Alternate Druid expansion

[Guru of Mana]

My ideas for the new Druid:
The new Druid will have the vine ability and decomposition.
Decomposition: whenever a corporeal creature or living conjuration dies where a vine marker is, place mana on the mage equal to the level of that object. This mana can only be used for casting fungus or plant, creatures or conjurations.

One new spawn points:
Fairy circle: non-zone exclusive, non-unique or epic, spawn point. Once per round, whenever a corporeal creature or living conjuration dies, you may cast a fungus, creature or conjuration into that zone. Channeling 1.


1/ A high level flower vine conjuration that can attack up to two zones away.
2/ A fungal mushroom creature that has an electrical ethereal attack.
3/ A fungal lichen that does a ranged attack in its zone that can only deal out daze and weak.
4/ A fungal glowing mushroom that lifelinks with living creatures and conjurations across the board.
5/ A cluster of giant Jupiter fly traps that can grapple and bleed.
6/ Two plant conjurations whose sole purpose is to be a one time trap: one melee and one ranged.
A: shoots thorns for bleeds and some damage with high piercing.
B: causes a sweeping or double strike unavoidable attack that can daze.
7/ An enchantment: Tree stability.
Target creature cannot be pushed or slammed, and gains the vigil trait.

What do you think?

[Werekingdom]

Hello Guru of Mana,

It is a cool idea, I do like the idea of more fairies in the nature school.  However, the Druid already has 2 spawn points (you can have both at the same time!!). 
Since the present Druid is a vine style druid, I would suggest the next druid could be a evergreen (northern europe style) druid. You could have a antelope that gives you mage fast, smaller Ents type creatures (plant with armor!). This mage would basically major in Tree's (instead of vine) and Fairies (or animal's or bug's).

Alternatively you can use a Decomposition Druid (like you said). He could be trained in 3 nature (possible 2 nature instead) and 1 dark (instead of 1 water).

BTW: Where you thinking of making the fungal into a subtype? Since there is 2 spawnpoint where you thinking of giving the fungal cards a tree subtype?


About your proposed cards:

1/ A high level flower vine conjuration that can attack up to two zones away.
          What about a (creature) Ent that can hurl boulders, it seems more in theme. Also the present druid don't need a another vine conjuration, especially when she can hinder people from closing the distances. Having a Tree creature would kept this card from becoming too OP, since creatures cast range is 0-0, you can't use it the same turn you cast it, and it is a Tree so you can't spam it from the spawn point.

2/ A fungal mushroom creature that has an electrical ethereal attack.
          Great for Decomposition Druid. Depending on the cost I would suggest a basic(or poison) attack with a chance of Rot or Stagger. I would prefer Stagger since the nature school don't really have a good way to get it. I know you are looking for something to get ethereal in the nature school, I just don't think a mushroom is the way to go.

3/ A fungal lichen that does a ranged attack in its zone that can only deal out daze and weak.
          Depending on the life and cost, this could be a great card. Assuming this creature is going to be cheap, I will say that Daze is maybe too overpowered, You probably don't want another weak giving creature since you already have the Asp in school. Again this card really depends on what it cost, If it cost cost more, then it could have a Zone Attack that deals Stagger, OR it could cost less and have a single attack that deals Daze (but what is the point?). Would he be Rooted?

4/ A fungal glowing mushroom that lifelinks with living creatures and conjurations across the board.
          Since we already have the Etherian Lifetree, and the Druid Treebound there is no point to lifelink. You could change it around. What about a deathlock mushroom? An epic mushroom that gives finite life to a zone?

5/ A cluster of giant Jupiter fly traps that can grapple and bleed.
          Grapple cool, bleed.... no. If your thinking of Jupiter fly traps, then Grapple and reach with an acid is more in theme. Would this creature have uproot?

6/ Two plant conjurations whose sole purpose is to be a one time trap: one melee and one ranged.
          I don't like this. You could have a nature enchantment trap. But the Druid has "Burst of Thorns". The idea of a another conjuration is pointless unless it fills a need. the acid and death flowers are 0-0 range attacks, so I see no need for more conjuration attack plants.

7/ An enchantment: Tree stability. Target creature cannot be pushed or slammed, and gains the vigil trait.
          Giving a creature Vigilant is too OP (think of giving it to a Guard Angle!), All the plants have Rooted, so this would not help them, the Mage's have Eagle Claw Boots. I would not add this card, one of the nice things about plants is that they are rooted, so to give that trait away would make plants almost worthless.

[Guru of Mana]

Thank you very much for your input!

Also:
1/ I really like the idea of a slightly evil druid!
2/ If the two Druids use different mechanics, a.k.a one with trees and one with vines, would it not make their cards more difficult to use for each other? Maybe the alternate druid would use roots (that protrude from the ground?).

Reply:
1/The druids need some kind of ranged-2 unit, and an army of ever-vigilant ents is tempting.
2/ A Giant Mushroom that releases spores, a critical unavoidable zone attack with chances of stun-type conditions.
3/ I am thinking a sweeping attack, (airborne spores), that doesn't damage but hinders. Un-rooted. Incorporeal, (It is a layer of vegetation), and maybe it can deal stagger first and in lucky circumstances rot and stagger. Title: Darkfenne lichen.
4/ A: I was thinking of a bypassing regen enhancer while giving more value to the fungus.
B: Darkfenne mushroom, which releases spores that are toxic. Idol of pestilence and Deathlock in a single zone!
5/ A: It might have uproot. Not sure.
B: Two attacks;
lunging snatch with grapple and reach, with doublestrike(multiple mouths.)
Corrosive secretions with lots of corrode and triplestrike. Maybe rot?
6/ Yer right. Melee=trap enchantment, uses marker, Ranged=new druid's burst of thorns equivalent.
7/ Maybe so.

Additional:
In correlation, I think you have the right idea. A slightly evil druid that uses root markers, trees(+vigilant ents), and mushrooms.
Root markers to be the vine druid equivalent.
A group of vigilant ents can deal out some serious damage. Maybe OP without limiters.
I think that across-the-board spawning with mushrooms might be interesting. Especially deathshroom.

[Guru of Mana]

On your BTW, I was intending to make the fungal trait its own thing, like the vine trait.
And some more ideas:
Redwood: high armor, high health, low regen(1). Channeling 1.
Whenever you have initiative, you may spawn a plant or fungal creature or conjuration(fungus can be symbiotic, communistic, or parasitic to trees.)
All plant or fungal object in a zone with a root marker gain lifelink 1 to this conjuration.

This fits the strategy of building up using trees and such.
It is also supportive!

[Werekingdom]

On your BTW, I was intending to make the fungal trait its own thing, like the vine trait.
And some more ideas:
Redwood: high armor, high health, low regen(1). Channeling 1.
Whenever you have initiative, you may spawn a plant or fungal creature or conjuration(fungus can be symbiotic, communistic, or parasitic to trees.)
All plant or fungal object in a zone with a root marker gain lifelink 1 to this conjuration.

This fits the strategy of building up using trees and such.
It is also supportive!

I would degree with having fungal cards with only the fungal subtype.
Since it seems like a major theme on this druid has to do with fungal subtype, it would make cents to have a spawnpoint that can cast fungal cards. (otherwise you could just cast animal instead).
Now adding a third spawnpoint is too much for the druid decks. That is why I think the Sam Tree would work great (besides no one uses it now anyways), it cast tree sub-types, so you could give fungal a fungal subtype and the suntype of tree. The Sam Tree also has the Cantrip ability for the Seedpods, that is somewhat thematic (Seedpod lives, then dies and then the new seedpod grows from it's death). You could even make the Druid's ability around death: "once per turn, the first time a Tree/Fungal plant dies your mage gains mana equal to its level." Or ".... a friendly creature gains +melee equal to it's level" (think sacrifice alter).

I really like the Redwood idea, the high armor, high health, low regen(1) and low channeling sound really interesting. (I would post it in the suggestion box and see if Arcane Wounders likes the idea as well).

[Werekingdom]

Thank you very much for your input!

Also:
1/ I really like the idea of a slightly evil druid!
2/ If the two Druids use different mechanics, a.k.a one with trees and one with vines, would it not make their cards more difficult to use for each other? Maybe the alternate druid would use roots (that protrude from the ground?).

Reply:
1/The druids need some kind of ranged-2 unit, and an army of ever-vigilant ents is tempting.
2/ A Giant Mushroom that releases spores, a critical unavoidable zone attack with chances of stun-type conditions.
3/ I am thinking a sweeping attack, (airborne spores), that doesn't damage but hinders. Un-rooted. Incorporeal, (It is a layer of vegetation), and maybe it can deal stagger first and in lucky circumstances rot and stagger. Title: Darkfenne lichen.
4/ A: I was thinking of a bypassing regen enhancer while giving more value to the fungus.
B: Darkfenne mushroom, which releases spores that are toxic. Idol of pestilence and Deathlock in a single zone!
5/ A: It might have uproot. Not sure.
B: Two attacks;
lunging snatch with grapple and reach, with doublestrike(multiple mouths.)
Corrosive secretions with lots of corrode and triplestrike. Maybe rot?
6/ Yer right. Melee=trap enchantment, uses marker, Ranged=new druid's burst of thorns equivalent.
7/ Maybe so.

Additional:
In correlation, I think you have the right idea. A slightly evil druid that uses root markers, trees(+vigilant ents), and mushrooms.
Root markers to be the vine druid equivalent.
A group of vigilant ents can deal out some serious damage. Maybe OP without limiters.
I think that across-the-board spawning with mushrooms might be interesting. Especially deathshroom.

1/ If the Druid is Nature and Dark, I think he should have either dark Lv1 or Lv2 Non-creature spells. What do you think?
2/ I was thinking of having a different mechanics for the dark Druid, but I like your idea of roots more. What about the Roots (vine markers) not hinder creatures but instead they can't be targeted. Meaning you would have to use a zone attack to hit them?

Reply:
1/I agree that the druids need some ranged 2 creature/conjurations. The Ent I was talking about did not have vigilant. I believe the card was: Ent Sental: Mana 13, Health 10, Armor 2, Regen 1, Atk: (full action, 4 dice at range 1-2 with +8 slam), or (full action, 3 dice melee, full action).
2/ "A Giant Mushroom" I like the unavoidable zone attack. What type of attack? most of the creatures with this type of attack are poison. If it is Poison then Daze or Stagger would fit in perfectly.
3/  "Darkfenne lichen" From what I'm hearing it sounds like the Caltrop conjuration. Would it work better to have something that hinders and attacks creatures that enter the zone, like the Caltrop or Bed of Sea Urchin?
4/ A: I don't think you really need to add value to Fungal, just find something new and interesting. Really don't worry about adding value, many people (including myself) will use the cards just because they are Fungal.
B: Darkfenne mushroom: I'm thinking this creature should be Druid only and possible Epic. Since giving Finite Life without loosing an enchantment nor affecting yourself is really powerful.
5/ A: Ok
B: lunging snatch: it may work if don't have the doublestrike/triplestrike.
If lunging snatch: basic atk with grapples, range 0-1 (don't need reach if grapple has range).
Corrosive secretions: Low dice atk, doublestrike, +9 corrode, ONLY against PREY. OR Mid dice atk, +7 corrode, ONLY against PREY.
6/ Trap enchantment: Sounds cool, now one Druid can use the Nature Trap and Water Trap and the other Mage can use the Nature Trap and Dark Trap.
7/ The 1st Druid has a lot of cheap no armor creatures with regen, I think the Ents will be more expensive, mid/high health, armor and regen. What about the Fungal? Armor/no armor, Lv of health, Price, flammable?

Additional:
"In correlation, I think you have the right idea. A slightly evil druid that uses root markers, trees(+vigilant ents), and mushrooms."
         I think the Druid should  be trained in Dark non-creature spells (no Zombie's).  I would like to see the Roots not hinder and not be targetable. The Ent's should be the elite, but I don't think they should  all have vigilant, what about giving them great stats but only use full action attacks? It could be the defining attribute of Ent's "Slow and powerful. What about Fairies?

Any new Idea's?

[Halewijn]

The samara tree is pretty powerful in the current meta. The only problem is that the vine tree is currently simply better. I think that if a druid expansion would creature direct or indirect new advantages of using the samara tree over the vine tree, it could easily be on the same level as the vine tree.

Personally, this is what I want the most out of the alternate druid. A non vine-focussed druid and a samara tree buff.

[bigfatchef]

Whatever cards will come new for alternate druid, they will be mostly nature school. This school is already pretty huge. Most newvcards will also help beastmasters (nature) and all cards will help existing druid (druid only).

If the new druid would not use vine markers some cards would be kind of “old druid only“. Vine tree, burst of thorns especially.

I hope vine markers will be part of a new druid as well. Maybe weaker or different.
The mechanic on how vines spread is part of the rules. So I would not touch this. All that can easily be changed are abilities.
Looking at the druid ability Card there are

1) Spreading vines - how to summon out of a vine, and that druid gets 1 for free
2) Treebond
3) stats. Channeling, life, school

to 1) The cost possibilities how to use vines could be changed (not sure what is all in the general rules, and what not)
To 2) So instead of a treebond there could be some more aggressive possibility. Kund of a build-in Burst of thornes or tanglevine or snatch.
To 3) of course stats have to be adjusted.

Overall:
The actual druid is a static positioning mage with good economy and best healing as long the tree lives.
A new druid should use the static plants, but replace the economic/healing with more agression/fightmentality that uses static plants as support.

[wtcannonjr]

With the addition of terrain spells in Arena the alternate Druid ability might interact with these as a style of play. After all terrain is of the earth.

[Halewijn]

If the new druid would not use vine markers some cards would be kind of “old druid only“. Vine tree, burst of thorns especially.

Not true. The alternate druid could still cast vines using a [mwcard=DNQ08]Vinewhip Staff[/mwcard] or a [mwcard=DNJ12]Vine Tree[/mwcard] or another new mechanic. I wouldn't mind a druid without the spreading vines ability if he has some other cool/good mechanic.

Overall:
The actual druid is a static positioning mage with good economy and best healing as long the tree lives.
A new druid should use the static plants, but replace the economic/healing with more agression/fightmentality that uses static plants as support.

Why static plants? Give me Togorah his kin!

[Kaarin]

If the new druid would not use vine markers some cards would be kind of “old druid only“. Vine tree, burst of thorns especially.

Not true. The alternate druid could still cast vines using a [mwcard=DNQ08]Vinewhip Staff[/mwcard] or a [mwcard=DNJ12]Vine Tree[/mwcard] or another new mechanic. I wouldn't mind a druid without the spreading vines ability if he has some other cool/good mechanic.

Vine Tree doesn't give a vine marker on its own, but modifies the mage's ability. So we're left with only single card than can produce vine markers on its own.
Alternate Druid should have Spreading Vines ability with its core mechanic (put vine marker during deploy) unchanged, but far casting could be replaced by something else.
Samara Tree can be boosted in simple way. Just give us more spells that can be cast by Seedling Pods but not Vine Tree. Also ability that would trigger when friendly plant spell is cast would be triggered more often with Samara Tree.