This poll leaves off what I consider the best druid type, which is the multi-class fighter/druid, like Jaheira. She gets the best high level druid spells in plenty of time for them to be useful in BG2, and she can wear plate mail. Imagine a Charname fighter/druid who has exceptional STR with 18 each in DEX and CON. That would be really powerful, more so I think than any pure druid type. I'd play it myself, but I like to use the canon party including Jaheira, and I don't like to duplicate classes with anyone in my party.
Shapeshifter hurts the most in my opinion. No armor is bad for a faster who doesn't want to lose stoneskin quickly, and the werewolf isn't good enough to fight in effectively.
I agree that totemic summons are strong, but can't agree that werewolf doesn't fight effectively... The base werewolf has 2 apr, hits with +2 enchant, has 19 str (+3 to hit and +7 to damage) a natural armor class of 2 or so and some decent resistances to boot. He makes most of bg1 very easy, especially if you buff first with barkskin. The gww does similar but with further improvements and whilst you wouldn't use it to fight bosses, he's pretty good for killing fodder up to some of the larger trolls, or mages too (50% mr, 3 apr +3 enchanted claws).
The thing about ww and gw is I hear people say that eventually fighters out do then and yeah that's true, but melee fighting is not a druids main thing anyway.
Now a Shaman can very much serve as an alternative to druid kits.
After using a Shaman in ToB I can say that being able to cast spells from the whole selection when you need them is a very nice feature. For examply, you no longer don't need to think whether you'll need the Shield of the Archons after the next rest or Fire Storms will be enough.
The Shaman's summons are not strong in ToB, they're much weaker than the Totemic Druid's Summons. But as a Shaman you can summon without any stop if there're other party members who make enemies busy. So in the end your 10th or 15th summoned creature will overcome a foe.
The Shamans unique spells are a nice addition to the game, especially the Spirit Fire - the 4th level of magic now can inflict quite a huge magical damage, while Writhing Fog can be casted a lot of times, to gradually kill enemies with Cold damage. The 7th level spell works like a bounty hunter's Maze trap with no save.
Overall, I would still choose the Totemic Druid as the most powerful druid but if you (like me now) are fond of druids, the Shaman can be a good alternative.
I am planning to start my first Icewind Dale EE playthrough in the next day or two. I know that Druids get better shape shifting options in IWD than BG. Does the Totemic Druid lose out on too much? Or are their Spirit summons worth the trade-off?
@bengoshi @semiticgod care to throw in your two cents?
@Pteran: That's a good point regarding IWD shapeshifts, which the Totemic Druid does not get... nor does it get the HLA shapeshifts, which it normally does in BG2:EE, since no class gets HLAs in IWD:EE.
The Polar Bear form is a terrific damage dealer, the Boring Beetle form a spectacular tank, the Fire Elemental form ideal for resisting the party's Fireballs, and the Water Elemental form is ludicrously overpowered (once you actually get it), with 75% physical damage resistance and immunity to acid--which makes for excellent synergy for one of the most damaging spells in the game, Death Fog. From beginning to end, the druid shapeshifts are powerful tools.
But the Totemic Druid's animal summons are even stronger in IWD than they are in BG2, for one simple reason: enemies almost never have magical weapons.
Level 10 Spirit Animals are immune to normal weapons. Unlike BG2, magical weapons are very rare among enemies. The animals will be practically invincible from that point on.
Hahaha. I didn't mean to necro so badly, I just came to the realization basically from this thread and had to share when I was googling around looking for possibilities of druid kids to add and stumbled upon this thread.
Still, fun stuff. I like Totemic Druids the most really, unless you mod and make Shapeshifters actually worthwhile. Weimer's changes to them may be overpowered, but they do help make the class not suck.
Totemic just for the early bit of any HoF run, shapeshifter is probably the strongest I've played but that was because of a mod. So I'm guessing that doesn't count.
Still, fun stuff. I like Totemic Druids the most really, unless you mod and make Shapeshifters actually worthwhile. Weimer's changes to them may be overpowered, but they do help make the class not suck.
I'm guessing you've never actually played a shapeshifter? I realise they aren't like npc werewolves but 19str natural ac of 0, 2 apr plus their resistances make even the normal werewolf the strongest fighter in the game until at least level 9.
Pretty unbalanced when you consider a druid is primarily a caster.
The problem with BG1 Druids is that even with BG2 spells, the number of good druid spells below level 4 or 5 can be counted on one hand. They've got Entangle and Call Lightning, but no really devastating low-level options on par with Sleep or even Command or Hold Person.
Comments
The thing about ww and gw is I hear people say that eventually fighters out do then and yeah that's true, but melee fighting is not a druids main thing anyway.
After using a Shaman in ToB I can say that being able to cast spells from the whole selection when you need them is a very nice feature. For examply, you no longer don't need to think whether you'll need the Shield of the Archons after the next rest or Fire Storms will be enough.
The Shaman's summons are not strong in ToB, they're much weaker than the Totemic Druid's Summons. But as a Shaman you can summon without any stop if there're other party members who make enemies busy. So in the end your 10th or 15th summoned creature will overcome a foe.
Shamans lose Summon elemental prince HLA and Transform HLA, the most powerful ones from the druid pool (maybe on par with the Deva). Instead, they get weaker HLAs:
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/718702/#Comment_718702
The Shamans unique spells are a nice addition to the game, especially the Spirit Fire - the 4th level of magic now can inflict quite a huge magical damage, while Writhing Fog can be casted a lot of times, to gradually kill enemies with Cold damage. The 7th level spell works like a bounty hunter's Maze trap with no save.
Overall, I would still choose the Totemic Druid as the most powerful druid but if you (like me now) are fond of druids, the Shaman can be a good alternative.
@bengoshi @semiticgod care to throw in your two cents?
The Polar Bear form is a terrific damage dealer, the Boring Beetle form a spectacular tank, the Fire Elemental form ideal for resisting the party's Fireballs, and the Water Elemental form is ludicrously overpowered (once you actually get it), with 75% physical damage resistance and immunity to acid--which makes for excellent synergy for one of the most damaging spells in the game, Death Fog. From beginning to end, the druid shapeshifts are powerful tools.
But the Totemic Druid's animal summons are even stronger in IWD than they are in BG2, for one simple reason: enemies almost never have magical weapons.
Level 10 Spirit Animals are immune to normal weapons. Unlike BG2, magical weapons are very rare among enemies. The animals will be practically invincible from that point on.
Still, fun stuff. I like Totemic Druids the most really, unless you mod and make Shapeshifters actually worthwhile. Weimer's changes to them may be overpowered, but they do help make the class not suck.
I'm guessing you've never actually played a shapeshifter? I realise they aren't like npc werewolves but 19str natural ac of 0, 2 apr plus their resistances make even the normal werewolf the strongest fighter in the game until at least level 9.
Pretty unbalanced when you consider a druid is primarily a caster.