Healer/Druid Character build

[karl256]

Hello,

I am new to D&D and I am still in my first campaign. I recently had my character die and my party is in need of a healer/magic damage user. I have been thinking I would like to play a Druid but I am just not terribly familiar with D&D and I have been browsing books and books and have come away just overwhelmed. If anyone could push me in the right direction of a good character build that would help out my party I would very much appreciate it.

[Righteous Doggy]

Its really, really difficult to go wrong with a druid. You can do some crazy awesome things with wild shape, an animal companion can outshine some of the other classes in melee, and you can just pick a different set of spells anytime you picked ones you don't think work out for you.

And have you been to the 3.5 srd? That really simplifies things I think. Less clutter from being a book and you can just open tabs to things you want to look through. Copy and paste to something you can take notes on can be your best friend with online resources.
Also handbooks, just search for a druid handbook and you get all sorts of guides telling you how to make a cool druid(again, hard to go wrong and they can be overpowered)
Sorry i don't have a lot of personal advice, I haven't played a straight druid before.

[ShneekeyTheLost]

A couple of things for playing a Druid as a healer:

1) Summon Nature's Ally can summon some things that are really useful or have nifty abilities. For example, SNA IV lets you summon up a Unicorn (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/unicorn.htm). Under 'Spell-like Abilities':

A unicorn can use cure light wounds three times per day and cure moderate wounds once per day (caster level 5th) by touching a wounded creature with its horn. Once per day it can use neutralize poison (DC 21, caster level 8th) with a touch of its horn.

Also note that you can spontaneously cast Summon Nature's Ally.

2) There's a feat in Complete Divine which allows you to spontaneously cast Cure spells, just like a Cleric. If you don't want to worry about having the wrong spells on tap, this helps quite a bit.

3) The Vigor line is actually better at out of combat healing than the Cure line is.

[Unusual Muse]

Druid is actually a challenging class to play for someone new-ish to the game, just because it involves a lot of mechanics to keep track of: spells, wildshapes, etc. However, this may help you sort things out:

http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=1354.0

[karl256]

Thanks guys I really can't thank you enough. I will look at guides and references you all put up.

[Tegannie]

2) There's a feat in Complete Divine which allows you to spontaneously cast Cure spells, just like a Cleric. If you don't want to worry about having the wrong spells on tap, this helps quite a bit.



"Spontaneous Healer", you need a few ranks in Knowledge (religion) and can't be evil.

I'm actually currently playing a Druid who is the party's primary healer (with this feat) and it works quite nicely.

I use my animal companion as a melee fighter (he's a wolf). I like to work with the others in the party to set up flanking with my wolf (which also allows the rogue her sneak attack)

I tend to use SNA to summon elementals and set up more opportunities for flanking (and sneak attack!)

I haven't used wild shape much (only level 6) because I can already fly (b/c of my race) and have a high dex. In addition, I prefer to stay at range and whack enemies with my flaming sling and magic stones (great vs undead). I tend to use wild shape only out of combat for role play.

[Larpus]

Also, it's worth that the OP takes a step back, a deep breath and take a second look at the problem:

Is the group in actual need for a healer?

The reason I ask is that healing, especially midbattle, is quite sub-optimal by the D&D rules, to the point that battlefield control is a more effective way of keeping everyone alive.

For example, let's say that at 2nd level the Fighter gets attacked by a longsword wielding enemy, takes 8 damage and is now in danger of dying.

As a healer, you have to: 1. Stop whatever it is that you're doing; 2. Walk up to the Fighter and cast Cure Light Wounds and have him healed 3~10 damage.

Problem solved right? Wrong.

The enemy is still alive and will attack once again for another 8 damage (or so), meaning that you'll enter a damage-heal loop that would go on forever, except that you run out of CLW spells but the enemy doesn't run out of swings.

However, if instead by the first round of battle you use Entangle and lock said longsword wielder away, the whole party can take cheap shots at him from a safe distance and never take a single point of damage, all for the cost of a single spell.

It's just a silly example of course, and in no way I'm discouraging you or deeming healing useless; I'm just asking that you take some rather careful consideration because, if the problem is not lack of healer, you being a healer won't solve anything and you'll just get frustrated or think you're doing something wrong.

EDIT: And don't forget that a default Druid is already a competent enough out of combat healer as long as everyone pools for a CLW wand, so the only thing I'm questioning is the need to spec into a healer job as opposed to preventing damage and then patching up out of combat.

[ShneekeyTheLost]

Also, it's worth that the OP takes a step back, a deep breath and take a second look at the problem:

Is the group in actual need for a healer?

The reason I ask is that healing, especially midbattle, is quite sub-optimal by the D&D rules, to the point that battlefield control is a more effective way of keeping everyone alive.

For example, let's say that at 2nd level the Fighter gets attacked by a longsword wielding enemy, takes 8 damage and is now in danger of dying.

As a healer, you have to: 1. Stop whatever it is that you're doing; 2. Walk up to the Fighter and cast Cure Light Wounds and have him healed 3~10 damage.

Problem solved right? Wrong.

The enemy is still alive and will attack once again for another 8 damage (or so), meaning that you'll enter a damage-heal loop that would go on forever, except that you run out of CLW spells but the enemy doesn't run out of swings.

However, if instead by the first round of battle you use Entangle and lock said longsword wielder away, the whole party can take cheap shots at him from a safe distance and never take a single point of damage, all for the cost of a single spell.

It's just a silly example of course, and in no way I'm discouraging you or deeming healing useless; I'm just asking that you take some rather careful consideration because, if the problem is not lack of healer, you being a healer won't solve anything and you'll just get frustrated or think you're doing something wrong.

EDIT: And don't forget that a default Druid is already a competent enough out of combat healer as long as everyone pools for a CLW wand, so the only thing I'm questioning is the need to spec into a healer job as opposed to preventing damage and then patching up out of combat.

Or, Druid summons a Unicorn, who takes up the role of Healbot, standing next to the tank and healing wounds as they are given, which leaves the Druid free to turn into a bear and eat their faces off.

Granted, in-combat healing isn't the best and brightest idea, but hey... if your party member is close to or in the negatives... a cure is a heck of a lot cheaper than a raise dead.

[Larpus]

Or, Druid summons a Unicorn, who takes up the role of Healbot, standing next to the tank and healing wounds as they are given, which leaves the Druid free to turn into a bear and eat their faces off.

Granted, in-combat healing isn't the best and brightest idea, but hey... if your party member is close to or in the negatives... a cure is a heck of a lot cheaper than a raise dead.
True that.

Again, not questioning the need for heals itself, it was just a rather failed attempt at educating that heals might not be the best answer to keeping the party alive as it may seem initially.

That and that not limiting one self to "healer" when you can do so much more. OP did mention being new, and I know how it's easy to focus too much on one aspect of your character to end up oblivious to the big picture, I mean, who here seriously never rolled a blaster Wizard thinking it was the awesomenest thing ever only to find out that it's rather meh once dices start rolling?

Heals are important and can be the difference between life and death, even in the proposed scenario with the longsword baddie, if there was never a chance to prevent him from closing in, healing to keep the Fighter alive is the best idea, even if subpar and expensive resources-wise, which is exactly what makes them not always the best answer to "how can I prevent my party from dying?".

[ShneekeyTheLost]

True that.

Again, not questioning the need for heals itself, it was just a rather failed attempt at educating that heals might not be the best answer to keeping the party alive as it may seem initially.

That and that not limiting one self to "healer" when you can do so much more. OP did mention being new, and I know how it's easy to focus too much on one aspect of your character to end up oblivious to the big picture, I mean, who here seriously never rolled a blaster Wizard thinking it was the awesomenest thing ever only to find out that it's rather meh once dices start rolling?

Heals are important and can be the difference between life and death, even in the proposed scenario with the longsword baddie, if there was never a chance to prevent him from closing in, healing to keep the Fighter alive is the best idea, even if subpar and expensive resources-wise, which is exactly what makes them not always the best answer to "how can I prevent my party from dying?".

It is quite true that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and this goes tenfold for D&D 3.5. Not letting your allies get hit in the first place is generally superior to healing the damage afterwords. However, going too far in the other direction is also generally a Bad Idea. Someone somewhere needs to be able to patch everyone up. And a Druid is well suited for this task.

I'd suggest looking up the Vigor line, because it can be used to provide a lot more out of combat healing to top you off between combat. But hey, having a little extra healing punch in combat never hurt anyone.

Druids are a versitile class. They can heal, they can turn into a bear and eat your face, they can cast from a good selection of spells... do the research before you play. You'd be surprised what kind of roles you can cover.

[karl256]

I have been doing a lot of studying (which btw doesn't come easy to a auditory/visual learner w/ ADD but meh I am making progress) and have been learning the different roles I could play as a druid. I think the route I am headed is to do just what you guys say and try to focus on prevention, and do the out of battle healing. The only reason I have been focused on a healer is that we are playing from what I understand a difficult campaign and have been in more then one situation where healing was needed. I think at this point the only thing I want to know is if there are any DEX boosting items I have been searching but being pointed in the right direction might help.

[Gavinfoxx]

What precisely is the reason you need to boost dex for?

What precisely is the reason you can't heal out of combat with a Wand of Cure Light Wounds or a Wand of Lesser Vigor?

Druids are extremely good at 'difficult' games. Buy a few animals, get some custom tricks on them so they can tank for you. Use battlefield control spells. Put barding on your badass animal companion (upgrade it asap). Turn into a bear and eat face. Stay in animal form 24/7 by level 8 (with barding and items so you can communicate, of course).

[Namfuak]

I have been doing a lot of studying (which btw doesn't come easy to a auditory/visual learner w/ ADD but meh I am making progress) and have been learning the different roles I could play as a druid. I think the route I am headed is to do just what you guys say and try to focus on prevention, and do the out of battle healing. The only reason I have been focused on a healer is that we are playing from what I understand a difficult campaign and have been in more then one situation where healing was needed. I think at this point the only thing I want to know is if there are any DEX boosting items I have been searching but being pointed in the right direction might help.

There are items that boost dex, but you don't want them. Your dex is going to be replaced by your wild shape's form (which by level 5 you will be in in any combat/skill situation, and will probably be better off just staying in it and pretending to be an animal companion whenever necessary), and at level 6 you can cast spells while in wild shape, so there is literally no non-social reason to leave it (unless your DM is strict about you only being able to communicate by growling, and if that is the case pick up an item to give you telepathy).

As for the healing thing, taking a full-round action to summon a unicorn next to your ally to heal him has the secondary advantage of adding a (very damaging) melee fighter to your party for the duration of the spell if your fighter doesn't need healing for a round.

I didn't notice it mentioned in this thread, but besides battlefield control a druid also has a plethora of defensive spells, like energy resistance/immunity, which are very handy to cast before battles.

[karl256]

What precisely is the reason you need to boost dex for?

I thought having a 13 AC might need boosting. I dont plan to be on the fore front unless I am in animal form of course, but I figure just in case.


What precisely is the reason you can't heal out of combat with a Wand of Cure Light Wounds or a Wand of Lesser Vigor?

The answer to that is I was unaware they existed I will look into them now.


Druids are extremely good at 'difficult' games. Buy a few animals, get some custom tricks on them so they can tank for you. Use battlefield control spells. Put barding on your badass animal companion (upgrade it asap). Turn into a bear and eat face. Stay in animal form 24/7 by level 8 (with barding and items so you can communicate, of course).

I will look into that as well, but I am not sure what items I should look at for talking in animal form.

I am going to be using a Magebred Ghost Tiger. I was looking at the stats and that seems to be a bit better then a Bear right?

[karl256]

There are items that boost dex, but you don't want them. Your dex is going to be replaced by your wild shape's form (which by level 5 you will be in in any combat/skill situation, and will probably be better off just staying in it and pretending to be an animal companion whenever necessary), and at level 6 you can cast spells while in wild shape, so there is literally no non-social reason to leave it (unless your DM is strict about you only being able to communicate by growling, and if that is the case pick up an item to give you telepathy).

I am building a lvl 8 druid (as if building a lvl 1 wasn't hard enough on a newbie lol) so I can already stay in animal form as long as I need. I have a few animals I am already looking at. I like your idea though.
Is there a feat I can take to get Telepathy? Because currently I have a feat that I don't fully understand(Initiate of Nature) and I would like to get something that might be a bit easier to comprehend. (College did not prepare me for D&D geez what use is education)

[Gavinfoxx]

FYI, I statted out a very generic druid to use in mundane army vs caster discussions to show my point of, "Geez, a single level 9 druid can TOTALLY kill an entire encamped (thousands strong) low level mundane army, or take out a fleet! They are high altitude strategic stealth bombers!"

It's a fairly good way to stat out a Druid in general, albeit the feats are somewhat specialized for anti-army / anti-navy / etc. duty.

http://www.thetangledweb.net/forums/profiler/view_char.php?cid=54924

It's worth a look...

Note the armor class, the combining of items, use of a Pearl of Speech, spells to reduce ability of land-based opponents to target the Druid, spells to give concealment without lowering the Druid's ability to see, getting an assistant to help you put your gear on after you wild shape, use of extreme range spells from high up, use of spells and skills to improve Druid's ability to target enemies from afar, etc.

[Namfuak]

I thought having a 13 AC might need boosting. I dont plan to be on the fore front unless I am in animal form of course, but I figure just in case.

Again, in your animal form this won't matter, however it may be worth your while to look into wildling clasps from MiC, which allow you to shift without losing the benefits of gear (they are +2000 gp if I recall correctly). I believe that under normal WBL you will be able to get nice +1 Wild Dragonhide Full-Plate armor at level 10, which not only confers all the benefits of armor but also has no acp or maximum dex while you are in wildshape.

[karl256]

Again, in your animal form this won't matter, however it may be worth your while to look into wildling clasps from MiC, which allow you to shift without losing the benefits of gear (they are +2000 gp if I recall correctly).

I looked it up turned out it was 4000gp and can only work on 1 item at a time. It cost 2000gp to create it which wouldn't be that bad but nobody in our group has Craft wondrous Item. I will keep the armor in mind though seems like a good deal!

[Soulean]

Also wilding clasps only work on items that logically fit on the new form. Bears can't wear rings for example. Hats would work and probably boots.

NEVER buy cure light wounds wand, buy vigor wands. 1d8+1 vs 11. In combat healing they are both worthless but out of combat one is vastly superior.

There are tons of posts on best druid forms at level X. Without even leaving MM1 a dire lion will work for you till you hit 12 and get into dire bear.