New Druid Class Previewed

Posted by Fozz

The new druid class was previewed this morning in the D&D Insider over at WotC. We only get to see levels 1-3 until it is released in the upcoming Player's Handbook 2 this March.

Druids rely on the Primal power source and are able to control the battlefield from a distance in human form and up close in their beast form.  Although the druid is classified as a Controller role, depending upon your build, you can add in powers that make you a good leader or striker.  These two primal aspects are called Primal Gaurdian and Primal Predator, which gives a bonus to AC and boosts your speed, respectively.

Your class feature at-will power lets you change into beast or human form as a minor action and shift 1 square. You can only do this once per round though (Powergamers, I know what you were thinking ) It is interesting that all of your equipment becomes part of your beast form when you change and you still gain their benefits, but anything you were holding drops, except your implements. Also anything in a container that is part of your beast form is inaccessible.

In addition, Druids start out with 3 at-will powers, but you must always have 1-2 powers that have the beast form keyword. The beast form powers allow you to slow your enemies, grant combat advantage, and slide them around. Your human form powers usually restrict movement or cause damage via fire and lightning.

All in all, it seems like the druid will be a very popular PC due to it's nice powers that allow you to do so much, it has great roleplaying potential, and who would want to turn into an animal at will!

What do you think? Are you as excited about the PHB2 as I am?