PDA

View Full Version : [3.5] I need of a DM friendly Druid build



Ormagoden
2010-08-31, 03:02 PM
Hi everybody!

So I recently left my current DnD group. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=165648) I need some help building a druid that will be fun to play but won't make my DM's head explode. (this is his first time DMing!)

The character is a 1st level Human druid with the following stats to work with:
17, 16, 14, 14, 14, 12

Obviously I'd like to focus on wild shape with more or less standard animal forms. (IE 90% core animals/creatures)

I would really like to NOT use books from Eberron or Forgotten realms but if it can't be avoided such is life. Lets also build to level 10. Also lets assume 0-1 flaws (The flaw would be custom and actually be balanced).

I really just want to have fun going "beast mode" on stuff as I may be acting as the party Tank.

So have at it and help me out!

Tyndmyr
2010-08-31, 03:12 PM
The answer is bears. Shift into a bear, have your companion be a bear.

Your level 6 feat will be natural spell. For your gear, grab the core cheap clasps that make them work in animal form.

The rest is mostly irrelevant...you know all spells, so shift preparation based on what works in your campaign, and you'll do absolutely fine. It's DM friendly, since you stick to core, and looking up what you do in your usual form will be easy, and it does just fine power wise.

Ormagoden
2010-08-31, 03:16 PM
[insert disappointed comment about standard response here]

I'm already VERY familiar with bears. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=140757)

[/thread]

Urpriest
2010-08-31, 03:20 PM
Cats aren't bad if you want to do something more...bearable.

Tetrasodium
2010-08-31, 03:23 PM
[insert disappointed comment about standard response here]

I'm already VERY familiar with bears. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=140757)

[/thread]

I hear bears work well for druids. Wildshape bear with a bear companion wielding a gun that shoots flaming bears (at the pirates on flying flaming sharks).

On a serious note though, one of the dragon episodes has a bunch of interesting variant druids.

Ormagoden
2010-08-31, 03:31 PM
It Has Begun!

Vangor
2010-08-31, 03:40 PM
Natural Bond (CAdv) somewhere in the first couple of feats though technically won't be used yet. I choose Primitive Spellcaster (Frost, can be RoF) for reasons of choosing my animal companion and the bonus is alright. At 6, the obvious choice is Natural Spell (Core), and at 9 I choose Great and Small (CCha). Can ask if instead of a Flaw you can gain Moderate Taint (HoH) to gain an additional wild shape feat, but you don't necessarily need one.

I choose rhinoceros form enlarged with a smilodon (Frost) companion. If you can, get a Winged Mask (MoFaerun) and a Wilding Clasp, then charge through the air as an enormous rhinceros with a cat who should be able to hit and grapple about any priority target.

Biffoniacus_Furiou
2010-08-31, 03:47 PM
Str 12 or 14, Dex 14, Con 16, Int 14, Wis 17, Cha 14 or 12. There's quite a few good feat choices, for a melee focused wild shape build I'd take either Improved Unarmed Strike and Improved Grapple, or maybe Power Attack and Combat Reflexes. With your flaw feat get Companion Spellbond from PH2. Your 3rd level feat should be Natural Bond in Complete Adventurer, because at 4th you can get a stronger 'level -3' companion and Natural Bond will negate that drawback. Good companion choices would be a Wolf starting out, and either a Fleshraker dinosaur (MM3) or a Dire Eagle (RoS) at 4th. Make it Magebred if possible, from ECS, and if you can make the Handle Animal check by taking ten (much easier with Magebred) give it the Warbeast template from MM2. Your 6th level feat should definitely be Natural Spell, and at 9th you can take Multiattack.

Your spells should be Entangle and Enrage Animal, and later on Produce Flame will add damage to your natural attacks when wild shaped. Good 2nd level spells include Barkskin, Bull's Strength, Luminous Armor (BoED, cheesy), Mass Snake's Swiftness (SC), Splinterbolt (SC), and Heat Metal (makes opponents drop their weapons). Creeping Cold (SC) with a Lesser Rod of Extend will deal 21d6 damage over 6 rounds, extremely powerful at the lower levels. Top choices for 3rd level spells include Sleet Storm, Greater Magic Fang (+1 to everything, shared with the companion, Lesser Rod of Extended), Icelance (SC), and Summon Nature's Ally for a Lion. You get some good stuff at 4th level spells, there's Ice Storm, Arc of Lightning (SC), Flame Strike, Summon Nature's Ally for a Unicorn keeps nongood outsiders at bay and gives out more healing than a Cure from that spell slot among other things, there's Dispel Magic and Freedom of Movement, and Greater Resistance (SC) gives you and your companion a bonus on saves so you won't need to spend money on a piece of gear to do it. At 5th level spells there's Wall of Thorns, Insect Plague (stack them up), Animal Growth which you should cast after a Summon Nature's Ally for multiple Lions, and Bite of the Weretiger.

Start out with studded leather (bone/wood studs instead of metal) and heavy wooden shield with a club, and keep a longspear on hand if you took Combat Reflexes. Get a masterwork tool for Handle Animal, it only costs 50 gp and gives you a +2 to all checks with that skill (PHB). Your magic items should include several Lesser Rod of Extend, the Armor/Mantle/Ring of the Beast in Complete Champion, and Wilding Clasps in MIC for items like a Periapt of Wisdom and Monk's Belt. A Monk's Belt grants you the entire Monk AC bonus, including Wisdom to AC. Wild armor such as Armor of the Beast melds into your form but still grants its AC bonus when wild shaped but you're not considered armored so the Monk AC bonus will be active. You can secure your metamagic rods to your belt and since it's Wilding Clasped it doesn't meld into your form, and neither does anything attached. You can get a Deflection bonus added to your Ring of the Beast as per MIC to save money on getting another Wilding Clasp. A Circlet of Rapid Casting (MIC) is also great to have, and you can add a Wisdom bonus to it to use one fewer clasp. Armbands of Might (MIC, CV) are also great to have whether you went with Power Attack or Improved Grapple.

Ormagoden
2010-08-31, 03:54 PM
Natural Bond (CAdv) somewhere in the first couple of feats though technically won't be used yet. I choose Primitive Spellcaster (Frost, can be RoF) for reasons of choosing my animal companion and the bonus is alright. At 6, the obvious choice is Natural Spell (Core), and at 9 I choose Great and Small (CCha). Can ask if instead of a Flaw you can gain Moderate Taint (HoH) to gain an additional wild shape feat, but you don't necessarily need one.

I choose rhinoceros form enlarged with a smilodon (Frost) companion. If you can, get a Winged Mask (MoFaerun) and a Wilding Clasp, then charge through the air as an enormous rhinceros with a cat who should be able to hit and grapple about any priority target.

I had a hard time holding my laugh in at my desk when I was reading this. Brilliant but sadly its all DM head explodey!



@biff Thoughts on taking combat expertise and improved trip instead?

Vortling
2010-08-31, 03:58 PM
What about the shapeshift variant from PHB 2? It's less DM head explodey as you gain some MAD and your bonuses from wildshape are fixed. Having wildshape at first level as a swift action is nice too and natural spell being out helps cut down on abuses. Then grab all the self buffing spells you like (Bite of the WereX are nice) and go to town tanking.

WarKitty
2010-08-31, 04:01 PM
Focusing on buff spells can do a lot to make a build more DM friendly. If you don't really need the buffs, keep some castings of bull's strength around for the party fighter.

Or import the pathfinder druid - you gain a +2 to relevant stats in wild shape rather than replacing them completely. Makes the druid have to pick between his physical stats and his mental stats.

Ormagoden
2010-08-31, 04:06 PM
A good suggestion but I think an import is a little too involved for the DM at the moment. He isn't familiar with pathfinder or its slightly varied rules and classes.

Biffoniacus_Furiou
2010-08-31, 04:20 PM
@biff Thoughts on taking combat expertise and improved trip instead?

The greatest advantage to taking those is Knock-Down (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/divine/divineAbilitiesFeats.htm#knockDown). If you want to get Combat Expertise, Improved Trip, and Natural Bond all at 1st to get Knock-Down at 3rd, and put Str 16 and Con 14 which is sort of a waste, then definitely go for it. Use a sickle with a heavy wooden shield at 1st level and you'll actually have something really good going for you right at the start, especially with a wolf companion who can also trip. Putting a higher stat in Str and losing some Con is horrible on the long term, but it's still definitely viable and should be a lot of fun.

Keld Denar
2010-08-31, 04:24 PM
Dire Weasel's actually make pretty interesting animal companions, especially if its against a single foe, or you have good ways to protect it while its attached. Automatic Con drain is brutal.

If you want to focus more on shapeshifting, look into the Shapeshifter varient in PHBII. Its a bit of a nerf on standard WS, but this is generally considered a GOOD thing. It gets going right away from level 1, gives you the freedom to fluff your form in any way you want (so you could be cat, bear, llama, emu, alpaca, oliphant, or cute fuzzy bunny with sharp pointy teeth). As you level up, you get different forms that do different things, but are still vaguely fluffed so that you can appear in any form you desire, with all forms being equal and having the same stats, and thus less headache and paperwork writing up 25 character sheets for all of your various animal forms, companions, and summons.

Ormagoden
2010-09-01, 12:17 PM
The suggestion to use the shapeshift variant may be the way to go. I'll see what the DM says...

subject42
2010-09-01, 02:34 PM
As a DM, I love the shapeshift variant. It means that I don't have to pre-approve every single monster that the player wants to use. It also means that the Druid has a known set of capabilities, which makes balancing encounters easier.

If you can manage to work things out with your DM, I'd recommend the following for a decent character and incredibly easy bookkeeping:


Replace wild shape with shapeshift.
Pick up the feat that gives you the ability to turn animals like a cleric turns undead. Caution: This may be 3.0.
Convince your DM to let you use those turn attempts to power devotion feats and take a few of those. Also see if you can use them to fuel Divine Metamagic.
Take the the Druidic Avenger variant from Unearthed Arcana. You lose your animal companion and spontaneous summoning, but get rage and fast movement.


At that point you'll be a rampaging monkey man visiting shillelagh-shaped death on your foes.