Hello everyone!

How good (or bad) are druids? I was looking over the description of them and at the end of it they pretty much say that druids suck.

However, when I look all the stuff they get they look pretty strong to me.

The Icewind Dale 2 Druid is a little bit weak compared to other rules implementations; its wild shape ability is of limited power, and its spell list is toned down. However, it's still a really powerful class. The only real issue is that Cleric tends to overshadow it in its role within the party. If you want to use a Druid instead of Cleric, though, you'll be fine.

The AC boost from barkskin alone is worth having a druid, call lightning and static charge offer new options.

I'd say it's about the 3rd or 4th useful class and definitely wort taking in a party of 6.

Some players have been known to take 1 (or sometimes 3) levels in Monk and otherwise level up as a Druid; this gives you the Monk's Wisdom bonus to AC which works in wild shape (and you will want high Wisdom for spellcasting anyway).

Druids are best kept pure class since caster level is most important.

Druids are above average. They suck when compared with sorcerers or clerics, who are better.
You can install ease of use mod, http://www.weidu.org/iwd2-ease/README-IWD2-Ease.txt
The additional druid spells part can make them more useful.
Avoid the additional shapeshifting part, for it will make the druid overpowered.

Overpowered? Can you elaborate?

He linked to a mod, so I presume it went a bit overboard on Druid wildshape. Not surprise, Wild Shape is primarily held back in IWD2 by a lack of good form options so it could easily flip from underpowered to overpowered by adding these.

So he did, should have re-read the response instead of just assuming it's a druid feat or something. Thanks.
Yeah, wildshape to red dragon or something might indeed be pretty much.

I love druids I have played a pure caster and a fighter (4) druid off-tank combo both are excellent. My favorite spell combination is Entangle > Spike Growth > Spike Stones throw in a fireball and pretty much any early to mid game large scale fight is toasty!

Druids are one of my fav classes in IWD2. The reason others might not like them is because they are clerics and mages in one class but can't fill the role as well as those two classes.

Keeping a druid single class helps them get the most out of their spells and they can switch between healing, evocation and transmutation spells depending what the situation calls for. It's worth nothing that if you are going to be using evocation magic at all, or be using your druid in a support role, then it's best to keep them single class.

However, 4 Fighter / X druid is also a stellar build but this role shifts from support to front line damage dealer. This character will ignore evocation spells entirely and focus on transmutation spells (or act as a back up healer). Most of the important druid transmutation spells effectiveness doesn't increase with additional druid levels which makes this an excellent build if you want a front liner who can also use magic without it being weaker from the lack of caster levels. This druid build will have a slightly weaker call lightning / static charge, however, as awesome as those spells are, they are not reliable as a primary damage source so i believe the trade off for weapon specialization is worth it. Barkskin unfortunately will always be a level behind a single class druid until about the end of the game which is a shame but a front liner that can buff themselves with generic AC is awesome.

I have used both builds in a few playthroughs so I can vouch for their usefulness. Give the druid a chance, they aren't a bad class at all. As kmonster said, definitely take one if you're using a 6 man party.

Have a wizard throw in web, stinking cloud, acid fog, and cloudkill. Have a melee powerhouse play goalie for anything that gets through. You don't even need the fireball, everything just dies. I have a conjuration specialist (evocation is banned) wizard in my party, and if there's a choke point enemies have to pass through she basically auto-wins fights.

You always need fireball! burn! BURN!

The conjurer will still be able to cast skull trap which I think is a solid replacement for fireball. Does better damage at higher levels too :)

That maybe but I always seem to catch myself with skull traps. Plus me and Fireball have a very special relationship together spanning multiple games including my current game of Temple of Elemental Evil. Some bonds surpass DPS I love fireball so much but it burns me when I get close :(