Quote from: mhensley;699874I dislike that somewhere along the line the druid became all about being a shapeshifter and less about being a priest of nature.

Hopefully it is possible to branch out as a Druid (Ha!) and choose to be a better nature priest or a better shapeshifter.

Quote from: Marleycat;699878Not sure I like that. Hopefully no natural spell shenanigans or unlimited use happens.

Yup. It could be very cool, as long as the Druid does not end up being more sturdy than a fighter.

It sounds like there's definitely scope to be a spellcasting-with-a-bit-of-shifting druid or a shifting-with-a-bit-of-casting druid, which I think is a fair compromise. If you really don't like shapeshifting with your druids I'd suggest taking a cleric and just choosing your spells accordingly.

In Dungeon World, that's their focus as well. They don't even get spells.

I just hope they manage something less abuse laden than Pathfinder's shapeshifting+spellcasting+dinosaurs. (Take the right  feats and game balance is gone entirely.)

Quote from: Silverlion;700028In Dungeon World, that's their focus as well. They don't even get spells.

I just hope they manage something less abuse laden than Pathfinder's shapeshifting+spellcasting+dinosaurs. (Take the right  feats and game balance is gone entirely.)

Personally I would have no problem with a Druid being all about shapeshifting and nature affinity, and little to no spells.

After all, a cleric with a 'nature domain' is essentially a Druidic priest.

Meh, I guess "Natural Spell" is in as a level 20 capstone ability no matter what circle type you are. I suppose that's alright.

Quote from: Marleycat;700058Meh, I guess "Natural Spell" is in as a level 20 capstone ability no matter what circle type you are. I suppose that's alright.

Allthough I hate natural spell with an irrational passion, it is fine as a level 20 ability.

Quote from: mhensley;699874I dislike that somewhere along the line the druid became all about being a shapeshifter and less about being a priest of nature.

There are three types of druid.  Only one is more focused on shapeshifting than the other.  And even then, you can only do it once (twice at 8th level) for an hour long.  So it's not like you're going to see druids going around in wild shape 24/7 or anything.

Quote from: Iosue;700022I have just found the threshold for how much I give a damn about balance.  And that's where people complain that the Druid's weasel shape is not balanced with the cat shape.

Jesus Christ.

Yeah, I saw that too.  Both are fucked if they happen to get kicked, so who the fuck cares if a cat and weasel aren't perfectly balanced mechanically.  Those are clearly flavor options.

I guess some people have to bitch about everything.  I wonder how they function in real life.

Quote from: Marleycat;700058Meh, I guess "Natural Spell" is in as a level 20 capstone ability no matter what circle type you are. I suppose that's alright.

I don't have issues with it.  What % of gamers are going to be playing at end game levels a lot?  Probably a small %.  I almost never do.  So for those powergamers out there who start at level 20 and wank to how powerful their PCs are can keep doing that while the rest of us just keep playing the game like normal.

Quote from: Sacrosanct;700065I don't have issues with it.  What % of gamers are going to be playing at end game levels a lot?  Probably a small %.  I almost never do.  So for those powergamers out there who start at level 20 and wank to how powerful their PCs are can keep doing that while the rest of us just keep playing the game like normal.

Well thanks to MMOs, a good portion of the current mindset is that the game doesn't actually begin until you reach Level Cap... So, it might be a larger percentage than you realize.

Quote from: YourSwordisMine;700073Well thanks to MMOs, a good portion of the current mindset is that the game doesn't actually begin until you reach Level Cap... So, it might be a larger percentage than you realize.

I have played very few games past 20.

Usually the pc's are essentially gods at that point, and it is more fun to start a new character.

Quote from: Silverlion;700028In Dungeon World...

When I read that, I hear it said in the tone of Yakov Smirnoff, "In Soviet Russia..."

Quote from: Sacrosanct;700065There are three types of druid.  Only one is more focused on shapeshifting than the other.  And even then, you can only do it once (twice at 8th level) for an hour long.  

Read it again.  "Once you use this feature, you cannot use it again until you have completed a short rest or a long rest. At 8th level, you can use Wild Shape twice between rests."  And each one lasts "a number of hours equal to half your druid level"

So a 4th level druid shapeshifts for 2 hours, then rests for 1 hour, then shapeshifts for 2 hours, then rests for 1 hour, etc..

By 8th level, they are shapeshifted for 4 hours, then shapeshifted into another form for 4 hours, then resting for 1 hour, then doing it all again.  So, with just a brief stop for an hour during the day, they can be in shapeshift form the entire day by 8th level.

Quote from: YourSwordisMine;700073Well thanks to MMOs, a good portion of the current mindset is that the game doesn't actually begin until you reach Level Cap... So, it might be a larger percentage than you realize.

You're probably right.  Not just MMOs, but video games in general.  I can't count the number of times I hear people complain about raising the level cap on games like Diablo, Borderlands, Skyrim, etc.

When I thought video games would be the death of TTRPGs back in the day, I thought it would be because they replace them, not that the actual result is that people play TTRPGs just like a video game.

Quote from: Mistwell;700079Read it again.  "Once you use this feature, you cannot use it again until you have completed a short rest or a long rest. At 8th level, you can use Wild Shape twice between rests."

So it's wax on (for an hour), wax off (for an hour), wax on (hour), wax off (hour) all day long.

A short rest is an hour.  Don't know about what types of games you play, but in my experience, being able to rest for an hour in the middle of a dungeon crawl or hostile territory is very rare.

Quote from: Sacrosanct;700065I guess some people have to bitch about everything.  I wonder how they function in real life.

I suspect they are the same people who transform a half hour meeting into a total waste of a whole afternoon of my life...