[3.5] Satyr Druid [Archive] - Giant in the Playground Forums

doc*sk

2011-02-25, 12:05 AM

My DM is starting a new campaign with 6th-level characters. In this world, all of the good gods are gone. As players we are thinking about how to fill in the gap without the usual healer. What are your suggestions for alternate healers that are not healbots only?

One thought I have had is to build a druid. For kicks, I thought that a Satyr Druid might be fun. I am curious to find out any suggestions or apparent problems that the playground might find with this idea.

Thanks in advance.

Yukitsu

2011-02-25, 12:08 AM

Well, the immediate problem is you're starting at level 7, and don't start with any druid abilities.

Dimers

2011-02-25, 12:11 AM

There are some psion powers you can use in combination to heal others, and a couple that can heal others directly. Not terribly effective, but it's something.

I adore Sacred Healing feat in CD. Spend a turn-undead attempt to heal your whole party of a good chunk of hit points. It's slow, but it's a very good use of turn attempts and provides fine out-of-combat healing.

Daftendirekt

2011-02-25, 12:14 AM

gbprime

2011-02-25, 12:16 AM

I adore Sacred Healing feat in CD. Spend a turn-undead attempt to heal your whole party of a good chunk of hit points. It's slow, but it's a very good use of turn attempts and provides fine out-of-combat healing.

It's also been replaced. Feat was replaced with a two-feat chain in PHB2 (Sacred Healing, Sacred Purification) that does a flat 1d8+CHA to all within 60 feet.

gbprime

2011-02-25, 12:20 AM

No gods. Therefore no clerics.

You could still do cleric of a concept. or a cleric with the Servant of the Fallen feat (LEoF).

But I'm thinking that evades the spirit of the rule. So your major healers (without dipping into Use Magic Device) would be Druids, Favored Souls, Shugenja, Mystic Ranger, and Healer (but I wouldn't wish that one on anyone but a cohort).

doc*sk

2011-02-25, 08:25 AM

Yukitsu - You said
you're starting at level 7 I'm not sure what you mean by that. I figured that with the +2 level adjustment, then the satyr would be a 4th-level druid. Is there something I am missing.

Also, would you guys go with the reducing level adjustment (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/races/reducingLevelAdjustments.htm#experiencePointCost)r ules? It would cost a level but seems to be worth it in the long run.

No gods. Therefore no clerics.
This is a sad but true fact.

Greenish

2011-02-25, 08:29 AM

No gods. Therefore no clerics.Does not necessarily follow.

Yukitsu - You said I'm not sure what you mean by that. I figured that with the +2 level adjustment, then the satyr would be a 4th-level druid. Is there something I am missing.5 RHD + 2 LA = 7 ECL.

Also, would you guys go with the reducing level adjustment (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/races/reducingLevelAdjustments.htm#experiencePointCost)r ules? It would cost a level but seems to be worth it in the long run.You should ask that from your DM, not us. If it's allowed, and the game is not an one-shot, you should take it. If you're lower level, you'll catch up faster.

Hazzardevil

2011-02-25, 10:25 AM

I belive that theres a satyr monster class in the4 homebrew section, try that and see if you can convince your DM that the Satyr levels grant half casting of druid.

TroubleBrewing

2011-02-25, 11:32 AM

No gods. Therefore no clerics.

Not true even a little. Pulled directly from the SRD:

"Clerics who don’t worship a specific deity but choose the Chaos, Evil, Good, or Law domain have a similarly powerful aura of the corresponding alignment. "

"If a cleric is not devoted to a particular deity, he still selects two domains to represent his spiritual inclinations and abilities."

The game's designers seem to have planned for things like Clerics of Freedom, Tyranny, Peace, Violence, etc. Heck, you could flavor Captain America as a Cleric of America. No god need be involved.

mint

2011-02-25, 11:41 AM

AtomicKitKat

2011-02-25, 11:45 AM

One thought I have had is to build a druid. For kicks, I thought that a Satyr Druid might be fun. I am curious to find out any suggestions or apparent problems that the playground might find with this idea.

Thanks in advance.

Well, you're off to a good start.:smallbiggrin:

I believe Satyr favoured class could be Bard(Favoured Perform Instrument: Pan Pipes). Bards do get some of the lower healing spells. For a similar flavour(without mechanical bonuses), Faun(Deities & Demigods). They're not much different from Half-Elves though(ie, semi-sucky), and I think they are penalised in both Wisdom and Charisma for some reason. There's also the Half-Satyr template from the same Dragon issue as the Half-Ogre and Half-Minotaur templates.

Telonius

2011-02-25, 11:57 AM

Does not necessarily follow.
5 RHD + 2 LA = 7 ECL.

Yeah, the racial hitdice are always a killer. Fey hitdice aren't that great either - BAB of a Wizard and d6 hitpoints, though you do get nice skillpoints and good reflex and will saves.

So yeah, even if you buy off the LA (which is generally a very good deal) you're still going to be casting at five levels below the other party members.

Maybe play a Were-Goat that's always in hybrid form? It would have less of an impact on your casting.

TroubleBrewing

2011-02-25, 12:06 PM

Goatfolk (MM3) is cheaper in terms of LA.

Fhaolan

2011-02-25, 12:29 PM

If the DM is flexible, I recommend doing something similar to the Savage Species racial progression for the Satyr.

I had a player want to play a Centaur Sorceress with a lvl 1 party. I looked at the rules and decided to futz around with them a bit as an experiment. I ruled that she could treat the racial class as a multiclass, and instead of requiring her to level up fully as Centaur before going Sorceress, I lowered the requirement to 'keep the levels within 1 of each other' and use the DMG rules for 'starting as multiclass at lvl 1'. This allowed her to be a (very young) Centaur Sorceress at lvl 1. As the game progressed we found no game balance issues around these rulings. YMMV, of course.

Daftendirekt

2011-02-25, 02:52 PM

My DM is starting a new campaign with 6th-level characters. In this world, all of the good gods are gone. As players we are thinking about how to fill in the gap without the usual healer.

Does not necessarily follow.

I'd say it does. OP seems to imply heavily that there will be no clerics. Therefore, the whole point of the thread is "what to make besides a cleric that can be useful at healing AND at other stuff?

nedz

2011-02-25, 03:39 PM

Surely the same arguements apply to Favoured Souls as to Clerics ?

i.e.
If no gods, then no Clerics implies no Favoured Souls either.

Your 6th level: have yourself some charisma and take Leadership.
Healer cohort: sorted :smallcool:

Urpriest

2011-02-25, 04:04 PM

An Ardent/Sangehirn or Psion/Sangehirn would be an interesting and nontraditional route. You'd have to start out without levels of Sangehirn, so your healing would be a little low to start with, but it would catch up reasonably over time.

Also, I believe Archivist has yet to be mentioned. With full access to Cleric and Druid spells without the whole "gods exist" baggage, that class could give you a lot of what you want.

Gnaeus

2011-02-25, 04:11 PM

Druid should be fine. There's an ACF in PHB2 that trades spontaneous AoE "Vigor" for spontaneous SNM, which maybe isn't great but it is there.
Wand of lesser vigor + healing belt from MIC for everyone (dirt cheap) and I think you should be set. Actual casting of cures should rarely come up.
Maybe some scrolls of close wounds for emergencies?

Better is to skip the Vigor ACF, and buy/quest for a Ring of the Beast as soon as you can. Then you use your level 3 spell slots to summon Unicorns, who do all your healing for you.

My DM is starting a new campaign with 6th-level characters. In this world, all of the good gods are gone. As players we are thinking about how to fill in the gap without the usual healer. What are your suggestions for alternate healers that are not healbots only?

Depending on where the good gods went, you could also see if you could refluff Ur-Priest, either stealing power from the evil gods or as a follower of the absent good gods. This is a particularly decent option if you have RHD, since it wouldn't delay your casting as much.

Bard, as mentioned, is also a workable option. If your party is really low tier, Dragon Shaman may also be viable, although it is weaker than any of the other options discussed.

gbprime

2011-02-25, 04:39 PM

You know, a Binder might fit well in a "gods are gone" scenario. A level 5 or 6 binder with Improved Binding feat can get 4th level vestiges. And Buer allows healing at will. (1 point a round or 1d8+binderlevel once per 5 rounds) Good for after-battle healing anyway.

subject42

2011-02-25, 04:47 PM

I'd like to second Binder, but I'd also suggest you look at Dragon Shaman. They get a fair quantity of healing through the vigor aura and their lay on hands analogue.

Biffoniacus_Furiou

2011-02-25, 04:57 PM

As Urpriest suggested, Archivist (http://wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ex/20051007a&page=3) would be a strong choice for a divine caster in that game.

Looking at Satyrs As Characters (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/satyr.htm) at the bottom:
"Racial Hit Dice: A satyr begins with five levels of fey, which provide 5d6 Hit Dice, a base attack bonus of +2, and base saving throw bonuses of Fort +1, Ref +4, and Will +4."
For that reason, a Satyr is going to be one of the worst possible choices for any primary spellcaster. There's A Half-Satyr template in Dragon 313, it adds only a +1 LA so if the base creature has no racial HD or LA that's all you would be stuck with, which is easy to buy off. I'd go with a Gnome for the base race, there's not much better than small size with a Con bonus.

Killoren from Races of the Wild are another great race to use with a Druid. You can take the feat Magic of the Land from that same book to make your friendly spells like Mass Snake's Swiftness also heal, or to make your cure spells heal for even more. Use the Killoren's Aspect of the Ancient to never fail the Kn: Nature check to use Magic of the Land, and you should be set.

nedz

2011-02-25, 05:15 PM

You could consider the Half-Fey (LA+2,RHD+0) or Fey Touched (LA+1,RHD+0) routes. The first gives you lots of enchantment style SLAs plus flight; the second is less powerful but allows you to change your appearance quite a lot. You could easily fluff Fey Touched up to be Satyr like.

Basically with Half Fey: one of your parents was a Satyr; and with Fey Touched: it was one of your grand parents.

Using the Savage Species Half Fay racial class you could even choose to just take one level (with DMs approval) and avoid having wings.

Either way that would leave you with 4-5 levels of Druid.

Draz74

2011-02-25, 05:30 PM

An Ardent/Sangehirn or Psion/Sangehirn would be an interesting and nontraditional route. You'd have to start out without levels of Sangehirn, so your healing would be a little low to start with, but it would catch up reasonably over time.

Indeed, Psion (egoist)/Sangehirn is unquestionably the best healer build without divine magic.

Make sure to check out the "True Healer" alternate class feature for Egoists in the Mind's Eye web article.

If you want to heal your allies before Level 3, you can either

take the crappy "Touch of Health" power from CPsi via a Feat, and throw a lot of PP into it
be an Incarnum race, take the Vigor power, and take the feat "Shape Soulmeld: lifebond vestments"

Gnaeus

2011-02-25, 05:35 PM

As Urpriest suggested, Archivist (http://wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ex/20051007a&page=3) would be a strong choice for a divine caster in that game.

I dunno. It could be a very very weak choice. With no temples to buy scrolls from, it could be hamstrung in terms of what spells are available. If all you have are two cleric spells per level + occasional druid, paladin and ranger scrolls, Archivist could be weaker than druid.

If you can still get warlocks/artificers to craft divine spells off cleric or domain lists, or there are divine bards, Shugenja, etc, they might be strong, but we probably shouldn't assume that.

Biffoniacus_Furiou

2011-02-25, 07:57 PM

I dunno. It could be a very very weak choice. With no temples to buy scrolls from, it could be hamstrung in terms of what spells are available. If all you have are two cleric spells per level + occasional druid, paladin and ranger scrolls, Archivist could be weaker than druid.

If you can still get warlocks/artificers to craft divine spells off cleric or domain lists, or there are divine bards, Shugenja, etc, they might be strong, but we probably shouldn't assume that.

Or you could trade spells with other Archivists. You wouldn't even need to make scrolls, just copy from each others' books. That could get you class-specific spells without the expense of scrolls, too.