Lammania Preview 3: Blightcaster

[Torc]

Blighted Wolf updates are in along with a few other changes. New or changed things will be colored.

Blightcaster

New Archtype for Druid

New Tree: Blightcaster
Replaces: Nature's Protector.

Themes: Death, Famine, Decay, Plague, Poison, Insects, Moss, Fungus. Bleached Bones. Scavengers.

Summary:

Thesis statement: Death is a necessary part of life.

A dark take on druid that celebrates the cycle of death & decay. This druid's power still comes from the "cycle" of nature, it just focuses at the end of that cycle.

BASE CLASS PROGRESSION:

LEVEL 1: Disease Immunity - (applies to natural diseases like other immunities)

LEVEL 2: Wild Shape - Plague Wolf (art is in!)

Basic Wolf Form replaced by Plague Wolf: Transform into a magically diseased wolf.

• 10% Combat Style bonus to attack speed, a +3 bonus to attack while flanking
• +10% enhancement bonus to movement speed.
• While in wolf form, you gain access to a number of spells and enhancements that require Wolf form, but the cooldowns on your non-animal form spells are increased to 2.5 times their normal length.

Bonus Feat: Imbue Toggle that only functions when in any animal form, pick 1 of 2.

• Biting Acid: 1d6 acid damage with all melee attacks. Scales with spell power. This can only be used in Wolf or Hive forms.
• Biting Poison: 1d8 poison damage with all melee attacks. Scales with spell power. This can only be used in Wolf or Hive forms.

LEVEL 4:

Minor Elemental Kin Form Pick (1 of 2)

WildShape - Thorn-Kin:

- (Art is in but it's bugged. changing equipment removes parts of it and the art stays stuck on you when you leave form)

You create a suit of living thorny wood around your body armoring you from harm. Note: Note this will be gearset over-ride instead of an animal form so the player will fight with their regular weapons. Basically you become a knight in plate mail made of wood and thorns.

• +1 bonus to caster level and max caster level of Physical and Poison spells
• 10% exceptional bonus to armor class and 50% fortification.
• You gain access to the thorn imbue.
• 10% vulnerability to fire damage

WildShape - Hive Keeper:

You give part of yourself to the hive, gaining insect like reflexes and senses. Your bodily fluids become poisonous to others, and the swarm is always close.

• +1 bonus to caster level and max caster level of Poison and Acid Spells
• You gain 25% concealment and Evasion.
• Your reflex saves are increased by 1 for every 3 druid levels.
• 10% vulnerability to cold. Your diplomacy checks are reduced by 5 (Jeff Goldblum early in The Fly)

BONUS FEAT - Thorn Imbue: Your weapons sprout sharp thorns adding 1d6 piercing damage to all your weapon attacks. Scales with spell power.

LEVEL 5: Venom Immunity

LEVEL 8: Minor Elemental Kin Form Pick (1 of 2) - lets you pick the other form from level 4

LEVEL 11:

Wild Shape - Blighted Wolf

The Blight claims your animal form and turns it into something else...: (Updated stats! Changed to plant zombie wolf! I really gotta get a yellow musk creeper reference in here somewhere...)

(Art is NOT in yet )

• you gain a 10% Combat Style bonus and 15% bonus to movement speed
• Grants a 10% profane bonus to Max Hit Points and +1 Imbue dice.
• You are considered a Plant making you immune to most forms of Stun, Sleep, Paralysis, Mind Effects and Drowning.
• Gain 100% Fortification and take 15% additional damage from fire.
• You get Wolf spell access as before.

BONUS FEAT: Imbue Toggle pick the other one from level 2.

LEVEL 13:

You gain access to advance wild shape forms.

WildShape - Thorn Knight: - (upgrade to thorn kin)

A more advanced version of Thorn Kin where you actually become a plant under the armor.

• You are considered a plant for purposes of most immunities, poison, sleep, paralysis, stun, mind effects. You can no longer drown in water.
• +3 bonus to caster level and max caster level of Physical and Poison spells
• You gain 10% absorption against piercing damage and 5% absorb against blunt damage.
• You gain +2 imbue dice
• 10% exceptional bonus to armor class and 100% fortification.
• 15% vulnerability to fire damage

WildShape - Hive Master:

You have become one with the swarm. Your body shifts between yourself and a cloud of insects, as you merge in and out of the swarm.

(Art is in)

• You are considered vermin for the purposes of immunities and are immune to mind effects and knock down.
• +3 bonus to caster level and max caster level of Poison and Acid Spells
• You are ethereal to monsters while tumbling.
• You gain 50% concealment as displacement and Improved Evasion.
• You gain +2 Imbue Dice and +1 to Reflex saves for every 2 druid levels (Max 10)
• 15% vulnerability to cold and -15 on diplomacy checks (Yeah Jeff is just pretty creepy now).

LEVEL 15:

Timeless Body (as druid)

LEVEL 17:

2nd Wildshape Elemental Form Pick (Thorn Knight, HiveMaster)

....

DRUID FEATURES REMOVED FROM SUBCLASS

• No Wild Empathy
• No Goodberry
• No Wolf Companion
• No Bear Form
• No Fire or Water Elemental Forms
• No Auto Memorized Spells

SPELL BOOK ADJUSTMENTS:

New Spells:

These appear in BOTH base druid and Blightcaster books.

Thorn Strike- Level 1: Conjuration - Cost: 2 Sp, Cooldown 2.0 seconds. You hurl a magical thorn at your target dealing 5 to 7 points of Piercing damage per caster level (up to a maximum of 50 to 70 damage at caster level 10).

Thorn Bloom- Level 3: Conjuration, Cost: 15 SP, Cooldown 3.5. Point Blank AOE - Thorns blast out from your body inflicting 5 to 10 points of Piercing damage per caster level (up to a maximum of 50 to 100 damage at caster level 10) to all nearby foes. Reflex save for half.

Thorn Wave- Level 6: Conjuration, Cost: 25 SP, Cooldown 4.5. Cone - You hurl a wave of magical thorns in front of you dealing to all targets in front of you for 6 to 11 points of Piercing damage per caster level (up to a maximum of 90 to 165 damage at caster level 15). Reflex save for half.

Grasping Roots- Level 6: Conjuration, Cost: 30 SP, Cooldown 20 seconds. Duration 10 seconds. Powerful thorny vines rip out of the ground seizing all enemies in the area. Enemies save vs Reflex or become entangled, with a re-occuring Strength save to break free. Targets also take 1d6 in piercing damage every 2 seconds. All enemy movement through the area is slowed by 30%, no save. Area of effect fire spells will destroy these vines and free any entangled creatures. Incorporeal creatures and oozes are naturally immune. Fire elementals and other fire creatures are immune because they burn through the plants.

Thorn Lance-Level 8: Conjuration, Cost: 20 SP, Cooldown 5.5. Bolt - You hurl a great thorn lance at your target dealing 9 to 14 points of Piercing damage per caster level (up to a maximum of 180 to 280 damage at caster level 20). The lance will damage all enemies in front or behind the target.(Has updated art)

Blight Caser Only Spells:

Thorn Blade: Level 2 - Summons a single scimitar of blight that does a mix of acid and poison damage instead of slashing damage, and uses the wielder's Wisdom instead of Strength for determining attack and damage bonuses. Has a duel wield version.

Blighted Breath: Level 5 - Sends out a breath of poisonous gas in a frontal cone dealing 1d8+2 points of Poison damage per caster level (up to a maximum of 45 to 150 damage at caster level 15) with a Reflex save for half damage. They must also make a Fortitude save or be Blinded for 10 seconds. If you are using the Biting Acid Imbue this damage is converted into 1d6+2 Acid damage per caster level (up to a maximum of 45 to 120 damage at caster level 15).

Plant Growth- Level 5: copy of Animal Growth for Plants (Now in Build!)

New Animal Spells: - Blight Caster Only

[INDENT]Blighted Charge: Requires Any Wolf - Cost: 25 sp Cooldown: 15. You leap forward with the speed and ferocity spewing blight around you as you pass. You attack enemies in your path, dealing an extra 5(W), with a +1 bonus to critical threat & multiplier, and targets caught in your wake are Blinded and Helpless for 8 seconds. A successful reflex save negates this effect. For 10 seconds after the charge you gain +3 Imbue Dice. Stun vs Reflex DC: 10 + Druid Level + Highest of Wisdom, Dexterity or Strength + Necromancy Bonuses."

Jaws of Doom: Any Wolf - Cost: 20 Cooldown: 30 seconds. As your jaws close over your enemies, they feel their life end. This attack deals an extra 10(W), +1 bonus to critical threat and multiplier, and your foe must save vs Fortitude or dies as if slayed by a vorpal weapon (Does not affect Oozes, Undead, Constructs or Elementals). Death vs Fortitude DC: 10 + Druid Level + Highest of Wisdom, Dexterity or Strength + Necromancy Bonuses.

Blighted Bite: Valid Forms: School: Evocation Cost: 10 sp. Any Plague Wolf. You gain +2 Imbue dice while in any wolf form for 20 minutes.

Revamped Spells: - applies to all class versions of these spells.

Contagion - focused down to 3 versions instead of 7.

• Blinding Sickness: Target goes blind and they take 1d4 ability damage to strength and dexterity
• Cackling Fever - Target is stunned for 6 seconds and takes 1d4 ability damage to wisdom and intelligence
• Slimy Doom - Target takes 4d6 acid damage +1 per caster level every 3 seconds

Melf's Acid Arrow - Now does 1d6 acid damage per caster level (Max caster level 10 for 10d6). Applies damage and ticks twice again over 6 seconds (Damage occurs 3 times in total) (fixed the missing tick problem)

Black Dragon Bolt - is being updated to do 1d10 acid damage per caster level (Max caster level 25, caps at 25 to 250 damage). Applies damage and ticks three again over 8 seconds (Damage occurs 4 times in total)

(additional tick of damage added)

Spells Added to the Druid spell book for Blightcaster

• 1st level - Night Shield, Thorn Strike, Chill Touch, Acid Spray
• 2nd level - Gets Contagion at level 2 instead of 3, Melf's Acid Arrow, Web
• 3rd level - Acid Blast, Thorn Bloom, Stinking Cloud
• 4th level - Fear, Acid Rain, Plant Growth, Wave of Fatigue
• 5th level - Negative Energy Burst, Blighted Breath, Cloud Kill
• 6th level - Negative energy ray, Jaws of Doom, Blighted Bite, Thorn Wave
• 7th Level - Acid Fog, Wave of Exhaustion, Horrid Wilting
• 8th level - Black Dragon Bolt, Thorn Lance
• 9th level - Acid Well, Wail of the Banshee, Rend the Soul, Blighted Charge

Spells Removed from Druid Book for Blightcaster

• No Animal Summons
• No Basic Cure Wound Spells or the Heal Spell (you keep Vigor but get them 1 level later, no mass regeneration)
• No Fire Spells
• No Sun Spells
• No Fire Shield
• No Bear Spells
• No Elemental Fire/Water Elemental Form Spells (this includes elemental toughness)

Skills: as Druid

Past Life

Blightcaster:

Past Life: x3 (stacks)

+5 Acid and Poison Spell Power

BLIGHT CASTER TREE:

Core 1:

The Cycle of Decay - You gain 5 Force, Poison, Negative, and Acid Spell Power per core in this tree.

Core 3:

Spread the Blight - Your offensive spells now apply a 10 second debuff called Blight: reduces saves by 1 and incoming positive healing by 20%.

Core 6:

Death Eater - You gain 1 temporary hit point equal to your wisdom score whenever you kill an enemy (Creatures 2 levels below you do not count). These hit points remain until damage removes them or the quest ends. This can stack 3 times and is refreshed on each kill.

Core 12:

Know the End - You gain Know the End which acts as a permanent Death Block. Blight effect is improved to reduces saves by 2 and incoming positive healing by 40% for 10 seconds. Death Eater max stack size increased to 4.

Core 18:

Vile Eruption - Earth Quake now deals 2d6 + 1 per caster level in acid damage every 3 seconds in addition to it's regular effects. Death Eater max stack size increased to 5.

Core 20:

Master of Decay:

• +2 Wisdom & Con
• SLA Creeping Doom Cost: 20 spell points Cooldown: 15 seconds
• Blight now reduces saves by 4 and positive healing by 60%

TIER 1:

Prickly: 1/2/3 PRR, rank 3: +1 to damage with weapon attacks.

Kiss of the Blight: You gain 5/10/15% Absorption against Poison and Acid Damage.

Pick Your Poison I Multi Selector

SLA: Thorn Strike 3 ranks, cooldown 7/5/3 Spell Cost 3,2,1
SLA Acid Spray 3 ranks Cooldown 12/8/4 seconds , 4/3/2 SP cost

Sharp Edges 1: Spell Crit +1 to Force/Neg/Poison/Acid Spell Crit Chance. (costs 1 AP, instead of the usual 2)

Lore of the Great Plagues: You gain a +1/2/3 saving throw bonus against poison and disease. Rank 3: Gain 5 Poison and Negative Spell Power.

TIER 2:

Defiled Growth - Your Entangle, Spike growth & Grasping Thorns spells now cause 1d4 negative energy damage per spell level every 2 seconds. (changes the art of these spells when you take this)

Meta Selector, Empower, Max, Quicken

Pick your Poison II Mutli Selector

SLA Splinter Bolt 3 ranks, Cooldown 8/6/4, Spell Cost, 6,4,2

SLA Melf's Acid Arrow 3 ranks, Cooldown 8/6/4, Spell Cost, 6,4,2

Sharp Edges II: Spell Crit +1 to Force/Neg/Poison/Acid Spell Crit Chance. (costs 1 AP, instead of the usual 2)

Every Rose Has it's Thorn - Spike Growth damage is increased by 100%. When using Any Thorn shape or Blighted wolf form you gain 15 PRR & MRR for standing inside any entangle, spike growth or grasping root spell effect.

TIER 3:

Out Break - upgrades the contagion and insidious spores spells to also hit enemies near the primary target.

Meta Selector - Empower, Max, Quicken

SLA Enveloping Swarm - 3 ranks, Cooldown 16,12,8, Cost 8,6,4

Sharp Edges III: Spell Crit +1 to Force/Neg/Poison/Acid Spell Crit Chance. (costs 1 AP, instead of the usual 2)

Stat Boost - Wis/Con

TIER 4:


Poison of the Hydra - The Poison spell is now greatly enhanced when cast. Still doing it's original effect it now also applies to up to five targets, strips poison damage immunity for 30 seconds and immediately does 2 to 5 Poison damage per caster level on application and for every 4 seconds up to 12 seconds. Fortitude save for half damage. Creatures immune to constitution damage will still ignore that aspect of the spell, but will take poison damage.

Unkindness of Ravens - 120/90/60 second cool down, A swarm of ravens blasts through you and a narrow path ahead. Enemies in the way take 1d3 piercing damage per druid level and must save vs confusing and blind separately DC: 20+ druid level + Conjuration DC. If you have a raven summon active from the falconry tree when you used this ability you gain the More Unkindness to Come effect for 10 seconds; All your spells and attacks apply 1d6 piercing damage to blind targets for every druid level. This damage can only apply once every two seconds.

Pick your Poison III Multi Selector

SLA Thorn Bloom - 3 ranks, Cooldown 16, 12, 8, Cost: 20,15, 10

SLA Acid Rain - 10 SP cost, Cooldown 20/16/12 seconds

Sharp Edges IV: Spell Crit +1 to Force/Neg/Poison/Acid Spell Crit Chance. (costs 1 AP, instead of the usual 2)

Stat Boost, Wis/Con

Tier 5:

Thorns in your side - Multi Selector -

Poisoned Thorns - Your Splinter Bolt and Thorn Spells now also cause additional 2 points of Poison damage for every spell level. This scales with spell power.

Vile Thorns - Your Splinter Bolt and Thorn Spells now also cause additional 1 point of Acid damage for every spell level. This scales with spell power.

SLA Grasping Thorns - Spell Like Ability: Powerful thorny vines rip out of the ground seizing all enemies in the area. Enemies save vs Reflex or become entangled, with a re-occuring Strength save to break free. Targets also take 1d6 in piercing damage every 2 seconds. All enemy movement through the area is slowed by 30%, no save. Area of effect fire spells will destroy these vines and free any entangled creatures. Incorporeal creatures and oozes are naturally immune. Fire elementals and other fire creatures are immune because they burn through the plants.

Everything Decays - Gain 5/10/15 Acid & Poison Spell Power Rank 3: Your spells remove Acid Immunity for 30 seconds.

Doomsayer - Gain a +1 Bonus to Conjuration, Evocation and Necromancy DCs


ADDITIONAL CHANGES....


Changes to Seasons Herald

Core 3 (level 6) updated to : +1 to max caster level of your season. Your Shillelagh does one extra W of damage. Your plant spells like entangle, spike growth and grasping thorns will no longer be dispelled by fire effects.

Both Child of Summer and Elder of Winter now effect thorn spells.

Changes to Nature's Warrior: -

• Howl of Winter renamed and changed to Howl of the Hunter: Casting Howl of Terror now grants you the effect Howl of the Hunter for 10 seconds which grants a +10 exceptional bonus to Double Strike, 5% bonus to spell crit and 15% to spell crit damage to all spells. This will only occur once every 30 seconds. Passive: You gain a +5% primal bonus to Max Hit Points
• Great White Wolf Gets a multi selector with the alternate called Bad Wolf - 10/20/30 acid spell power, 10/20/30% Acid Resistance
• Jaws of Winter get's renamed "Jaws of the Wolf" - Gain 10 times your character level in temporary HPs for 30 seconds after using Jaws of Winter or Jaws of Doom
• Extra Wild Empathy gets a multi-selector option called Dead Nerves - gain 5/10/15 Hit Points.
• Athletic Hunter's 3rd rank now grants a +1 Reflex/Fortitude save instead of another wild empathy charge
• Brother Wolf gets a multi selector option called Lone Wolf, grants 1/2/3 bonuses for To Hit, PRR, MRR
• Flight Gets a Multi Selector option called Play Dead. Increases Unconscious range by 10/20/30.

KNOW ISSUES

• Art still missing for Blighted Wolf, and Thorn Kin and Thorn Blight art is buggy atm
• Contagion still has some issues where it's not doing multiple stat damage types on two of it's types. tool tips not updated yet.
• Haven't updated standard druid Cold Breath yet.
• Spike growth does not appear to be effect by child of summer or Thorn kin, when it is both a thorn and a force spell.

BUG FIXES FROM PREVIOUS PREVIEW

Thorn Strike tool tips corrected
Splinterbolt no longer has an extra hit in it
Greater Vigor is now in the level 6 spells
Black Dragon Bolt (8th level spell) now ticks 4 times consistently up from the originally intended 3.
The new thorn spells now support Eschew Material.
The new thorn spells are now affected by the bonus to caster level from season herald's Child of Summer
Blighted Breath is now considered both acid and poison for spell level bonuses
Blighted Breath is now of the conjuration school
Blighted Breath DC now benefits from +Spell focus Mastery items
Hive Master should now provide bonuses to Acid caster level

[Xezom]

I have mixed feeling on the T5 strip change. Being forced to use the poison spell for poison immunity striping is a little odd, but assuming that it applies the strip regardless of the save, applying to 5 targets, and being accessible at tier 4 vs 5 is nice.

First thought on Every Rose has it's Thorns addition for thorn kin and wolf is that it's interesting, but i will say that Thorn Kin will not benefit greatly from it. Generally speaking the playstyle of the Thorn caster is lock down from a distance with Grasping and pick off enemies with the thorn spells. It's fairly rare to actually stand in your own Spike Growth/ Grasping Vines. Even in Epics where you can get the heal from standing in entangling spells, it's generally more detrimental to be in that close of range to enemies you have cc'd.

I'll just on lammannia and give it another go and see how it feels. I liked the play style last preview and there is minimal changes that make any game play alterations so i have the feeling it's going to be about the same as before.


First Issue already noticed:

I know it says it's bugged but the Thorn Kin looks the exact same as the first two previews. Is that the intended art? (It's still just Barkskin)

Grasping Thorns SLA uses the numbers in the first preview and still mentions being doubled on Entangled Enemies. The base spell does not. Differences: Base- 1d6, 30% slow, no double on entangle. SLA (states)- 1d4, 35% slow, doubled on entangled.
My testing shows that it's the spell book version. 1d6 without the double.

Which version is it supposed to be?

[Zeklijan]

Are form specific spells to Thorn/Hive being considered in development? I believe it would help differentiate the two and add a bit more of a role to each. Like a unique MRR debuff for hive or a tanky spell for thorn or something like that.

Given that now poison is now a relevant damage type for druids, could it be added to elder of winter from season's herald?

Also, nice batch of bug fixes. I like seeing that

[lain5246]

Blighted Wolf updates are in along with a few other changes. New or changed things will be colored.

Blightcaster

New Archtype for Druid

New Tree: Blightcaster
Replaces: Nature's Protector.

Themes: Death, Famine, Decay, Plague, Poison, Insects, Moss, Fungus. Bleached Bones. Scavengers.

Summary:

Thesis statement: Death is a necessary part of life.

A dark take on druid that celebrates the cycle of death & decay. This druid's power still comes from the "cycle" of nature, it just focuses at the end of that cycle.

BASE CLASS PROGRESSION:

LEVEL 1: Disease Immunity - (applies to natural diseases like other immunities)

LEVEL 2: Wild Shape - Plague Wolf (art is in!)

Basic Wolf Form replaced by Plague Wolf: Transform into a magically diseased wolf.

• 10% Combat Style bonus to attack speed, a +3 bonus to attack while flanking
• +10% enhancement bonus to movement speed.
• While in wolf form, you gain access to a number of spells and enhancements that require Wolf form, but the cooldowns on your non-animal form spells are increased to 2.5 times their normal length.

Bonus Feat: Imbue Toggle that only functions when in any animal form, pick 1 of 2.

• Biting Acid: 1d6 acid damage with all melee attacks. Scales with spell power. This can only be used in Wolf or Hive forms.
• Biting Poison: 1d8 poison damage with all melee attacks. Scales with spell power. This can only be used in Wolf or Hive forms.

LEVEL 4:

Minor Elemental Kin Form Pick (1 of 2)

WildShape - Thorn-Kin:

- (Art is in but it's bugged. changing equipment removes parts of it and the art stays stuck on you when you leave form)

You create a suit of living thorny wood around your body armoring you from harm. Note: Note this will be gearset over-ride instead of an animal form so the player will fight with their regular weapons. Basically you become a knight in plate mail made of wood and thorns.

• +1 bonus to caster level and max caster level of Physical and Poison spells
• 10% exceptional bonus to armor class and 50% fortification.
• You gain access to the thorn imbue.
• 10% vulnerability to fire damage

WildShape - Hive Keeper:

You give part of yourself to the hive, gaining insect like reflexes and senses. Your bodily fluids become poisonous to others, and the swarm is always close.

• +1 bonus to caster level and max caster level of Poison and Acid Spells
• You gain 25% concealment and Evasion.
• Your reflex saves are increased by 1 for every 3 druid levels.
• 10% vulnerability to cold. Your diplomacy checks are reduced by 5 (Jeff Goldblum early in The Fly)

BONUS FEAT - Thorn Imbue: Your weapons sprout sharp thorns adding 1d6 piercing damage to all your weapon attacks. Scales with spell power.

LEVEL 5: Venom Immunity

LEVEL 8: Minor Elemental Kin Form Pick (1 of 2) - lets you pick the other form from level 4

LEVEL 11:

Wild Shape - Blighted Wolf

The Blight claims your animal form and turns it into something else...: (Updated stats! Changed to plant zombie wolf! I really gotta get a yellow musk creeper reference in here somewhere...)

(Art is NOT in yet )

• you gain a 10% Combat Style bonus and 15% bonus to movement speed
• Grants a 10% profane bonus to Max Hit Points and +1 Imbue dice.
• You are considered a Plant making you immune to most forms of Stun, Sleep, Paralysis, Mind Effects and Drowning.
• Gain 100% Fortification and take 15% additional damage from fire.
• You get Wolf spell access as before.

BONUS FEAT: Imbue Toggle pick the other one from level 2.

LEVEL 13:

You gain access to advance wild shape forms.

WildShape - Thorn Knight: - (upgrade to thorn kin)

A more advanced version of Thorn Kin where you actually become a plant under the armor.

• You are considered a plant for purposes of most immunities, poison, sleep, paralysis, stun, mind effects. You can no longer drown in water.
• +3 bonus to caster level and max caster level of Physical and Poison spells
• You gain 10% absorption against piercing damage and 5% absorb against blunt damage.
• You gain +2 imbue dice
• 10% exceptional bonus to armor class and 100% fortification.
• 15% vulnerability to fire damage

WildShape - Hive Master:

You have become one with the swarm. Your body shifts between yourself and a cloud of insects, as you merge in and out of the swarm.

(Art is in)

• You are considered vermin for the purposes of immunities and are immune to mind effects and knock down.
• +3 bonus to caster level and max caster level of Poison and Acid Spells
• You are ethereal to monsters while tumbling.
• You gain 50% concealment as displacement and Improved Evasion.
• You gain +2 Imbue Dice and +1 to Reflex saves for every 2 druid levels (Max 10)
• 15% vulnerability to cold and -15 on diplomacy checks (Yeah Jeff is just pretty creepy now).

LEVEL 15:

Timeless Body (as druid)

LEVEL 17:

2nd Wildshape Elemental Form Pick (Thorn Knight, HiveMaster)

....

DRUID FEATURES REMOVED FROM SUBCLASS

• No Wild Empathy
• No Goodberry
• No Wolf Companion
• No Bear Form
• No Fire or Water Elemental Forms
• No Auto Memorized Spells

SPELL BOOK ADJUSTMENTS:

New Spells:

These appear in BOTH base druid and Blightcaster books.

Thorn Strike- Level 1: Conjuration - Cost: 2 Sp, Cooldown 2.0 seconds. You hurl a magical thorn at your target dealing 5 to 7 points of Piercing damage per caster level (up to a maximum of 50 to 70 damage at caster level 10).

Thorn Bloom- Level 3: Conjuration, Cost: 15 SP, Cooldown 3.5. Point Blank AOE - Thorns blast out from your body inflicting 5 to 10 points of Piercing damage per caster level (up to a maximum of 50 to 100 damage at caster level 10) to all nearby foes. Reflex save for half.

Thorn Wave- Level 6: Conjuration, Cost: 25 SP, Cooldown 4.5. Cone - You hurl a wave of magical thorns in front of you dealing to all targets in front of you for 6 to 11 points of Piercing damage per caster level (up to a maximum of 90 to 165 damage at caster level 15). Reflex save for half.

Grasping Roots- Level 6: Conjuration, Cost: 30 SP, Cooldown 20 seconds. Duration 10 seconds. Powerful thorny vines rip out of the ground seizing all enemies in the area. Enemies save vs Reflex or become entangled, with a re-occuring Strength save to break free. Targets also take 1d6 in piercing damage every 2 seconds. All enemy movement through the area is slowed by 30%, no save. Area of effect fire spells will destroy these vines and free any entangled creatures. Incorporeal creatures and oozes are naturally immune. Fire elementals and other fire creatures are immune because they burn through the plants.

Thorn Lance-Level 8: Conjuration, Cost: 20 SP, Cooldown 5.5. Bolt - You hurl a great thorn lance at your target dealing 9 to 14 points of Piercing damage per caster level (up to a maximum of 180 to 280 damage at caster level 20). The lance will damage all enemies in front or behind the target.(Has updated art)

Blight Caser Only Spells:

Thorn Blade: Level 2 - Summons a single scimitar of blight that does a mix of acid and poison damage instead of slashing damage, and uses the wielder's Wisdom instead of Strength for determining attack and damage bonuses. Has a duel wield version.

Blighted Breath: Level 5 - Sends out a breath of poisonous gas in a frontal cone dealing 1d8+2 points of Poison damage per caster level (up to a maximum of 45 to 150 damage at caster level 15) with a Reflex save for half damage. They must also make a Fortitude save or be Blinded for 10 seconds. If you are using the Biting Acid Imbue this damage is converted into 1d6+2 Acid damage per caster level (up to a maximum of 45 to 120 damage at caster level 15).

Plant Growth- Level 5: copy of Animal Growth for Plants (Now in Build!)

New Animal Spells: - Blight Caster Only

[INDENT]Blighted Charge: Requires Any Wolf - Cost: 25 sp Cooldown: 15. You leap forward with the speed and ferocity spewing blight around you as you pass. You attack enemies in your path, dealing an extra 5(W), with a +1 bonus to critical threat & multiplier, and targets caught in your wake are Blinded and Helpless for 8 seconds. A successful reflex save negates this effect. For 10 seconds after the charge you gain +3 Imbue Dice. Stun vs Reflex DC: 10 + Druid Level + Highest of Wisdom, Dexterity or Strength + Necromancy Bonuses."

Jaws of Doom: Any Wolf - Cost: 20 Cooldown: 30 seconds. As your jaws close over your enemies, they feel their life end. This attack deals an extra 10(W), +1 bonus to critical threat and multiplier, and your foe must save vs Fortitude or dies as if slayed by a vorpal weapon (Does not affect Oozes, Undead, Constructs or Elementals). Death vs Fortitude DC: 10 + Druid Level + Highest of Wisdom, Dexterity or Strength + Necromancy Bonuses.

Blighted Bite: Valid Forms: School: Evocation Cost: 10 sp. Any Plague Wolf. You gain +2 Imbue dice while in any wolf form for 20 minutes.

Revamped Spells: - applies to all class versions of these spells.

Contagion - focused down to 3 versions instead of 7.

• Blinding Sickness: Target goes blind and they take 1d4 ability damage to strength and dexterity
• Cackling Fever - Target is stunned for 6 seconds and takes 1d4 ability damage to wisdom and intelligence
• Slimy Doom - Target takes 4d6 acid damage +1 per caster level every 3 seconds

Melf's Acid Arrow - Now does 1d6 acid damage per caster level (Max caster level 10 for 10d6). Applies damage and ticks twice again over 6 seconds (Damage occurs 3 times in total) (fixed the missing tick problem)

Black Dragon Bolt - is being updated to do 1d10 acid damage per caster level (Max caster level 25, caps at 25 to 250 damage). Applies damage and ticks three again over 8 seconds (Damage occurs 4 times in total)

(additional tick of damage added)

Spells Added to the Druid spell book for Blightcaster

• 1st level - Night Shield, Thorn Strike, Chill Touch, Acid Spray
• 2nd level - Gets Contagion at level 2 instead of 3, Melf's Acid Arrow, Web
• 3rd level - Acid Blast, Thorn Bloom, Stinking Cloud
• 4th level - Fear, Acid Rain, Plant Growth, Wave of Fatigue
• 5th level - Negative Energy Burst, Blighted Breath, Cloud Kill
• 6th level - Negative energy ray, Jaws of Doom, Blighted Bite, Thorn Wave
• 7th Level - Acid Fog, Wave of Exhaustion, Horrid Wilting
• 8th level - Black Dragon Bolt, Thorn Lance
• 9th level - Acid Well, Wail of the Banshee, Rend the Soul, Blighted Charge

Spells Removed from Druid Book for Blightcaster

• No Animal Summons
• No Basic Cure Wound Spells or the Heal Spell (you keep Vigor but get them 1 level later, no mass regeneration)
• No Fire Spells
• No Sun Spells
• No Fire Shield
• No Bear Spells
• No Elemental Fire/Water Elemental Form Spells (this includes elemental toughness)

Skills: as Druid

Past Life

Blightcaster:

Past Life: x3 (stacks)

+5 Acid and Poison Spell Power

BLIGHT CASTER TREE:

Core 1:

The Cycle of Decay - You gain 5 Force, Poison, Negative, and Acid Spell Power per core in this tree.

Core 3:

Spread the Blight - Your offensive spells now apply a 10 second debuff called Blight: reduces saves by 1 and incoming positive healing by 20%.

Core 6:

Death Eater - You gain 1 temporary hit point equal to your wisdom score whenever you kill an enemy (Creatures 2 levels below you do not count). These hit points remain until damage removes them or the quest ends. This can stack 3 times and is refreshed on each kill.

Core 12:

Know the End - You gain Know the End which acts as a permanent Death Block. Blight effect is improved to reduces saves by 2 and incoming positive healing by 40% for 10 seconds. Death Eater max stack size increased to 4.

Core 18:

Vile Eruption - Earth Quake now deals 2d6 + 1 per caster level in acid damage every 3 seconds in addition to it's regular effects. Death Eater max stack size increased to 5.

Core 20:

Master of Decay:

• +2 Wisdom & Con
• SLA Creeping Doom Cost: 20 spell points Cooldown: 15 seconds
• Blight now reduces saves by 4 and positive healing by 60%

TIER 1:

Prickly: 1/2/3 PRR, rank 3: +1 to damage with weapon attacks.

Kiss of the Blight: You gain 5/10/15% Absorption against Poison and Acid Damage.

Pick Your Poison I Multi Selector

SLA: Thorn Strike 3 ranks, cooldown 7/5/3 Spell Cost 3,2,1
SLA Acid Spray 3 ranks Cooldown 12/8/4 seconds , 4/3/2 SP cost

Sharp Edges 1: Spell Crit +1 to Force/Neg/Poison/Acid Spell Crit Chance. (costs 1 AP, instead of the usual 2)

Lore of the Great Plagues: You gain a +1/2/3 saving throw bonus against poison and disease. Rank 3: Gain 5 Poison and Negative Spell Power.

TIER 2:

Defiled Growth - Your Entangle, Spike growth & Grasping Thorns spells now cause 1d4 negative energy damage per spell level every 2 seconds. (changes the art of these spells when you take this)

Meta Selector, Empower, Max, Quicken

Pick your Poison II Mutli Selector

SLA Splinter Bolt 3 ranks, Cooldown 8/6/4, Spell Cost, 6,4,2

SLA Melf's Acid Arrow 3 ranks, Cooldown 8/6/4, Spell Cost, 6,4,2

Sharp Edges II: Spell Crit +1 to Force/Neg/Poison/Acid Spell Crit Chance. (costs 1 AP, instead of the usual 2)

Every Rose Has it's Thorn - Spike Growth damage is increased by 100%. When using Any Thorn shape or Blighted wolf form you gain 15 PRR & MRR for standing inside any entangle, spike growth or grasping root spell effect.

TIER 3:

Out Break - upgrades the contagion and insidious spores spells to also hit enemies near the primary target.

Meta Selector - Empower, Max, Quicken

SLA Enveloping Swarm - 3 ranks, Cooldown 16,12,8, Cost 8,6,4

Sharp Edges III: Spell Crit +1 to Force/Neg/Poison/Acid Spell Crit Chance. (costs 1 AP, instead of the usual 2)

Stat Boost - Wis/Con

TIER 4:


Poison of the Hydra - The Poison spell is now greatly enhanced when cast. Still doing it's original effect it now also applies to up to five targets, strips poison damage immunity for 30 seconds and immediately does 2 to 5 Poison damage per caster level on application and for every 4 seconds up to 12 seconds. Fortitude save for half damage. Creatures immune to constitution damage will still ignore that aspect of the spell, but will take poison damage.

Unkindness of Ravens - 120/90/60 second cool down, A swarm of ravens blasts through you and a narrow path ahead. Enemies in the way take 1d3 piercing damage per druid level and must save vs confusing and blind separately DC: 20+ druid level + Conjuration DC. If you have a raven summon active from the falconry tree when you used this ability you gain the More Unkindness to Come effect for 10 seconds; All your spells and attacks apply 1d6 piercing damage to blind targets for every druid level. This damage can only apply once every two seconds.

Pick your Poison III Multi Selector

SLA Thorn Bloom - 3 ranks, Cooldown 16, 12, 8, Cost: 20,15, 10

SLA Acid Rain - 10 SP cost, Cooldown 20/16/12 seconds

Sharp Edges IV: Spell Crit +1 to Force/Neg/Poison/Acid Spell Crit Chance. (costs 1 AP, instead of the usual 2)

Stat Boost, Wis/Con

Tier 5:

Thorns in your side - Multi Selector -

Poisoned Thorns - Your Splinter Bolt and Thorn Spells now also cause additional 2 points of Poison damage for every spell level. This scales with spell power.

Vile Thorns - Your Splinter Bolt and Thorn Spells now also cause additional 1 point of Acid damage for every spell level. This scales with spell power.

SLA Grasping Thorns - Spell Like Ability: Powerful thorny vines rip out of the ground seizing all enemies in the area. Enemies save vs Reflex or become entangled, with a re-occuring Strength save to break free. Targets also take 1d6 in piercing damage every 2 seconds. All enemy movement through the area is slowed by 30%, no save. Area of effect fire spells will destroy these vines and free any entangled creatures. Incorporeal creatures and oozes are naturally immune. Fire elementals and other fire creatures are immune because they burn through the plants.

Everything Decays - Gain 5/10/15 Acid & Poison Spell Power Rank 3: Your spells remove Acid Immunity for 30 seconds.

Doomsayer - Gain a +1 Bonus to Conjuration, Evocation and Necromancy DCs


ADDITIONAL CHANGES....


Changes to Seasons Herald

Core 3 (level 6) updated to : +1 to max caster level of your season. Your Shillelagh does one extra W of damage. Your plant spells like entangle, spike growth and grasping thorns will no longer be dispelled by fire effects.

Both Child of Summer and Elder of Winter now effect thorn spells.

Changes to Nature's Warrior: -

• Howl of Winter renamed and changed to Howl of the Hunter: Casting Howl of Terror now grants you the effect Howl of the Hunter for 10 seconds which grants a +10 exceptional bonus to Double Strike, 5% bonus to spell crit and 15% to spell crit damage to all spells. This will only occur once every 30 seconds. Passive: You gain a +5% primal bonus to Max Hit Points
• Great White Wolf Gets a multi selector with the alternate called Bad Wolf - 10/20/30 acid spell power, 10/20/30% Acid Resistance
• Jaws of Winter get's renamed "Jaws of the Wolf" - Gain 10 times your character level in temporary HPs for 30 seconds after using Jaws of Winter or Jaws of Doom
• Extra Wild Empathy gets a multi-selector option called Dead Nerves - gain 5/10/15 Hit Points.
• Athletic Hunter's 3rd rank now grants a +1 Reflex/Fortitude save instead of another wild empathy charge
• Brother Wolf gets a multi selector option called Lone Wolf, grants 1/2/3 bonuses for To Hit, PRR, MRR
• Flight Gets a Multi Selector option called Play Dead. Increases Unconscious range by 10/20/30.

KNOW ISSUES

• Art still missing for Blighted Wolf, and Thorn Kin and Thorn Blight art is buggy atm
• Contagion still has some issues where it's not doing multiple stat damage types on two of it's types. tool tips not updated yet.
• Haven't updated standard druid Cold Breath yet.
• Spike growth does not appear to be effect by child of summer or Thorn kin, when it is both a thorn and a force spell.

BUG FIXES FROM PREVIOUS PREVIEW

Thorn Strike tool tips corrected
Splinterbolt no longer has an extra hit in it
Greater Vigor is now in the level 6 spells
Black Dragon Bolt (8th level spell) now ticks 4 times consistently up from the originally intended 3.
The new thorn spells now support Eschew Material.
The new thorn spells are now affected by the bonus to caster level from season herald's Child of Summer
Blighted Breath is now considered both acid and poison for spell level bonuses
Blighted Breath is now of the conjuration school
Blighted Breath DC now benefits from +Spell focus Mastery items
Hive Master should now provide bonuses to Acid caster level

Would it be too much to ask for some negative healing with the blighted wolf as it is a plant zombie? Also could the thorn blades be added to the active pastlife feat of druid?

[Xezom]

After an Hour of testing with a reincarnated max level druid on this preview here's some things I've noticed and feedback

Bugs/Issues:

-Grasping Thorns SLA needs it's text updated to be accurate with the spell version that it uses. (1d6/CL and no double on entangle)
-Thorn Lance looks really cool now, but causes MASSIVE frame rate drops (running an RTX 2080 and it drops me from 45 stable FPS to 2FPS). This is a biggie, it's your most potent Thorn Spell so causing such a performance issue is a major problem.
-I know it says thorn kin/Knight have art bugs, but right now it's just bark skin with what I assume is a green face (Aasamir)

Feedback:

-I wasn't sure how I felt about the poison immunity stripping being on the Poison spell. After testing, it's actually pretty cool thanks to the debuff that it applies. (Constitution damage, plus blight debuff, plus beguile) It's nice to be able to get it at tier 4 as well rather than waiting til tier 5. So I give that change a thumbs up.
-Every rose has It's Thorns buff is fairly inconsequential, at least for the Thorn Knight. There is enough support for the wolf form for it to be somewhat usable there for some extra bulk while slowing enemies (if you have the DCs to make that happen). The Thorn Knight doesn't have the same benefits. Since most of the benefits of Nature's Warrior only apply to Bear (missing) and Wolf, and the Nature's Protector isn't available and only works with bear, there isn't really any support for a melee Thorn Knight to work with. Ironically, the buff would almost be more useful for Hive masters to give them some bulk while they wait on their DoTs. Without support for the Thorn Knight to go toe-to-toe with enemies, there's not a lot of reason to use the PRR or MRR buffs since it often times puts them in MORE danger by being that close to enemies as a caster. As much as I know it's a Thorn KNIGHT by name, it's not really that. It's a Thorn CASTER. I'm not saying it's a totally useless point, since it's pretty nice for the wolves, and it helps if you get totally mobbed and can throw one of your entangling spells, but it doesn't really contribute much for the large majority of play time.
-Hive master art looks awesome! It's as putrid as I'd have expected. Very Fart Elemental looking.
-The art changes on entangle, grasping thorns, spike growth when taking the Defiled growth is pretty cool and looks awesome. I will note that it does add a little bit more screen noise with the billowing gas (fart elemental confirmed), but the spells also don't seem as intrusive at their base used to be either. Did you guys make them shorter in height? I'm not complaining, it's nice not having spike growth taking up 90% of your screen.


Overall, it still feels pretty much the same as the last preview, minus the change to the poison/acid stripping. I still really enjoy the play style.

[Lotoc]

How exactly is wild force (level 31 feat) intended to interact with the blightcaster wolf form?

[newmart]

I still think that u should not remove the wolf companion and ALL summoning. Blight wolf companion or a spider companion will not overpower the class by any means, a pet without feats is nothing in any difficulty. While if taking all feats, reducers spellcasting considerably.

So removing the pet just removes one build possibility, it is not s real trade-off in the aspect of the power of the class overall.

Removing summoning and pet also greatly discourages using the lv30 primal acid summon which is thematically very appropriate. Also Discourages taking augment summoning for feydark, that us a viable tree for force spellpower...

Give us a spider companion!!!

[Zitaloc]

The "Contagion: Blinding sickness" doesn't get the arear of effect as the two other multiselector parts of the spell does.

[Seph1roth5]

Honestly if you gave every single class a pet it wouldn't change anything, they're lever pullers.

Someone posted in the discord the various thorn blades up through lv 30.

First off, con damage on crit, please replace with something else, and never put stat damage on another item again until you change it. Devs have said in streams that they KNOW stat damage is pointless/useless and keep putting it in items!

And, assuming there wasn't a mixup, the lv 30 version was super bad. It only had 5d6 acid damage, where flame blade has 9d6.

[mikarddo]

Would it be too much to ask for some negative healing with the blighted wolf as it is a plant zombie? Also could the thorn blades be added to the active pastlife feat of druid?

The readability of the thread goes up if you dont quote 200 lines to make a short reply.
I hope its not too much to ask to refrain from doing so

[Madja]

Dang.. The change of Everything Decays just took this from "Omg I want to play this" to "Meh, maybe I'll do it for the PL at some point". Having to cast one specific spell for a poison build to be viable against many different enemies just doesn't feel good. I was excited about doing a poison wolf build, but now it's only for casters I guess.

I like the Thorn blade, however, even if it being a mix of acid and poison sounds a bit weird. Preferably there would be a choice of either or. Would love it if the spell could be granted through an active past life like with flame blade and druid

[kpak01]

Blight Caser Only Spells:

Plant Growth- Level 5: copy of Animal Growth for Plants (Now in Build!)

Why is this Blight Caster only? Growing green things fits better with base Druid than it does with one focused on death and decay!

[Maelodic]

my game is crashing each time i use thorn lance.

64 bit client, dx11, tabaxi - not sure what other information you need

[Skyael]

I noticed earlier that poison isn't part of the Elder of Winter elements for Season's Herald. With blightcaster using so many poison spells, is there any chance to see it added to the list of elements for the winter season?

[newmart]

Dang.. The change of Everything Decays just took this from "Omg I want to play this" to "Meh, maybe I'll do it for the PL at some point". Having to cast one specific spell for a poison build to be viable against many different enemies just doesn't feel good. I was excited about doing a poison wolf build, but now it's only for casters I guess.

I like the Thorn blade, however, even if it being a mix of acid and poison sounds a bit weird. Preferably there would be a choice of either or. Would love it if the spell could be granted through an active past life like with flame blade and druid

I love the way they integrated contagion and poison with the current state of the game making them viable to use. I used to run as bligthcaster, using contagion and poison when I'm playing druid/cleric/mage, and atthe time u get the poison spell, it can instakill some enemies, sometimes rend them helpless or cutting a lot of hp.

When using contagion, multiple diseases stacked in a mob can render it helpless and blind, but the game has so many efficient ways to instakill or make mobs helpless, that applying multiple diseases is very inefficient.

While the changes make these spells usable, and even good, they are once again just reskinned damage. They are supposed to overcome enemies with debilitating stats, not with damage. The poison spell is supposed to be a continuous CON sap, but the 1 minute of second tick is totally out of meta. My suggestion is to change the CON tick to 1 con each 2 seconds for 10 seconds or so.

I also notice that when mobs cast ray of enfeeblement, poison and other stat spells, the amount of stat damage is greatly increased by lv. I remember my 70 con barb helpless with a single poison spell cast. Many times crossing a symbol of weakness also rended me helpless in high lvs. Why players dont get this type of scale?

Stinking Cloud, Cloudkill, and Acid Fog could receive a little bit of love like vine spells received. Maybe applying random diseases to those inside via enhancement? Cloudkill could act like the poison spell stripping poison immunity for those inside, same for acid spells and acid fog (that is currently doing this actually via T5). Stinking cloud works better than most people know, could add just a little flavor like 10% chance of being affected be a random disease.

[apocaladle]

If players have Unkindness of Ravens and a raven conpanion out can the reaper venders comment on it as they all work for the raven queen?

[thomassmith2]

Jaws of Winter no longer recognises winter wolf form as a valid form to use the spell! I assume the additon on Jaws of Doom has confused it.

[Skyael]

While the changes make these spells usable, and even good, they are once again just reskinned damage. They are supposed to overcome enemies with debilitating stats, not with damage. The poison spell is supposed to be a continuous CON sap, but the 1 minute of second tick is totally out of meta. My suggestion is to change the CON tick to 1 con each 2 seconds for 10 seconds or so.

I agree that the poison/disease spells are out of the meta, but not for the reasons you explained. The reason I believe stat damage is irrelevant is because mobs heal it almost instantly in high reaper. If you're lucky you'll have a very few seconds window to use the debuff before the mobs heal it off with a shrug. Much like concealment and incorporeality, you're setting up a class for failure if you base it around a mechanic that also does not work in high reaper. I'm saying this because I do not think Elite difficulty or low reaper is the meta.

In my opinion, the problem is that these mechanics do not work in reaper and need adjustment on that front. Until then, stat damage, concealment and incorporeality are useless to me.

[Scrag]

I agree that the poison/disease spells are out of the meta, but not for the reasons you explained. The reason I believe stat damage is irrelevant is because mobs heal it almost instantly in high reaper. If you're lucky you'll have a very few seconds window to use the debuff before the mobs heal it off with a shrug. Much like concealment and incorporeality, you're setting up a class for failure if you base it around a mechanic that also does not work in high reaper. I'm saying this because I do not think Elite difficulty or low reaper is the meta.

In my opinion, the problem is that these mechanics do not work in reaper and need adjustment on that front. Until then, stat damage, concealment and incorporeality are useless to me.

I understand the vested interest in playability in reaper. But what about... the rest of the game? That isn't reaper? The people who do not play reaper difficulty? Just throw it away or overtune it to meet the needs of the reaper crowd?

[Torc]

Jaws of Winter no longer recognises winter wolf form as a valid form to use the spell! I assume the additon on Jaws of Doom has confused it.

Yep a confusion of jaws here.... will fix.

-T