Druid Help

[Takamari]

Alright, I'm making a druid NPC for a game I'm running. Standard elvin druid at 7th level. I don't know what feats to give him. I know it is argued as totally broken, but He will have Natural Spell. I dont' see him being the melee monster, but more of a spy/healer type. I don't usually play druids, so I could use a little help on his two remaining feats. I'm thinking track and improved initative.

What Say You?

[Bears With Lasers]

With Natural Spell, he can turn into a flying critter--an eagle, a dire hawk (Races of the Wild), etc. Then he can, say, cast Call Lightning (and Cloudburst, from the SpC, to make it rainy) and cause lightning to strike while chillin' in some tree somewhere.

For his other two feats, since he's not all about the melee, SF: Conjuration (prerequisite) and Augment Summoning.

[Takamari]

Is that really worth it though? I suppose so, since summon monster/natures ally can be really helpful. I was thinking about extra wild shape, but I'm unsure if it is really necessary or where to find it.

[Bears With Lasers]

Augment Summoning turns Summon Nature's Ally from "okay" into "pretty good".

If you want to get cheesetastic, the Greenbound Summoning feat from Lost Empires of Faerun is significantly more powerful, though.

[Takamari]

Thanks. Oh, can someone please tell me about this ranged cleric cheeze that I keep hearing about. I may be too tired to figure it out, but what is so fantastic. I love my clerics, but I'm just not seeing this one.

[Bears With Lasers]

It's not really cheese--melee clerics are generally tougher than archer clerics, since they get more out of, say, Righteous Might.

The basic idea of the cleric-archer is to get the basic ranged combat feats (PBS, Precise Shot, Rapid Shot) and usually Zen Archery, then proceed as normal. The result is a quite competent archer who has spellcasting capabilites.

Generally, you either have a human cleric with the War domain and a cause/god with favored weapon: longbow, or an elven cleric with the Elf domain and Time or Travel or some other high-quality domain, depending on their deity. The Elf domain grants Point Blank Shot for free.

The human takes PBS and Precise Shot at level 1; the elf takes Precise Shot. After that, either Zen Archery at 3 and Rapid Shot at 6, or vice-versa, depending on DEX/WIS discrepancy. At 9, Quicken Spell as usual.

Core buffs include Divine Favor (Quickened when you have the slots) and Divine Power for full BAB, plus Owl's Wisdom before you get a +4 WIS item. Repulsion and/or Antilife Shell can keep melee types away from you entirely at higher levels.

Noncore buffs include Divine Agility (5th level, +10 enhancement bonus to Dex, from the SpC) for non-Zen Archers.

Basically, you just use archery as any archer would, except you also cast spells when you want to.

[Takamari]

Alright, thats what I was thinking, but it seemed almost too simple. Though, with Zen Archery, can you swich it out? Say if you cast divine agility can you use your Dex modifier, or does it completely change what stat you may use?

[JaronK]

Use the Zen Archery feat to fire arrows based on Wisdom. Use Divine Persistant Metamagic to have Divine Favor and other useful buffs up all day long. Fire at will.

JaronK

[Bears With Lasers]

Alright, thats what I was thinking, but it seemed almost too simple. Though, with Zen Archery, can you swich it out? Say if you cast divine agility can you use your Dex modifier, or does it completely change what stat you may use?

No feat makes you use it when you'd be worse off using it. You can use WIS, but don't have to.

[Zincorium]

No feat makes you use it when you'd be worse off using it. You can use WIS, but don't have to.

A case could be made for monkey grip, but for the most part you're right.

Track isn't a very good use of a feat when you can take a single level of ranger and get it for free, but admittedly with a high wisdom and survival as a class skill, you're going to get as much use out of track as can be gotten out of track. Which isn't all that much, but hey.

Since you're making it as an NPC, the question needs to be asked as to whether you want to have the druid as an adversary or as a helping hand (or paw). For adversaries you'll want feats that are useful for single encounters, and either the druid will TPK the party (always possible), die, or escape to be encountered again much later.

[Takamari]

Since I don't know what everyone wants to play as of yet, I'm making the group NPC, or my character as the DM. Since we don't have too many PCs, me running an NPC character is helpful. I usually make odd NPCs to encourage my group to cover their bases. No, thats not true. I do it to make my PCs make a rogue and wizard. I love those classes, but the DM running them has led to much griping in my experience.