AC/Miss chance? (3.PF)

[WarKitty]

I'm playing a druid with enemies that have apparently wised up and started targetting me at range. I am planning to buy a monk's belt as soon as I can afford it. Currently working with wild full plate. I do not have a lot of hit points, so not getting hit is important. How do I avoid getting hit?

All 3.5 sources except SpC allowed. We're currently at level 6. I am taking Craft Wondrous Item at level 7, if that's relevant.

[gallagher]

I'm playing a druid with enemies that have apparently wised up and started targetting me at range. I am planning to buy a monk's belt as soon as I can afford it. Currently working with wild full plate. I do not have a lot of hit points, so not getting hit is important. How do I avoid getting hit?

All 3.5 sources except SpC allowed. We're currently at level 6. I am taking Craft Wondrous Item at level 7, if that's relevant.

you are a druid? summon scary looking things that are closer to them than you. wildshape into something that flies, go into the trees and hide while you have your summoned creature do the dirty work.

other than that, its a DC 15 ride check to get +4 AC from cover. hope you have an animal companion that you can ride

[WarKitty]

you are a druid? summon scary looking things that are closer to them than you. wildshape into something that flies, go into the trees and hide while you have your summoned creature do the dirty work.

other than that, its a DC 15 ride check to get +4 AC from cover. hope you have an animal companion that you can ride

That would be why I said they were targetting me at range. Melee is fine, but summons and flying don't do anything against the arrows and rays I'm getting shot with.

[mootoall]

That would be why I said they were targetting me at range. Melee is fine, but summons and flying don't do anything against the arrows and rays I'm getting shot with.

Summon something to draw their fire, preferably something with a ranged natural attack or a good movement speed. Wildshape into something reeeeeealy small. Fall prone. Have a big animal companion, be prone behind that. There, you're no longer being targeted by ranged attacks, because they can't hit you. Then, spells.

[WarKitty]

Summon something to draw their fire, preferably something with a ranged natural attack or a good movement speed. Wildshape into something reeeeeealy small. Fall prone. Have a big animal companion, be prone behind that. There, you're no longer being targeted by ranged attacks, because they can't hit you. Then, spells.

I've already maxed out the AC I can get from wildshape. They're ignoring any attempt to draw fire - I have 2 barbarians and a fighter to hide behind already, I don't need more meatshields. I just need some armor help here.

[SurlySeraph]

Wind Wall is pretty much immunity to arrows. And Barkskin always helps.

[Lateral]

Wand of Mirror Image nets you 1d4+1 images for 4500 GP. 6000 GP for 1d4+2, 7500 for 1d4+3, etc. The costs may be lower if you use MIC, but I don't have MIC. Mirror image is a great spell. Greater mirror image is amazing, but it's 4th level and the immediate casting time is useless with a wand.

Edit: Also, +1 to wind wall.

[randomhero00]

Sounds like problem then is more with the DM.

If it isn't, and they're being intelligent enemies. Then do the same. Hide for the first round. Try to get full cover and summon from there.

Get other party members (or hireling) to buff you.

[Lateral]

Yeah, what are the other members? Druids aren't great buffers, so a wizard or cleric would be nice.

[WarKitty]

Sounds like problem then is more with the DM.

If it isn't, and they're being intelligent enemies. Then do the same. Hide for the first round. Try to get full cover and summon from there.

Get other party members (or hireling) to buff you.

I'm not a summoner though. I'm a controller. Hence I need to be able to see what's going on, in dungeons that don't reliably provide hiding spots. Summoning is rather useless when you have 4 melee party members already.

And yeah, gank the caster is a pretty smart move on an intelligent enemy's part.

Edit: I'm the only full caster in the party. The other casters are a sorc/fighter gish and an alchemist. Other than that, we have a ranger, 2 barbarians, and a fighter.

[PersonMan]

+1 to going prone. It's +4 AC against ranged attacks, allows you to see combat as well as you normally can and doesn't require any specific investment.

[Grelna the Blue]

Cloak of Minor Displacement gives you a 20% miss chance from any attack, melee or ranged, so long as it is worn. IMO better than the Cloak of Major Displacement which gives you a 50% miss chance for 15 rounds/day.

Do you generally give yourself Resist Energy: Fire or have any items that'll do it for you?

[ericgrau]

Don't forget that an ally gives +4 AC against ranged attacks from soft cover. If you're afraid to trap yourself by going prone you can kneel for +2 ranged AC. I think it's a move action that doesn't provoke to stand up from a kneel. You can also get a wild shield. A whopping 24,000 gp for a mere 20% makes cloak of minor displacement pretty lousy until later. AC is likely to be cheaper until high levels.

But ya druid base AC is pretty low so you need alternate methods like tactics and spells to protect you. Druids get a lot of crowd control spells you can use to lessen the damage to yourself and the whole party. Some like walls may even help with ranged attacks. I wouldn't summon during the fight too much because a 1 round casting time makes summons easy to disrupt with ranged attacks. Wind wall is okay if you expect arrows every fight, but if you face a variety of attacks like spells, boulders, melee, etc. too it's not that good as it might turn into a wasted spell slot. Instead try spells like sleet storm, fog cloud, wall of thorns and maybe obscuring mist. There are many other crowd control spells to use against melee too.

[WarKitty]

Cloak of Minor Displacement gives you a 20% miss chance from any attack, melee or ranged, so long as it is worn. IMO better than the Cloak of Major Displacement which gives you a 50% miss chance for 15 rounds/day.

Do you generally give yourself Resist Energy: Fire or have any items that'll do it for you?

I'm pretty sure I have a spell that will do that, why?

[mootoall]

Also, if you want to stop getting hurt by ranged attacks, and if you've really maxxed wild shape AC, then you'll do best applying ranged penatlies to your opponents' attacks. Entangle's good for ganking ranged enemies. Summon some Monstrous Spiders to Web them. Stuff like that.

[Grelna the Blue]

I'm pretty sure I have a spell that will do that, why?

As stated by SurlySeraph above, Wind Wall will save you from the arrows, so I was just thinking about the rays you mentioned. Scorching Ray is the favored PC hurter of quite a few GMs. Or is your GM one of those who prefers Enervation?

Regardless, Resist Energy is only a 2nd level spell for you, it lasts 10 minutes/level, and it scales in its protective value with level (10 points of typed energy resistance/round at 3rd level, 20 points at 7th level, and 30 points at 1th level. If you expect to face a caster or a dragon on any given day, you should have at least one Resist Energy in your lineup unless you have an item that does it continuously.

[Lateral]

Enervation is only used by eeeeeeeevil DMs. It's an okay way of taking out a monster, but on a PC? They have a good chance of losing levels permanently. Only cruel DMs...

[WarKitty]

Also, if you want to stop getting hurt by ranged attacks, and if you've really maxxed wild shape AC, then you'll do best applying ranged penatlies to your opponents' attacks. Entangle's good for ganking ranged enemies. Summon some Monstrous Spiders to Web them. Stuff like that.

With pathfinder rules there's really not a lot of maxing to do with wild shape. Any good ideas for spells to use, preferably ones that won't also gank my sword-wielding companions? Web from the spiders looks nice, but summons take forever.

[mootoall]

With pathfinder rules there's really not a lot of maxing to do with wild shape. Any good ideas for spells to use, preferably ones that won't also gank my sword-wielding companions? Web from the spiders looks nice, but summons take forever.

Entangle's always great if you can get your party out of its range/you have green stuff in the dungeons.

Not too familiar with PF, but don't smaller sizes let you get better AC there anyway?

[olentu]

Enervation is only used by eeeeeeeevil DMs. It's an okay way of taking out a monster, but on a PC? They have a good chance of losing levels permanently. Only cruel DMs...

Not from enervation I recall. I suppose they could lose a level from getting enervated to death but they could die from some other thing anyway.

[Eldariel]

Enervation is only used by eeeeeeeevil DMs. It's an okay way of taking out a monster, but on a PC? They have a good chance of losing levels permanently. Only cruel DMs...

Isn't that pretty par de course in D&D? I mean, dying costs you a level too. And happens every once in a while. And tons of undead drain levels. And so on. I thought people were used to levels and items coming and going by now.

[WarKitty]

Entangle's always great if you can get your party out of its range/you have green stuff in the dungeons.

Not too familiar with PF, but don't smaller sizes let you get better AC there anyway?

You get a +1 to AC from each size category smaller than medium.

Also, as I recall it was a modified ray of enfeeblement that did charisma damage last time.

[Lateral]

Isn't that pretty par de course in D&D? I mean, dying costs you a level too. And happens every once in a while. And tons of undead drain levels. And so on. I thought people were used to levels and items coming and going by now.

No, getting energy drained loses you lots of levels, with only one touch attack and one save. Only extremely gritty games play like that. However-

Not from enervation I recall. I suppose they could lose a level from getting enervated to death but they could die from some other thing anyway.

-He's correct. I forgot that enervation can't become permanent, my bad.

[Grelna the Blue]

Enervation is only used by eeeeeeeevil DMs. It's an okay way of taking out a monster, but on a PC? They have a good chance of losing levels permanently. Only cruel DMs...

Nah, it's not that bad. 3rd paragraph of the spell:

Assuming the subject survives, it regains lost levels after a number of hours equal to your caster level (maximum 15 hours). Usually, negative levels have a chance of permanently draining the victim’s levels, but the negative levels from enervation don’t last long enough to do so.

It's a nasty spell, no doubt, and no joke when cast on a PC, but although it could kill them and will screw with their spellcasting and saves and to hits, it won't permanently remove levels. Edit: Shoulda read through the thread. I don't think this even qualifies as a ninja moment.

Energy Drain, now that's a different story. But I've never been in a campaign where the GM was throwing those around.

[WarKitty]

So far we have the cloak of minor displacement and/or wand of mirror image. I'd rather not burn combat rounds if I don't have to. Prone possibly, I'm usually using flying and I'd rather not give it up (helps me avoid AoE enemies).

[mootoall]

So far we have the cloak of minor displacement and/or wand of mirror image. I'd rather not burn combat rounds if I don't have to. Prone possibly, I'm usually using flying and I'd rather not give it up (helps me avoid AoE enemies).

If your DM will allow it, the Lords of Madness Smoking enhancement on a weapon is pretty awesome. 20% miss chance for a +1 bonus. I'm not sure if it stacks with Cloak of Minor Displacement, or if your opponent would just have to roll two miss chances, but either way, it's a nice thing to get.

[WarKitty]

If your DM will allow it, the Lords of Madness Smoking enhancement on a weapon is pretty awesome. 20% miss chance for a +1 bonus. I'm not sure if it stacks with Cloak of Minor Displacement, or if your opponent would just have to roll two miss chances, but either way, it's a nice thing to get.

How does that interact with wild shape?

[mootoall]

How does that interact with wild shape?

Hmm, well it probably doesn't, unless you can get it on your natural weapons. Can you enchant your natural weapons? I don't think so, since otherwise I'd be seeing a lot more talk of +1 Flaming Colliding Wounding BEARS ... you could find out if any of your flying forms could use the footbow, the weapon from Races of Destiny. You wouldn't be proficient with it, but you probably won't be attacking with it either. You only have to hold it to use the enhancement.

[WarKitty]

Hmm, well it probably doesn't, unless you can get it on your natural weapons. Can you enchant your natural weapons? I don't think so, since otherwise I'd be seeing a lot more talk of +1 Flaming Colliding Wounding BEARS ... you could find out if any of your flying forms could use the footbow, the weapon from Races of Destiny. You wouldn't be proficient with it, but you probably won't be attacking with it either. You only have to hold it to use the enhancement.

I do already have a necklace of natural attacks, now that I think about it, enchanted with +1 warning. It's easier in PF since worn magic items retain their effects.

[mootoall]

I do already have a necklace of natural attacks, now that I think about it, enchanted with +1 warning. It's easier in PF since worn magic items retain their effects.

Oh, okay. Then see if you can't add it on next time you can upgrade. And see what your DM says about it stacking/forcing another d% roll.