Who wants to be a Wayfinder?
SelcSilverhand
First Post
I know how hard it is balancing RL stuff with play time so I can completely understand. I hope you do great on your exams and feel free to pop in now and then. If it ever slows down for you we'll have a spot open for you!
If you guys are really interested in continuing the story line, I'm still all for it. We can reopen the thread to recruitment and see if we can hook some new players.
If you guys are really interested in continuing the story line, I'm still all for it. We can reopen the thread to recruitment and see if we can hook some new players.
SelcSilverhand
First Post
I added a new recruitment thread here since I can't edit the one at the beginning of this thread. Hopefully we'll get some interest. Though if this doesn't generate any, I might consider running a pathfinder game. I'm DM'ing the first adventure path right now, we're starting the Hook Mountain Massacre tomorrow.
Looks like we have some good nibbles, at least. In the meantime, anyone mind if I brainstorm on Midian's character progession?
I've been trying to figure out how Seeqir's death might affect him. His general druid philosophy's already been altered; he started out with the (intentionally) simplistic belief that everything that existed was part of nature. Several encounters with nasty undead have brought him to a point where I think he's pretty sure necromancy isn't something he's keen on. That combined with the death of his animal companion seems to be leading him down a path that strips away a lot of his idealism (and there was quite a bit of it. Being raised by Paladins and then going straight to university, he's lived a fairly sheltered life).
I played with the idea of pushing him toward one of the Druidic sects, as he realizes that his "book learnin'" druidism perhaps isn't serving him as well out in the real world. But from what I've been looking at online, I don't think any of the sects really suit him: He gets along quite well with Whisper, so Ashbound wouldn't make sense. And he hasn't had much interaction with any of the natural foes or allies of the other sects he has the alignment for.
I've been debating prestige classes, maybe focusing on animal companions / wildshaping due to a drive to better serve his companions after Seeqir's death? One of the Animal Lords (horselord, maybe, since his first bond was with Talbot) or Beastmaster seemed kind of interesting, though I'm not sure how useful they really are in practice.
I also thought about multi-classing to Ranger at some point, as Midian maybe decides to focus on learning to fight better and have more practical interactions with the natural world ('get his hands dirty') as part of his progression.
I'm mostly rambling, and none of this is likely to happen for another level or so at least (especially if it's a prestige class, since I'll have to get the prereqs taken care of), but feel free to chime in with an opinion if anyone has one.
jason
I've been trying to figure out how Seeqir's death might affect him. His general druid philosophy's already been altered; he started out with the (intentionally) simplistic belief that everything that existed was part of nature. Several encounters with nasty undead have brought him to a point where I think he's pretty sure necromancy isn't something he's keen on. That combined with the death of his animal companion seems to be leading him down a path that strips away a lot of his idealism (and there was quite a bit of it. Being raised by Paladins and then going straight to university, he's lived a fairly sheltered life).
I played with the idea of pushing him toward one of the Druidic sects, as he realizes that his "book learnin'" druidism perhaps isn't serving him as well out in the real world. But from what I've been looking at online, I don't think any of the sects really suit him: He gets along quite well with Whisper, so Ashbound wouldn't make sense. And he hasn't had much interaction with any of the natural foes or allies of the other sects he has the alignment for.
I've been debating prestige classes, maybe focusing on animal companions / wildshaping due to a drive to better serve his companions after Seeqir's death? One of the Animal Lords (horselord, maybe, since his first bond was with Talbot) or Beastmaster seemed kind of interesting, though I'm not sure how useful they really are in practice.
I also thought about multi-classing to Ranger at some point, as Midian maybe decides to focus on learning to fight better and have more practical interactions with the natural world ('get his hands dirty') as part of his progression.
I'm mostly rambling, and none of this is likely to happen for another level or so at least (especially if it's a prestige class, since I'll have to get the prereqs taken care of), but feel free to chime in with an opinion if anyone has one.
jason
Possibilities:
"Poor squiddy, it's my fault he died...I brought him into a situation he didn't have a chance in. Never again!" - Midian decides to renounce the practice of animal companions; at least for the sake of combat. He chooses a PrC that will enhance his wildshapery, like Nature's Guardian, and/or Warshaper. Possibly Master of Many Forms if you don't mind hosing your spellcasting beyond all recognition.
"If only I had more help, squiddy might not have died!" - The path of the summoner is a natural one for druids, with powerful Nature's Ally spells and spontaneous casting. A few levels of feats (Spell Focus: Conjuration, Augment Summons and, optionally, Rapid Spell) can make a druid into a formidable summoning engine. Certain items can also boost this significantly.
"I'll never let a companion die again!" - With a small investment of cross class skill ranks, a druid can take the Spontaneous Healing feat, which allows them to swap prepared spells for Cure spells of equal level, like a good aligned cleric. Other feats to boost healing capacity are also possible, but probably not essential to be a powerful healin' druid.
"I will make sure my next companion is strong enough!" - A one level dip into Beastmaster PrC, combined with the Natural Bond feat, result in a potentially very potent animal companion. Check with the GM to see if that Natural Bond feat will boost your effective druid level for the purposes of companions with negative modifiers, or it may be for naught.
Pitfalls:
Wildshape is most potent from levels 8-12 or so, IMO. It never goes -completely- out of style, but even with Natural Spell it starts to lose its luster when compared to the powerhouse druid spells of levels 6 to 8. In general, the better your items, the worse an option wildshape is. This changes a bit once you get Elemental shapes, but even then they're more useful for utility purposes than for heavy combat.
Animal Companions suffer a similar curve, but start to fall off even earlier. By level 10, without significant investment in items and/or buffs, your companion is basically a few attacks worth of spare damage you won't be taking (unless via area effect). There are techniques and feats that help this...but the fact remains that by the time you're level 15 or so, even a dire bear isn't THAT big a deal in your day to day battles. Not to mention lugging around a large, 1 ton bear has real consquences when you're exploring dungeons and taking ships around.
Conversely, druid spells pretty much bite until spell level 4...then they start to become increasingly good. A powerful high level druid is often hard to tell apart from a wizard...except for better saves, BAB, armor, hit points and they can turn into a dire bear if someone grapples them. Or use Freedom of Movement.
Just some thoughts.
"Poor squiddy, it's my fault he died...I brought him into a situation he didn't have a chance in. Never again!" - Midian decides to renounce the practice of animal companions; at least for the sake of combat. He chooses a PrC that will enhance his wildshapery, like Nature's Guardian, and/or Warshaper. Possibly Master of Many Forms if you don't mind hosing your spellcasting beyond all recognition.
"If only I had more help, squiddy might not have died!" - The path of the summoner is a natural one for druids, with powerful Nature's Ally spells and spontaneous casting. A few levels of feats (Spell Focus: Conjuration, Augment Summons and, optionally, Rapid Spell) can make a druid into a formidable summoning engine. Certain items can also boost this significantly.
"I'll never let a companion die again!" - With a small investment of cross class skill ranks, a druid can take the Spontaneous Healing feat, which allows them to swap prepared spells for Cure spells of equal level, like a good aligned cleric. Other feats to boost healing capacity are also possible, but probably not essential to be a powerful healin' druid.
"I will make sure my next companion is strong enough!" - A one level dip into Beastmaster PrC, combined with the Natural Bond feat, result in a potentially very potent animal companion. Check with the GM to see if that Natural Bond feat will boost your effective druid level for the purposes of companions with negative modifiers, or it may be for naught.
Pitfalls:
Wildshape is most potent from levels 8-12 or so, IMO. It never goes -completely- out of style, but even with Natural Spell it starts to lose its luster when compared to the powerhouse druid spells of levels 6 to 8. In general, the better your items, the worse an option wildshape is. This changes a bit once you get Elemental shapes, but even then they're more useful for utility purposes than for heavy combat.
Animal Companions suffer a similar curve, but start to fall off even earlier. By level 10, without significant investment in items and/or buffs, your companion is basically a few attacks worth of spare damage you won't be taking (unless via area effect). There are techniques and feats that help this...but the fact remains that by the time you're level 15 or so, even a dire bear isn't THAT big a deal in your day to day battles. Not to mention lugging around a large, 1 ton bear has real consquences when you're exploring dungeons and taking ships around.
Conversely, druid spells pretty much bite until spell level 4...then they start to become increasingly good. A powerful high level druid is often hard to tell apart from a wizard...except for better saves, BAB, armor, hit points and they can turn into a dire bear if someone grapples them. Or use Freedom of Movement.
Just some thoughts.
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Thanks much. I don't have a lot of resources, and I'm often tempted by flavor that doesn't have useful crunch, so this helps a lot. The Nature's Warrior / Warshaper option looks like maybe the best one, and fits the direction Midian's going in fairly well, I think. I'll still have a couple levels before I can take them, though, but it's good to keep them in mind.
Also: "squiddy" made me laugh.
jason
Also: "squiddy" made me laugh.
jason
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