Druid Non-Healer builds

[WolfSpirit]

I admit it. I'm at a loss with Druids. I know they are Divine and I know WHAT Class restrictions they have for weps/armor. But Ive no idea their roles.
What type of Druids can there be?
I understand they can be spec'd for heals, I mean any class with such access to high level Healing spells can be right?

Favored Soul turned into a fail for me. I simply do not have the self focus or desire or patience to heal people up. And of course, Favored soul turned into "Healer" besides the few brave souls that either stick solely to guild/friends or explain to PuGs every time, that they do not heal party's and take the inevitable static. OR gave up and turned into a healer anyways.

Druids.

Another glorified Healer?

What about Melee potential?
Offensive Divine Caster?

So I ask the Mob.

Dear Mob,

Whats your best non-healing Druid builds?
OR whats you take on the druid class within DDO?
Any input will defiantly help me decide which direction to go in.
I'm NOT going to spend as much cash on another class as I did last time to end up NEVER using it!
Thanks for any positive responses!

[Talon_Moonshadow]

/sigh
How much different this game would be if people stopped trying to force everyone into roles.



I will not be making a "healer" Druid.
But my first one will be offensive spell caster, with Max/Empower and have some cure spells memorized....so he will be able to heal decently.

But I dread those LFMs and players that will try to force me into a healer role.

still...I've been a healer. and I can multitask.

Ideally I will figure out how to build a Druid who can cast and melee. That way if I am forced to use all of my precious SP to baby sit someone else, I can still have fun swinging some weapons(claws) around.

[Mrphish]

well i plan to make a offensive caster based druid, with some cure spells avaliable to keep myself up and help out the healer's in a pinch.

I've never played pnp but iirc from the other dnd based games i've played in the past druids are a wisdom based class (much like the cleric) so probably go max wisdom, as much con as i can muster and the rest... i dunno probably spread through int (skills) cha (yay diplo funsies) and str (i like to carry thing's and i need a way to tenderize that training dummy ;p ) and for feats i was thinking maybe... maximize/empower/quicken/highten/toughness/spell pen-g;spell pen, or a focus/greater focus. i dunno it's going to all really going depend on how many class feats they recieve (if any). it's so hard to concider build options atm when they arn't even released.

i've been concidering doing an 18 druid/ 2 monk variation depending on weather capstone seems worth it (if they even get one)and what all they get for those 2 levels... it might be worth it to keep... you never know turbine may decide to change them to fit current game play/values as apposed to sticking with pure dnd based class (not saying they will indefinately but it's always best i find to plan for such thing's.)

anyway those are my thoughts, and im personally really excited for the druid to hit... has been my fav class since the days of baldurs gate... was immensely disappointed to find out this game didn't offer them so... now im trying to cap my TR and get him preped for a druid life ;D

Edit; something just occured to me, with the release of druids where also getting the addition of epic levels with epic feats and im wondering if the druid will recieve the dragon shape feat (iirc to get ti required an epic feat, can someone correct me on this?)or if it will even be implimented... im guessing it wont but i would assume that would be a must have for melee dps based types. hehe would be fun doing edragon as... a dragon o;

then again it could be one of the many thing's that they arn't includeing. so yeah this is mostly just speculation.

[svinja]

Edit; something just occured to me, with the release of druids where also getting the addition of epic levels with epic feats and im wondering if the druid will recieve the dragon shape feat (iirc to get ti required an epic feat, can someone correct me on this?)or if it will even be implimented... im guessing it wont but i would assume that would be a must have for melee dps based types. hehe would be fun doing edragon as... a dragon o;

I hope they're smart enough not to include this. Imagine fighting a raid boss, all the melees bunched up together... It's already hard to see what is happening in some fights... Now add a few DRAGONS into the mix... The screen would look like it's filled with random pixels...

[Vormaerin]

What type of Druids can there be?
]

Given that the devs have released ZERO information other than that they will have shapechanging and a pet, its impossible to have any kind of build for them.

In p&p, its possible to makea variety of types of druids.

You can reasonably expect that druids will be similar to other divine casters: capable of adequate melee bolstered by persistant damage over time effects (like Firewall/Ice Storm/Call Lightning Storm), but more likely to be an offensive caster with a lot of elemental damage spells and maybe some special summons.

As healers, they'll be okay but they don't get Mass Heal so won't be used for that role in groups that rely on that particular spell.

[drsmooth]

Just some ideas, though hard to guess without any idea of exactly how they will be implemented. Shape-changing and pets are basics of the class so we could assume they will get them in some form. Types of animal forms will, hopefully, affect builds/play style a lot. Standard DnD forms tend to be wolf, lion. bear. Two of those we have skins for already so...
Druids have access to healing, but make much better offensive casters with elemental damage type spells: wall of fire, call lightning etc. So you could be a very good offensive caster and back-up healer.
You also have to take into consideration, the re-done enhancement tree that will come out with druids. I hope it will make for some very interesting builds. For example:

Drow 18/2 druid/monk dual scimitar wielding tempest

Halfling 18/2 druid/monk assassin-animal form(lion)?

Dwarf 20 or 18/2 druid/evasion class-defender-animal form(bear)?

Half-orc 20 Druid-Ravager-animal form(bear)?

Any race 12/6/2 druid/rogue/monk-acrobat(assuming some implementation of Shillelagh)

14/6 druid/monk-animal form-ninja-shadow faded animal forms yum!

Human 20 druid-offensive caster-for the extra feat

All speculation, but druids should be fun. They have a lot of possibilities, and I look forward to all the crazy combos that builders will make and hopefully post

[voodoogroves]

As a full caster, I would expect the serious dips to be rare - like the Cleric 13/14 builds. There, but not common ... but that's assuming the higher level druid spells don't suck.

18/2 or 17/3 or similar splits may be common; no idea how close to the wild shapes they will stick (20 is huge elemental shape).

They may opt for a variant shapeshifting similar to the PHB2 shapeshift druid concept; where it's more like a mode you can freely switch in and out of, but is also mechanically simpler.

[garlor]

well, druids have fw, ice storm, finger of death, 2 lightning based spells, and maybe will have some type of dot, so doing an offensive casting focused one would be quite simple

about doing a melee one, without seeing the enhancements and many other things, I don't think they will have much better dps than what a wf fvs can have, so if you think that is enough dps you can go for it, except that iirc druids can use scimitars and that is a decent weapon, also kind of remembered em having an elephant hide spell or something like that, maybe an ac version will be possible

on healing aspect, they haven't mass heal, that can hurt to heal some content

aw all this is D&D based, we shall see the enhancements and DDO changes

[brightfang]

I hope Druids can use either Wisdom or Strength for melee attacks, making them able to melee and cast spells with one stat.

[Thrudh]

I hope Druids can use either Wisdom or Strength for melee attacks, making them able to melee and cast spells with one stat.

That would be pretty silly and overpowering. All well designed classes require tough choices from us players.

[brightfang]

That would be pretty silly and overpowering. All well designed classes require tough choices from us players.

I didn't think it would be overpowered. What about a Druid only feat that acts like weapon finesse but with Wisdom?

[jandhaer]

Just some ideas, though hard to guess without any idea of exactly how they will be implemented. Shape-changing and pets are basics of the class so we could assume they will get them in some form. Types of animal forms will, hopefully, affect builds/play style a lot. Standard DnD forms tend to be wolf, lion. bear. Two of those we have skins for already so...
Druids have access to healing, but make much better offensive casters with elemental damage type spells: wall of fire, call lightning etc. So you could be a very good offensive caster and back-up healer.
You also have to take into consideration, the re-done enhancement tree that will come out with druids. I hope it will make for some very interesting builds. For example:

Drow 18/2 druid/monk dual scimitar wielding tempest

Halfling 18/2 druid/monk assassin-animal form(lion)?

Dwarf 20 or 18/2 druid/evasion class-defender-animal form(bear)?

Half-orc 20 Druid-Ravager-animal form(bear)?

Any race 12/6/2 druid/rogue/monk-acrobat(assuming some implementation of Shillelagh)

14/6 druid/monk-animal form-ninja-shadow faded animal forms yum!

Human 20 druid-offensive caster-for the extra feat

All speculation, but druids should be fun. They have a lot of possibilities, and I look forward to all the crazy combos that builders will make and hopefully post

All those Monk splashes are not gonna happen, monk = lawful, druid = true neutral ... unless they decide to change that for some reason.

[qoolboxer]

Druids are not divine medics. They are more like mystics that are able to draw raw energy around themselves and kick everyone's ass. Hell, at 1495TP, they better be the most overpowered class, ever. You don't tell druids what roles to play, every group will be begging druids to join. A druid can fill any role, yes, when you see that druid in your group you will wish you have access to druids - you want to be a druid.

[voodoogroves]

I didn't think it would be overpowered. What about a Druid only feat that acts like weapon finesse but with Wisdom?

Just to make sure we're on the same page - Druid is about the strongest melee class in the core D&D rules. Period. Turbine is going to have to tone them down to keep balance. In core PNP, being able to turn yourself into whatever monstrosity you desire AND still be a massive spell caster ... your ability to only invest in WIS, CON and dump STR/DEX because you're going to replace that w/ the STR/DEX of whatever you're changing into.

They will need to pull druids in quite a bit to make them NOT dominate.

Monk druid splits *will* be common, similar to monk/cleric - it all depends on how wild shape is implemented / will scale.

That said, I expect something more similar to the PHB2 Shapeshift Druid variant.

All those Monk splashes are not gonna happen, monk = lawful, druid = true neutral ... unless they decide to change that for some reason.

Not in 3rd edition: http://www.d20srd.org/srd/classes/druid.htm

They have to have one part of their alignment be neutral - so CN, LN, N, NG, NE (with NE not available in DDO)

[Crann]

I am hoping for turtle to be one of the animal forms.

I will then make a 12 Druid/8 Monk using Ninja Pre.

[Chai]

All those Monk splashes are not gonna happen, monk = lawful, druid = true neutral ... unless they decide to change that for some reason.

Druid has to be either true neutral or something with neutral in it.

Lawful neutral can be both monk and druid.

[Luis_Velderve]

All those Monk splashes are not gonna happen, monk = lawful, druid = true neutral ... unless they decide to change that for some reason.

Druids can be X neutral and neural X using 3.5 rules.

[Luis_Velderve]

My actual TR FVS will become a Druid Ranger AA of a Druid X with Ranger Dilly. Lets see.

[drsmooth]

Voodoo and Chai beat me to it, so thanks. Druids only had to be true neutral in AD&D and 2nd edition I believe. 3.0 and 3.5 they just have to have some aspect of neutral in their alignment.

[budalic]

That would be pretty silly and overpowering. All well designed classes require tough choices from us players.

Idk, really - given how silly dots + shieldblocking technique works, having all druids use melee for sustained damage would be quite ok, IMO.

They could do stat balance in some other way - having some enhanchments/feats that require high str and bring some goodies to animal forms, for example.

Plus, unless they reach for a lot of non-core spells, druids don't really have a lot of useful DC spells anyway, at least in DDO terms (FOD and entangle being ones i remember best). So even wis might be allowed to have enhanchments/feats.

That being said, instead of using wis instead of str for melee, I'd rather have druids getting str/dex from animal forms. Same results, but more faitful to pnp, and quite unique.