Cleric vs. Druid

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Again, druids are much better in BG2 if only because their spells have been improved greatly. Their spells were awful in BG. I mean, come on, 3 3rd level spells? And the only good one can only be cast outdoors? And I know for certain they can't use scmitars without TotSC, and I'm not sure they can use them even with that. Now I played a fighter/druid in BG2, and I liked it a lot. But I still think my fighter/cleric in BG2 was better all around. But at least they gave the druid some nice spells in BG2.

 

I prefer druids because they level up quickly in the beginning so, when you choose your NPC they're at higher lvls.....
Moreover i really don't like clerics...but don't know why...

 

cleric is the only way for me, anything without magic resistance can be knocked out by command word die then you can just wade in with flail or stay at the edge and ring a few bells with the sling, not to mention they have a lvl 1 invisibility in the santuary they can heal them selves or, how i like to use them is to send a cleric into a room filled with mages, and you know how they will talk to people even though they may be invisible well at the end of the conversation every one casts their spells while the cleric is still invisable it can go outside and you just wait for their spells to where off then just storm back inside and kill the whole lot of them

[This message has been edited by [sOv]Storm (edited July 10, 2001).]

 

Take a cleric. I normaly play with one true cleric and one cleric/illushionist(gnome) or if yu realy ont both a cleric and a druid use a fighter/druid in bg. never never nerver thake a pure druid. Why do you think you can thake aut a like number of druids in the cloakwood forest and only come out lightly damaged.

 

Druids can use Frostbrand +3 wich is easy to get if you have a thief (and you should have one in your party) .
I thought druids were limited to chainmail not leather armor ??!!! (Anyone can clarify that ?)

 

The tabletop rules limit druids to 'natural' armor. This means armor make of plant or animal, i.e. leather armor and a wooden shield. In BG the game limits you to studded leather, since there is no hide armor. A druid can't wear chain, that is the limit for a bard.

 

Yes you're right....Chain is Bard limit....

 

Exactly what makes leather more natural then metal? Is killing an animal, flaying its skin, tanning and curing the skin, doing gods know what to make it servicable as armour, then cutting and stitching etc. so you can actually wear it any more natural than digging ore out of the ground, smelting it and smithing metal armour?

 

Pure druid, no. Fighter-druid maybe, but only with Tales installed. Then you can wield a scrimitar.

Pure cleric, no. Fighter-cleric, maybe.

If you want to become familiar with the priest class I would suggest trying a cleric-thief. However use Gatekeeper or Character Control to convert him to a human, half-elf, elf, etc., because the game only gives you the option of making a gnome a cleric-thief. (And who wants to play a gnome for cying out loud?) Personally, I prefer mutliclass to dual class because I want to get all the benefits of both classes without having to get all the way to the top of one class and start at the bottom of the other. Now that I think about it, while you're at it might as well install the XP cap remover.

You can get Gatekeeper from http://www.sorcerers.net/Games/BG/index_editors.php and Character Control and XP cap remover from http://www.sorcerers.net/Games/BG/index_teambg.php

This is fast becoming my favorite class for online MPing. Aside from healing you can thieve, backstab (with the staff mace or Spiritual Hammer), entangle, summon skellies and animals, mentally dominate (charm), etc., etc., wield the amazing Wand of Heavens, and at the highest level 5 raise the dead.

Oi! No linking to external sites for things you can get at SP!

[This message has been edited by Taluntain (edited July 25, 2001).]

Oops! Didn't realize. Sorry bout that Taluntain.

[This message has been edited by Lemernis (edited July 25, 2001).]

 

I've been playing through BG1 with a druid (yes pure druid) character for the first time because I thought they were terrible before.

I think I understand better now that Clerics and Druids do not serve the same function in the party. Clerics are in fact healers, and they do ok in front line combat, but primarily they are healers.

I don't think the Druid fits into that category completely. I think they're more like a bard in function, bear with me on this. They CAN heal, but that doesn't make them a healer, they also have some good combat skills, especially when they get the shapeshifting abilities. Their spells are a little more damage inflicting than a clerics. So a Druid is more like support in whatever you seen to be lacking in your party, rather than fitting into a specific role... like a bard, who supplies a little magic, a littel thievery, and a bit of combat support (usually missle weapons...)

So if your Cleric runs out of healing, the druid can help a little, but probably most of his spells would be better spent on the offensive. If the fighters are getting in trouble, the druid can get into the melee (as a bear later on!), or he can hang back and cast spells. So he is sort of Bard-like, not fantastic at any one thing, but pretty ok at a few different roles.

If you go with a druid, I'd recommend picking up a cleric anyway, or better yet, a fighter/cleric.

 

The main issue with Druids in BG1 and IWD (before HoW) is that Druid had all their penalties and few of their adventages. There were limited in armor and weapons, and shapeshift is far less effective in a CRPG than in tabletop gaming. Once HoW, BG2, and ToB gave Druids more of their high level powers they became a lot more balanced. Afterall the only rules reason they have all the restriction they do is for balance. Therefore if you don't give them their abilities at higher level why give them their restriction at lower level. Once bothare in place they are a great class to play.

 

I personally prefer gnomish [sp] cleric/illusionists because of the massive spell lists you can get with and without armour on.

 

In Baldur's Gate clerics can cast every spell druids can except for Call Lightning, Charm Person or Mammal, goodbeery, and hold animal. Almost all of these are useless. The charm spell is okay, but the others are never used. Call lightning might be okay if you could cast it when you weren't on the surface, but it is crippled in BG.

In addition to having much worse spells, Druids are crippled in combat due to extreme constraints on both armor and weapons. NEVER use a druid in BG1.

I am only saying druids suck in BG1, I am NOT disputing their power in BG2 in higher levels.

 

Oh come on! The amount of time you spend outdoors in that game more than makes up for the fact that some of the spells are only good outdoors.

Cloakwood especially, I used call lighting and hold animal in nearly every fight (particularly those sticky wyvern/ettercap ambushes in between sectors), call lighting particularly is great because it hits repeatedly. Hold animals is handy when it comes to the frequent herds of bears you run into (yes you can kill them without it, but they do a TON of damage if they reach your characters)

and in regard to combat, once they get to 7th level, the bear transformation gives you 3 attacks per round as a +3 weapon (I think) and does somewhere around 10-15 damage a hit.
Not bad considering fighters don't even have 3 attacks at that point in the game. The AC is still lamentable though, but you let your fighters engage the enemy while the druid casts spells, and then transform into a bear and join the fray. Its a ton of fun.