Dungeons & Delvers Deep Dive Review, Part 6 (Druids)

Bruce discusses the druid in part six of his Dungeons & Delvers deep-dive review. 

Some answers and commentary (you'll need to watch the review for full context): 

When Bruce says that there's a lot to the cleric, he's not kidding. There are something like 120 Talents just for the cleric. However, something to keep in mind is that they are all grouped into categories: General (which only features nine), and then all of the Domains (ie, Fire, Forge, Healing, etc).

Here's a page spread showing most of them:

The intent is that you create a deity, assign three or so Domains, pick two Domain Talents from that list, and then Miracles and such from those few Domains. From there, the idea is that you just kind of stick to a theme, gaining a single new "spell" every level for the most part.

 

You can branch out into other Domains by picking a new Domain Talent, which unlocks a laundry list of new Miracles, but you don't have to. Heck, any given Domain will see you through about half the game, so you could feasibly focus on one for the most part.

His statement that the "crunch" level is somewhere between Rules Cyclopedia and 3rd Edition is pretty accurate. Cleric Talents are mostly analogous to spells in Dungeons & Dragons (which Bruce points out later), but you do get a few more things on the side: each Domain Talent grants some sort of passive effect, you can use Divine Insight to temporarily gain access to new Miracles, Divine Intervention lets you get an advance on Favor, etc.

The Dice Pool game is far simpler. It was designed to help my daughter hone her math skills (which isn't a knock against adults that enjoy it). Damage is also low and static, generally 1-3 points, as are "hit points": I think fighters get like 9 over the course of the entire game or something. You could easily modify it to include some sort of injury mechanic, with penalties that more damage you suffer.

One thing I wish we did differently is armor. Currently, armor serves a similar function as Vitality Points in the d20 game: when you suffer damage, your armor loses points, and once it runs out you take damage to your Wounds (certain attacks ignore armor and just damage your Wounds). You can spend time outside of combat to repair it, restoring lost armor points.

Doesn't make any sense, but for a game intended for kids...eh. What I think we'll do is change armor into Damage Reduction, or have it add dice to a save in order to reduce the damage you suffer. Since damage is already quite low, probably the latter if we can make it work.

Druids and clerics use the same Favor mechanic: you get Favor points based on level + Wisdom and spend it to call upon divine aid. It differs from wizards and sorcerers in that the cost isn't randomized, you can't accidentally suffer damage if you don't have enough, and there are a number of Talents that are only active if you have at least 1 Favor.

It's nice to hear that Bruce likes our druid. Coincidentally, a bunch of people hated the Dungeon World druid (its shapechanging move was really bizarre, having you constantly switch back and forth from a human into an animal), but really liked our take on it.

As for using miniatures, while we don't when playing via the internet (not even a VTT), but often do in person, especially with our kids. They love them. They love building dungeons using our Dwarven Forge stuff, though our oldest daughter has also been playing around with Dungeondraft and getting more into the habit of drawing them by hand.