Briars, when used demesne-wide, places briar walls randomly throughout, entangling ANY BUT THE CASTER who pass through them.

As an idea, can it be made so that either a) only ENEMYs are effected by them, or
ALLYs aren't bothered by them?

At the moment they are pretty much useless, especially in a defensive situation (even more so when Magnagorans can ghost by them without a problem - no, this is by no means a rant towards Magnagorans, just pointing they are more of a problem for us than enemies). When this happens, it means that all your friends and allies are getting hindered by them, just as much as your enemies.

The obvious solution, don't use briars? Well and good, but this is the big problem as it stands - the Mythical skill of Regrowth in Druidry, which calls all demesne effects at once, includes briars whether you want to or not.
...
Dammit.

I think it would be a reasonable change, I don't foresee any major unbalancing...
Does anyone else?

EDIT: That was supposed to be a b followed by a bracket. Damn smilley!

I used to think it wouldn't affect allies. I sort of took it for granted. Yes, it shouldn't affect the caster's allies. DAMN are those things annoying.

Almost as annoying as the rubble from a geomancer's demesne, that even hinder the caster himself.

True. They should probably be able to get around that. (Not the stonewalls though, I don't think that comes with earthquake.)

stonewalls do come with earthquake

Damn. Okay. Although they're not as bad as briar walls, I find. (Maybe that's only because I'm a Furrikin though.)

Simple fix: Make Regrowth/Earthquake not throw up walls.
Better fix: Make allies not affected by briars (might not be fair unless it worked for rubble too).

Question, how can you place a pile of rubble in a way that stops everyone else from passing through easily but doesn't hinder you??

Same works for briars, pretty much, I guess.

Well, it works somehow, because briars already don't affect the caster.

If I can make thorny vines attack only my enemies, why can't I make briars only entangle my enemies? Why can't geomancers have piles of rocks that only hinder their enemies? We meld our spirits into our demesnes; they would easily know who to let pass and who to hinder.

Easy, the stones/briars open a pathway for those welcome to move unhindered but block enemies. It is magic after all.

I would actually like Briars removed from Regrowth and Storm put in, instead. I rarely use Briars normally, unless I have a group following me and know they won't run off half cocked after some other target. In which case I can flow or walk , and anybody following me is unaffected by briars.

The key to this solution mainly though is. Stop running off from the Druid. If briar walls are up, then stay with him/her and they won't affect you as long as you follow, but just cause someone yells "this person over here" does not mean you go running off from the group leader, and then complain that you ran through briar walls. Just make the Druid the group leader. After all, you are all going to flow to someone regardless, and it doesn't matter if the Druid is off balance, as long as you are all free to attack.

I'd be happy with rubble not affecting the caster.

Good points, but I still think it should change. If nothing else, it would help Geomancers (assuming they both change, because they're quite similar).

Regrowth doesn't call Storm?

Nope.

Ideas:

1. Geomancers should be able to walk through rubble without getting slowed down.

2. Geomancers gain an ability to walk through stonewalls. However, this adds a delay like rubble because of the concentration it takes

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3. Briars (since they are far inferior in hinderance to a stonewall) only works on enemies

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4. Aquamancers can naturally walk on water in their demesne if melded

That would be great. *urge Divine*

Easier said than done. I remember several occasions when 1) The Druid just stays back so there's no risk of the demesne running out, which is an (if possibly motivated by self-preservation) sound idea theoretically in large battles, and sometimes after they die/have left, or are still setting up while you have to move to get to where the problem is and can't afford to wait. (Once a raider sees a forest going up they're probably not going to stay for long.)