Druid tips [3.5]

[rezplz]

So my dad's a player in a campaign I'm DMing, and he's playing a druid - problem is, neither of us know how to make a druid reach it's OMGAWESOME potential. So I was wondering if you had some tips for how to make him more effective.

He's a druid level 9 (just leveled), with the following ability scores.

STR 10
DEX 14
CON 14
INT 14
WIS 16 (18 with periapt of WIS +2)
CHA 10.

His equipment is: Scimitar, some kind of wildwood breastplate +1 (I forget what book its in, but druids can use it, and it gives 4 AC, max dex 4), a heavy shield, amulet of natural armor _1, ring of protection +1.

((I realized after tonight's session that I haven't been giving much gear that he can use, so I plan on fixing that in future sessions))

feats are: Domain focus (healing), augment healing, spontanious healer, craft wand, and he just took elephant's hide.

He took an eagle animal companion. He tends to favor healing (as obvious by his feat choices) and blasty spells.



The rest of the party is:

Human Barbarian 7/ranger 1 - probably the best of the group right now. Had a nice crowning moment of awesome in the last boss fight, too. Damage dealer. Power attack, just took leap attack. Was thinking of going bear warrior, but decided against it when he realized he wouldn't be able to use his greataxe if he was, you know, a bear.

Elf scout X/psion X. Total level 8. I don't remember how many levels he has of each, since I don't have his character sheet on me. Hasn't been too effective, not in the least because the group doesn't ever let him do his job and actually SCOUT or search for traps. Used to be a catfolk until he was reincarnated as an elf after dying. Got kinda shafted there.

Human fighter 7/ranger 1. Also not very effective because his feats are all over the place. Usually uses a greatsword, but he also took two-weapon fighting(which he's never used), and point blank shot/rapid shot. Working with him on rebuilding a bit.

Dwarf blaster wizard 9. He's been slightly effective. Might suggest to him that he do less blasty spells, but since we've been fighting larger numbers of semi-weaker things, he hasn't been doing too bad.

[Goonthegoof]

His problems:

He started with wisdom 18. Even if he can't get a race with +wisdom to start, he needs to start with as high a wisdom score as possible.

He has an eagle companion. If you must have an eagle at least get a Dire Eagle(RoS) for a companion, but something like a fleshraker dinosaur, brown bear or giant crocodile would be a much better pet.

He doesn't have Natural Spell. Druids need natural spell, period. He probably wants Natural Bond, too, but that's not quite as urgent.

The armour sounds like Wild Armour to me.

[rezplz]

-Up wisdom (Maybe dump CON, since wildshape replaces his CON score?)

-just remembered natural spell, told him about it. He'll probably take that instead of elephant's hide.

What book is natural bond in, and what does it do?

Also, he just got a bunch of gold dragon hide from slaying a couple undead dragons, and he has a wilding clasp - so he'll probably make some better armor from that and put the wilding clasp on it.

[Goonthegoof]

Wildshape doesn't replace your hp any more. Your con score gets replaced, but your hp total stays the same in any form. Natural Bond is in Complete Adventurer page 111, it increases your effective druid level by 3 in determining your animal companion's bonuses, to a maximum of your class level. So basically it's great unless your companion is something like an eagle or a dog that you get at first level.

From the look of your stats you guys used 28 point buy, so optimal would be something like

8 str
10 dex
14 con
18 wis
14 int
8 cha

[sonofzeal]

1) Highly encourage the "Natural Spell" feat.

2) Toss out Wildling Clasps for treasure

3) Point him towards some really good forms (I like Fleshraker, Deinonychus, Dire Hawk, and Polar Bear).

4) Encourage him to use his spontaneous summoning effectively. Three weak animals right in front of the enemy may not do much damage, but will usually buy some good time for the rest of the party.

5) Point him towards spells that can help prevent damage in the first place, like Entangle and Wall of Thorns (and the Summons). Remind him that Summon Nature's Ally V can summon 1d3 unicorns, which can fight, clog up the field, and heal, at the same time.

[gorfnab]

Natural Bond is in Complete Adventurer.
Also you may want to read through The Druid Handbook

[Goonthegoof]

Oh yeah, forms. He's level 9, so good forms are: Cave Tyrannosaurus, Polar Bear, Smilodon, Desmodu Guard Bat.

For druid optimization the best source is this druid handbook.

[sonofzeal]

Oh yeah, forms. He's level 9, so good forms are: Cave Tyrannosaurus, Polar Bear, Smilodon, Desmodu Guard Bat.

"The form chosen must be that of an animal the druid is familiar with." That last one may be difficult. Really, so may some of the others, not that they aren't good forms.

[Goonthegoof]

"The form chosen must be that of an animal the druid is familiar with." That last one may be difficult. Really, so may some of the others, not that they aren't good forms.

Depends on the DM, really. Familiarity basically consists or high Knowledge: Nature or a good library and the ability to scry.

[sonofzeal]

Depends on the DM, really. Familiarity basically consists or high Knowledge: Nature or a good library and the ability to scry.

It's still a substantial barrier for something as specific as a Desmodu Guard Bat. I don't think a DM would be remiss in asking for some solid backstory justification for that one, given that it's a specially-bred creature belonging to a rare and fairly powerful race.

[Pluto]

feats are: Domain focus (healing), augment healing, spontanious healer, craft wand, and he just took elephant's hide.

Ew. Even for a healer.

Elephant's Hide implies that he isn't using his daily Wild Shapes. That could be your problem.

You say that your group does rebuilding. If that's the case, retraining Domain Focus to Natural Spell would go a long way.

And why is he using Augment Healing and Spontaneous Healer when he has Craft Wand? If he's using spell slots for healing instead of buffs/battlefield control/utility/even blasting, he isn't bringing any action to the table. He has wands for that.

[Dr Bwaa]

Ew. Even for a healer.

Elephant's Hide implies that he isn't using his daily Wild Shapes. That could be your problem.

You say that your group does rebuilding. If that's the case, retraining Domain Focus to Natural Spell would go a long way.

And why is he using Augment Healing and Spontaneous Healer when he has Craft Wand? If he's using spell slots for healing instead of buffs/battlefield control/utility/even blasting, he isn't bringing any action to the table. He has wands for that.

This. And everything everyone else has said. He needs to be using his wild shape, and he needs to have natural spell. Then, he needs to make sure he's using the right druid blasty spells (if that's what he wants to do), because some of them (looking at you, Call Lightning) are really underwhelming, and some of them can completely lay waste to your enemies in seconds (Quill Blast and Spike Stones immediately come to mind. If you've got a wizard who can Mass Suggestion the survivors of the Quill Blast into "I suggest that you take all those terrible spikes out of your friends ASAP!", you've got the battle won right there )

[jiriku]

Dump the healing feats. Druids heal very poorly, but they DPS well. Dead monsters can't deal any damage...if you get my meaning.

Others have mentioned that he should get natural spell and start *using* his wild shapes. This is good advice. Be warned that updating stats when you change forms is a MAJOR MATH ATTACK. I recommend that you have him prepare stats for each form on notecards or Excel spreadsheets or something. During combat, only allow him to change forms into something for which he has stats prepared - otherwise everyone has to stop gaming for 15 minutes while the druid figures out his bonuses.

Encourage him to explore summoning. I run a game in which one player plays a druid, and if he can get off two or three rounds of summoning, the numeric advantage players gain usually makes the remainder of the fight a cakewalk. Plus, damage that summoned monsters take is damage that you don't have to heal.

The eagle companion has got to go. If he's really attached to it, recommend a dire eagle instead.

When spellcasting, he should learn that the obvious way is usually not the best way. When a party member is menaced by a bruiser monster, casting cure moderate wounds to heal his ally seems like a good idea. However, casting kelpstrand or soften earth and stone to disable the monster while the ally moves to safety and attacks from range is often more effective.

[Hawk7915]

Looking at the rest of the party, using too much of this advice is going to be total overkill. Dropping all the healing feats and probably Elephant's Hide for Natural Spell, Extend Spell, and...anything, really, is a better way to go. As noted with Craft Wand he can just make a few wands of Cure Light Wounds to stabilize people with and a few wands of Lesser Vigor for out-of-combat patching up, and dedicate his feat slots of buffing, summoning, battlefield control, and even blasting if he really wants too. Taking Empower/Widen for being a "caster" druid or Spell Focus: Conjuration/Augment Summoning for a "summoner" are good uses of feats.

After that, just using his wild shaping more and casting better spells than Cure Serious Wounds should make him golden and head-and-shoulders above the rest of the party. Swap animal companions, start using ridiculously OP forms, and allow stat rebuilding if everyone else takes a level in bad****