OOC III

[AleBelly]

Well, she can predict weather up to 8 hours in advance with predict weather.

And as per the spell description, if there is significant cloud cover or storms, call lightning will work. The trick is the one turn casting time. Not really suitable for battle...

[onlyme]

I'll be afk for a long weekend starting this evening. I will have phone to read and make short posts, but may not be as post trigger happy.

[AleBelly]

There is that. I'd forgotten about the level limits. But at least they're soft limits in your game.

I played a druid in one of my favorite online games years and years ago. The game died just as my PC was about to reach 7th level. Dangit.

That's one of the things I miss about games that last long enough for PCs to get to high levels. There's a lot of cool stuff druids and casters can do in mid to high levels. And I've never played a druid that was high enough level for the peculiar level progression requirements at high levels to come into play. Having to defeat a 12th-level druid to advance to that level could set up some really cool opportunities for role play. And it has a built-in solution to the problem of how to challenge high-level PCs. But you have to play a long time to get there.

ETA from Marullus's post: The spell description for Call Lightning requires cloud cover. Well, in 1e it's "a storm of some sort," although Gary then classes "a rain shower" in with storms. OSRIC only requires "significant cloud cover," which isn't that rare.

Another advantage of druids is the fast level progression—faster than anyone but a thief, I believe. Not so much at the early levels, though that's counterbalanced by getting a new spell level each of the first three levels, but much more so later on. Hellebore and Tempus will hit 6th level at 20,000 XP. Yenny will need 27,000 to get to the same level, Arnulf and Angus will need 40,000 (!), and Hyde will need 35,000.

I totally would have run a druid when I joined if there hadn't already been one in the party.

You beat me to it re: lightning. One other thing is that druids get ripped off on spell scrolls. Aren't many druid scrolls floating around.

I do plan on running this for awhile, and I have more ideas than we have time to get to, so I don't think I'll run out of those. So maybe we'll see some heavy hitters in a year or two.

[Zhym]

But if you know you're about to attack, it's great.

For example, if we ever go up against the orc city, having Hellebore and Tempus load up on Call Lightning could be huge. Just wait for the right weather conditions, and BOOM BOOM. Ten minutes later: BOOM BOOM. And that's just one casting each! And the druid doesn't have to concentrate on the spell—he or she can attack in other ways once Call Lightning is cast!

Add in Obscurement, Entangle, Warp Wood, Heat Metal, and a druid is one of your best friends on the open battlefield.

My advice on spell use right now is not to underestimate the value of Summon Insects. It's not so helpful when fighting a lot of low-level mooks, but the value of pointing to one opponent and saying, "You. Take a time out." will become amazingly helpful as we start facing tougher individual opponents.

[AleBelly]

Yes, SI is a great spell. But it does have limitations. It wouldn't have worked near the campfire because of all the smoke. And I don't think they'd go after the undead. But against human/humanoid opponents in the field? Man.

Of course, if the party faces a druid...

[Zhym]

Oh, the other druid weakness is that they're usually soft on the outside. They can only wear leather armor and use a small wooden shield. And unlike thieves, who can put their high stat into dexterity, druids have to put a 15+ score into Charisma and will want at least that high a score in Wisdom, making it unlikely that a third high score will be left to give any significant AC bonus. OTOH, they can used ranged weapons (even if they are just daggers, darts, and slings), putting them one up on clerics for usefulness in battle.

ETA, AleBelly:
I've wondered whether Summon Insects would work against the undead in my own game. It hasn't come up yet, but I'm thinking there's no reason it wouldn't. The insects attack what you want them to attack. It's not like bugs wouldn't eat dead flesh, after all. Or bones, if they're capable.

If we see an enemy hugging a tree, we hit that one first.

[Zhym]

Oh, BTW, regarding this:

Yes, SI is a great spell. But it does have limitations. It wouldn't have worked near the campfire because of all the smoke.

I think you might be confusing Summon Insects and Insect Plague. The latter (which is a 5th level spell that's another "holy crap, druids!" spell on the battlefield) explicitly says that fire and smoke will keep the insects at bay. But Summon Insects has no such limitation, at least in the spell description. BtB, holding a torch doesn't stop the insects from swarming you. There's just too many of them focused on one target.

I mean, I might make an exception for a fire elemental, but I don't think I'd make being near a fire stop the insect swarm. At least in my game.

[AleBelly]

Yes, you're right.

With that spell, BTW, I don't restrict movement. That just seems silly. If I'm swarmed by insects, I'm not going to stand there. I'm going to try to fend them off by jumping in water or something like that.

[Zhym]

Oh, well that does reduce its usefulness a bit.

I rationalize it as being bitten and stung by so many insects that you can't even react except by trying to scratch and swat them away. But I guess as long as the running is sort of like what happens when Fear is cast—i.e., not running in a particular direction (unless there's water nearby, maybe) but just to get away—it's about the same difference either way.

[AleBelly]

Yeah, that's how I see it. Unless you see a big lake, then I think you can run towards that.

What a brutal spell.

[tkrexx]

Brutal, true, but a 1 round casting time and a 3" range makes it somewhat less than perfect. IF you can get it off, well...

"You. Take a time out."

Yeah, that.

[Zhym]

Apropos of the conversation above, I wonder what the weather is going to be like around dawn tomorrow game time.

[Zhym]

I really want to see what Dandelion would write as a regrets RSVP. Maybe we could send one on Hellebore's raven?

[AleBelly]

OK, for those of you scoring at home we have...

Yenny - wants to seek information on Saphrax/Herulics (these names haven't been encountered in the game yet)
Dandelion, Angus, Hellebore - Ignore the invitation.
Chet - no strong opinion
Tempus, Chet - Says he thinks he will go to meet with Saphrax
Arnulf - on the fence about going, but seems to be talked out of it
Hyde, Galan - no opinion yet

So, looks like the plan is to search about No-Go for the rest of the day and rest there again - with the possible exception of Tempus. I'll wait for a day or until Hyde and Galan chime in to update. Feel free to continue discussing.

[Zhym]

Now I know what Hyde looks like.

[tkrexx]

His teeth are bigger.

[Zhym]

Y'know, I figured the rug was probably trapped when Alebelly got picky about the meaning of checking out the rug. But I had to jump in and have Angus lift it anyway.

[AleBelly]

I thought you might. But I don't like funneling PCs into traps. Didn't get him too bad anyway...

[AleBelly]

Hi all,

This game might slow down through the end of July. School is becoming demanding, and I just found out that I'm going to be a Jeopardy! contestant (it's a quiz show taped here in the U.S. for you non-'Muricans). I tape in early August, and will be spending some of my scant free time brushing up on some deficient subjects (opera, musicals, world rivers, etc). I have no plans to put this on hiatus, but if some of my descriptions are terse or there's a bit of a lag here and there, you'll know why. I try not to let much get in the way of the Wildlands, but I've wanted to be on the show for at least 25 years, so I'm going to try to take advantage!

This is in full effect now. Updates will be sparse for the next couple of weeks, so I hope you'll bear with me. Thanks!

[Storm11]

No worries, good luck