Druid vs cleric

Sindyan

I have been debating about the class to play for bgee on ipad. I'm debating between archer vs cleric vs druid. I have played through bg 1 and bg2 but a long time ago. Can a druid fill the healer role for a cleric? I have never played a druid and I am wondering if the class can cover the healer role. I'm partly glad the ipad version is delayed because it gives me more time to figure out what class. I keep switching between those three. With my life I will not be able to replay the game as each class. Any advice overall?

CaptRory

I like to double up on spellcasters myself. So if I take, say, Jaheira I'll also grab Viconia or Branwen. And even if I'm dual classing Imoen to a mage I'll grab another mage.

Having said that, druids can cover the healing role, but they have different spell lists from clerics.
And "healing" is the least effective thing divine casters can do.

elminster

Druids make better healers than cleric's technically, because unlike clerics they can eventually get a few level 5 spells, but @CaptRory is right it is not a very effective use of ones time especially during a battle.

Druids get a few spellcasting disruption spells (insect plague, summon insect) as well as a very good late game level (they can get up to level 10) which makes their dispel magic useful. You can always take Jaheira instead since she can wear any armour and (while not as good of a healer/spellcaster as a pure druid) she can get specialisation in weapons.

ZanathKariashi

While it doesn't matter in BG1...the biggest difference is that druids (except Jaheria in the sequel) can't raise the dead.

Druids are a little more summon and offensive spell casting then clerics, but don't really fight in melee as well...they share a lot of the same spells though. As far as healing goes, they're pretty much the same. Minus the resurrection stuff of course.

And while druids level faster then clerics in BG1, their xp required to level JUMPS massively after lvl 13 and clerics will pass them up and eventually end up with 9 levels more total at the end.

Frosty

Well you can have all three in a way, with a ranger/claric duel or multi class. That way you get a few xtra HP some better thac0 and you can cast both druid and claric spells. But if you duel class I recemend just a base ranger not on of its kits. There is a lot of good morningstar/flail wepons in the game has a ranger/claric duel class you can duel wield them if you want.

Time4Tiddy

If you want a very powerful caster, the druid kit Avenger is an excellent blend of druid and mage spells, with very few negatives. You get some more fun shapechanges along with some nasty extra damage spells to enhance the normal druid spell list. My favorite class to play through original BG2.

sandmanCCL

I think Druids are actually the better class for BG1. They hit level 10 by the end, as a caster. It's pretty neat.

I agree with Time4Tiddy. Play an Avenger. They are straight amazeballs for BG1.

ZanathKariashi

Only thing about ranger clerics is, all the druid spells they get above lvl 3 are due to an engine exploit (and for the dual, the ranger should be required to have at least 8 levels in order to get just first lvl druid spells)..that may or may not be getting soon.

Frosty

This so called exsploit has been a standerd for BG1, BG2, and IWD for for over a decade.

Sindyan

Thank you for the advise I have at least taken cleric off. I had to much of the modern day RPGs/mmo thinking that healing happens during combat mostly. I remember trying to heal in combat but people kept moving on me when I played many years ago.

I thought about the ranger/cleric but if they every fix it you are kind do out of luck.

What has made picking a class for me so hard is all the npc I want in my party. Bg 1 new monk,new wild Mage, imnoen (that takes up three spots there without adding myself). Bg 2 similar problem

I just know I want a staff using class (ranger archer that melee weapon is the staff or a druid with a staff).

I hope later on they flush out the druid spell list. The cleric seems to have much more spells.

Sindyan

Last question. I know in bg 2 you can change your alignment depending choices you make at the end. If I go the good path would it turn from true neutral (druid) to neutral good not Allowing me to level as a druid?

ZanathKariashi

No. Unless you tried to dual-class something after the alignment change (and won't effect your current class period), it wouldn't effect you at all, well..except it causes paladin and rangers to instantly fall, regardless of rep if it turns you evil.

sandmanCCL

You can only become evil. You cannot become good.

Also druids cannot "fall" at least in the Infinity Engine games. You can switch their alignments to whatever you want using an editor with no ill effects.

CaptRory

Ok so you want:

Imoen (Thief/Mage)
Neera (Wild Mage)
R-Whatever (Monk)

Ok, we're gonna have to save on some slots here.

So you should dual class Imoen to a Mage as soon as she maxes out Find Traps (100 skill). That should be like Thief 4 which also gives you an extra weapon proficiency in a thief weapon.

Now that gives us two mages (one good, one neutral so they can each have a robe of the archmagi).
The monk will make a really good scout character. Ignore his find traps skill and focus on the stealth powers. Eventually I could see him used as an assassin, popping out of the shadows to hit a guy with a stun or a five fingered death punch.

You need a Tank and a divine caster or two. You could grab Jaheira and Khalid from the Friendly Arms Inn
(Druid/Fighter and Fighter) and then play a cleric because the cleric NPCs are good but not great. Clerics are pretty awesomesauce and Jaheria is a fine backup divine caster and tank and her husband Khalid is a fine fighter as well.

You don't need mid-battle healing. It's not the sort of thing you do unless it's dire. Once you get to the second game you can toss out a Heal spell and seriously boost someone's hit points. But in the first game you just don't heal enough, fast enough, for it to work mid-combat.

Clerics get TONS of awesome buffs and spells. And the cleric kits are all pretty cool. You could even roll up, like, an Evil Cleric of Talos and get free lightning bolts! Clerics, properly buffed, are also like fighters in their own right. They can dish out the physical punishment.

Alternately, grab Viconia or Branwen for your cleric. Take Ajantis as your tank. And play a Druid.

Rangers are great but there are more decent fighter-types than there are decent spellcasters XD

Frosty

My old stand buy is a Beastmaster/claric that I duel at L12 and his favred wepon is the staff since he can't use metalic wepons any way. But it is a mute point till BG2EE come out.

ZanathKariashi

Untrue, an evil character will become good if he takes the good paths. Haven't seen a neutral change to good though...it's not dramatic enough of an alignment shift since neutral is usually just considered a lesser good in game (which is a shame really). There's a mod that adds the ability to roleplay neutral though for it though, will shift good or evil to true neutral if you choose mostly neutral paths.

Sindyan

Thanks! I think I have picked druid as my class and I'm thinking the avenger kit. I'm going to pick up the paladin and dwarf fighter/cleric. I get two great tanks. I finally figured it out!

CaptRory

That's cool. You don't get the Dwarven Fighter/Cleric til a good way through the game so you might wanna grab Branwen to fill in til you get him. They'll share equipment so you can strip her and give all her stuff to him when you find him.

Time4Tiddy

Sindyan said:

Thanks! I think I have picked druid as my class and I'm thinking the avenger kit. I'm going to pick up the paladin and dwarf fighter/cleric. I get two great tanks. I finally figured it out!

You can get Ajantis right away, but he is not in your path if you follow the story. Make sure you check his location so you can get him early and control his HP. Yeslick will have solid HP when you get him, but Ajantis can get a bit gimped if you get him too late. Once you've got Ajantis, I would recommend leaving the screen immediately and continuing with story. That map is full of Ankhegs that will destroy a level 1/2 party.

Darkcloud

Frosty said:

This so called exsploit has been a standerd for BG1, BG2, and IWD for for over a decade.

And still is an exploit that has not been fixed because the fix would mean separating cleric and druid spellbooks which is quite hard considering how much stuff is hardcoded in the engine.

ZanathKariashi

Yeah, there's quite a few things I wouldn't mind seeing corrected. Bringing stuff closer to the PnP version would be nice.....though given how much stuff is hard-coded that would probably be a bear to try working around.