Catalina's Guide to Druids
Panting hard and bleeding, the warrior brandishes his broadsword. His opponent limps on one leg, moving towards the warrior as fast as it can. It had once resembled a none-too-attractive ogre whose face and skin had since been cut and gashed in many places, and now looked nothing more than a walking, very pissed-off mountain of flesh and muscle. It lunged suddenly, but slowly, giving the warrior time to drunkenly dodge the heavy blow, and cuff the ogre upside the head with the hilt of his sword. The ogre fell face-forward, unconscious. Victorious, the warrior dropped his sword and prepared to loot the corpse when the ogre knocked the warrior off his feet. Scrambling to a sitting position, the huge ogre raised a meaty fist and the warrior prepared for a bloody end to his life. However, the noises he heard were hisses of leaves being disturbed, the creaking of bark, and the confused honk of the ogre which was cut off abruptly, then followed by a heavy THUD.
The warrior opened his eyes to find the ogre with his hands tied in vines which were retracting before his very eyes, and the tree who had moved impossibly to crack the ogre's skull. He just starred for a while until he noticed a beautiful young woman advancing on him, her movements and gestures and silent and delicate as the wind. Her expression was that of concern, but she was not looking at the warrior. She moved past him, and his gaze followed. She moved towards his sword, which had imbedded itself into a soft spot of bark on a tree beside him. Like a painter picking up a paintbrush, she removed the heavy weapon from the bark and caressed the slash gently.
The warrior didn't understand the movements, and he stood to retrieve his sword, "Why are you so concerned with a little plant, Miss? I am bleeding, I think I am more important than a plant."
The woman looked up at him and spat him with a stare that could have melted ice, yet spoke with a voice that was soft and unaccustomed to yelling, "You are ignorant in the ways of Nature, sir. This plant saved your life, the least you could do is thank it, instead of hurting it more."
"But it is just a plant," the warrior persisted, "How can you feel that way about a plant? It will grow back, or a new plant will take its place."
The young woman stood. "Then perhaps I should kill you here. After all, won't you grow back? Or perhaps a new warrior will come and take your place?"
The warrior laughed, "Lill me, young lady? I do not mean to offend you, but I do not think you can harm me."
He regretted his words from the moment she gave him a mocking smile and still did when she spoke a strange tongue of incantations, invoking on the power of Nature. In less time than it would have taken him to draw his sword, a maelstrom of elements assaulted him. It overloaded his senses and he fell to the ground, freezing, burning, and burning with a poison within all at the same time. He looked up at the young woman, no longer strong enough to conserve his pride.
Then she knelt by him, gathering plants and herbs together into a salve, and healed his more serious wounds, "You should not underestimate me so."
Druids are a secretive society of mages schooled in the ways of the healing powers of Nature. Clerics of the rain, sky, earth, and fire, Druids are most comfortable around life and its simplicity. They prefer the balance of life, very different from their teachers of the past. The Wizards claimed that their views were unpopular, thereby forcing the future Druids into the forest where the developed an affinity with the power around them.
Druids have come to expand their powers over the physical plane, blending their summoning and clerical powers to chant invocations and evocations from the elemental plane. Melee combat is not their way, preferring to fight with flail and dagger. Many warrior classes would frown in their inability to fight, but quickly learn that messing with a Druid is to face the wrath of Nature.
Because of the power with the natural world, they excel in the powers of perception, able to depict rare items and objects that are normally oblivious to anyone else.
Druid Proficiencies
Druid is a Cleric class, therefore it would be a folly to depend merely on these proficiencies. They are a benefit, but some you will need and other you will not. Further explanation will follow.
Dagger
Trademark of the Rogue, the dagger has always been the weapon of choice for people who want to dish out damage quickly, kill a few people, then vanish like they were never there. Druids, however, can use dagger in conjunction with their evokes to do more damage than any other type of weapon. Dagger is not often seen being used by clerics due to most cleric's disbelief in edged weapons. Dagger is preferred mainly because its accuracy is higher than any other weapon, allowing it to deal more damage more often. It would also allow you to gain more attacks than normal, arguably doing more damage in a single round than most other conventional weaponry. In summary, dagger is the best weapon a Druid can have, with the exception of their magic.
Flail
The flail is as ungainly as it sounds. Similar to a mace, a chain links the ball to the shaft allowing it to deal impressive damage but at the cost of accuracy. Flail users find themselves depending on magical enhancements merely to put them up to par with other people who use spear, sword, or dagger. Furthermore, flails are rare and break down often. They are best avoided.
Hand to Hand
Hand to hand deals the least damage of any weapon in the game, not very surprisingly. However, hand to hand is still a required skill to have purely for those times you find yourself without a weapon. Whether it is because you got it fragged, or some lucky psionic disarmed you, hand to hand is good to have for that few times you need to do as much damage as you can while to try and find out exactly where your sword went. It's also useful against the aggravating NPC's who are resistant to slash and pierce damage, allowing your hand to hand to bash them to death.
Hook
Similar to the dagger in many ways, the hook is the heavier, less-accurate, and more damage-inflicting. Hooks are also far less common than daggers, but do not break down quite as fast. This is a good skill to train as a backup in case you find yourself without your trusty dagger.
Lore
The fundamental ability of any good character is the ability to lore an object. In short, that means you merely look at an object and you immediately know its value, statistics, affected spells, and what kind of condition it's in. The higher the lore, the higher the level of items you can identify. The alternatives to lore is the identify spell, or buying a copper-colored scroll from a scroll shop and manually identifying items that way.
Mace
Save time and forget you even have this skill. True, there are some decent maces out there, but it is popular suggestion that you invest them in any of the other skills or spells instead. Mace deals moderate damage with low accuracy, and commonly have beneficial spells on them. Maces do not break easily, but there are many other weapons out there that can do much more for you.
Magical Items
Magical items is a skill you use most in first class, if at all. Picking up a staff of fireball, or a scroll of nexus, your skill in magical items determines the success rate of you using that stuff, or casting that scroll. As you progress later in your levels, you will depend less and less on items and start casting those spells yourself.
Nunchaku
This weapon type is almost never used and/or never practiced. There are very few nunchakus out there, and even those are not very strong in comparison to others. They do not do much damage and are moderately accurate.
Scan
Scan is as it sounds, the ability to detect those around you. There are many equivalents of this ability, and some spells like far sight and ESP (psionic only) are basically a mastered scan skill. If you scan, you can tell what NPC's, Players, and nexus portals are in the immediate vicinity if you have a direct line of sight in that direction. Scan is helpful for finding that one annoying NPC for your quest, or to find a friend that you know is around you.
Druid Spells
The spells for the druid class consist of elemental invocations and evocations. To explain, invoke is directed at the caster while evoke depicts another target (which can also be the caster [i.e. evoke water self]). A majority of the Druid invoke/evoke spells are actually Druid versions of common spells. For example, magma evocation is the same as circle of fire. Or fire invocation is similar to sanctuary. They are not exactly the same, some are stronger than the wizard spells, and some are weaker. Also, unlike Wizards, you can cast these spells as soon as you're able to, without the hassle of finding the scroll, killing the NPC that has it, finding room in the spell book, cursing because you can't find room, finding a new spell book, and then realizing that you don't have any more room in your memorization list. Basically, you have 32 spells to call on any time you want. Very cool. Here's a description of the spells.
Air Invocation/Evocation
Air invocation is the same as levitation, or float for psionics. It allows you to float above the ground, reducing stamina lost per unit area traveled, and removing you from the fatal earthquake damage. Levitation also allows you to move over water, albeit slowly.
Air evocation is summing forth a cyclone of air to slam into the target, dealing moderate damage, and there is a small chance you can stun your target. But don't count on it.
Ash Invocation/Evocation
Ash invocation, basically, is protection from necromancy. Not a very useful spell, but it's nice to cast it when you're entering an area for undead, or against and spell-power draining NPC's.
Ash evocation is the same as momentary darkness, but the effect lasts for much longer and dispels easier. It casts a magical blanket of darkness over the room, similar to being blind.
Dust Invocation/Evocation
Dust invocation is a type of defensive maneuver that creates "echoes" behind you giving a chance that the attacker may try to hit these "echoes" rather than you.
Dust evocation is the same as imprint aura which allows anyone, with detect magic affect activated, to see the footprints of the person under the effect and where they go.
Earth Invocation/Evocation
Earth invocation is the Druid version of heal, the most powerful healing spell in the game. Earth invocation, however, is cheaper and casts faster than heal.
Earth evocation is probably the best web spell in the game. It takes one reagent, as opposed to the wizard version with five reagents, and they can be blind when you web them unlike psionic's mesmerize (web) spell. It also casts faster than the other web spells, and with less complexity than any of the other web spells, you can cast it earlier than anyone else. It should be noted that, despite the fact that you're not hurting the target, it will initiate combat.
Fire Invocation/Evocation
Fire invocation is similar to the sanctuary spell, taking less reagents to cast but not being as powerful as the wizard version. Sanctuary absorbs 1/5 of incoming physical damage, and also removes the "frag" effect of the kill spell. With sanctuary on, the kill spell will only do damage instead of killing you outright.
Fire evocation is the Druid's Fireball, unleashing a torrent of fire upon a target that can burn unprotected items. Spell of choice against minotaurs.
Ice Invocation/Evocation
Ice invocation is similar to shield in that it increases your overall armor rating. It isn't any cheaper, but takes different reagents to cast.
Ice evocation is the frost spell, except cheaper. Ice evocation also has a greater chance of freezing an enemy, hindering their movements while dealing a moderate amount of damage. Spell of choice against dracons.
Lightning Invocation/Evocation
Lightning invocation is a more expensive version of the haste spell, quickening your movements in combat and travel. With haste activated, there is no lag when you move and you get an extra attack per round, with no more than 4. The accuracy with your weapon is also increased, allowing to do more damage more frequently. The drawback is that hit point, spell point, and stamina regeneration is halved.
Lightning evocation is the Druid's lightning bolt, causing moderate damage. Lightning bolt, unlike other lightning spells, has little chance of fragging an item.
Magma Invocation/Evocation
Magma invocation is the cheaper version of fireshield. Despite the name, fireshield does not reduce any damage, yet it deals a little bit of damage back to the attacker for each that hits you. Granted, fireshield will probably not kill anyone, but each little bit a damage adds up making fireshield a worthy investment.
Magma evocation is the circle of fire spell, except far cooler. It lasts for ten times as long and deals the same amount damage, and costs less reagents to cast. Circle of fire is a room-effect spell that is only effective in Player-Killing rooms, scorching anyone who enters or exits. A second ability of this spell is that anyone who is sneaking, therefore unable to be seen moving around, can have their position revealed when they pass through a circle of fire.
Minerals Invocation/Evocation
Minerals invocation is the same as enhanced strength, except twice as expensive. It increases the strength of the caster by one, allowing the caster to carry more, hit harder, etc..
Minerals evocation is the Druid's cure serious, but is able to heal another person other than yourself. Minerals evocation, however, takes a few reagents to cast unlike other healing spells.
Ooze Invocation/Evocation
Ooze invocation is similar to the stone skin spell of the wizards, increasing overall armor rating better than most spells. Combined with the ice invocation, your character's armor rating could be at maximum easily.
Ooze evocation is similar to tremor in that it causes the attacker to slip and fall, and therefore stopping any attack and fouling up any spell. It is a useful spell especially since it is free.
Radiance Invocation/Evocation
Radiance invocation is the Druid's detect invisibility. Required for anyone, detect invisibility allows you to see the identity of people who are currently invisible.
Radiance evocation is the reveal spell for Druid's, disenchanting the invisibility effects on anyone within range.
Smoke Invocation/Evocation
Smoke invocation is what Druids use for invisibility, rendering the caster unseen to those without the detect invisibility spell. Unfortunately, this effect will vanish when you enter combat.
Smoke evocation is the Druid's blindness spell, costing about the same and usually more effective. Blindness hampers the fighter's ability to attack and defend significantly, which makes the cure blindness spell a very popular spell in the game.
Steam Invocation/Evocation
Steam invocation is the pass door spell to all others, allowing the caster to pass through doors like they were not even there. This spell is a cure for impatience only, though, since all important doors are pass-proof anyway. The spell does save some time in movement, though.
Steam evocation is a nasty little spell that deals rather significant damage to the target by taking the life force of person. It's rather expensive, but the damage is unblockable by physical means and may be worthwhile.
Salt Invocation/Evocation
Salt invocation is basically a cure disease spell, removing spells like plague, evil eye, and fatigue. It is best that you cure these disease quickly before they bring you down too much.
Salt evocation is a cure poison spell, removing any effects of poison that you may be afflicted with. If the poison is really bad, you make need to evoke salt a few times. Remember, you can target yourself with evoke salt.
Vacuum Invocation/Evocation
Vacuum invocation is their version of the blink spell, allowing you to enter the elemental plane for a brief moment, and then come out onto the physical plane at a different location. Blink is a quick way to walk to someplace, or to get the hell away from somewhere.
Vacuum evocation is something similar to implosion, if that were ever to be a spell. It creates a single pinpoint into the vacuum, forcing air into the pinpoint. If one cannot escape the winds, the spell would kill them outright. As one might expect, this is an expensive spell, but very useful in those hard to win situations.
Water Invocation/Evocation
Water invocation is a useful little spell, giving the caster resistance to fire. Fire traps will be less likely to hurt you, and they deal insignificant damage if they do. A handy trick in Arena if someone takes you to a fire trap room, since you can watch them burn to death.
Water evocation is a fairly useless spell, since it doesn't do much damage to anyone. Fey, who are weak to water, do not fear this spell at all.
NPC Combat
When fighting NPCs, you will want a series of spells to cast before you initiate battle. In any fight, you want make sure you have plenty of reagents of all types. Make sure you have all your protective spells on (invoke fire, invoke ice, invoke air, invoke dust, invoke smoke, invoke radiance, invoke ooze, invoke magma, invoke lightning), and then make sure you're at full health. Now that you're at the biggest advantage, you want to make sure they have the biggest disadvantage. Next, if you're fighting someone with fireshield, you're going to want to invoke water to give yourself protection. If they have necromantic attacks, invoke ash as well. Now that you're prepared, the first thing to do is evoke smoke, so that they cannot cast spells or attack you (Note: they can still use area-effect spells like telekinetic explosion, thunderclap, or tremor). The next thing to do is to evoke earth, and web them in place so that it is harder for them to hit you. This will initiate combat, so be prepared to take some damage. If you see them cast a spell, evoke ooze and foul it up. If they have no weaknesses to any of the elements, then you can use evoke fire or evoke lightning, whichever you prefer. If they are weak to an element (you can check this up by cross-referencing with the races index), use that. Evoke ice and evoke steam are you nastier spells, so use that only if you want to cause serious damage quickly. Evoke vacuum takes an astral (rare) reagent and isn't wise fighting a relatively unimportant mob. Note that if they are webbed, they cannot flee. If they are blind, they can't hit you that hard or move well.
PC Combat
Players tend to be a bit more intelligent than NPCs. They know your capabilities and what you can do. They're also far less predictable, thus you have to put them at a disadvantage fast. Almost every class has pre-combat spells to cast on the other, so what you want to do is remove that ability. Evoke smoke, fast, to blind them, then evoke earth to web them. Again, this will initiate combat, so be prepared. Instead of using offensive spells, concentrate on evoke smoke (in case the cast cure blindness) and evoke ooze. You want to keep them blind so that they cannot hurt you with spells, or hit you as hard. You want to time your attacks to start at the end of each round and to be finished by the start of the next one, that way you can still get your attacks in. If your hit points start to dwindle into the low yellow and red levels, start casting invoke earth. As a note, if you are in an arena fight and are losing, do not challenge quit. It annoys the other people and you'll find yourself being ridiculed by others.
Class Combinations
Druid is arguably the best class in the game, due to its wide range of spells, lack of scrolls, and cheap spells. However, the Druid lacks a cure blind spell, the ability to do serious melee damage, and a bit more freedom on spells. Druid is the preference for PK (Player-Kill) characters, and therefore they vary on choice of what classes they want to use as their combination. Some good ones are below.
Paladin: Paladin is the weakest of the fighter classes, but they also have healing spells (including cure blind), plus have some of their own melee attacks like second and third attack. Paladin also has sanctify, which turns a room into a high-regeneration room for a short while. Paladin lacks offensive spells, for which Druid can make up.
Bard: Bard is another PK choice merely because they have 26+ songs to call on merely by holding an instrument. It should be noted that, unlike Druid, you must practice your music skill to be able to play most of the songs. Like Druid, you already have the songs and do not need to find the scrolls for them. Bard also has backstab (useful in conjunction with dagger/hook), sneaking, and stealing (CPK only).
Rogue: Opposite from the Bard, the Rogue shares many of the skills, except that they rely more heavily upon stealth and quick damage rather than music. You also gain the ability to throw knives and daggers as an ability to do even more, and possibly lethal, damage.
Cavalier: For those who want to do some serious melee damage, Cavalier is the way. The only class with lance, cavalier can take a lickin' and keep on tickin'. Lance, which can only be used while riding, is currently one of the most powerful weapons in the game. Cavaliers also get second/third attacks, plus fast healing (increases hit points regeneration). However, in order to get cure blind, you would have to go Monk. While not a bad mage class, there are certainly better ones out there.
Psionic: Druid and Psionic go hand in hand, and if it weren't for the lack of cure blind, I'm sure everyone would be Druid and Psionic. Psionic, like Druid, do not use scrolls, nor have spell books, nor need to memorize any spells. They already have them ready to use. Psionic is a PK preference for many people, since they are some unique spells attributed to the Psionic that you cannot find elsewhere (memory drain, telekinetic explosion, telesmatic force, knock, bar, etc). In addition, Psionic's have no visible spell preparation text. You are suddenly webbed. You are suddenly blind. You are suddenly unable to remember your cure blind spell. You are suddenly screwed.
Last Notes
As a Druid, you may find people who flaunt their hit points and assume that, since you aren't up to their level, you must be below them. THOSE PEOPLE DO NOT KNOW THE DRUID CLASS. It's like kicking that strange object that lurking near your campsite deep in the woods, then staring at a two meter tall grizzly. Their hit points don't do them squat if they can't hit you. Druids do not start out strong, they cannot walk up to a dragon, start combat, then walk away to eat dinner. Druids must pick their fights and fight wisely, knowing when to flee the combat. In short, you don't need the extra hit points. You have something better.
As you progress into later classes, you'll be able to call on additional skills and abilities to use with your Druid spells to make you all that more powerful. You may never become unstoppable, but you'll definitely give people second thoughts about attacking you. Peace be with you.
