3.5 Druid build

[PoeticDwarf]

I'm new to 3.5, with some guys I play always 5e but our DM decided 3.5 could be cool once, I like to have many options so I think it is a nice idea.

After seeing some classes, I decided to go duskblade, because I want to have some magic but I also like to go melee, buffing isn't my thing really.

Then I saw the wild cohort feat, and because then you can go melee (your animal, of course) I thought something with 3/4 base attack bonus could be fitting too.

That's why I wanted to be a druid, having two animals with the feat (I'm going to take two wolfs, although riding dog is better) sounds cool and I have pretty good casting too. I made some builds, one focussed on summoning, one on stealth, and one who just goes for two times aspect of the wolf, switching to summoning, who doesn't go melee self (human or jermlain).

Now, at the end, my final build is finished, but I need some help with it. I'm not sure if I should go human or earth dwarf.
STR 16 (+2?)
DEX 12 (-2?)
CON 14 (+2?)
INT 14
WIS 14
CHA 8 (-2?)
Is there a better way to spend stats for a melee druid/packleader ? Maybe another race ?

The feat I have is wild cohort, maybe ashbound if I am going to be human or power attack (gives nothing on first level, also sad that I may not have greenbound summoning)

Not sure about the spells. Shillelagh or claws of the bear? Aspect of the wolf or leser vigor?

Please help with the spells, race decision, feat decision or new feat and maybe other stuff.

[Wacky89]

What level will you be starting at?
Druid's doesn't really need good physical stats, except constitution.
At level 5 you get wild shape, which gives you the physical stats of the animals you wild shape into.

[PoeticDwarf]

First level, stupid I forgot that.

I want to go melee before that, although it isn't optimal, that's why the high str.

[nedz]

Your highest stat should be Wisdom since that what fuels your spells.

Human is a good choice since you get an extra feat.

Are you building a summoner, or focusing on the companions ?
This will dictate your feat choice.

[Inevitability]

Don't be afraid to occasionally try something new. Even if you prepare spells that turn out to not be as effective as you hoped, all you need to replace them is a few hours of rest. The same goes for animal companions.

Do you really want to be a melee character at low levels? You already have two wolves with the ability to summon more. There is nothing wrong with staying in the back with a sling and the occasional buff for the first few levels, then start to melee once you get wildshape.

If you want to focus on your animals, you could take a level in the Beastmaster class. Note, however, that it requires an almost-useless feat and does not advance casting, so you might be better off not taking it.

[Warrnan]

Aspect of the wolf is sort of a waste at level one unless you are using it just for utility for the scent and low light vision. A 13 STR from wolf + your base attack at level one = +1 to hit. You are never going to hit with aspect of the wolf at level one.

Your dwarf or human STR is greater. Grab a spear and for 1.5x your str damage at low levels of scimitar and Heavy shield for +2 AC and better crit chance. Or you can just keep enrage animal on one of your companions and stay back.

[PoeticDwarf]

Don't be afraid to occasionally try something new. Even if you prepare spells that turn out to not be as effective as you hoped, all you need to replace them is a few hours of rest. The same goes for animal companions.

Do you really want to be a melee character at low levels? You already have two wolves with the ability to summon more. There is nothing wrong with staying in the back with a sling and the occasional buff for the first few levels, then start to melee once you get wildshape.

If you want to focus on your animals, you could take a level in the Beastmaster class. Note, however, that it requires an almost-useless feat and does not advance casting, so you might be better off not taking it.

It would be better to stay back and let my wolfs do the work, but going in myself gives my a satisfying (how do you even spell it) feeling and I like the strikes role (not that a druid is a striker at all).

[PoeticDwarf]

Aspect of the wolf is sort of a waste at level one unless you are using it just for utility for the scent and low light vision. A 13 STR from wolf + your base attack at level one = +1 to hit. You are never going to hit with aspect of the wolf at level one.

Your dwarf or human STR is greater. Grab a spear and for 1.5x your str damage at low levels of scimitar and Heavy shield for +2 AC and better crit chance. Or you can just keep enrage animal on one of your companions and stay back.
Oh I didn't read aspect of the wolf correctly, not gonna take it now.
So should I go dwarf or human? Spear was my plan anyway but it doesn't work with shillelagh, which is very strong.

[PoeticDwarf]

Your highest stat should be Wisdom since that what fuels your spells.

Human is a good choice since you get an extra feat.

Are you building a summoner, or focusing on the companions ?
This will dictate your feat choice.

I want to go for a melee druid, the reason my str is that high, I don't see where I should wisdom use for because spells I'm gonna choose don't need modfier, so a 14.

Any idea for the spells someone?

[Hiro Quester]

Once you get wildshape, you will be a melee fiend, and will not have to worry about physical stats. Your physical stats are replaced by the wildshape form's stats.

So you can dump Str and DEX (keep CON high, because your hit points are based on your natural CON).

Wisdom is most important. It powers all your spells (how difficult they are to resist, for example). You will want this as high as possible. All your level up bumps go here. After that, Con. Then Int (for skills) and CHA (a few of your abilities rely on CHA).

Aside from your Animal Companion, your other source of Melee action is your Nature Ally Summons. This is a Druid's specialty; you can prepare any possibly useful spell, and if you don't need it spontaneously convert it to a Summoned Nature's Ally.

And if you take Spell Focus (conjuration) and Augment Summons, all summoned animals come with +4STR and +4 CON. This makes a big big difference, especially at lower levels.

Let your animal companion(s) and summoned Nature's Allies take care of melee for you until 5th level when you get wildshape. 6th (with Natural Spell) to be able to cast in wildshape. Then you join the fray and can dominate melee.

Then you will also have access to a few useful self-buffs (that also buff your Animal Companion (up to 30 ft away if you take Companion Spellbond; from PH2).

Eggynack's Comprehensive Druid Handbook (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?439991-Being-Everything-Eggynack-s-Comprehensive-Druid-Handbook) will help you a LOT with highlighting build choices, play styles you can build towards, etc. (e.g. see his section (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1pooxPkI-orXC8MaSH7pzJ7D44oOQYwz4JIS6nseML38/edit#) on wildshaping; the way of the bear vs. the way of the bat).

EDIT: if your WIS is 14 you will not be able to learn anything above 4th levels spells.

To prepare or cast a spell, the druid must have a Wisdom score equal to at least 10 + the spell level. The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a druid’s spell is 10 + the spell level + the druid’s Wisdom modifier.

You will want those spells. For Melee Buffs, if nothing else.

Bite of the WereTiger, for example. A 5th level spell.
+12 enhancement bonus to Strength,
+4 enhancement bonus to Dexterity,
+6 enhancement bonus to Constitution,
+5 enhancement bonus to natural armor.

[nedz]

You need Wisdom because:
Wisdom 14 limits you to 4th level spells and gives bonus 1st and 2nd level spells.
Wisdom 16 limits you to 6th level spells and gives bonus 1st, 2nd and 3rd level spells.
Now you will be able to increase it later with items, but the bonus spells are useful.

Using a two handed weapon:
Strength 14 gives +2 to hit and +3 damage
Strength 16 gives +3 to hit and +4 damage

When you Wild shape your strength is replaced by that of the animal you turn into.

If you just want to smash things then go for the Shillelagh / Brambles / Spikes line of spells, possibly with Bulls Strength.

[Warrnan]

Shillelagh is a good idea if you can precast it. Other wise your wasted buffing round is a damage loss until after the 4th round of full attacking vs just saving your spells and using a spear. Claws of the bear is worse than shillelagh at low levels.

Battlefield control thru entangle and lesser vigor healing will provide your party with lots of utility. Produce flame once your in melee and you can share it with your pet for lots of fire damage added to his natural attacks and you can pimp slap the enemy's touch AC with the fire as well.

[Inevitability]

And if you take Spell Focus (conjuration) and Augment Summons, all summoned animals come with +4STR and +4 CON. This makes a big big difference, especially at lower levels.

Don't do this. Take Initiate of Malar instead. It does essentially the same (Augment Summons on all animals you summon) and gives you additional (and sometimes exclusive) spells on your spell list. While non-animals don't get the strength and constitution boosts, you probably weren't going to use those as beatsticks anyway.

The only problem is that it requires you to worship a bloodthirsty predator god, which your DM may frown upon (there's no actual alignment restriction, though).

[Hiro Quester]

Don't do this. Take Initiate of Malar instead. It does essentially the same (Augment Summons on all animals you summon) and gives you additional (and sometimes exclusive) spells on your spell list. While non-animals don't get the strength and constitution boosts, you probably weren't going to use those as beatsticks anyway.

The only problem is that it requires you to worship a bloodthirsty predator god, which your DM may frown upon (there's no actual alignment restriction, though).

I didn't consider that. Never had Faerun open when playing. This requires Faerun to be open. It helps to be a lycanthrope too.

No alignment requirement. But it seems Evil would be an advantage:


Malar, the Beastlord, was the lesser deity of the hunt, evil lycanthropes, bestial savagery and bloodlust. His dogma concerned savage hunts, the spreading of the curse of lycanthropy and general contempt for civilization.

[Inevitability]

It helps to be a lycanthrope too.

If LA buyoff is on the table, I recommend the quasilycanthrope (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/mb/20040721a) template instead.

[ImSAMazing]

Phrenic Incarnate Construct Warforged isn't bad either. +0 Wisdom, +2 Int, +4 Cha, acces to Psionic feats, nice Psionic powers(That scale with HD!), Power Resistance(HD+10) and a Psi point. +0 LA in total is the best part.
Or Lolth-touched Incarnate Construct Warforged, ending you up with +6 Str, +8 Con, -2 Wis and -2 Charisma(Not that bad if you actually go Melee), +4 on Move Silently checks, and you can apply another +1 LA template on it without an actual LA.
Or Draconic Incarnate Construct Warforged. Every template with +2 LA or less template that can be applied to (living) constructs are great for an Incarnate Construct Warforged.

In case you don't know Incarnate Construct Warforged, it's basically a Warforged(but a Humanoid because of the Incarnate Construct template) with -2 LA, so you can apply templates without actual LA.

[Inevitability]

Phrenic Incarnate Construct Warforged isn't bad either. +0 Wisdom, +2 Int, +4 Cha, acces to Psionic feats, nice Psionic powers(That scale with HD!), Power Resistance(HD+10) and a Psi point. +0 LA in total is the best part.
Or Lolth-touched Incarnate Construct Warforged, ending you up with +6 Str, +8 Con, -2 Wis and -2 Charisma(Not that bad if you actually go Melee), +4 on Move Silently checks, and you can apply another +1 LA template on it without an actual LA.
Or Draconic Incarnate Construct Warforged. Every template with +2 LA or less template that can be applied to (living) constructs are great for an Incarnate Construct Warforged.

In case you don't know Incarnate Construct Warforged, it's basically a Warforged(but a Humanoid because of the Incarnate Construct template) with -2 LA, so you can apply templates without actual LA.

Note though, that Incarnate Construct cheese is frowned upon at most tables, and in my experience many DMs do not allow people to play warforged in non-Eberron campaigns.