Are Druids challenging and fun to play?

[Blaiseblah]

I like classes that make you use your head a bit and are a challenge to play decently. Probably why I've only been able to enjoy the Wizard class so far. I was wondering how Druid compared to a Wizard from this standpoint.

[FuzzyDuck81]

Fun - certainly

Challenging... well as with every class it depends a lot on situation. They're not the best at any single thing (offensive casting/melee/healing) but have good capabilities in all areas & as such generally function best when played as a hybrid rather than a specialist, which in itself can be trickier - similarly, battleclerics can be tough & very dangerous when played well, but its precisely that need to balance between multiple aspects that makes them so hit & miss (and has gotten them something of a bad rep), as it takes a degree of skill & attention to know what to be concentrating on at any one time & being able to switch between them on the fly. Saying that, my personal preference for druids is to use them in a battlecleric type role - plenty of melee in animal form with some nice buffs & healing capabilities for self & group, using only minimal offensive spells.

[Lonnbeimnech]

Fun - certainly

Challenging... well as with every class it depends a lot on situation. They're not the best at any single thing (offensive casting/melee/healing) but have good capabilities in all areas & as such generally function best when played as a hybrid rather than a specialist, which in itself can be trickier - similarly, battleclerics can be tough & very dangerous when played well, but its precisely that need to balance between multiple aspects that makes them so hit & miss (and has gotten them something of a bad rep), as it takes a degree of skill & attention to know what to be concentrating on at any one time & being able to switch between them on the fly. Saying that, my personal preference for druids is to use them in a battlecleric type role - plenty of melee in animal form with some nice buffs & healing capabilities for self & group, using only minimal offensive spells.

Yeah. They are versatile, as such, the challange is learning how to do all things at once, or switching between as needed. They are capable of tanking, healing, melee dps, offensive casting, buffs.

But if you mean challanging as in, it's hard to get through content, no, reaving roar is that strong, and you have planty of sp for self heals. Oh yeah, that's one other thing thats great about them. No one expects you to heal them, even though you can. Their self healing ability is as good as a cleric's, and their party heals are somewhere between fvs and spellsinger bard.

[~Susie1262]

Fun-yes
Challenging-somewhat

It all depends on what you want to do with your druid. And if you are willing to LR at any point. And avoiding the pitfall of trying to do too many things all with one build. Decide what it is you want to do-melee or cast, and build for that. Don't expect one build to be able to do both at the same time.

[Blaiseblah]

Thanks for the responses. Anyone happen to know if Druids can multiclass into Rogue for trap smithing decently? I pretty much exclusively duo with my brother and we like taking on elite quests as much as we can.

One more question, is there a way to check the old forums? I'm sure there were tons of Druid builds there. I haven't played since before Underdark was released so I'm pretty clueless about them.

[jalont]

I like classes that make you use your head a bit and are a challenge to play decently. Probably why I've only been able to enjoy the Wizard class so far. I was wondering how Druid compared to a Wizard from this standpoint.

They're somewhat fun to play, but you have to change your playstyle to fit them. For some people, this isn't fun. Leveling, they aren't challenging at all. In fact, my druid life was the easiest of all my lives. A druid built as a caster but takes reaving roar=the easiest and quickest leveling experience ever. I TRd right away, so I can't say what they're like in endgame, but I have a feeling Caster+Reaving Roar isn't viable.