Arelith

There is more than one interpretation of this difference.

I will flesh this out a bit:
Depending on what totem pact your character makes, their behavior may change.
-A wolf totem might develop a predetory outlook, may start considering themselves an alpha of a pack consisting of themselves, their companion and summon - or even other groups etc.
- A panther could become prone to isolation (boooring concept though), they might stalk and follow prey for a while before striking (could poke your char towards rogue/ranger multiclass to buff their sneak abilities)
- A parrot might start wearing colorful garments, they might be outgoing, social and develop a taste for biscuits and/or crackers

The totem bonds gain some traits from the pact: skill and ability bonuses, immunities etc. Use these as inspiration when deciding the effect of your pact.

And so on. A totem will most likely develop a bias towards the animal they've formed a bond with. Trying to avoid slaying them, protecting them across the isle from certain threats, taking a special interest in the environments where these animals thrive etc. Some would argue that a totem would only spend time promoting the conditions for the creatures their spirit bond is formed with. I am of the opinion that they would risk ceasing to be druids if this went too far; no druid would want toril only populated by ravens or snakes for instance.

Also: totems get the same spell power and crowd control abilities that vanillas do. Their reduced mobility and survivability in humanoid form makes them vulnurable if for some reason a mob decides to gang up on them while casting.

Naiphe... How are you having problems keeping your companion alive? What's your base companion?

I have a druid with 6 druid levels and 3 levels in another class. The multiclass means a slower power curve but he hunts mobs for 6-30 xp, depending. If he were druid 9 lvl he'd steamroll mobs above his levels.

You do buff with barkskin, bull's, greater magic fang, awaken, stoneskin etc.?

Give the boar companion a try, it absolutely wrecks most mobs 1v1 before applying buffs. With buffs it can carry you to level 20 solo as long as you keep it healed, it's like having your personal pocket fighter.

Jagel wrote:Naiphe... How are you having problems keeping your companion alive? What's your base companion?

I have a druid with 6 druid levels and 3 levels in another class. The multiclass means a slower power curve but he hunts mobs for 6-30 xp, depending. If he were druid 9 lvl he'd steamroll mobs above his levels.

You do buff with barkskin, bull's, greater magic fang, awaken, stoneskin etc.?

He used to be a bear which was good damage but had something like 22 ac changed to a panther which has 26 or 27 or so. But does half the damage. Yeah I was definitely buffing the companions. Don't have a animal empathy animal either so not sure why I was getting such large xp drops?

Nitro wrote:Give the boar companion a try, it absolutely wrecks most mobs 1v1 before applying buffs. With buffs it can carry you to level 20 solo as long as you keep it healed, it's like having your personal pocket fighter.

I'll give it a go. I want to reroll her anyway to rid myself of the totem and create her like I envisioned her at creation, such as getting the meta magics, animal empathy and whatnot may even multiclass cleric for even more buffery goodness later on. Any idea if the cleric animal domain buffs the druids summons aswell?

Dreadwolf wrote:So, if I want to be more of a caster and crowd control I want to go vanilla druid. Tank is a Totem druid. That seems to me what that points at, but I don't quite understand the RP difference. I get that Totems are more about animals but that still just seems like a normal druid RP to me. If someone could explain that in more detail I would much appreciate that.

Long story short, with a lot of loose terms:
Totem druids, on top of being normal druids, have a fetish with certain specific animal and bind their souls to it in order to become more like the animal. Sorta.

If all else fails: kite. Lure enemies one at a time. Of course killing mobs take longer like this but you can gang up on them.

Also consider getting some 8-10 points in animal empathy if you can spare it. With some gear, one with the land etc. you can gain some decent help if needed.

According to the wiki the animal domain for clerics does indeed buff the spells cast by other classes when multiclassing. Very interesting!

Dreadwolf wrote:So, if I want to be more of a caster and crowd control I want to go vanilla druid. Tank is a Totem druid. That seems to me what that points at, but I don't quite understand the RP difference. I get that Totems are more about animals but that still just seems like a normal druid RP to me. If someone could explain that in more detail I would much appreciate that.

Alternative to Iceborn's absolutely valid interpretation:

A totem might also be comparable in some ways to a cleric's domain. All druids have a link to the natural world, just as all clerics have a link to the divine powers of the world. However, a wolf totem druid may interpret and operate on that link from a wolf's perspective, much like how a cleric's domain flavors their link to their god.

I think it's also good to remember that each of the totem choices are creatures with a unique ecological niche in the world and distinct habits. You can use these to flavor your totem druid's outlook and personal habits as well.

on a side note.. if you decide to go TOTEM and you begin to play your char as ALWAYS being in their chosen Totem... and you play it like your char is 'actually' a wolf/bear/panther/hawk, whatever...

Know there are a high number of other nature-walkers who will treat your char' like they have lost touch with reality and rule them as having gone partially (if not totally) insane.

some totem-players have reacted very negatively at this, so if you chose this RP-path, that your char "IS" more panther than human, or whatever... don't take it personally if your char is treated like she's crazy.. *winks*

Seven Sons of Sin wrote:(be damned those who say metal is undruidic).

Metal is undruidic.