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  1. - Top - End - #1
    Pixie in the Playground
     
    ClericGuy

    Join Date
    May 2020

    smile Need help with making a Druid character

    Friends and I had a campaign in 2012, stopped playing because of life and recently decided to continue it. Dm lost a few characters and now I have to make a new one.

    I want to make a Druid (never played one before). My Dm is finicky about insanely op characters.


    I figure that for stats wisdom and con are probably the most important stats for a Druid as wild shape changes str and dex. Cha Or Int might be a third or fourth stat to focus on but I am unsure.

    Race

    I was thinking human, half-orc, maybe elf. Or a small race of some sort. Do won’t go for animalistic races.

    Any advice is greatly appreciated.

    Thanks

  2. - Top - End - #2
    Barbarian in the Playground
     
    GreenSorcererElf

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    Default Re: Need help with making a Druid character

    If you don't want to be OP just don't take natural spell and take an "eh" PrC like Holt Warden other wise stright druid
    Get your physics out of my D&D!

    Proudly Chaotic

    Optimism is delusion pessimism will save the world

  3. - Top - End - #3
    Titan in the Playground
    Join Date
    Dec 2004

    Default Re: Need help with making a Druid character

    Gnomes get a Con bonus, Whisper Gnome in RoS is probably better. Air Gnomes don't have a Con bonus, but don't need to breathe in any form (which means aquatic forms on land won't suffocate).

    Just stick to Druid for your entire career. Take Companion Spellbond, Natural Bond, Natural Spell, Multiattack, and probably Improved Multiattack. Get a Tiger animal companion and Natural Bond helps make up for the penalty to your effective Druid level toward is benefits. If you can take flaws get Spell Focus: Conjuration and Augment Summoning.

    Get Wilding Clasps in MIC, put one on a Monk's Belt to add your Wis bonus to your AC when you're unarmored. Get wild armor and when you're wild shaped you retain its armor bonus but you're not considered to be armored, so you also get the monk bonus. The Trappings of the Beast set in CC is pretty decent for that. The Raiment of the Stormwalker and/or Raiment of the Four sets in MIC can be used to fill out your other slots. Always wear a Circlet of Rapid Casting (MIC) if you can afford it. Use MIC p234 to put generic bonuses on your interesting items, which is especially good with items from those sets that don't require a wilding clasp to function when you're wild shaped. Be sure to pick up a few Lesser Metamagic Rods of Extend, one function of any belt including a magical one is to hold other items, so the wilding clasp on your monk's belt should make it so any items on your belt also benefit from the clasp's effect.

    Get a stand Metamagic Rod of Extend and a 6th level Pearl of Power. Every other day prepare Energy Immunity (SC) twice, and use those items to cast it three times so each lasts 48 hours. On the days in between prepare Superior Resistance (SC) and Energy Immunity each once, use the rod to cast those and the rod and pearl to cast Energy Immunity again, those last 48 hours. So for two 6th level spell slots per day and the cost of those two items, you're always immune to all five energy types and you get a +6 resistance bonus to all your saving throws.

    If you need healing or a Magic Circle Against Evil, spontaneously cast a Summon Nature's Ally for a Unicorn. Don't forget about the Ring of the Beast's effect. Use the form of something burly like a Dire Bear, start a fight by casting Summon Nature's Ally for multiple lions, then on the next round cast Animal Growth on those and your animal companion and yourself. You can cast Enhance Wild Shape (SC) to turn into a combat form, then turn into another form like a bird which replaces your previous one, then when you dismiss that second form you go back to that previous one as long as it's still within the hour/level duration.

    The best crowd controls are Wall of Smoke, Kelpstrand , Sleet Storm, Wall of Thorns, and Call Avalanche. If you need to cast a damaging spell, Lesser Rod of Extended Creeping Cold does 21d6 damage over six rounds. Prepare each of those a few times and also get plenty of utility and situational spells since you can swap anything out for a Summon Nature's Ally when needed.


    An alternate build would be something like a Wild Elf or Snow Elf (for weapon proficiencies), Druid 8/ Suel Arcanamach 2/ Arcane Hierophant 2+. Use the Otyugh Hole to get the Iron Will prerequisite for Suel Arcanamach. Feats are mostly the same but replace Improved Multiattack with Combat Casting and try to squeeze in Practiced Spellcaster for SA.

  4. - Top - End - #4
    Ogre in the Playground
     
    OrcBarbarianGuy

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    Default Re: Need help with making a Druid character

    What defines OP in your group as El Minster said natural spell on its own makes druids incredibly powerful since you retain the ability to cast in other forms? However, that also depends on your play style and form choices. Also what is the rest of the team playing, what role are you looking to fill, and what level are you starting?

    For the most part wis and con are your most important stats, dex and str are dump stats after level 5~ after that probably int then cha.

    Human is a great race choice, half-orc has some interesting ACF and besides that it is good to look for races that give plus to con and don't take hits to wis, int or cha.

  5. - Top - End - #5
    Barbarian in the Playground
     
    GreenSorcererElf

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    Default Re: Need help with making a Druid character

    or if you're looking for an OP build I hear some anthropomorphic animals get Wis bonuses and +0 LA
    Get your physics out of my D&D!

    Proudly Chaotic

    Optimism is delusion pessimism will save the world

  6. - Top - End - #6
    Firbolg in the Playground
     
    Kobold

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    Default Re: Need help with making a Druid character

    Just read the handbook linked here, but carefully choose options that are fun but not the strongest.

    Druid is in a tie for most overpowered class in the game, and is the clear frontrunner for easiest class with which to accidentally break campaigns in half.

    https://forums.giantitp.com/showthre...Druid-Handbook

  7. - Top - End - #7
    Bugbear in the Playground
     
    DruidGuy

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    Jun 2018
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    New England

    Default Re: Need help with making a Druid character

    What Biffonacious and Gavinfoxxx said.

    From your original post, Con is not so important as you regain all hit points (and recalculate for your new Con mod) when you wild shape, and you can make use of wands of the vigor line of spells for cheap out of combat healing as they are on your spell list.

    Also, Half Orc Druid Racial substitution levels get you the Augment Summoning feat for free. Fleshraker Dinosaur is a little better than a tiger, plus it has venom, making it a target for spells/effects that augment poisons. Dire Eagle is a solid choice if you want a flying mount animal companion.
    Claws of the Beast (savage species) with a Wilding Charm will enhance all claw attacks you make in wild shape without eating up a feat for improved natural attack. If the DM allows, pay for a Warbeast (MM3) version of the tiger or fleshraker; or invest some xp in the Companion Enhancing ritual in Masters of the Wild, it adds hit dice to your animal companion before the bonuses from the Druid animal companion table are added; base attack, saves, feats and Size of the animal are calculated based on hit dice-bonuses from bonus hit dice on the Druid table are arguable (size increases especially).

    If you’re not aware, the Sanctified spells in Champions of Valor and Book of Exalted Deeds add themselves to the Druid list. There’s a couple good ones, some not so good,but more options are more options.

    Unless you want to get into alternate wild shape forms like giants or vermin or aberrations, the only Druid prestige class that’s worth it is Lion of Talisid (BoED), it has a junk feat as a prerequisite, but gives you improvements without costing you anything in b.a.b. or casting. If your DM is against high op builds stay away from Planar Shephard, it is very overpowered with time shenanigans.

  8. - Top - End - #8
    Firbolg in the Playground
     
    Kobold

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    Default Re: Need help with making a Druid character

    Oh! One thing you can do is build an extra powerful Druid, for the fun of learning the cool stuff they can do...

    ...and just not use half of your abilities or options, unless you're facing a TPK or something. Sandbag, and sandbag hard, until suddenly, at a critical moment, you don't.

    https://forums.giantitp.com/showthre...-letting-loose

  9. - Top - End - #9
    Ogre in the Playground
     
    Hiro Quester's Avatar

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    Dec 2013

    Default Re: Need help with making a Druid character

    Quote Originally Posted by DwarvenWarCorgi View Post
    From your original post, Con is not so important as you regain all hit points (and recalculate for your new Con mod) when you wild shape,
    Not true. Your con determines your hit points and these don't change as you wildshape. So a good con in your original form is rather important.

    Quote Originally Posted by Alternate Form
    • The creature gains the physical ability scores (Str, Dex, Con) of its new form. It retains the mental ability scores (Int, Wis, Cha) of its original form. Apply any changed physical ability score modifiers in all appropriate areas with one exception: the creature retains the hit points of its original form despite any change to its Constitution.
    I played a druid as a forest gnome in our last campaign. forest gnome gets some very useful boosts (con) as well as a speak with animals ability that is very useful and thematic.

    My advice is to lean hard on the roleplaying, and take your foot off the optimization pedal (to totally mix metaphors). Biff's advice above is awesome to make one of the most game-breakingly powerful PCs at your table. Try to find a character-driven story, and do what that character would do.

    I played a shy gnome with 8 CHA, who was completely mortified whenever he had to talk to people, and often offended people when he did. But he liked cats (favored cat wildshape--tiger most of all, and took Lion of Talisid PrC to lean harder on that). Bears are more powerful, but the characters preference kept me from using Bear wild shapes, summons, and AC to really stomp on things. plus the cat's pounce ability is great.

    And talk to your DM a lot. If you talk, about what kinds of druid options would just curb stomp an encounter that would otherwise be a fun challenge for the whole party, you all will have a lot of fun.

    E.g. my DM and I agreed that a giant squid wildshape, with 10 tentacle attacks would just be too much. My Dm and I also agreed that I would stop focussing on summoning after about 9th level, because with augment summons feat, me summoning a bunch of giant crocodiles made it very hard to challenge me in tiger wildshape, my tiger AC and 1d4 giant crocodiles, with enemies that would not have a good chance of totally killing my less optimized party members. (He let me retrain the feat.)

    And doubleplusgood on Eggynack's Druid guide. It's a library of a tome, but it's extremely useful at the basic bits as well as perhaps overly comprehensive at all the obscure ways to optimize.
    Last edited by Hiro Quester; 2020-07-01 at 11:16 PM.
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  10. - Top - End - #10
    Ogre in the Playground
     
    OldWizardGuy

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    Default Re: Need help with making a Druid character

    Quote Originally Posted by DwarvenWarCorgi View Post
    From your original post, Con is not so important as you regain all hit points (and recalculate for your new Con mod) when you wild shape, and you can make use of wands of the vigor line of spells for cheap out of combat healing as they are on your spell list.
    Quote Originally Posted by Hiro Quester View Post
    Not true. Your con determines your hit points and these don't change as you wildshape. So a good con in your original form is rather important.
    You retain your own Con when you Wild Shape, but you do regain lost HPs as if you'd rested for a night (which is 1HP per level, not all lost HPs).

    Quote Originally Posted by Druid
    Each time you use wild shape, you regain lost hit points as if you had rested for a night.
    https://www.d20srd.org/srd/classes/druid.htm

    Quote Originally Posted by Natural Healing
    With a full night’s rest (8 hours of sleep or more), you recover 1 hit point per character level.
    https://www.d20srd.org/srd/combat/in...naturalHealing

  11. - Top - End - #11
    Pixie in the Playground
     
    ClericGuy

    Join Date
    May 2020

    Default Re: Need help with making a Druid character

    So my dm is telling us that we have access to a very limited portion of magic items. We are all lvl 13 and the most we have access to is max +3 weapons and armor anything else outside of that we are only allowed +1 items or items Under 3,000gp.

    So I went with the vow of poverty instead.

    I am a whisper gnome who wants to use his Animal Companion (Fleshraker) as a mount when the need arrises and wanted to get some normal barding with either easy to find (Bark) or make armor (Cord) material to equip her with, as well as a simple medium or large sack to carry 1 day food for my AC, some rope which will tie a natural Druidic type bedroll of some sort to the barding (if that’s allowed)

    If I did this would that break the vow of poverty?
    Last edited by Damaskinous; 2020-07-05 at 05:44 PM.

  12. - Top - End - #12
    Barbarian in the Playground
     
    WhiteWizardGirl

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    Aug 2017

    Default Re: Need help with making a Druid character

    Quote Originally Posted by Damaskinous View Post
    So my dm is telling us that we have access to a very limited portion of magic items. We are all lvl 13 and the most we have access to is max +3 weapons and armor anything else outside of that we are only allowed +1 items or items Under 3,000gp.

    So I went with the vow of poverty instead.

    I am a whisper gnome who wants to use his Animal Companion (Fleshraker) as a mount when the need arrises and wanted to get some normal barding with either easy to find (Bark) or make armor (Cord) material to equip her with, as well as a simple medium or large sack to carry 1 day food for my AC, some rope which will tie a natural Druidic type bedroll of some sort to the barding (if that’s allowed)

    If I did this would that break the vow of poverty?
    So, looking at the Feat's "Special" restriction:
    Quote Originally Posted by Vow of Poverty
    To fulfill your vow, you must not own or use any material possessions, with the following exceptions: You may carry and use ordinary (neither magic nor masterwork) simple weapons, usually just a quarterstaff that serves as a walking stick. You may wear simple clothes (usually just a homespun robe, possibly also including a hat and sandals) with no magical properties. You may carry enough food to sustain you for one day in a simple (nonmagic) sack or bag. You may carry and use a spell component pouch. You may not use any magic item of any sort, though you can benefit from magic items used on your behalf—you can drink a potion of cure serious wounds a friend gives you, receive a spell cast from a wand, scroll, or staff, or ride on your companion's ebony fly. You may not, however, "borrow" a cloak of resistance or any other magic item from a companion for even a single round, nor may you yourself cast a spell from a scroll, wand, or staff. If you break your vow, you immediately and irrevocably lose the benefit of this feat. You may not take another feat to replace it.
    So, no rope, because rope is not listed in the exceptions of Simple weapons, simple clothes, 1 day of food, bag, and pouch. Further, you can't carry food for your companion either, as the restriction is "You may carry enough food to sustain you for one day" (emphasis mine)
    You also can't give your animal companion armor, for the same reason that even items that you craft yourself, or those without value, still cannot be owned or used by a character under a Vow of Poverty. Your friends could give your animal companion armor though, because "you" wouldn't be using or owning it.
    Last edited by Evoker; 2020-07-05 at 05:59 PM.

  13. - Top - End - #13
    Firbolg in the Playground
     
    Kobold

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    Default Re: Need help with making a Druid character

    If you are level 13, just remember that if the campaign difficulty gets upped significantly, you can just Wild Shape 24/7.

    Or you could just take Dragon Wild Shape as your l12 feat and be able to talk while wild shaped into a dragon, again 24/7.

    But that isn't sandbagging. That's something you have available to do, and then do if the GM seems to have started a day where he's badly balanced the fights.


    What's the total GP value of equipment, TOTAL, he is allowing you? After all, a +3 armor is ~9kgp, a +3 shield is ~9k gp, and a +3 weapon is ~18k gp. Not too problematic, really.

    The limit of +3 armor and whatnot is just the per item limit, not the total wealth allowed. Did you show him the DMG wealth by level chart?

    Also, if he's interested in limiting wealth, look at the various Vow of Poverty fixes bouncing around (here are a few)


    https://forums.giantitp.com/showthre...of-Poverty-Fix

    https://forums.giantitp.com/showthre...-Poverty-Remix

    https://forums.giantitp.com/showthre...of-Poverty-Fix

    https://forums.giantitp.com/showthre...Vow-of-Poverty

    find one you think might be least objectionable to him, and ask if he's making the fix available for a low-wealth game.
    Last edited by Gavinfoxx; 2020-07-05 at 06:00 PM.

  14. - Top - End - #14
    Titan in the Playground
    Join Date
    Dec 2004

    Default Re: Need help with making a Druid character

    Quote Originally Posted by Damaskinous View Post
    So my dm is telling us that we have access to a very limited portion of magic items. We are all lvl 13 and the most we have access to is max +3 weapons and armor anything else outside of that we are only allowed +1 items or items Under 3,000gp.

    So I went with the vow of poverty instead.

    I am a whisper gnome who wants to use his Animal Companion (Fleshraker) as a mount when the need arrises and wanted to get some normal barding with either easy to find (Bark) or make armor (Cord) material to equip her with, as well as a simple medium or large sack to carry 1 day food for my AC, some rope which will tie a natural Druidic type bedroll of some sort to the barding (if that’s allowed)

    If I did this would that break the vow of poverty?
    Fleshrakers have poison on their attacks, which you can't have if you're exalted, per BoED p34:
    "Using poison that deals ability damage is an evil act because it causes undue suffering in the process of incapacitating or killing an opponent."

    Ideally you'll want to use one of your bonus exalted feats to get Exalted Companion, then get a celestial version of whatever animal companion you pick, and your companion can then also take Vow of Poverty. It just can't be something that has a poison attack that can't be turned off.

    Don't worry about using it as a mount, you're better off just never coming out of wild shape. I recommend saying your character is from the appropriate region of Eberron (or equivalent for your current setting) to get a Magebred Ghost Tiger from the book Five Nations as a 'level -6' companion. It has a specific exception to the general rule that you can't get a magebred animal companion. Adding Celestial Creature via Exalted Companion makes it 'level -7' and with Natural Bond it becomes 'level -4' to your effective Druid level for its animal companion benefits. So it's normally 6 HD, the Druid 9 companion benefits add another 6 HD, and you should still be able to apply Warbeast for another +1 HD. You can't repick the feats printed for it, but it gains a feat at its 9th and 12th HD which can be Sacred Vow and Vow of Poverty. Even if you can't use the Magebred Ghost Tiger, just a standard Tiger is probably your best choice, and all the other things can still be applied.

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