Druid



Druids cast divine spells much the same way clerics do, though most get their spells from the power of nature rather than from deities. Their spells are oriented toward nature and animals. They strive to live in harmony with the natural world, and hate anything that is not part of the natural cycle, especially aberrations and undead creatures. In addition to spells, druids gain an increasing array of magical powers, including the ability to take the shapes of animals, as they advance in level.

Alignment restrictions: Any partially neutral - druids, in keeping with nature's ultimate indifference, must maintain at least some measure of dispassion.

Animal Companion
A druid begins the game with an Animal companion. Animal companions are loyal allies in any battle. As your character gains experience, his or her animal companion will also grow in power.

Animal companions cannot be directly controlled by their master. They are essentially aggressive tanks. They become more powerful as the master advances. The only penalty the master suffers from the animal companion's death is that they cannot summon the companion again until they have rested, but Obsidian stated that may change. Animal companions can be named, but cannot be tinted.

Nature Sense
A druid gains a +2 bonus to Survival and a +2 bonus to Search and Spot while in wilderness areas.

Woodland Stride
Starting at 2nd level, a druid gains a +10% movement increase when in outdoor, natural environments.

Trackless Step
At 3rd level, a druid gains a +4 competence bonus to Hide and Move Silently checks when in wilderness areas.

Resist Nature's Lure
Starting at 4th level, a druid gains a +2 bonus on saving throws against all Fear spells and effects.

Wild Shape

 * At 5th level, a druid gains the ability to turn herself into an animal and back again once per day. A druid can use this ability more times per day at 6th, 7th, 10th, 14th, and 18th level. The forms available are bear, boar, wolf, or badger.
 * At 12th level, a druid gains the ability to turn herself into a dire animal. The dire form replaces the current animals with dire bear, dire boar, dire wolf, or dire badger.

More details about this ability can be found on the Wild Shape description page.

Plant Shape (MOTB)
At 12th level, a druid is able to wild shape into a plant creature - a shambling mound or a treant. Using this ability counts against her normal uses of wild shape.

More details about this ability can be found on the Plant Shape description page.

Elemental Shape

 * At 16th level, a druid becomes able to use wild shape to change into a huge elemental (air, earth, fire, or water) once per day. These elemental forms are in addition to her normal wild shape usage. In addition to the normal effects of wild shape, the druid gains all the elemental's immunities, extraordinary, supernatural, and spell-like abilities. At 18th level, a druid becomes able to assume elemental form twice per day, and at 20th level she can do so three times per day.
 * At 20th level, a druid gains the ability to turn herself into an elder elemental. The elder form replaces the current elementals with elder air elemental, elder earth elemental, elder fire elemental and elder water elemental.

More details about this ability can be found on the Elemental Wild Shape description page.

Venom immunity
At 9th level, a druid gains immunity to all poisons.

Spellcasting

 * Druid spell list
 * Druid spell progression: Druids have the same spell progression as clerics.

A druid casts divine spells, which are drawn from the druid spell list.

To prepare or cast a spell, the druid must have a Wisdom score equal to at least 10 + the spell level. The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a druid's spell is 10 + the spell level + the druid's Wisdom modifier.

A druid can cast only a certain number of spells of each spell level per day. In addition, she receives bonus spells per day if she has a high Wisdom score.

A druid may prepare and cast any spell on the druid spell list, provided that she can cast spells of that level, but she must choose which spells to prepare before resting.

Spontaneous Conversion
Druids can spontaneously cast any summon creature spell (eg. summon creature I).

Druid specific feats
There are a number of feats specificially designed to be used with the Druid class. The following list covers these feats for convenience.
 * Extra wild shape: +2 Wild Shape uses/day. Up to +1 Elemental Shape use/day.
 * Not very useful if you have Natural spell which lets you cast spells in when shifted.
 * It can however prove useful to players who want to take advantage of Elephant's hide or Oaken resilience multiple times.
 * Elephant's hide: You can spend one of your wild shapes for the day to give yourself a natural armor bonus of +7 for 10 minutes
 * It only provides +2 AC higher than Barkskin or Spiderskin at their highest levels and they do not stack together.
 * Useful if someone needs to free up the spell slots for Barkskin or Spiderskin.
 * Also has these advantages over Barkskin and Spiderskin: it is "cast" instantaneously and is not dispellable.
 * Natural spell: Can cast spells when in Wild Shape.
 * A must-have ability for any druid who wants to take full advantage of Wild Shapes.
 * Allows a shifted Druid to cast Magic fang, Greater magic fang and Nature's avatar on herself.
 * Oaken resilience: Can spend Wild Shape use to be immune to poison, sleep, and critical hits.
 * Fantastic ability for the critical hit immunity alone.

Feats from other classes
All class feats should carry over to the Druid whether she is shifted into an animal or elemental form or not. There should be no restrictions unless where specifically noted otherwise and this should open up many more combat possibilities and build styles for the player. The following list are some examples of how to use them to your greatest advantage.
 * Weapon specialization - Unarmed Strike: This Fighter feat works in animal form providing an additional +2 damage.
 * The same holds true for Greater weapon specialization - Unarmed Strike which will provide a +4 damage bonus to your natural attacks.
 * Flurry of blows: This first level Monk feat can be used in conjunction with your Wild shape attacks providing +1 attack per round with the penalties listed.
 * Greater flurry: This eleventh level Monk feat is an upgrade to Flurry of blows providing two additional attacks per round instead one.
 * AC bonus: This first level Monk ability allows the player to add adds her Wisdom bonus (if any) to her AC when unarmored or using her Wild shape ability.
 * The player also gains a +1 bonus to AC at 5th level Monk which increases by another +1 every 5 Monk levels.
 * She loses these bonuses when she is immobilized or helpless, when she wears any armor, or when she carries a shield.
 * Sneak attack: All sneak attack bonus damage works normally when a Druid is shifted.

Other combat feats
All other Combat Feats should function normally whether the Druid is using her Wild shape ability or not. For example, a player with Great cleave will get full benefits from this feat while attacking in Bear form. The same holds true for Improved parry, Whirlwind attack, and so on...

Ex-Druids
In 3.5, a druid who changes to a prohibited alignment loses all spells and druid abilities (including her animal companion, but not including weapon, armor, and shield proficiencies). She cannot thereafter gain levels as a druid until she regains a neutral alignment.

In NWN2, a druid who changes to a prohibited alignment keeps all of their abilities but is prevented from gaining levels as a druid until she regains an alignment with a neutral component.

NWN comparison

 * The animal empathy class skill has been dropped in NWN2.

3.5 Rules Comparison

 * The wild empathy and thousand faces feats are not implemented in NWN2, although wild empathy may be implemented in future patches.
 * Nature sense, trackless step and resist nature's lure are altered slightly to suit game mechanics better.
 * The parry skill was created by NWN and is not a feature of DnD 3.5. It has returned in NWN2 for the same reasons it was in NWN.
 * The swim, handle animal, profession and ride skills are not implemented in NWN2, while NWN's lore is used instead of knowledge skills.
 * NWN2 does not use languages or aging. The timeless body and bonus languages class features are not implemented.
 * DnD 3.5 places restrictions on divine spellcasting with regard to spells of certain alignments that may oppose a druid's deity's alignment. In addition, druids in 3.5 lose their divine capabilities if they wear metal armours/shields or use weapons outside of their spiritual oaths. NWN2 doesn't officially implement either of these restrictions, although they are not hard for a player to roleplay if desired.

External resources

 * NWNWiki:Druid