Need help to build a proper druid.

Hello all EN-worlders!
The scenario: next week our group will have a kick-off weekend and it will be a 2 day marathon game. I will play a NG druid.

The story so far: we are a small group of humans (about 250-300) that are left after a apocalyptic wipe-out staged by mindflayers. Generations has passed and all that´s left are nomadic groups of humans,ruled by matriarchs. The mindflayer-threath has lessened considerable (their influence has been deminished-either by some unknown force or by their own will,only the future will tell),and our group will probably be fighting lots of mindflayers and their minions.

We will all start at lvl 12 and we each have 50 000 gp to spend. We are allowed to buy 4 magic objects. Steel is more precious than gold, so any weapon,armor and shield costs 4 times more than the stated price.

The group so far:
A psychic warrior/rogue, a fighter, a ranger and a bard. No clerics and sorcerers/wizards are allowed.
When I started to work on my build I was leaning towards a fighter/druid, but I´m not so sure any longer. We seem to have enough of that in that department.
My stats ( with 3 bonuspoints) str 16 dex 17 con 13 int 11 wis 18 and cha 8.
Skillpoints: animal empathy, concentration,handle animal,heal,intuit direction,knowledge: nature,scry,swim and wilderness lore.
No feats choosen yet.
(when I was toying with the fighter/druid build I had Cleave Great Cleave, Weapon Focus:Scimitar Improved Critical:Scimtiar Power Attack and Dodge,and my selection of magics was in the line of the fighter build: +2 Hide armor, +1 Keen scimitar, winged shield and a periapth of wisdom+4)

When fighting I´m planning to use Wildshape but I´m not sure what the best creature to use.
This is my first time playing a druid ( I usually play wizards) so what I´m asking for is some help to make a playable druid that´s fun to play.
The only books outside PHB and DMG that we are allowed to use are the splat-books. (Masters of the Wild, Tome and Blood, etc)

Asmo

(types in a whole bunch of 3.5 stuff)

...

*Intuit Direction*?

You're playing 3.0?

Do you have access to Natural Spell?

Yes,we are playing 3.0, as indicated with the Message Icon.

Asmo

Put 2nd highest stat in Con. You'll need the hitpoints in wildshape and the strength and dex won't help you then.

If you are playing with MotW, you don't need a high Con, you need a source of Constitution change. I suggest Bracers of Health.

Wildshape into something nasty (at level 12 you can pull off a Legendary Ape, which is pretty awesome), your hit points don't change at that point. Now, put on the Bracers of Health, and your hit points do change to match your new Con - of like 27. So you can have a Con of 8, and after you Wildshape and put on the bracers you'll still be running with about 155 hit points (average).

Then you can Alter Self yourself into looking like whatever you want, or even having Wings. The 3e Druid doesn' need any of her physial stats at all, except for a 13 strength to qualify for Power Attack.

If, indeed, steel is move valuable than gold, and items cost 4 times list price - I suggest taking all of your spare starting gold and buying large steel shields as trade goods. Each gosts you 80 gold, and is 15 pounds (a pound of gold being 50 gp - that's at least a profit of 670 gp for every single one). Go ahead and invest in a Handy Haversack to carry all that money.

-Frank

FrankTrollman said:

Now, put on the Bracers of Health, and your hit points do change to match your new Con - of like 27.

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And why exactly should they do so?

Your hit points will simply increase by the bonus added due to the Bracers of Health (i.e. level times 3 for +6 added), as your original hit points do not change upon assuming another form and changes in constitution simply add hit points based on the amount of constitution added and your level. Your current constitution before the change has zero influence there.

Bye
Thanee

Your hit points will simply increase by the bonus added due to the Bracers of Health (i.e. level times 3 for +6 added), as your original hit points do not change upon assuming another form and changes in constitution simply add hit points based on the amount of constitution added and your level. Your current constitution before the change has zero influence there.

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This is a common misconception.

When you add 6 to your Constitution, you don't add three to your statistic modiifer, you replace your modifier with the new value on the chart on page 8 of the Player's Handbook. Really. Look it up.

Now, when you recalculate your hit points, you recalculate based on the new modifier, not on the delta value of that modifier. So if you bump up your Constitution to 27 and recalculate your hit points, all of your hit dice are recalculated based on a Constitution Modifier of +8 - even if you didn't recalculate your hit points when your Constitution jumped to 25.

The D&D Statistic Modifiers system, at its core, cannot fix this "hole" - which is why in 3.5 they did away with the idea of changes to Constitution that didn't affect hit points altogether. The fact is, even if a change in Constitution doesn't affect hit points, a further change in Constitution will affect hit points as if the previous modification had done so. Thus, in 3e clever players could choose whether to modify their hit points to the new Con scores by either taking their bracers of health off and putting them back on again or simply leaving them on the whole time - in 3.5 hit points always change to a new Con score with no exceptions.

-Frank

In normal campaigns I think the most important feat for a druid is Scribe Scroll. My reasoning is that the druid has a lot of effective but specialized spells. It is difficult to have the right spell prepped on the right day. Keeping an empty slot or two to prep on the spot helps. But I think Scrolls are necessary, too.

In your case, the DM is running a money tight campaign and probably will have other peculiarities as well. With 4 or 5 feats coming your way, I think it would be wise to have at least one item craft feat. You cannot go wrong with Scribe Scroll.

I recommend:
Str 11
Dex 13
Con 17
Int 16
Cha 8
Wis 18

With a healthy mix of melee types in the party, if you do much brawling you will be wildshaped into a bear or dire lion. Your Str isn't really important. That is more or less true about Dex also.

You also might seriously consider the Craft Wand feat so that you can make Wands of CLWs. They will probably be unavailable for purchase in a cleric-less world. Talk to your DM about whether he will put any restrictions on craft item feats.

FrankTrollman said:

Wildshape into something nasty (at level 12 you can pull off a Legendary Ape, which is pretty awesome), your hit points don't change at that point. Now, put on the Bracers of Health, and your hit points do change to match your new Con - of like 27. So you can have a Con of 8, and after you Wildshape and put on the bracers you'll still be running with about 155 hit points (average).

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I would bet my bottom dollar that no DM I will ever play under will accept your logic.

If you want to play the Ruleslawyer Card, I will point to the language of Polymorph Other:

The subject retains its Intelligence..., hitpoints (despite any change to its Constitution score), ...[emphasis added]

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By the letter of the law, changes to Con do not affect a wildshaped druid's hit points at all, up or down. Right?

Try this one on for size:

In MotW, on page 11, there is a description of the Wildshape ability. There is also a list of common forms and why you would want to use them. One of the examples is the Badger - because of the increased hit points it can get from Constitution increases when it uses its Rage ability.

And of course, there is the entirely circumstantial evidence that this caveat was purposefully removed from 3.5 because it was unenforcable in 3e. That would be ironclad, if it wasn't for the fact that 3.5 screwed up the wording on so many other things that polymorph was not parseable.

By the letter, by the spirit of the rules, Con changes will change your hit points sooner or later. My ruleslawyer card is an iron plaque.

-Frank