I remember the first time I played 3.5 dnd and my DM was explaining how the classes worked and I was like wow cleric sounds super strong, but I’m sure the negatives will show as we learn the game more… Cleric is like…the goddamn strongest class (I know druid is supposedly stronger but no one ever played a good druid with us)
The first time I played D&D it was 3.5 as a druid, and it was kind of overwhelming how much stuff I could do. My wolf was nearly as powerful as a whole other martial character, in addition to me being a full caster, in addition to being able to go into melee myself if I wanted to. And then there’s entangle which is a ridiculously OP first level spell, with a 40ft radius letting you alter the entire battlefield. Then there’s summoning and wild shape.
But clerics are crazy too (my second character was a cleric). Domain powers are basically two feats at level 1, you get to poach spells from other classes, like Druids you can wade into melee, and with the right feats you can use turn undead charges for all sorts of useful abilities even when not facing undead. Cleric 1 is so good that nearly any build that isn’t a different full spellcaster can take it. There’s also tons of flexibility (even more in PF1e) in terms of what the domains give you.
The fact that a Druid gets a free extra character at level 1 might push them over the edge, but it’s close.
I think the thing that makes druid stronger than cleric is that whilst a cleric can spend 3 rounds hyper uffing to become an unstoppable anti magic melee class capable of 1v1ing ancient dragons. The druid can do ALL that but since the buffs go on the animal companion, they still get to play full castor doubling the amount of carnage a cleric can get up to.
The only reason our game never had valid druids was that none of my players could conceptualize BEING a druid and would fuck themselves in RP. The power fantasy was always about capital expansion and leadership roles in society at the expense of nature, and of course, Sylvanus would take exception to that
I remember the first time I played 3.5 dnd and my DM was explaining how the classes worked and I was like wow cleric sounds super strong, but I’m sure the negatives will show as we learn the game more… Cleric is like…the goddamn strongest class (I know druid is supposedly stronger but no one ever played a good druid with us)
I felt like a literal god playing a wizard in 3.5. The summon table was silly.
Cleric is strong, druid is broken. A druid played by someone who wants to be invited back will be about as strong as the cleric
The first time I played D&D it was 3.5 as a druid, and it was kind of overwhelming how much stuff I could do. My wolf was nearly as powerful as a whole other martial character, in addition to me being a full caster, in addition to being able to go into melee myself if I wanted to. And then there’s entangle which is a ridiculously OP first level spell, with a 40ft radius letting you alter the entire battlefield. Then there’s summoning and wild shape.
But clerics are crazy too (my second character was a cleric). Domain powers are basically two feats at level 1, you get to poach spells from other classes, like Druids you can wade into melee, and with the right feats you can use turn undead charges for all sorts of useful abilities even when not facing undead. Cleric 1 is so good that nearly any build that isn’t a different full spellcaster can take it. There’s also tons of flexibility (even more in PF1e) in terms of what the domains give you.
The fact that a Druid gets a free extra character at level 1 might push them over the edge, but it’s close.
I think the thing that makes druid stronger than cleric is that whilst a cleric can spend 3 rounds hyper uffing to become an unstoppable anti magic melee class capable of 1v1ing ancient dragons. The druid can do ALL that but since the buffs go on the animal companion, they still get to play full castor doubling the amount of carnage a cleric can get up to.
The only reason our game never had valid druids was that none of my players could conceptualize BEING a druid and would fuck themselves in RP. The power fantasy was always about capital expansion and leadership roles in society at the expense of nature, and of course, Sylvanus would take exception to that
The day I learned you could magically rip someone’s heart out I was sold
The power words are all mega sick, but my favorite has always been Harm