Druid Speculation

[Sausageman]

I've been giving a bunch of thought to what schools the Druid will have training in, or won't have.
I'm reasonably certain she'll have Nature magic in some capacity, but given that water magic hasn't seen any love yet, I kinda feel she'll have some of that too.  But then I think earth magic might be applicable too, and we know there's a meteor strike card that WASN'T in the Forcemaster vs Warlord expansion, so maybe that's right too.

So, in short, anyone got any ideas what the Druid might have?

[Preacher]

I've been giving a bunch of thought to what schools the Druid will have training in, or won't have.
I'm reasonably certain she'll have Nature magic in some capacity, but given that water magic hasn't seen any love yet, I kinda feel she'll have some of that too.  But then I think earth magic might be applicable too, and we know there's a meteor strike card that WASN'T in the Forcemaster vs Warlord expansion, so maybe that's right too.

So, in short, anyone got any ideas what the Druid might have?

I'd bet on a pattern similar to that of the Wizard (Nature + one elemental school) or perhaps Nature, Water and Earth with Fire and Dark as triple cost.

*only* Nature + Water feels a bit wonky to me, might as well have Mermaid vs Necro then  B)

[baronzaltor]

My bet would be nature/holy, or nature/earth. or even just nature with different abilities than the BM.  Remember the BM only has 1 school trained, as does the Priestess and Forcemaster... so theres no guarentee that it will be two.
Also, nature seems to get triple cost vs fire.  So will be interesting to see if that carries over.  

My only wish for the Druid is two very simple words: "Animate Conjuration"  Would love to turn mana flowers, the great tree of life, a lair and a renewing spring into an army of ent monsters.

[Gewar]

Nature is for sure.
It is possible to mix it with non-fire element and Air and Earth seams better for me than Water (I know plants drink water etc. but Water school probably would be connected with deep-ocean spells, which is not so thematic).
Other possibility is there will be somethink like Nature + Holly Incantations. Giving one Mage two Major schools seams overpowered.

I like wise but dangerous when angry archetype of Druid. With calling storms and making trees attack. I also like archetype of druid that lives in small human community rather than hating all things that have two legs.

What I would NOT like to see is Druid-shapeshifter. Running around in bear form takes away all that wise-priest-of-nature theme for me.

PS
my avatar Trust me, I am specialist

[Paleblue]

My thoughts are that Necro will use dark and water (I think it was mentioned somewhere that he would use frost attacks?). Therefore I doubt that Druid will too, but I could see him using nearly any of the other minor schools.

[Aylin]

My thoughts are that Necro will use dark and water (I think it was mentioned somewhere that he would use frost attacks?). Therefore I doubt that Druid will too, but I could see him using nearly any of the other minor schools.

I kinda think it would be Lightning.

[Skytale]

I wouldn't be surprised to see the Druid get training in Nature and Fire. For one thing, it opens up the possibility for a nature mage that is the furthest from what is already available. Also, has anyone here ever played an early-edition AD&D druid? They got access to a lot of fire spells: produce flame, flame blade, fire trap, wall of fire...

Alternatively, they could get Nature and Holy. So far, there haven't been any mages with training in two "primary" schools, but I wonder if that pattern is going to be kept up. For one thing, I've heard that one of the upcoming mages is "paladin" and that sure sounds like a Holy / War mage, doesn't it?

[Shad0w]

I would put in my input but I may have an unfair advantage.

[Gewar]

I would put in my input but I may have an unfair advantage.

I have the Druid in my avatar - there couldn't be bigger adventage. So feel free to put your input here  :whistle:

[Teclis]

I think Nature + Earth would be the best for a druid. He could modify zones to help his plans, like Sacred Ground. For healing, gaining specific traits, etc. Or summon some walking trees...

[Snotwalker]

I'm surprised no one is proposing a Druid Mage who is trained in all 4 elements (earth, fire, water, air), and NOT trained at all in Nature.

I know, I know, I know... a Druid who isn't trained in Nature?  Are you daft?

But think about it for a sec.  We already have the Beastmaster who's our Nature-Boy... (that was actually going to be his official name, until they settled on Beastmaster)...  And we could certainly see a whole pack of new elemental creatures fighting on the side of the Druid in the new expansion.  So yes, we'll finally get some decent water spells/creatures, as well as filling out the other 3 elements.

Of course, this could also sound like a possible future Elementalist, but I wouldn't be surprised if the Druid is our first Elemental-Based Mage.... with a Mage innate ability that ties it all together in a Druid-ish sort of way.  (having a flash back to SpaceBalls...  "Funny, she doesn't look Druish..."

[Sausageman]

I'm surprised no one is proposing a Druid Mage who is trained in all 4 elements (earth, fire, water, air), and NOT trained at all in Nature.

For me, this will DEFINITELY be an 'Elementalist'.  I'll be amazed if the Druid doesn't have some level of training in Nature spells of some description.

Your reasoning for why the Druid won't have Nature trained also implies that the Necromancer wouldn't necessarily have Dark trained, and I can't see that happening at all.

My only problem with Nature + Earth magic being trained is purely from a card distribution point of view, rather than a thematic one - Water magic would remain the ONLY spell school to not have been fleshed out (unless the Necromancer would weirdly have Water trained), and Earth magic would have seen some love in the frist two expansions...  I'm extremely sceptical of this happening.

Of course, this assumes that each expansion will always bring out a mage that is heavily supported by the cards in expansion.  I guess it's entirely conceivable to have an even spread of cards in future expansions, and yet have specialist mages that require cards from previous sets, using only a handful from the expansion they're in.  And for the record, I don't have a problem with this - I suspect the percentage of folks that would buy an expansion for this game but do NOT own the core set is incredibly limited...

[Skytale]

I'm surprised no one is proposing a Druid Mage who is trained in all 4 elements (earth, fire, water, air), and NOT trained at all in Nature.

For me, this will DEFINITELY be an 'Elementalist'.

My only problem with Nature + Earth magic being trained is purely from a card distribution point of view, rather than a thematic one - Water magic would remain the ONLY spell school to not have been fleshed out (unless the Necromancer would weirdly have Water trained)

I saw an old list of future mages that included "illusionist", "paladin", and "sorcerer". I wonder if the sorcerer is an elementalist-type.

I strongly suspect that the Necromancer will have a theme that includes ice magic, and he will be trained in Dark and Water. Maybe we'll finally get to use that "defrost" ability on all the fire spells! This isn't to say that the druid isn't also trained in Water.

But the more I think about it, I could easily see the Druid getting trained only in Nature, but with a plant focus replacing the animal focus of the Beastmaster.

[Sausageman]

I saw an old list of future mages that included "illusionist", "paladin", and "sorcerer". I wonder if the sorcerer is an elementalist-type.

You just reminded me, I keep meaning to trawl through the forum and piece together all snippets like these.  I've read so many things like this, having them all in one place would be awesome.
Paladin, btw, will almost certainly be Holy and War - and if memory serves, he has a complete set of armour equipment that, if he gets it all out, makes him a complete sh*t kicker...  

But the more I think about it, I could easily see the Druid getting trained only in Nature, but with a plant focus replacing the animal focus of the Beastmaster.

Ooo, will we see a +2 Mana Flower...

[Koz]

I've got my money on Druid being Nature + Air and the Necro being Dark + Water.  It has already been mentioned that the Necro will use Frost spells (finally some use for Defrost!) and Frost certainly sounds Water based.  

I highly doubt they would do two mages in the same set based off the same school (Water) so that's why I'm going with Air.  I chose Air instead of Earth due to a the fact that in things like D&D a Druid trended more towards spells like Call Lightning and Wind Rush and the like, plus when you look at the promo card Galidor, it is a Nature/Air spell and I'm thinking that it is something that will be in the Druid/Necro expansion.

I'm sticking to my gut here, but I guess we'll see