try to use them as healers but that's not there primary roll. The polymorph ability is why most people would play it which could easily be fixed by saying that you only have a limited selection of monsters you can morph in to and they can not be any bigger than you until like level 18 when you can go one size class bigger.

I'd say if they only allowed you to morph in to a wolf an eagle or a bear at first and then at say level 12 let you pick one elemental to polymorph in to once per day at first it could possibly be very balanced and still allow the popular "step 1. I transform, step 2. hulk smash" game mechanic I am (and many others are) so eager to get. there will never be an ability to transform in to a dragon that's just not doable in this game. alternativly you could have a whole bunch aof difrent choices for your polymorph and you just pick like 1 or 2, making it so no 2 druids are quitethe same you could have things like:

Troll: +4 str +4 con gain regeneration
Wolf: +2 str +6 dex +20% run speed
Air Elimental: gain incorporeal and DR/5 evil but cant inter act with switches and stuff.
Earth elimental: Gain DR/20 adamantien and +6 str, -20% movement speed.

and so on. The more powerful the form the bigger the negative. You would also gain susceptibility to bane weapons of the species. So if you turn in to a fire elemental you would get destroyed by a cold burst elemental bane weapon making such weapons more valuable in ah, cause like every one would go fire ele. There are holes in every build just got to find them.

[Red_Knight]

Dont think of them as worse clerics, think of them as better rangers. Like the ranger they are weak if you try to use them as healers but that's not there primary roll. The polymorph ability is why most people would play it which could easily be fixed by saying that you only have a limited selection of monsters you can morph in to and they can not be any bigger than you until like level 18 when you can go one size class bigger.

I'd say if they only allowed you to morph in to a wolf an eagle or a bear at first and then at say level 12 let you pick one elemental to polymorph in to once per day at first it could possibly be very balanced and still allow the popular "step 1. I transform, step 2. hulk smash" game mechanic I am (and many others are) so eager to get. there will never be an ability to transform in to a dragon that's just not doable in this game. alternativly you could have a whole bunch aof difrent choices for your polymorph and you just pick like 1 or 2, making it so no 2 druids are quitethe same you could have things like:

Troll: +4 str +4 con gain regeneration
Wolf: +2 str +6 dex +20% run speed
Air Elimental: gain incorporeal and DR/5 evil but cant inter act with switches and stuff.
Earth elimental: Gain DR/20 adamantien and +6 str, -20% movement speed.

and so on. The more powerful the form the bigger the negative. You would also gain susceptibility to bane weapons of the species. So if you turn in to a fire elemental you would get destroyed by a cold burst elemental bane weapon making such weapons more valuable in ah, cause like every one would go fire ele. There are holes in every build just got to find them.

In 3.5 druids can't polymorph into stuff like dragons anyway. There's an entirely optional prestige class for druids called Wyldshape I believe which eventually lets you do so, but that's by level 10 in the prestige class, and your giving up 10 levels of druid abilities to focus on your wyld shape.

[Ystradmynach]

The fact that druids are overpowered in D&D shouldn't be a barrier from them being implemented. After all, the same things could be said about clerics and to a lesser extent wizards being overpowered, while fighters tended to be woefully underpowered in pen and paper D&D.

Anyway, they can power down the druids and make it work just as they have for other classes, I would say the enormous amount of artwork required as well as plenty of more spell/ability interactions are the biggest hurdles here.

Netherless, Turbine would be foolish not to eventually bring out druids, but I don't expect them too soon. Hell, part of the reason they put out favored soul is probably because it will be a while before we get druids and they wanted players to have some other divine caster other than clerics.

[ddoplayer064]

I'd pay 2k DDO points to not have a D&D inspired Druid class in DDO.

There's a reason Druids are so popular an everybody played them in Pen and paper. They're overpowered. Grossly so. You wanna see 2 or 3 druids shortman ToD at level 18? Put em in game as envisioned.

As would I, many times over. The main reason, though not the only one, people want druids is the perception that they will be like the pnp version, grossly, totally, and completely overpowered. Turbine is screwed with druids. If they make them like the pnp version, the servers will have little else but this overpowered new class. If they tone them down, many people will cry like a baby.

[Angelus_dead]

The main reason, though not the only one, people want druids is the perception that they will be like the pnp version, grossly, totally, and completely overpowered.

That's not a large reason. The majority of people who want druids are not even aware that they are overpowered in D&D... in fact, those people know little of the D&D rules.

[Red_Knight]

I fail to see why so many people think druids are so overpowered. With a specific prestige class maybe, but that forces you to give stuff up to get.

Taken from page 38 of the players guide.

At 5th level, a druid gains the ability to turn
herself into any Small or Medium animal

Not that wording. You can turn into an animal. This means stuff like wolves and such. Not humanoids. Not monster races. Just animals.

Further on it says

The Druid. In addition,
she gains the ability to take the shape of a Large animal at 8th level, a
Tiny animal at 11th level, and a Huge animal at 15th level. The new
form’s Hit Dice can’t exceed the character’s druid level.

Again, note that it continues to specify it must be an animal. It isn't until level 12 a druid can shapeshift into anything but animals, and then it's just plant creatures. And it's not till level 16 you can (once a day) turn into an elemental. At no point is a druid able to become a troll or dragon for example.

Also note that druids can not speak while transformed. Thus no spell casting. They would have whatever the AC of the creature they transformed into is. Which might be lower then their base AC remember. Druid could easily be balanced for DDO. It's a matter of the game mechanics.

[Ystradmynach]

Also note that druids can not speak while transformed. Thus no spell casting. They would have whatever the AC of the creature they transformed into is. Which might be lower then their base AC remember. Druid could easily be balanced for DDO. It's a matter of the game mechanics.

Druids almost always take the natural spell feat in D&D, thus bypassing that restriction

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/feats.htm#naturalSpell

Anyway, clerics and druids are considered potentially so overpowered in D&D, that they coined a term for them, CoDzilla

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=CoDzilla

Now honestly I wouldn't be able to give you a detailed explanation on the numbers on how a CoDzilla works, most of the D&D games I've been in have broken down before anyone gets that powerful, but it is well accepted that it can be done.

Again though, it seems to me that it should be no problem to limit the overpowering druid abilities like they did for other classes in DDO.

[Red_Knight]

Druids almost always take the natural spell feat in D&D, thus bypassing that restriction

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/feats.htm#naturalSpell

Anyway, clerics and druids are considered potentially so overpowered in D&D, that they coined a term for them, CoDzilla

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=CoDzilla

Now honestly I wouldn't be able to give you a detailed explanation on the numbers on how a CoDzilla works, most of the D&D games I've been in have broken down before anyone gets that powerful, but it is well accepted that it can be done.

Again though, it seems to me that it should be no problem to limit the overpowering druid abilities like they did for other classes in DDO.

Ok, fine. But who's to say the devs have to include that feat?

Ah, CoDzilla huh? It's then up to the DM to prevent such abuse. I had a power gamer in my group for a while who made a duskblade. Now that class can potentially be extremely powerful if DMed poorly. Our DM hadn't read the class closely, and was allowing the duskblade spells such as Scorching Ray and Niac's Cold Ray. he was also allowing Ray spells to be cast through the sword as well as touch spells. This was broken in the extreme. The DM quickly realized it and read over the rules for duskblades closer. The player had to drop a good 90% of his spells known, and was no longer able to take out six trolls, two giants, and a pair of ogres on his own at level eight.

Another example is spike chain fighters. They can be easily twinked out to be insane. It's the DM's job to make sure you don't abuse the rules.

[Praxian09]

Druids are less over-powering than clerics are in D&D.

However they gimped clerics a bit in the online game (anyone see an option to choose what domains you want? anyone?) They could gimp druids and make them still as fun as clerics within the game. I'd love to play a druid personally.

[Angelus_dead]

Not that wording. You can turn into an animal. This means stuff like wolves and such. Not humanoids. Not monster races. Just animals.

Animals, or plants, or elementals... but even if it was just animals, do you know what "animals" can be in D&D?

To start with, there's the Tyrannosaursus Rex.

[Red_Knight]

Animals, or plants, or elementals... but even if it was just animals, do you know what "animals" can be in D&D?

To start with, there's the Tyrannosaursus Rex.

And that is where another part of the rules comes in. How many hit dice does a T-Rex have? And has your character ever encountered one? If not, then no t-rex for you. Has the druid encountered a large fire elemental? No? Then I guess your not changing into one because you don't know what they even look like. Druids must be familiar with the animal they change into. A druid from a desert wont be turning into a shark for example.

As an example, I played a pixie sorc once. That's using the racial class for pixie from Savage Species. Sure I could once per day polymorph self. However it was limited to my personal Hit Dice or caster level, whichever was lower. And the pixie racial class has exactly ONE hit die through level 5. So even at level 20 I could only transform into something with 16 or less hit dice. When we ran into a red dragon, I only had 8 hit dice. I wasn't able to polymorph into a dragon before we encountered one, because quite frankly my character didn't know what they even looked like.