faustus@ucbvax.UUCP (Wayne Christopher) (04/07/84)
Druids aren't supposed to blast people with spells, they are supposed to use their "attunement with nature" to do things like summon many animals to help them. If you aren't careful you can have druids wandering around with armies of wolves and eagles... Wayne
mr-frog@sdcsvax.UUCP (04/08/84)
<> I know exactly how you feel. On the average, a Magic User is more versatile and much more powerful. Unfortunately, I like playing mages much more than I do druids, so I haven't gotten around to having my single druid research any exciting spells. Now, if you want exciting (and actually useful) mage spells, I can give you lots of them. In my opinion, druidical spells are just too specialized - if they're caught out of a forest-type environment (i.e. underground or city) they're next to useless. Everything they can do, other classes do so much better. Clerics heal better, mages blow people up better, and fighters fight better. Sure, you can state isolated specific instances where druids are handy -- "the giant-sized motile venus flytrap is rustling it's leaves hungrily in your direction...what are you doing?", but generally speaking, in the "average adventure situation" I've found that the things druids can do are done better by some other class. Dave Pare ucbvax!sdcsvax!mr-frog
grindal@utcsrgv.UUCP (David Grindal) (04/09/84)
An interesting druid spell, researched by one in my game, is "Electric Ground". It creates an area (size relative to level) which acts as a ground for any heavy electricy flying around nearby. He was prompted to do this after a nasty encounter with another Druid's Call Lightning. Imagine the surprise of some magic-user or druid when his lighning bolt smashes down right on top of him. (i.e. cast the electric ground on the area your oponent is standing on.) To say the least, it gives him pause. David Grindal (...!utzoo!utcsrgv)
cs3551am@unm-cvax.UUCP (04/11/84)
Has anyone out there created any Druid spells that they are particularly
fond of???
I have grown tired of just summoning elementals, while Magic-users blast
the dickens out of the opposition. Any suggestions???
Jeff Moehn
{ucbvax,parsec,gatech,pur-ee}!unmvax!jeffels@pur-phy.UUCP (Eric Strobel) (04/11/84)
A Druid not useful underground??? The party that my characters are
in was underground, and faced by a very thick wooden door. This door,
barred from the inside, was too soft to split under the blows of an ax.
We then tried to drive spikes near the hinges in order to force the door
off its hinges, but again the wood was too soft and we just made spike
shaped impressions. Finally, up steps the NPC Druid. He casts some sort
of powder at the door and the wood turns to dust and the door is just gone!
(I haven't had time to look that one up yet, does anyone know what that
spell is??)
There are also plenty of critters underground that the Druid might
be able to talk to. In short, I think there are more uses for a Druid
than one might think. I guess that the only way to find out is to hear
tales of those who have had experience playing (or being in a party with)
a Druid.
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"Things always look | A message from the mental maze that
darkest just before | calls itself:
they go totally black!!" |
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-- Col. Hannibal Smith | ERIC STROBEL
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UUCP: {decvax,ucbvax,harpo,allegra,inuxc,seismo,teklabs}!pur-ee!Physics:els
INTERNET: els @ pur-phy.UUCPwbpesch@ihuxp.UUCP (Walt Pesch) (04/12/84)
Insect Plague - there is nothing like plaguing that ankheg, and then
giving the henchmen the ok to practice with his pointy little sword.
Still waiting for the bolt from the skies,
Walt Pesch
AT&T Technologies
ihnp4!ihuxp!wbpeschmr-frog@sdcsvax.UUCP (04/13/84)
<> I can find no references in the PH to any "wood-to-dust" spells (after searching carefully minutes ago). The only thing possibly even close is "warp wood", which is second. That doesn't turn doors to dust, however. Unless you're running in a "nature-boy" underground, it has been my experience (from watching people trying to play druids while I gleefully had my mages throwing fireballs and hastes) that they are much less effective in the general case. Take that door, for instance. A mage has a knock spell (second level door-opener). You don't need to disintegrate the wood - a knock will work quite nicely, thank you. Out of curiosity, what sort of level rating do you think that spell, "disintegrate wood" should have? There are cases where a druid is unquestionably the master of a situation, but that "disintegrating door" trick sure wasn't one of them. Dave Pare ucbvax!sdcsvax!sdamos!mr-frog
barryg@sdcrdcf.UUCP (Barry Gold) (04/14/84)
I give Elves a special spell of Assemble Wood, which allows them to take
miscellaneous twigs, etc. and Assemble them into logs for a fire or
planks for a home - without damaging the trees. This sounds appropriate
for Druids too. Admittedly, it's not an offensive spell.
Offensive spells (both senses of the word) for Druids might involve
burning people up as sacrifices (wicker baskets optional). See "The
Wicker Man" (ideally the unedited version) for details.
For less elaborate rituals, Druids might have some use of Ignite Pine Cone
which would allow pine cones to be hurled doing fire damage plus possibly
igniting the victim's clothes/hair. They might also use Ogham Runes for
various effects. And the Mabinogion seems to indicate Druids could learn
a lot of Illusion spells fairly easily. For even kinkier ideas, read
Graves' THE WHITE GODDESS.
--
Barry Gold
usenet: {decvax!allegra|ihnp4}!sdcrdcf!ucla-s!lcc!barry
Arpanet: barry@BNLbryan@uiucdcs.UUCP (04/19/84)
#R:unm-cvax:-79300:uiucdcs:9300029:000:511 uiucdcs!bryan Apr 19 11:51:00 1984 I would say my favorite lower level offensive spell would be Insect Plague as well. But not just for "ants" but also for opposing spell casters for the automatic two points of damage each round keeps any spells from flying until the little pests can be taken care of and by that time the spell caster will probably with few remaining friends. Another favorite is having the druid cast a faiere fire on the invisible opponents so that the rest of the party can attack as well. w not d, rob bryan
bryan@uiucdcs.UUCP (04/29/84)
#R:unm-cvax:-79300:uiucdcs:9300030:000:283 uiucdcs!bryan Apr 29 13:33:00 1984 Sorry folks I just found out that I was mistaken. I was referencing Summon Insect not Insect Plague so please just replace Summon Insect for Insect Plague in my previous response ... soory for the mistake but hard work and DnD do strange things to one's mind! w not d, rob bryan