So, druids are powerful, eh?

[Tar-Edhel]

Up to last week, I had a druid (7th level) and it's one of the most powerful character I ever played.

Just with Augment summoning, I wreaked havoc in our ennemies ranks. 2-5 hippogriffs with +4 Str/Con (SNAII in a 4th level slot) or 1-3 Ape (SNAIII in a 4th level slot) can do a lot of damage.

Your Animal Companion can (and should) wear barding. My ape had something like 22AC without spells: throw in a barkskin and you get a decent front line fighter. Especially if your nature's allies are in flanking position.

Use Magic Fang, Nature's favor, Bull's Strength and Bear's endurance to boost your companion (or animal growth, if you're level is high enough). Get him to deal with ennemies warding offf your allies with Protection spells.

Throw in a couple Creeping Cold, Flame Strike (or even Call Lightning) to help the beasties fighting for you and you'll be the character dealing the most damage round after round in your party.

Finally, a few cures are never wasted (especially since you can cast SNA spontaneously). Take a Tiger (or other large creature) as Animal Companion, ride it in combat and use your share spells each and every time you cure or boost.

In months of play, I never had to wildshape into combat: after 2-3 rounds, I had 3-6 creatures on the battlefield already. I exclusively used wildshape for scouting purpose.

Have fun!

 

[Henry]

First of all, choose the biggest monster your DM will let you have as an Animal Companion. If he won't go with a Polar Bear, a Brown bear will do nicely. At 10th level, that brown bear will have 2 extra hit dice, +3 AC better including Dex bonus boost, +1 to hit and damage to all attacks, and freaking evasion. It will have the Grapple bonus from Hell (+17), and it can bite while grappling. Have it grapple any enemy wizards or weaker creatures.

Second, Get natural spell if you don't have the feat. Nothing like being able to rain death on an enemy while flying as an eagle 50 feet up.

Don't forget Barkskin. a +4 bonus to your or your animal's AC is a hefty bonus. If you can afford to do so, get your mouse to cast mage armor on you too -- that's a +8 to AC for a very long duration, including most explorations of hazardous areas, and only less effective if you're ambushed in a safer area.

Greater magic fang lasts for TEN HOURS on you or your companion. Your companion's bite should be magiced up at all times. (you can also cast it as a +1 to hit and dmg for ALL attack forms.)

Stoneskin can also make up for what armor may lack. Don't forget about it, and even maybe invest in making some druid scrolls of it.

Flame Strike and Dispel Magic I don't even need to comment on - just plain USEFUL. Spoil those enemy spells! Fry those underlings!

More thoughts as I have time to voice them.

 

[mikebr99]

Your Animal Companion can (and should) wear barding. My ape had something like 22AC without spells: throw in a barkskin and you get a decent front line fighter. Especially if your nature's allies are in flanking position.


Have fun!

I hope you only paid x2 for your Ape's armour... as they are humanoid in shape, and large.

Mike

 

[Kilroy]

If you're a NG druid, Vow of Poverty is _broken_. Even without all the extra feats, having all those stat bonuses when wildshaped is really powerful. Combine it with the Natural Spell feat and a level of Warshaper (immunity to sneak attacks, death attacks and crits isn't bad for a 1st level ability), battlefield control spells like Wall of Thorns and your cohort buffing you and you can do crazy things.

If you're LN not NG, consider a level or two of Monk to add Improved Grapple, Stunning Fist, and +Wisdom modifier to AC, even when wildshaped. If you wildshape a lot, the AC might be worth the loss of caster level.

Barring any of that, if you can get the cleric to spare it, get a Greater Luminous Armor for an extra 12 AC while wildshaped, all day.

 

[Nail]

If you're a NG druid, Vow of Poverty is _broken_. Even without all the extra feats, having all those stat bonuses when wildshaped is really powerful.

Picking nits, but:

A wildshaped druid could still have stat-boost items active, should he NOT have VoP. IOW, those stat bonuses from VoP just make up for the fact that you can't have items that do the same.

Besides, you'd probably want the highest of those bonuses in Wisdom, not Str or Con.


....naw, t' be *really* broken, try a druid with a Monk's Belt. ....THEN slap on the Greater Luminous Armor. Our druid's AC is in the 40's, thanks to my Clr.

 

[amethal]

These are all highly effective strategies. However, please consider that just because you can do something doesn't mean you have to.

For example, if you find the idea of druids dressing up their animal companions in armour and jewellery, performing kung fu in bear form, and swaggering about in dragonhide to be somewhat outside your character concept ....

then remember you can still have enormous amounts of fun summoning huge elementals, calling down flame strikes and creating lightning storms.

 

[Nail]

These are all highly effective strategies. However, please consider that just because you can do something doesn't mean you have to..

Blasphemy!

 

[Stalker0]

I'm a fan of the druid assasin myself.

Change into a small bird or something, and cast call lightning (far away from your target). Then move in, and start calling down the bolts. There's no spellcraft check, you already have an awesome hide. Death from above!!

 

[Moon-Lancer]

Right now, I’m a elven druid level 8. I have a unicorn companion, that acts as a minor party healer, and evil raydar.

My character has vow of poverty, and has an ac of 27 without any modifications while wildshaped. With bark skin that’s a 31. With sirens grace from the far corners of the world on wizard’s site, that ac can get up to 38. Having a high cha might actually pay off.



I have a question to ask.

I have tweaked this character so far, that I’m thinking of scaling it back. I think I’m stepping on the fighters toes, and I didn’t mean for it to happen, but he is a new player and picked some pretty bad feats, and doesn’t seem to want to change them because he doesn’t want special treatment. But I have a feeling he is going to hate me soon for being a better fighter then he is and the ability to cast spells to boot.

Anyway, anyone have any suggestions for cutting back on the druids power (not the class but just the style of playing it) but also insuring my character doesn’t die.

I have started to use a new animal I came up with. It’s powerful but not as powerful as a fleshracker or desmodu bat scout. (My characters two most favorite forms.) I think I chose them for power (but that was was pure cool, but the fleshracker was kindof iffy) so I wanted to create a new animal slightly weaker then the flashbacked and desmodu bat. The animal that I came up with doesn’t fly (dm was really happy about that) but can climb walls. Think tiger from monster rancher. I think wolf like creatures rock.

One idea the dm had was to use wild shape less, but last time I took on a badie without it, I got knocked down to -9 and almost died.



Normally I don’t think my party can tell who is most powerful and is normally not an issue, but right now we are in a tournament, and I think even the dm is surprised how far I tend go in it. So far I have aced the player vs creature, player vs creature’s and the archery tournament. Soon the player vs player competition is going to come up, and I’m afraid when I have to fight the fighter head to head I know he cant take me if I cast spells and melee, but I also don’t want to fight below my ability, because if he founds out, (the player not the character) their might be issues. No one likes a thrown fight. I think I came up with story idea that I’m going to pitch to the dm that will make it so I don’t have to fight him and I can give up without him feeling as if I gave him the fight for free. I think this new form may give him a chance but their was no way he could have touched the demodu bat, or the fleshracker.

Anyway, sorry for steeling the thread.

 

[Simplicity]

It's not about the wildshape. It's all about the never ending stream of augmented summoned, flanking creatures. Try to summon the guys with either intelligence or improved trip. Use your wolf animal companion to also trip.

Touch Attack: +2 from flanking. +2 from augmented summon.
Str Check: (+4 if they have improved trip.) +2 from augmented summon. (+4 more if he's large, +8 if huge)

Attack of opportunity whenever they stand up from a trip. It'll be a bloodbath.