D&D 3.5 Druid Build Help

[Usagi_Yuy]

Hello Everyone,

I am making my first character ever. After careful research, I decided to make a Human Druid because I like the idea of being a caster and a damage dealer.

Currently, I'm about to join an existing campaign with my friends, so our DM said to choose a race and class and level it 5 times.

Our DM said that we are only restricted to the player hand book I.

I roled my stats and he said to allocate these numbers:

18, 16, 14, 7, 7, 17 (not sure where) and to add 1 more stat (not sure to where) in any of the list; str, con, dex, int, wis, char

He gave me 8,000 gold to start since I am behind, and he said to use the Magic Item Compendium Book. I'm not sure what druids should use to be honest other than no metal.

He also said that I can choose an animal companion limited to the player hand book I, as well and it won't be deducted from my gold. I was thinking of a wolf, but does anyone have a better suggestion?

I chose my feets; Natural spell, augment summoning (and its perquisite). I did some research and people keep saying to make sure I have natural spell.

The most confusing portion for me is wild shape. Apparently I am able to use it once a day at my level. Though I do not know which animal I can change to or which animal I should change to.

If anyone could share their opinions, it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

Usagi_Yuy

[Chronos]

That's a great set of stat rolls for a druid. You have two very high stats for Wis and Con, two decent stats for Int and Cha, and two stats you don't care about for Str and Dex. The reason you don't care about Str and Dex is that when you're wildshaped (which is a lot of the time, and will get much more in the next few levels) you use the Str and Dex of your assumed form, and don't get any effect at all about your own values. Wis, meanwhile, is what powers your spells (spells in general being the most powerful class feature in the game), and Con gives you hitpoints, and everyone likes hitpoints. Of the two middle ones, meanwhile, Int is mostly useful for skill points, and Cha is mostly useful for wild empathy. Choose according to your taste.

For your level-up point, the standard choice would be to increase Wis, which is what will be most useful to you in the long run. On the other hand, though, increasing an even number to an odd number doesn't do anything at all in the short term, so if you think the campaign isn't going to last much past level 8, you might want to increase the 17 Con to an 18 instead. Alternately, you could decide to start off at middle age, which would give you +1 to all your mental stats and -1 to all your physical stats.

To be clear, are you level 5 or level 6? If you're level 5, you can't quite get natural spell yet, since you need to take the feat after you're able to wildshape. If you're level 6, you can use wildshape 2/day, not just once.

For your animal companion, a riding dog is a bit better than a wolf (mostly the same stats, but a little more damage). The difference is small, however, so you can go ahead and pick the wolf without too much trouble, if you think that suits your character better.

For equipment, you're mostly interested at this point in boosting your Wis (again, because spells are really powerful). Even the cheapest one, though, will cost half your budget, which your DM may or may not be OK with (the usual guideline is that no single item should be more than 1/3 your total wealth).

Another item to look out for, since you have the Magic Item Compendium, is wilding clasps, which let you continue to make use of your items while wildshaped. Again, though, they're pretty pricey for your current budget. Alternately, with help from a party member, you can probably take off your periapt of wisdom, change forms, and then put it back on. Similarly, if you have one particular form you use a lot, you can get armor custom-made for that form (a dragonhide breastplate is good), and have someone help you put it on.

Eventually, you'll want either armor with the Wild property, or a monk's belt, but neither of those is affordable for you right now. For items you can use right now, your best bet is probably wands and scrolls. You might also want to get something like a few Feather Tokens (tree), or other cheap single-use items.

[Dessembrae]

Well, as a druid your core strengths are your spells and wild shape. Being restricted to just the PHB, Druid is one of the best choices.

Wild shape lets you shift into any animal of the sizes you have available that does not have more HD than you. You can only choose Small or Medium animals until level 8, when you get access to Large forms. This is when the druid really starts to shine. At 5th level I'd say your best combat forms would be Leopard, Black Bear, and Crocodile. Their stats are near the back of the Monster Manual. At level 8 when you can take Large forms, upgrade to Tiger and Brown Bear.

Put your best stats into Wisdom, Constitution, Intelligence, and Charisma in that order. Strength and Dexterity don't matter, as when you're wildshaped you use your animal form's scores, and at higher levels you should pretty much always be in wild shape. With your rolls, I'd go:
Str 7
Dex 7
Con 17
Int 16
Wis 18
Cha 14

Put your 4th level point into Con to bump it to 18, and put all future points into Wisdom.

The only feat you absolutely NEED to take is Natural Spell at level 6. Natural Spell lets you cast spells in Wild Shape. A necessity for all druids.

As far as gear goes, you're not going to be that great in combat when you're not wildshaped, unless you load up on buff spells. You can take Zen Archery at level 1 and use your Wisdom bonus for ranged attacks if you like. Pick up a magic sling and cast Magic Stone on a few bullets, and you can be a ranged attacker while casting Entangle and Summon Nature's Ally when necessary. Never prep any Summon spells, remember you can spontaneously expend prepared spells to cast Summon Nature's Ally spells of the same level. Your summons will largely see you through until you can spend all day as a tiger or grizzly bear.

Have fun playing a druid! They're one of my favourite classes.

[Immabozo]

-snip-

While Chronos has given you good advice, I'd like to expand upon it a little.

As a warning, D&D uses truely strange math. So be prepared for stange equations.

Wisdom determines your spells per day (found in the early pages of the Players Handbook)

There are also certain spells with a DC, or Difficulty Class, to resist (meaning no, or lessened, effect if you make the resistance saving throw) and this is the bigger of the two reasons for high wisdom. The math to figure out a DC is 10 + (spell's level) + wisdom modifier. A saving throw is rolled on a D20 + the character making it, his appropriate save (like fortitude for poison)

The ability modifier is the ability number minus 10, then cut in half. An 18 gives an ability modifier of 4.

Taking advantage of high wisdom with the Monk's belt Chronos mentioned. It's expensive, like 14,000 or 16,000 gold, but it adds your wisdom modifier (+1) to your armor. Something that works with it, but is expensive (not positive if it's available to you with the book restrictions) is called bracers of armor, which gives up to 8 AC (armor class) when you are unarmored.

It is an expensive route to go, but you can get a lot of armor from it. You wont be able to wear armor, but bracers of armor +8 and a monk's belt with a modest 20 wisdom, gets you 14 AC, plus you turning into nifty shapes, you can get nice bonuses from the dex of those forms, to armor, plus, most forms have "natural armor", like a dragon's scales, for example.

Now, as was been mentioned, spell casting is the most powerful class feature, but a Druid's ability to wildshape is a very powerful tool. Ask your DM if you can get access to the Monster Manual I, because there are quite a few animals at the end of it and you should find a few you like and draw up another character sheet, but only the first page, for each form you like and see yourself using. You can have a form for needing to escape death (like an eagle or a cheetah) and a form to fight in (like a tiger or an ape). Your limit to what you can turn into is that you must have as many hit die as it does.

Hit Die are at each level when you gain a D6 per druid level (or is it D8?) bit that is a hit die. In the animal's entry in the monster manual, you will see 4D8, meaning you need 4 hit die, or HD, to turn into that form. 11D10 means you need 11 HD to turn into it. If the HD number on the right of the D is a larger number than your HD, it's ok, your number needs to equal or exceed the number on the left.

Another thing I recommend is typing up a cheat sheet for yourself of the spells you like and what they do. I love druids, personally, and I, personally, prefer to focus on wildshaping and not spell casting cause I enjoy it. Although to really do that, you need much more books than you have available, but that is a great starting game to be in, by the sounds of it.

I usually have 1 or 2 "buffs" or spells that make you stronger in some way, to cast on myself before I wade into combat, I have my personal favorites, find the ones you like.

If you want to focus on spell casting, this is still a good idea. And the Natural spell feat (spelled feat, as in "an impressive act") allows you to cast in wild shape. If you look at the spells in the Players Handbook, they will have some seemingly random letters near the top. V, S are the usual ones, but there are more. V is for verbal, S is for Somatic. Wolves, for example, aren't capable of complex arm gestures like a human, nor can they speak. Natural spell allows you to complete those spells with howls and pawing at the ground, or the like.

[Raendyn]

Chrono gave a lot of accurate info for u, so re-read his post and then ask your questions, because you'll definatelly have them.

As for my contribution, I'd advise you to do what druid's do best, Summon.

With those godly stats which you should allocate as Dessembrae suggested, you just dont know how much any melee in the party is gona envy you, nor how much you are gona embarass them.

Now, Druid is very simple class, it doesn't need Prestige Classes, in fact they usually harm him, because save from the Planar shepard maybe there is noone else that progresses all 3 features that make u godly. Now lets take a look at them.

A) Spellcasting: Check out This (http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?PHPSESSID=rbiqf7f8ebl87780l7qn75d9t0&topic=940), its not just for the spells but they are there too. For summoning at lvl 1 summon wolf, lvl 2 hippogrip and lvl 3 dire wolf. lvl2 croc is fun when u need a grappler.

B)Animal companion: Pick the Ape, he is good and he is with human-like bodyshape, he can also carry things. If you already have a frontliner pick the Fleshraker dinosaur from Monster Manual 3, though u should read what it does, cause it involves many checks.

C) Wildshape: Usually you'll want to be in Desmodu Hunting Bat from Monster Manual 2. High boost to dex and therefore Touch AC/AC and initiative, flight up there and launch your spells while your ape/raker smash faces.

Race: Human is an excelent choice.

Feats:
Spellfocus Conjuration->Augment summoning at lvl 1 with human bonus.
Ashbound if Eberron is allowed, or whatever if its not at lvl 3 (or your Augment summoning in case you are not human)
Natural spell at lvl 6, just take it!

Skills:
Concetration maxed
Depending on the party you might wanna take some knowledge nature or spellcraft, spot/listen if noone esle has them, or even Survival, and of course you need +10 on Handle animal for the tricks for the animal companion.

Items:
Dont buy Wilding Clasps yet, they are too expensive and dont forget that they dont let u use your items in beastforms. They just don't let the item merge with you, you must still posses proper body anatomy to use it.

SUMMONER’S TOTEM from Magic item compendium for 3100g lets u buff your dire wolves! enrage animal is a nice choice for that.

Hope these helped.

[Darrin]

He gave me 8,000 gold to start since I am behind, and he said to use the Magic Item Compendium Book. I'm not sure what druids should use to be honest other than no metal.


The "no metal" only applies to armor, but there are dozens of non-metal alternatives for druids, depending on which sourcebooks are available.

For weapons, a spear, quarterstaff, or scimitar are all decent. The spear has slightly higher damage and can be thrown, the quarterstaff can accomodate two wand chambers (100 GP, Dungeonscape) and is a good target for the shillelagh spell, and the scimitar is considered the "traditional" druid weapon. All three can be wielded two-handed for x1.5 Strength bonus. Keep a sling handy for magic stone and various alchemical bullets. I wouldn't worry about a masterwork or magical weapon yet, but if you need one, grab a stick + shillelagh.

For armor, start with a masterwork dragonhide breastplate (700 GP). As more funds become available, consider upgrading to a masterwork darkleaf breastplate (2600 GP, Arms & Equipment Guide). Adding a +1 enhancement bonus is only another +1000 GP.

Some magical items to consider:

Face: Pearl of Speech (600 GP). This may allow you to speak, activate magic items, and provide verbal components for spells, but ask your DM about it first. You will still need Natural Spell to take care of somatic gestures. Even if you don't spend much time in wildshape, several low-level druid spells allow you to change into an animal form: aspect of the wolf (Spell Compendium), aquatic escape (Complete Scoundrel), winged watcher (Complete Scoundrel).

Throat: Chronocharm of the Horizon Walker (500 GP). Swift action to move up to half your speed.

Shoulders: Cloak of Elemental Protection (1000 GP). Good "starter" cloak, and you can add a +1 resistance bonus for +1000 GP.

Arms: Armband of Elusive Action (800 GP). 1/day negates an AoO, such as from spellcasting, ranged attack, throwing fistfulls of produce flame, etc.

Hands: Gloves of the Starry Sky (1100 GP). Light spell on command, and swap a prepared spell for magic missile 3/day.

Body: Masterwork Dragonhide Breastplate (700 GP). Nonmagical... so far. Will probably slow you down to 20' until you can upgrade to darkleaf (Arms & Equipment Guide), but you can use a mount, longstrider, etc., to help pick up the pace.

Waist: Healing Belt (750 GP). Horrendously undercosted.

Feet: Anklets of Translocation (1400 GP). Swift action 10' teleport 2/day, great way to get out of a grapple or give yourself room to cast a spell.

Held: Pearl of Power (1000 GP). You never know when you'll need another endure elements, longstrider, etc.

Total: 7850 GP

Check the Shax link in my .sig for more equipment advice. If your DM is allowing spells from sources outside the PHB, then check the Druidzilla link in my .sig.

[eggynack]

Face: Pearl of Speech (600 GP). This may make Natural Spell obsolete, but ask your DM about it first.

This doesn't work. Natural spell allows you to mimic the verbal, somatic, and material components of a spell, in addition to any focus you might need. Pearl of speech will let you perform the verbal components at best. Natural spell is crazy, and possibly irreplaceable. You could probably do it with enough metamagic, but why would you?

[Darrin]

This doesn't work. Natural spell allows you to mimic the verbal, somatic, and material components of a spell, in addition to any focus you might need. Pearl of speech will let you perform the verbal components at best. Natural spell is crazy, and possibly irreplaceable. You could probably do it with enough metamagic, but why would you?

Fixed. Thanks. I have a tendency to think of claws/wings = "hands", but not every DM is that forgiving about verbal/somatic components.

[Usagi_Yuy]

Hi Everyone!

First off, I'd like to thank everyone who responded :D


To be clear, are you level 5 or level 6? If you're level 5, you can't quite get natural spell yet, since you need to take the feat after you're able to wildshape. If you're level 6, you can use wildshape 2/day, not just once.

Hi Chronos! He said that we'll be level 5. But if I'm a human, wouldn't that get me 3 feats? 2 at level 1, and 1 more at level 3? And technically, I could use wildshape 1/day at level 5, so wouldn't that count as being able to use wildshape so that I can learn natural spell?


At 5th level I'd say your best combat forms would be Leopard, Black Bear, and Crocodile. Their stats are near the back of the Monster Manual.

Hi Dessembrae! Does wildshape have to be prepared as well? Like, could I transform into any animal that are restricted to my level when it's needed as long as I have its information? Also, our DM just confirmed that we can use the Monster Manual I only.


Skills:
Concetration maxed
Depending on the party you might wanna take some knowledge nature or spellcraft, spot/listen if noone esle has them, or even Survival, and of course you need +10 on Handle animal for the tricks for the animal companion.


Also, what do you mean by max concentration? What is considered "maxed"? Our party's cleric left, and they replaced her for me. The only catch is I have to be neutral-evil. I don't know if that's going to effect my character aside from her personality. The party has a ranger, bard, wizard, swashbuckler, and me (druid).

@Darrin: Hi Darrin! Can the list of items for the face, throat, shoulders, arms, hands, body, waist, feet and held items can all be worn at the same time? Or am I restricted to a certain amount of items? You know the list of items you posted? Do you suggest that I just get a few of them and save the rest of my money?

Also, I have a few more questions. What makes an animal companion different to an animal summon, aside from 'it's not a summon'? What are tricks? And how do you determine an animal companion's stat?

As for wildshape, how do you determine the wildshape's stat? Do I just copy and paste the stats from the monster manual?

I appreciate everyone's input :)! It's been very helpful.

[eggynack]

Hi Chronos! He said that we'll be level 5. But if I'm a human, wouldn't that get me 3 feats? 2 at level 1, and 1 more at level 3? And technically, I could use wildshape 1/day at level 5, so wouldn't that count as being able to use wildshape so that I can learn natural spell?
You get wild shape at 5th, but the next available feat slot is at 6th. Thus, you're stuck without natural spell for a level.




Hi Dessembrae! Does wildshape have to be prepared as well? Like, could I transform into any animal that are restricted to my level when it's needed as long as I have its information? Also, our DM just confirmed that we can use the Monster Manual I only.
You can wild shape into anything without preparation. knowledge (nature) can get you familiarity with forms.



Also, what do you mean by max concentration? What is considered "maxed"? Our party's cleric left, and they replaced her for me. The only catch is I have to be neutral-evil. I don't know if that's going to effect my character aside from her personality. The party has a ranger, bard, wizard, swashbuckler, and me (druid).
He means that you should put the maximum possible skill points into concentration. That's 3+level, so you can stick 8 points in at level 5.



As for wildshape, how do you determine the wildshape's stat? Do I just copy and paste the stats from the monster manual?

You keep all of your mental stats, as well as your HP. Here (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/specialAbilities.htm#alternateForm) is a good guideline for what changes in a wild shape.

[Chronos]

The only significant drawback to a druid being evil is that you won't be able to summon unicorns, once you reach 7th level. But most of a druid's spells don't have any particular alignment.

And for non-wildshaped combat, I would recommend Produce Flame rather than Magic Stone, since you can get several attacks per casting (one per caster level, unless you wait a really long time between your attacks).

[Spuddles]

Produce Flame can produce a lot of damage. Usually it only does up to 1d6+5 damage, but with a ring of mystic fire from the magic item compedium and a rod of lesser empower from the DMG, you can get (5d6)x1.5+5.

And you can make multiple attacks with it, such as iteratives or rapid shooting.

Personally, I think wildshaped combat isn't really worth it. It requires too many spells and magic items to make it very good. I would rather control the battlefield and put magic on my pet. Let your riding dog attack. Ask your DM if you are allowed to choose its feats. Then get it light armor proficiency so it can wear a mithril breastplate. Pretty cheap armor option.

[Mithril Leaf]

Produce Flame can produce a lot of damage. Usually it only does up to 1d6+5 damage, but with a ring of mystic fire from the magic item compedium and a rod of lesser empower from the DMG, you can get (5d6)x1.5+5.

And you can make multiple attacks with it, such as iteratives or rapid shooting.

Personally, I think wildshaped combat isn't really worth it. It requires too many spells and magic items to make it very good. I would rather control the battlefield and put magic on my pet. Let your riding dog attack. Ask your DM if you are allowed to choose its feats. Then get it light armor proficiency so it can wear a mithril breastplate. Pretty cheap armor option.

Empower goes after the addition. It's not a ton more damage, but it's still nice. Also, you don't have to fight while wildshaped, but a very small number of spells and a a few magic items makes you totally dominate the battlefield. Wilding clasps and generic buffs (using some of spells you'll be saving by taking things out manually) and you're totally set in every way. Don't feel like having any of you standard gear while wildshaped? A simple monk belt gets you your massive wisdom to AC. With nearly no effort, you already demolished the fighter at his own game without spells.

[Spuddles]

Empower goes after the addition. It's not a ton more damage, but it's still nice. Also, you don't have to fight while wildshaped, but a very small number of spells and a a few magic items makes you totally dominate the battlefield. Wilding clasps and generic buffs (using some of spells you'll be saving by taking things out manually) and you're totally set in every way. Don't feel like having any of you standard gear while wildshaped? A simple monk belt gets you your massive wisdom to AC. With nearly no effort, you already demolished the fighter at his own game without spells.

Sure, at level 12. OP is level 5. Every class can hit things real hard when they're lit up with loot like an xmas tree. And druids need A LOT of loot to keep up. Or spell slots and wasted actions in combat.

Until the higher levels and with some degree of optimization, I find druid wild melee underwhelming compared to what they could be doing with their standard action instead. Usually an animal companion with some armor on it will slate your lust for making attack rolls. The animal companion also does better with spells on it because you can buff it and make it attack while still having your next turn to cast wall of thorns or last breath or what not.

When you spend 5 rounds buffing, you feel compelled to waste your time making full attacks.

If you're making a full attack, you're probably doing something wrong :smallwink:

[Mithril Leaf]

Sure, at level 12. OP is level 5. Every class can hit things real hard when they're lit up with loot like an xmas tree. And druids need A LOT of loot to keep up. Or spell slots and wasted actions in combat.

Until the higher levels and with some degree of optimization, I find druid wild melee underwhelming compared to what they could be doing with their standard action instead. Usually an animal companion with some armor on it will slate your lust for making attack rolls. The animal companion also does better with spells on it because you can buff it and make it attack while still having your next turn to cast wall of thorns or last breath or what not.

When you spend 5 rounds buffing, you feel compelled to waste your time making full attacks.

If you're making a full attack, you're probably doing something wrong :smallwink:

Level 5, be an ape. Use your free shillelagh'd quarterstaff. You're parring the fighter now. I'm not saying spells aren't the best thing ever, I certainly know that. What I am saying is that it's far from useless to apply wildshape to combat. Use long lasting or quick buffs. Take a feat that enhances wildshape. There's a reason polymorph is considered one of the top spells of 4th level. It's a really, really good ability.

[Spuddles]

Level 5, be an ape. Use your free shillelagh'd quarterstaff. You're parring the fighter now. I'm not saying spells aren't the best thing ever, I certainly know that. What I am saying is that it's far from useless to apply wildshape to combat. Use long lasting or quick buffs. Take a feat that enhances wildshape. There's a reason polymorph is considered one of the top spells of 4th level. It's a really, really good ability.

With an AC of 14 and a d8 HD.

Make sure your DM is cool with you wearing barding.

But even then, you're paring the fighter.

Why would you want to do that?

[geekintheground]

Level 5, be an ape. Use your free shillelagh'd quarterstaff. You're parring the fighter now. I'm not saying spells aren't the best thing ever, I certainly know that. What I am saying is that it's far from useless to apply wildshape to combat. Use long lasting or quick buffs. Take a feat that enhances wildshape. There's a reason polymorph is considered one of the top spells of 4th level. It's a really, really good ability.

you cant be an ape at lvl 5 because its large.

[eggynack]

you cant be an ape at lvl 5 because its large.
True enough, and by the time you get large forms you can do better. It's possible that he meant baboon, though I honestly don't see the point. You toss a bunch of spells on, and it doesn't get you anywhere. You're much better off sending your animal companion into the fray, backed up by dire wolves. At level 6, you can do that from the air, and at level 8, melee combat may be a viable option. You don't have as many resources for it in core, like luminous armor and bite of the X, but you could probably pull it off. I don't really get the whole black bear thing, though brown bears are pretty sweet. You could also go with polar bears, if you want to scrounge around for tiny bits of optimization.

[Chronos]

Personally, I'm fond of the Dire Weasel: It's got good Dex for initiative and AC, and the ability to do Con damage without a save can be pretty useful.