Build me a Druid

So I made an 8th level Druid for my g/f, shifter variant, and the DM shot it down and nerfed the Shifter variant to slightly better than wizard-with-a-crossbow.

Can I get at least some ideas on how to make a CoDzilla that can't be nerfed through creative rules interpretations?

some of the rules I'm up against:

Things that don't work for shifter variants: Wild Armor, Wildling Clasps

unrelated rules but show how tied my hands are:

.No warlocks or dragon shamans, or any class that has 'at will' powers, except detect spells.

.Scorching Ray is 3rd level.

.martial adept classes will be banned after the current ones all die, or made into 'per day' powers instead of 'per encounter'..with no recovery.

.mithril is controlled by some all-powerful group that sends us on errands for the privilege of using mithril. though that is the extent of their powers, they can't help with anything.

.Cleave don't work on Mirror Images.

.Magic Missile don't work on Mirror Images.

.any Druid spell that gives you a natural weapon where you didn't have one before is 1 level higher.

.the Healing Belt not only requires levels in a class with Turn Undead to use, but you need to burn a turn attempt to use charges.




Any ideas for an 8th level Druid?

Any chances of finding a new DM?

Seriously, the healing belt is one of the more overrated magic items there is. It is far from being game-breaking (okay at best), yet people seem to like making such a big deal over the fact that it is a reusable potion of cure moderate wounds.

When you say shifter variant, you mean the shapeshift variant in PHB2? That was supposed to be the much-needed nerf to the PHB druid. You mean he nerfed that even more?

Warlocks are woefully underpowered anyways, save for that sweet spot between lv6-8, so no big loss there. No experience with dragon shamans, so can't comment on that meaningfully.

Anything he changed with the original druid? You can't go wrong with a druid taking natural spell...

yes, the shapeshifter variant.

he says Shapeshifting =/= Wildshape at all, so none of the PrCs for druids are open to the variant. and Wildling Clasps don't work either, so you shift, and your AC and saves tank, (saves are critical here, since everyone is more powerful than anyone in the party) and you can't cast any animal boosting spells on yourself, because you're not an animal when you can cast the spells, so you're not a valid target. (much like the Magic Missile/Mirror Image hokey).


When I made my first character for this game, I wanted to be a Warblade, but there already was one, and my stats were too low to go TWF with him anyway. I made a Swordsage instead, the monk variant. First fight, I toss the 6d6 fireball, the single target range touch one. the DM is like 'how are you throwing a fireball?!!!11' meanwhile, same combat, the Warmage tosses a Sudden Empowered Fireball, then another Warmage-like blasty spell. So I'm like .

We had 2 PC deaths last game, and the only healing I got was from a wand, from the Cleric, (that I bought, no less) and I drank a lvl 1 potion. Did I mention this was the only fight so far that day?

If there weren't some of my friends there, and I wasn't running a game on a different night, I'd be running one myself.

Oh, almost forgot, a while back, there was this monster that did some sort of sonic damage scream. Not a big deal, but it must've also been a master mason or something, because it appeared, the melee part of the party charged, and it was standing a patch of ground that was just big enough for it to stand on, and the rest of the tunnel floor collapses from its scream, a perfect 50ft deep pit, and the party falls in the pit. no save. at all. then we start climbing back up. we get hit again by the scream. concentration checks to avoid falling. no climb checks. I maxed out concentration, but roll crappy and fall, again (did I mention I had a climb speed at the time, and would've made the climb check easily anyway?), none of the casters are in the pit anyway. one guy gets out of the pit. the casters are running around doing nothing on the other side of the pit. except maybe sealing off the tunnel so they can get away. "hey, let's cast silence" "hey, let's stoneshape a walkway over here", says me, 'how about, I don't know, a fireball?', my character gets out of the pit. and takes more scream damage. down and bleeding out. bard heals me a bit, also can't use a Healing Belt, even with UMD, Warblade kills the monster. casters take another hour real time to figure out how to get across the pit.

Maybe I should make a 'make me a blaster caster build' thread.

DM: "you see a monster appear.."
me: "I kill it...next?"

he says Shapeshifting =/= Wildshape at all, so none of the PrCs for druids are open to the variant. and Wildling Clasps don't work either, so you shift, and your AC and saves tank, (saves are critical here, since everyone is more powerful than anyone in the party) and you can't cast any animal boosting spells on yourself, because you're not an animal when you can cast the spells, so you're not a valid target.

Click to expand...

This is actually my interpretation as well, so wild armour and wildling clasps shouldn't work. So your druid is for most part a support caster or a decent fighter (and you may need to rely on medium-long duration buffs like mage armour or greater heroism to be viable in combat). Though you don't really need prcs for a druid, druid20 is perfectly viable in its own right (and few, if any prcs advance both spellcasting and wildshape, so you may actually end up diluting your own strengths).

I say that healing belts are overrated because the healing they offer (6d8/day) should be much less than the damage you can expect to take each day. The best it can do it alleviate your healing needs a little (and in a pinch, use it on that pesky incorporeal undead foe like the allip).

If you need help with healing, consider reading this thread.
http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=900334

Blasting is sub-optimal for most part (don't let those large numbers fool you). If it is fine with your DM, consider playing a GOD (ie: battlefield control) wizard.
http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=956548

Not sure what other advice I can offer though. In general, I don't advocate trying to sneak one past your DM because it will likely just lead to more problems down the road. But is there a reason why he is making those rulings the way he is? None of them strike me as issues needing to be fixed/resolved. Seems more like some sort of knee-jerk reaction regarding what he feels are problematic, as opposed to what actually are potentially game-breaking.

I've yet to try one, but in the CA and CW there are the Warshaper and Master of Many Forms PrC that give up caster levels for shapechanging goodness. Take 5-6 Druid levels then mix and match until you have what you like. Say... Dr5/ MoMF 2/ WS 1, or Dr 6/ WS2 ??

good luck!
-b

1) Dragon Magic has a wild shape variant called Aspect of the Dragon that's pretty fun. You can use it to gain claws, a breath weapon, wings, or some other stuff. The claws in particular are kind of shiftery.

2) Races of Stone has a fantastic animal companion called the Dire Eagle. Grab that and the Natural Bond feat from Complete Adventurer. Slap a saddle on it and rain down death from above.