Druid in Depth and Sneak Peak of the Physical Books!
Hey everyone, Reecius here with the last in-depth article for the core box: the Druid.
Let’s dive into this walking natural disaster of a class!
Also, thanks for your patience, I delayed this article as I had exciting news to share, the rule books for the Core Game are done! Check out this video, they look awesome! I am so excited to see these come together finally as I have never made a book but it has always been a dream of mine since I was a kid to be able to hold a physical book. It gave me chills to see it in the video, I cannot wait to hold one in my hands!
Click here to see the books!
We’ve previously covered the following classes:
Martial Characters:
To read the Fighter in depth article, click here.
To read the Barbarian in depth article, click here.
To read the Ranger in depth article, click here.
To read the Rogue in depth article, click here.
Skill Classes:
To read the Inquisitor in depth article, click here.
To read the Warlord in depth article, click here.
To read the Bard in depth article, click here.
To read the Alchemist in depth article, click here.
Arcane Classes:
To read the Shaman in depth article, click here.
To read the Dread Mage in depth article, click here.
To read the Priest in depth article, click here.
The Druid
Unlike in other RPGs where the Druid is a sort of oddball utility magic user attuned to the forces of nature that can turn into other animals, in Blood Throne the Druid is able to wield the power of nature’s wrath! Able to call down lightning storms, summon forth hurricanes, even cause the very earth to quake, their destructive capability is unmatched. Additionally, they may call on the denizens of the forest, sending clouds of stinging insects to harass their enemies or even summon mighty Forest Guardians to their aid. Druids are a truly fearsome Arcane Class for your games of Blood Throne!
The Power of Nature at your Fingertips
At its core the Druid fills the role of a DPS class. In gamer parlance, they are your nuke wizard. Their job is to deal lots of damage to multiple enemies at a time. They additionally have a strong summon to protect them and have a mix of DoTs and debuff magic to round out their suite of spells. Druids by end game can be the damage dealing king (or queen) of your party.
Equipment Restrictions
Druids follow the stock standard equipment restrictions for an Arcane Class. This means they are limited to light armor and weapons, no shields but granting them access to the Arcane Class equipment such as wands, arcane staffs, arcane focus, etc. However, the Druid is not here to simply but swing a sword, they are here to reduce hordes of monsters to ash with devastating bolts of lightning, tornadoes and earthquakes!
Class Ability: Call Lightning
The Druid’s Class Ability is Call Lightning, and it is a devastating spell! While it starts out fairly moderate, if you invest feats into upgrading it, by end game it can deal more damage in one Action than any other Hero in your Party could hope to achieve. Call Lightning is a Medium Range, AoE spell (3×3 squares). What makes it unique though is that it only hits Opposing Models, so you can target a square near allies without worrying about hurting them. It deals 3DD+Power damage which is not massive to begin with, but as stated you have multiple Feat options to increase the potential of the spell.
At level 4 and 8 you can increase the damage by +1DD each, meaning you can get it up to a base damage of 5DD! Remember you add Power, so if you invest in that stat for your Druid you can add potentially 4DD more dice to the Damage Pool bringing it up to a whopping 9DD per target in the AoE. As if that were not enough, at level 6 you can also increase the size of the AoE to Reach Range from the target square, potentially impacting another 4 squares. As you can see, the possibility for just obliterating hordes of Monsters in one shot is immense!
Primary Skill Tree
The main focus of the Druid is AoE DPS, meaning hitting lots of targets at a time with high damage.
Poison Thorns
At level 1 the Druid may select Poison Thorns. This is a great spell to have in your deck and particularly at lower levels you will be using this + Call Lightning almost every turn. It is not flashy but is a very reliable ranged damage dealing spell. Medium Range targeting Fortitude, the target takes 2RD and gains the Poison DoT, meaning they will take more RD damage over the next two turns. In total it deals 5 RD over two turns, making it great for chipping away at tough enemies or finishing off wounded targets. Again, nothing flashy but it will be a staple in your deck.
Hurricane Winds
At level 6 the Druid gains access to an absolute banger of a spell: Hurricane Winds. This is one of the best spells in the game and can completely change the course of a battle. It is Once Per Game, and a Ritual meaning it takes all your Standard Actions to cast and you must have at least two Standard Actions to attempt it. While it essentially burns your whole turn to use it, it is well worth the investment! All Opposing Models in a Medium Range AoE centered on the Druid are targeted, no line of sight required. Affected enemies all take 2RD damage and, most importantly, gain the Knocked Down status effect. What this means is that you hit a MASSIVE section of the board (essentially an 8 square radius around the Druid), dealing moderate damage to all enemies in range, taking an Action away from each and making Vulnerable. Vulnerable means that for the next Action that targets them, the attack counts as originating in their Rear Arc, so they typically cannot take any Defensive Actions. This is absolutely devastating. Losing an Action on potentially so many models is truly brutal. Just move the Druid towards the center of the board and let the Hurricane rip!
In PvE games this can devastate the Monsters for a turn, letting you turn a loss into a victory! In PvP games the same logic applies but a savvy player will do everything in their power to stop this spell from going off so be wary of potential counters.
Hurricane Winds is one of those abilities in a game that really makes you feel powerful.
Tornado
At level 8 the Druid gains another Once Per Game DPS AoE spell: Tornado. This is one you save to just obliterate a cluster of enemies, and it is very good at the job! It is a simple spell, Medium Range, 3×3 square AoE which targets friend or foe (so be careful to not hit allies) that deals 6RD damage to affected targets! As a quick reminder, RD or Raw Dice, ignore armor and cannot normally be blocked or parried, and deal up to 3 damage per die, meaning you can potentially do 18 damage per target. The only recourse to avoid damage is to try and Resist the spell. That is simply brutal and if played intelligently can wipe out multiple targets in one shot. This doesn’t need a lot of explanation, just aim and delete. The only thing to keep in mind is that you want to be sure to avoid a situation in which the spell can be denied as it is a one shot only ability.
Earthquake
At level 10, as with all Classes, you get the ultimate ability of the Druid. All Ultimate skills are automatically added to your deck if you hit level 10, they do not take up one of your class skill choices. As with all Ultimates, this is a Once per Game ability. Earthquake is also a Ritual Action just as with Hurricane Winds. This spell is wild, it targets all Opposing Models on the entire board, no Line of Sight required, and those affected take 3RD damage! Absolutely brutal. If you manage to max level the Druid, you will be able to play this card with an evil grin on your face!
Secondary Skill Tree
The Druid’s secondary skill tree revolves around summoning via their Forest Guardian companion and the extremely useful Wall of Poisonous Brambles.
Summon Forest Guardian
At level 1 the Druid may summon their Forest Guardian to aid them in battle. Unlike the War Bear the Shaman summons who has a lot of HP, is slow but hits very hard in melee; the Forest Guardian is a bit more well rounded. It has less HP but it does have Damage Reduction 1. It moves 5, and has reach on its bite attack which deals 6DD+Power (1 in this case) damage. So the Forest Guardian is faster, about the same level of durability due to having armor despite lower HP, and has reach plus a harder hitting single attack compared to the War Bear’s two attacks with a higher total damage cap. The biggest difference though is in their Special Abilities.
The War Bear can pin an opponent in place which is really useful to hold up a scary monster, but the Forest Guardian gets a free Parry Action each Activation via its Flashing Tail skill. This is really useful as it is a Reactive Action and allows the Forest Guardian to act as a Skirmishing unit that can engage a monster or opposing Hero from outside of their range, force them to come to the summon and then they can reduce the damage of an incoming attack. Alternatively, you have this Summon run around a flank to attack enemy support models where due to its high damage attack and solid Accuracy of 3, it has a good chance of taking them out or at least taking up all their attention.
At level 4 you can opt to take the Prepared Summon Feat which makes summoning a Standard Action instead of a Ritual Action. This helps increase action efficiency for the Druid considerably so they aren’t spending their first turn only summoning. At level 6 the Druid can take the Summon Greater Forest Guardian Feat which gives a big boost to the summon. This gives the Forest Guardian a +1 boost to Accuracy, Finesse, Evasion, Fortitude, and Power, +2 to Will, +3 HP and gives the Forest Guardian an additional Skill: Grasping Vines.
Grasping Vines is a great Skill that further increases the versatility of the summon. It is a Short Ranged. ranged attack which if it hits deals 2RD damage and gives the target the Hobbled status. Hobbled Halves a model’s Movement value which can be invaluable for slowing down a scary opposing model.
In all, where the War Bear is a summon that does one thing, and does that thing well: wading into the thick of the fight and waylaying foes with its claws; the Forest Guardian is a much more versatile summon with a lot of tools at their disposal. While they may not have the raw power of the bear, they bring a lot to the table and you will never be sad you called them to the fray!
Just as a quick reminder with summons, you can never have more than 1 in play at a time for balance purposes.
Wall of Poisonous Brambles
This spell is not technically a summon for rules purposes, but thematically it is in the same category. Unlike the Forest Guardian or War Bear which act largely like additional Party members, the Wall of Poisonous Brambles is a standee you place on the table on the line between squares and effectively creates a wall to block line of sight 4 squares in length. This is incredibly useful to force opposing models to move around it, or to interrupt their line of sight for spells and ranged attacks. If a model does choose to move through the wall, they take 2RD damage and gain the Poisoned DoT (and some Monsters will just barrel through it). The wall stays in play until the Druid next Activates at which point it is removed. The uses for this are multitude. You can force an opponent to completely alter their formation, block LoS for ranged attacks or charges, and protect vulnerable party members or an objective. Truly a fantastic tool to have in the tool chest for your Druid.
Tertiary Skill Tree
The Druid’s Tertiary Skill tree revolves around applying Curses to their opponent, but with a twist. The Druid’s Curses also deal damage over time, making them quite nasty. As a quick reminder, Curses are negative status effects which last for the entire game unless removed.
Insect Swarm
At level 1 the Druid has access to Insect Swarm, which targets Fortitude at Medium Range and if successful, the target model is Blinded and every time they activate they take 1RD damage. Blinded causes the target model to have a maximum Accuracy of 0, meaning they are highly likely to miss when making an action that uses that Offensive Modifier which includes all normal attacks. Using this on a key enemy model that specializes in physical attacks is absolutely crippling, and the chip damage over time only sweetens the pot. You can upgrade this spell to deal 2RD per Activation with the Nature’s Sting Feat which turns the damage from an annoyance to truly worrying.
Infestation of Maggots
At level 4 the Druid may select Infestation of Maggots. Similar to Insect Swarm this is a Curse that deals 1 RD damage per Activation but instead of Blinding the target, it Enfeebles them. While in effect, Enfeeble caps the target model’s Power to 0. This can be devastating to models that rely on their high Power to deal damage. It can dramatically reduce the amount of damage dice coming at you. If you combo this with a tanky Hero like Ajax who has max armor, it can turn a very scary Monster like the Berserker into an easy fight as his total damage drops down to a minimal number against a tank Hero. As a trick, you can also cast this on a healer to reduce the amount of healing they can do as well since Power increases both damage and healing in most cases. Also like Insect Swarm, the Nature’s Sting Feat increases the damage over time component from 1 RD to 2, making this a scary Cruse to have on a model over the course of a game.
Feats
Druids, like all classes, gain a Feat option at every level. All classes have access to universal Feats at odd levels, and class specific Feats at even levels (outside of level 10 at which all classes gain their Ultimate Skill). All Feat choices are permanent and you may only select one of the options available apart from level 1, in which case you select 2 general feats during character creation.
At level 2 the Druid may either select Reaching Spells to get +1 square range or Nature’s Resilience to passively heal +1RD HP each time they activate. Both are good, we have covered the range increase many times now but as a quick overview: obviously more squares to reach is great but being able to cast from outside of dispel range is massive. Healing 1-3 HP each time you activate helps to keep the Druid in the fight longer. As you can see, their suite of spells are potentially devastating so your opponent will often focus on removing this Hero from the game as quickly as possible. Gaining a steady stream of extra HP over the course of the game can be the difference between surviving a turn or not. The choice comes down to how you want to play, all-out offense or a bit more cautiously?
At level 4 the Druid has the tough choice between increasing the damage of their bread and butter DPS spell, Call Lightning, or increasing their action economy by being able to summon the Forest Guardian as a single action instead of as a Ritual which takes up their entire Activation. Being able to summon and cast another spell or move on the first turn is a big deal, perhaps more so than it may appear at first blush. Again, it comes down to how you want to play. Do you want the ultra nuke Druid or one that is more versatile?
At level 6 you may opt to either increase the AoE of Call Lightening to Reach Range, potentially impacting 4 more squares, or give your Forest Guardian a big boost with Summon Greater Forest Guardian. As is the ongoing theme: do you want the Druid to do more damage themselves or have a greater degree of flexibility?
Finally at level 8 the Druid may select between Lord of the Storm, which further increases the damage of Call Lightning by +1DD or Nature’s Sting which increases the damage of Insect Swarm and Infestation of Maggots by +1RD per turn. If you are going all in on the nuke Druid, you probably will take all of the feats on the left side of the tree to have an uber lightning blast each turn. However, do not sleep on the increase from Nature’s Sting as potentially doing a passive 2RD to two opposing models each turn for the whole game is a LOT of damage cumulatively. If you were to cast both on the first turn and they were not removed you are talking potentially 24RD damage over 6 turns which is wild. Again, it just comes down to how you want your Druid to function. A tough call but then that is the fun of a game like this!
Playing Moss Beard
Moss Beard is a very satisfying Hero to play as–which I hope is obvious at this point–his potential damage output is unparalleled. Plus, he’s just a dead cool model. He is a Greenwood Dwarf, a rare offshoot of the Dwarven Lineage which hail from the lands of the Forest Folk. Unlike traditional dwarves which value industry, material goods, labor and community service, Greenwood Dwarves live often solitary lives in nature, commune with the spirits of trees and stones, and do not concern themselves with such (in their mind) trivial concerns their cousins seem so obsessed with. However, like their Dwarven kin, Greenwood Dwarves are tough. Their Heritage Skill, Oaken Constitution, allows you to Once per Game remove any two dice from a damage pool as a Reactive Action.
Why this is so good is that you can save yourself from death with it or, more commonly, wait until you are hit by an Acton which deals RD and remove two of them. This is awesome as typically you cannot stop RD, giving Greenwood Dwarves a defensive advantage which will help keep Moss Beard in the fight.
A great General Skill to pair this with is Spirited Defense, available at level 1. As a Reminder, all Heroes automatically add 1 General Skill to their Hero Deck and may select more if they wish in place of a Class Skill choice. Spirited Defense functions very similarly to Oaken Constitution in that reactively you may increase your Damage Reduction by +1 after being hit. In a pinch you can use both of these cards at the same time to really blunt the force of an incoming attack.
Moss Beard has a very focused stat distribution. Whereas some Heroes are more well rounded, Moss Beard is not. He is specced to do two things and do them well: get his spells off successfully and be able to take a punch.
With a whopping Metaphysics of 5, he will rarely fail a Casting Action. Combined with Power 3, his spells will be dealing nearly maximum damage. At level 5 you can opt to boost his Power stat to 4 cranking up his DPS even further.
He eschews any armor, opting instead for more Class Skills to increase the number of spells he has access to. With 4 to start, he will not feel starved of options for which spells to add to his Hero Deck. He also has the very fun level 1 Feat, Familiar, which is extremely useful for spell casters. The Familiar is a small (and I may add, quite cute) miniature which is placed within Reach Range and Line of Sight of Moss Beard after he moves. Once placed, it allows him to make Casting Actions from the Familiar as if it were him. The possibilities for how to use this are immense. For one, it gives you more range which helps mitigate Moss Beard’s slow speed. You can move up and then place the Familiar 2 squares in front of you to get that little bit of extra range. Even more fun, it means you can have Moss Beard hide behind a wall, but have his Familiar in the open to cast spells from, keeping him safe! Familiars are a very fun choice for Arcane Classes to increase their range and survivability.
Thanks to his Dwarven lineage granting an HP boost and the level 1 General Feat, Tough, he comes with a hefty 19 HP which is very high for an Arcane Class. This means he can take a beating before getting taken out. To round out his defensive abilities, he has an Arcane Staff which not only increases his Metaphysics but also has the Defensive Keyword, allowing him 1 free Parry Action per Activation. If he needs to bonk something with his staff he does hit hard with Power 3, but don’t expect to be hitting much with his Accuracy of 0.
It is not all roses and sunshine, however. As stated, Moss Beard is on the slow side with Movement 4. He has a lot of HP, but no armor outside of his Heritage Skill, which is only once per game. If he gets tagged in combat by a bruiser he will get smushed pretty quickly. He does not have Combat Casting so if he gets caught in combat he will trigger Attacks of Opportunity if he makes any Casting Actions. Further, he has an abysmal Evasion of 1 meaning attacks that target him will almost always connect. Thankfully his Fortitude and WIll are 3 and 4 respectively making him quite durable to Special Attacks, but swords and arrows will typically find their mark. As Monster AI targeting is keyed off of relevant defensive stats, Moss Beard is often #1 target priority for many Monsters. A good defensive blessing cast on Moss Beard from the priest or Shaman goes a long way to mitigate any mistakes made in positioning him.
The key to getting the most out of Moss Beard is to always be aware of his board position. You absolutely do not want him getting engaged by any hard hitting monsters or opposing heroes. If you can manage this by screening him with other heroes, the potential damage he can do is off the charts and when you are able to chain together some of his heavy hitting spells in a single turn the feeling of power is extremely satisfying.
Playing Against Moss Beard
Moss Beard is a scary Hero to see on the other side of the table in PvP games. You have to try and limit his Line of Sight via things like Smoke Bombs and using terrain effectively. He is very vulnerable to fast melee Heroes like Dalnon the Rogue who with his stealth abilities and high speed can get to the Druid before the Druid can get to him. You want to be very mindful of spacing your heroes out as well to avoid them getting nuked by one of Moss Beard’s AoE spells and as always, denial abilities are critical when facing these powerful magic users to try and stop their key abilities.
Moss Beard is also slow and while his Familiar massively helps mitigate this, finding a way to get into combat with him, even with a summon will disrupt his ability to cast spells.
Thanks for reading! I hope you are excited to try the Druid. With the Hero Expansion, creating your own Druid is a lot of fun as there are so many ways to go about it. Slow and steady like Moss Beard or perhaps abandon defense all together and go for a speed build with maxed offense? The choice is yours!
Next week I will dive into the first of the expansion Heroes, the mighty Dark Knight, tank specialist for the Iconoclast faction.