Druids

@Strongsquirrel1
Right. Hence my suggestion.

 

Druids originally shape shifted at level 7 in AD&D. Now it is level 5 (I think; Wild Shape x1 day). That being said, since (I think) SotA will be a skill based system there are still ways to provide a class ability to players.

I will use some UO references for context:

Say you become a Tamer and achieve a certain percentage of skill (lets say 85% in each) in whatever (i.e. animal lore, etc...), then you would qualify to make the trip to the Great Druidic Tree to pray and receive the ability to change to an animal once per day. As long as you retain those skills at those levels you will keep this ability. If your skill scores drop below that level, you lose the abilities.

Of course this system can apply to other classes as well. A warrior of a certain skill level qualifies to train at a remote village of blah blah to seek Blah Blah Blah Warrior School to learn skull smashing x 1 day.

or...

Perhaps a certain skill level is required (i.e. Poisoning 90% & Fencing 70%) to enter the Dungeon of Dark Scary Whatevers and once you reach the Oracle your pilgrimage will be completed and you will receive the ability to Backstab x3 Day.

So basically, instead of just slapping abilities on Avatars, you earn them and are free to change them or lose them according to what you want.

In any case, thats just my thought out loud.

 

I miss my druid in WoW so much, but I'll never return to a game where the only option to play is by paying a quarter of the initial game purchase every month.

It was also just the versatility of the druid class in WoW that I loved so much. Turning into cool looking animals, save the swimming form, was enjoyable but it was the ability to use those forms to adopt niche character roles that made it the most fun. The jack of all trades character. With this game being a classless/ability based system it seems everyone already has the versatility the druid play style represented. So like others have suggested, just adding some cool looking shape shifting abilities will allow people to enjoy the full druid experience.

 

@nonoxynol: once a day might be too slow, mattering on the day length, I'm not sure on what length of time would be adequate, could use the skill to blend in with the wildlife and sneak around, would be funny when someone tried taming you.

 

I am also a fan of druids (though I rarely play one). My own aesthetic prefers Ultima style druids to say WoW, though I can see the appeal of shape-shifting. I think that a skill-based system, such as was used in UO and is being adopted in SotA, is ideal for creating any number of archetypes. Animals taming, stick fighting (staves), camping and magery are a few skills that could contribute to the creation of a 'druid' character. I am in great hopes of a foraging skill as well, one that allows characters to find various herbs and other resources in the wild (and apart from other gathering skills), as well as a robust herbalism and/or alchemy skill.

That said, it would likewise be interesting if a drudic system of magic were included, one separate from magery and any other systems. I am not sure how much support this notion will have, and I am just throwing in my two cents worth of brainstorming, but perhaps skill in one magic system might preclude the use of other systems, as well as certain items, thus making the a character who practices druid magic more drudic. Granted, this would somewhat diminish the freedom entailed in a skill-based system, but might likewise help retain the flavor of the druid in a format that is more flexible than a traditional class based system.

My thoughts are thus: when a character practices drudic magic, any skill in magery (or other magic systems) that character had decreases, and vice versa (perhaps at a disproportionate rate). Likewise, druidry (if you will) might not work when the character is wearing or using metal, and the effect might linger for a while after the item is removed. Increasing skills such as swordsmanship or others which are not generally viewed as drudic might also cause druidry to decrease. Notice that the character is not pigeonholed into the role of a druid, but can at any time decide to switch to non-druidic skills, and simply allow druidry to gradually decrease back to zero (or at least minimal levels).

This system could work for a number of archetypes (with corresponding primary archetypal skills), without interfering with the freedom inherent in the classless, skill-based system (which I love). Again, this is just a thought, born of an aforementioned love of a skill-based approach, but also an interest in maintaining a certain aesthetic; trying to have my cake I suppose.

 

I am not in favor of plain old lions being as strong as dragons, as that makes no sense whatsoever.

Now, I'd be in favor of having a variety of creatures at all power-levels.

Luckily, we have things like manticores, griffins and lamassu that can exist to be a different take on a high powered beast if you don't want a dragon. There are plenty of possibilities for all kinds of high level beasts to parade around and command to destroy things!



But, I mean, if you ONLY want to play cute and fuzzy little pet adventures with your druidic abilities, that's sort of your own fault. I won't stand for squirrels, bunnies, or cats being as strong as a dragon. Bring a sharp sword and some heavy magic if your best beast is the size of a shoe.

 

I like the shape shifting thing. If the player can shape shift into an animal that lives in the area they should appear like an animal (not an animal with a player name over it) so it can fool real players so they would be surprise to be attacked by it or not attack the druid at all thinking it was just a stupid animal.

 

@Arkhan And I wont stand for people running around with massive dragons. What makes you think you would ever be able to capture and tame a DRAGON of all things? And way to take my message out of context and exaggerate it. There is an obvious difference between a combat pet and a non combat pet. Contrary to every other RPG ever; if you stand in a dragons flames; you will actually get burned. Not saying that it cant be done; but it's illogical, like a raven killing a dragon. You shouldn't be able to one man a dragon anyways. Could I sick a snake on a griffin; yes. Will the snake kill it? Maybe. It comes down to what's a practical pet; wont imbalance everything; but will allow players uniqueness and customization. If I want to fight a dragon with a raven; the ravens probably going to die. If I fight a dragon with a trained giant raven, dragons going to be up for a fight. Or if I attack a dragon with two dozen ravens; the dragons going to be confused as hell and open for attacks.

 

I disagree with one point. A normal person cannot one-man fight a dragon but an avatar or Avatar could. Just might require some tactics but can be done. Many stories of great heros who were able to slay a dragon.

 

Dragonriders of Pern disagrees with your assessment, Bayien.


This isn't Pokemon. In order to befriend animals in D&D as a druid, you had to cast animal FRIEND. not animal CAPTURE.

You form a bond with the creature.



I didn't take your message out of context at all. You seem to want balance between all of the possible animal pets, and I offered alternatives to dragons that are at an equal power level and aren't goofy. At no point in this game should you be able to level up a raven or something like that to the point where it's able to battle a dragon.


There are plenty of things that could be worked out to balance out the druids who wander around with dragons and griffins VS the ones who walk around with cats and dogs.


I don't want to see animal companions turn into Pokemon where it's like "I am on a quest to evolve my Raven into a Ravenator!"


I'd rather see something like "Sorry, birdy, you have to stay home while I go out and battle." and then you take your giant mythical bird out to fight instead of your raven that will likely be pancaked in one swing.


in D&D your level limits how many hit dice of things you can parade around. No reason why something like that can't exist. If you're sporting a dragon, that's probably your only pet. Have fun taking it into town and having the guards charge at it!

Then you're labeled a criminal after Fido breathes fire on the town guards and kills them all.

 

I don't know where people started to associate Druids with "nature" magic- other than that from the little we know of them, they were sort of like shamans and medicine men. They basically officiated over community events like celebrations, marriages, and such.

So, I could see it working out as essentially a title based on what skills you master- if you master basic "holy" skills as well as some "natural magic" skills, you'd be called a "druid".

As far as shapeshifting, that I would imagine that would be a skill/magic school all it's own, likely associated with "natural magic".

also @Sir Mishri: <q> well the guy finds out and shrinks the druid companion bear down and punts him into a lake, killing it. Druid guy starts crying and quits playing </q>

HAHAHAHAHAHA XD

 

"I don?t know where people started to associate Druids with ?nature? magic"

Dungeons &amp; Dragons. Not the computer game but the paper and dice game. The forefather of all Roll Playing games. So yeah, it is a good source.

 

DnD was made by people, who fall under the category of those I reference as having associated druids with nature. While DnD is a good source of the origins of RP it has little bearing on actual druids, which were the subject of my comment, the implication of which being a possible better source for inspiration and clarification.

 

Druids have almost always been associated with nature and such, to an extent.

 

Druids have ALWAYS been associated with nature magic. They were Celtic pagans and the work Druid comes from "oak-knower".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Druid

 

@Wsye, Hail! Good to see another of us!

And yes, that's an excellent point- a lot of assumptions are made about both druids and nature itself, mostly based cultural ideas- for a long time it was assumed druids committed human sacrifice. They did however believe the soul lived in the head, and would often keep skulls as both repositories and symbols of the human spirit. And your skull is just as natural as a tree or a bear.

In truth, we know little about the druids, which is my only real point here- it alows us to expand on the idea, rather than repeat hackneyed cliched stereotypes- druids didn't know what a "pagan" was, it's a Greek word basically meaning a hillbilly.

 

so you're saying, my southern relatives are pagans?!




We might as well go with the standard understood druid in CRPG/Pen and Paper RPG land though, instead of branching out and doing something that people won't expect when they hear druid.

Heck, in D&amp;D books it even says the D&amp;D druids don't have much in common with the Celtic druids.

 

That's what I was thinking Arkhan; druids have somewhat been associated with nature now based on most rpgs I've seen...

 

I don't see any reason why they wouldn't be in this game. It would be strange if the druids in this game were just based off all of the historical stuff.


They wouldn't be very interesting characters to play. That's for sure.

 

@Arkhan hahaha, I make no claim about your relatives xD
Also I agree that it may just confuse people to detract too much from the familiar, stereotypes or no.