Warforged Druid

[Lawless III]

I'm thinking about playing a Warforged Druid for a possible new campaign (level unknown). I understand this is a suboptimal choice, but I have a back story already made and I am dead set on this much. Now, I know a good deal of Druid tricks already, but I'm wondering if there's any tricks or strategies I can use to offset the sting of being a Warforged (-2 wis and all.) Any sources are welcome, but my group has a general distrust of Dragon Magazine, so anything from there may be a hard sell. I would greatly appreciate it if you would list the source when suggesting things from more obscure books (e.g. setting add-ons, wotc webpages, etc.)

[Eldariel]

I'm thinking about playing a Warforged Druid for a possible new campaign (level unknown). I understand this is a suboptimal choice, but I have a back story already made and I am dead set on this much. Now, I know most a good deal of Druid tricks already, but I'm wondering if there's any tricks or strategies I can use to offset the sting of being a Warforged (-2 wis and all.) Any sources are welcome, but my group has a general distrust of Dragon Magazine, so anything from there may be a hard sell. I would greatly appreciate it if you would list the source when suggesting things from more obscure books (e.g. setting add-ons, wotc webpages, etc.)

Well. Hrm. You obviously need as high Wis as possible. You could still utilize Aging for +1 Wis (and Int and Cha) while at it. Ironwood Body is a reasonable alternative to Unarmored Body, though I do understand you can use Composite Plating without losing your Druid-abilities, so whether those are worth the feat is worth wondering. Interestingly, you do retain the Body-properties if you Wildshape so that's certainly convenient.

Really though, Warforged doesn't offer much for a Druid but Druid is powerful enough that this really isn't much of a problem. The small benefits in early Wildshape (before others would have Wild armor) are a nice small boon though. Just try to maximize your Wis, profit of your high Con, focus on mentals, Wildshape early and often, pick Natural Spell on 6, prepare good spells and pick some handy companion.

[stainboy]

What's that Dragon Mag template that gives you +2 Wis, -2 Cha with no LA? It's the opposite of Magic-Blooded. Just take that and claim it's from Tome of Magic or something. :smallwink:

[HalfDragonCube]

Do Warforged retain their constructy abilities while wildshaped? If not, then you might not be able to play to the strengths of the druid class.

[stainboy]

Yeah, you retain your type and subtype while wildshaped, so your robot bear form can still wade into Stinking Clouds to kill nauseated enemies.

[Luckmann]

Do Warforged retain their constructy abilities while wildshaped? If not, then you might not be able to play to the strengths of the druid class.

I don't think they do. After all, any other regular druid changes from their type to Animal, afaik. Mechanically, I don't see why a Warforge wouldn't shift from Living Construct to Animal.

That said, I think he totally should be allowed to continue being a Living Construct. Autobots, roll out! :smallbiggrin:

In fact, I'd ask if I couldn't refluff and change some of the mechanics somewhat, so I could play a Warforged Technologist using Druid. Animal Companion? Living Construct with limited intelligence in the shape of an animal. Shapeshifting? Transformer. Trackless Step? Counter-Gravity Plating. Earthquake spell? I just stomped the ground. Lightning Strike? That was just me using my Teslamogrifier Coil.

:smalltongue:

Edit:
Yeah, you retain your type and subtype while wildshaped, so your robot bear form can still wade into Stinking Clouds to kill nauseated enemies.

You do? Ah, well, all the better.

[Eldariel]

I don't think they do. After all, any other regular druid changes from their type to Animal, afaik. Mechanically, I don't see why a Warforge wouldn't shift from Living Construct to Animal.

It would help to read the "Wildshape" description :smallwink: You lose out on some special abilities (e.g. the Slam) but that's about it.

[HappyBlanket]

Nice to see a thread about someone who cares more about fluff than optimization :3 I don't have any advice to give besides "pump wisdom" though; I just wanted to let you know that your approach to character creation is appreciated. Hope your character turns out the way you want to!

[Philistine]

Ironwood Body is good.

For spellcasting, your Wis doesn't have to be as high if you concentrate on buffs (and Druid has some pretty good ones, especially if Spell Compendium is on the table) and utility; you might even get away with ordering your stats as Con >> Wis >> everything else.

[HalfDragonCube]

If I may ask, what is the backstory on the character? Nature Robot is kind of strange.

[Urpriest]

You keep your living construct traits, as others have mentioned, which is pretty badass. You also keep the benefits of any X-Body feats you take (and maybe your normal Composite Plating as well, don't quite remember), so you've got more benefits to take with you. Maybe Jaws of Death and the like as well? While people usually exploit this sort of thing with the Landforged Walker prestige class, doing it with a druid is still plenty powerful. You're hardly unoptimized.

[Lawless III]

So, in general, I'm getting that I should use my construct typing and armor bonus as much as possible. Also I should probably buff, summon and heal more than debuff or blast. I appreciate the advice, thank you all.



Nice to see a thread about someone who cares more about fluff than optimization :3 I don't have any advice to give besides "pump wisdom" though; I just wanted to let you know that your approach to character creation is appreciated. Hope your character turns out the way you want to!
I wouldn't give me that much credit, I am trying to optimize my fluff concept.:smallbiggrin:


If I may ask, what is the backstory on the character? Nature Robot is kind of strange.
I'm still writing the fine details, but I'll give you the broad strokes. He was mostly destroyed in an ancient war and left on the site of the battlefield in disrepair for centuries. He was healed (possibly by a future party member) and found that moss and insect and such had made the wound in his chest their home. Instead of trying to clean them out, he found himself highly protective of them.
You can probably see where I'm going with this. I got the idea from the robots in Castle in the Sky.

[HalfDragonCube]

You keep your living construct traits, as others have mentioned, which is pretty badass. You also keep the benefits of any X-Body feats you take (and maybe your normal Composite Plating as well, don't quite remember), so you've got more benefits to take with you. Maybe Jaws of Death and the like as well? While people usually exploit this sort of thing with the Landforged Walker prestige class, doing it with a druid is still plenty powerful. You're hardly unoptimized.

Adamantine robot budgie time! That is going in my current budgie-themed homebrew class.

[Urpriest]

I'm still writing the fine details, but I'll give you the broad strokes. He was mostly destroyed in an ancient war and left on the site of the battlefield in disrepair for centuries. He was healed (possibly by a future party member) and found that moss and insect and such had made the wound in his chest their home. Instead of trying to clean them out, he found himself highly protective of them.
You can probably see where I'm going with this. I got the idea from the robots in Castle in the Sky.

Ok, that really really sounds like Landforged Walker (Secrets of Xen'Drik). The class isn't that great for druids, but it fits you fluff perfectly. If you start at a higher level, an Archivist or Cleric going into that class would work well.

[Luckmann]

[...]

I'm still writing the fine details, but I'll give you the broad strokes. He was mostly destroyed in an ancient war and left on the site of the battlefield in disrepair for centuries. He was healed (possibly by a future party member) and found that moss and insect and such had made the wound in his chest their home. Instead of trying to clean them out, he found himself highly protective of them.
You can probably see where I'm going with this. I got the idea from the robots in Castle in the Sky.Sounds like the birth of a Druid/Vermin Lord to me. :smallbiggrin:

[stainboy]

It would help to read the "Wildshape" description :smallwink: You lose out on some special abilities (e.g. the Slam) but that's about it.

In fairness reading the Wildshape description might not help. Any PHB printed before 2006 has it wrong.

[Jjeinn-tae]

If I may ask, what is the backstory on the character? Nature Robot is kind of strange.

A reject from Beast Wars is my hope.



Though, my specific advice: Natural spell as any other druid, spellcasting robot bear. :smallcool: Or, I think there's some really flavorful feats in one of the completes... not sure on that though.

[Godskook]

Nice to see a thread about someone who cares more about fluff than optimization :3 I don't have any advice to give besides "pump wisdom" though; I just wanted to let you know that your approach to character creation is appreciated. Hope your character turns out the way you want to!

1.You're confused, a lot more people around here prioritize fluff than you think. The reason you don't see it as often is that a fluff idea takes less time and effort to come up with than it does to make work, so often enough, players will already have their fluff together before they even make the thread.

2.Optimization, especially in a pve setting, is not a mutually exclusive goal to fluff. One can optimize a warforged druid, and in fact, it isn't that bad of a choice, considering the immunities and free wildshape armor. In fact, it only really hurts SoSuck druids, while wildshape and summoner druids can function perfectly fine with 2 lost spell slots, and druids excel in those categories.

3.For those of us who look like optimizer-happy(like myself, I'm sure), we still value fluff, and in fact, part of our fluff is "effective". That doesn't mean we're not prioritizing fluff, we're just merging our fluff goals and optimization goals.

[MeeposFire]

I don't think they do. After all, any other regular druid changes from their type to Animal, afaik. Mechanically, I don't see why a Warforge wouldn't shift from Living Construct to Animal.

That said, I think he totally should be allowed to continue being a Living Construct. Autobots, roll out! :smallbiggrin:

In fact, I'd ask if I couldn't refluff and change some of the mechanics somewhat, so I could play a Warforged Technologist using Druid. Animal Companion? Living Construct with limited intelligence in the shape of an animal. Shapeshifting? Transformer. Trackless Step? Counter-Gravity Plating. Earthquake spell? I just stomped the ground. Lightning Strike? That was just me using my Teslamogrifier Coil.

:smalltongue:

Edit:

You do? Ah, well, all the better.

Wildshpae does not make you an animal. You do not change type look at the description for alternate form. Also warforged get to keep not just being a construct but also all their special qualities such as their immunities and their plating armor bonuses.

Warforged make awesome wildshaping druids. They lose a little bit versus other races in casting (though a -2 to wisdom is not that big of a deal to a druid since wildshape is so awesome) but gain a lot when you compare wildshaping. For instance they don't need to pay for wild armor.

[Heliomance]

1) Take the City Soul alternate class feature from the Cityscape web enhancement. This replaces Wildshape: Elemental with Wildshape: Animated Object.
2) ???
3) Transform and roll out!

[Big Fau]

Regarding Unarmored or Ironwood Body: You may not need it. Composite Plating is not armor, despite functioning similarly to it.

[MeeposFire]

Yea ironwood body is not worth it just stick with normal composite plating.

[Eldariel]

Wildshpae does not make you an animal. You do not change type look at the description for alternate form. Also warforged get to keep not just being a construct but also all their special qualities such as their immunities and their plating armor bonuses.

Warforged make awesome wildshaping druids. They lose a little bit versus other races in casting (though a -2 to wisdom is not that big of a deal to a druid since wildshape is so awesome) but gain a lot when you compare wildshaping. For instance they don't need to pay for wild armor.

They cap out way lower than people using Wild-armor tho. Sure, it's a lot of gold (to the tune of 19k) to get a +1 Wild Dragonhide Fullplate but that's also +9 AC vs. the +2 of Composite Plating; hell, it's more than a +5 Composite Plating and if Magic Vestmented (or gotten as +5), you get a total of 13 AC from it.

Also, Warforged lose out on the option of using Monk's Belt + Wilding Clasps and Greater Luminous Armor (Druids can cast it just fine if good, and have Lesser Restoration to boot). Basically, Warforged base stats are a bit higher but once accounting for spells or magic items, they fall behind.

[Ravens_cry]

I can not (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transformers:_Beast_Wars) be the only one who instantly thought of this. I think the idea is pretty awesome to be frank.

[Lawless III]

1) Take the City Soul alternate class feature from the Cityscape web enhancement. This replaces Wildshape: Elemental with Wildshape: Animated Object.
2) ???
3) Transform and roll out!

I think I have to do this. The temptation is just too much.

[MeeposFire]

They cap out way lower than people using Wild-armor tho. Sure, it's a lot of gold (to the tune of 19k) to get a +1 Wild Dragonhide Fullplate but that's also +9 AC vs. the +2 of Composite Plating; hell, it's more than a +5 Composite Plating and if Magic Vestmented (or gotten as +5), you get a total of 13 AC from it.

Also, Warforged lose out on the option of using Monk's Belt + Wilding Clasps and Greater Luminous Armor (Druids can cast it just fine if good, and have Lesser Restoration to boot). Basically, Warforged base stats are a bit higher but once accounting for spells or magic items, they fall behind.

Why couldn't the warforged druid use the monk's belt and luminous armor? They can use that at high levels and use their composite armor for enchantments (in addition to all that) and it will be there for low levels. In addition warforged immunities are very nice. They only lose out in two ways one is lower wisdom (which is negligible in the long run) and 1/2 healing which we can also deal with.

[ShriekingDrake]

What's that Dragon Mag template that gives you +2 Wis, -2 Cha with no LA? It's the opposite of Magic-Blooded.

Not sure what you're referring to here.

[Psyren]

Ok, that really really sounds like Landforged Walker (Secrets of Xen'Drik). The class isn't that great for druids, but it fits you fluff perfectly. If you start at a higher level, an Archivist or Cleric going into that class would work well.

Not that great?? It turns YOU into your divine focus (VoP anyone?), is 4/5 casting and gives you access to plant shapes that use your full character level to wild shape with. Yeah you lose a caster level, but oh noes you're a 19/20 druid, how will you play D&D now, etc.

[Dvandemon]

I'm still writing the fine details, but I'll give you the broad strokes. He was mostly destroyed in an ancient war and left on the site of the battlefield in disrepair for centuries. He was healed (possibly by a future party member) and found that moss and insect and such had made the wound in his chest their home. Instead of trying to clean them out, he found himself highly protective of them.
You can probably see where I'm going with this. I got the idea from the robots in Castle in the Sky.

I...want to draw this.

[Eldariel]

Why couldn't the warforged druid use the monk's belt and luminous armor? They can use that at high levels and use their composite armor for enchantments (in addition to all that) and it will be there for low levels. In addition warforged immunities are very nice. They only lose out in two ways one is lower wisdom (which is negligible in the long run) and 1/2 healing which we can also deal with.

Heh, pardons, I outthought myself there. I was thinking of Ironwood Body, which does count as an Armor, and thus doesn't work with Monk's Belt; no problem if you pick no Armor-feat tho. That said, there's still the potential 2-point disparity between a Wis-bonus race and WF, but that's not as major as the 8+ point difference from not having Belt+GLumArmor.

[Lawless III]

I...want to draw this.
If you do, I'd love to see it.