Baldurs_Underdark
Hero
Hey all,
tl;dr
What is a good way to significantly increase the AC of a Druid, using regular items and game-rules?
The longer explanation
I'm having a one-player campaign which I play with a friend just for laughs... (And because the 2 other campaigns we play just isn't enough).
The player is a Druid, who has a pet panther with some extra features (and quite a bit extra HP) as permanent pet, to do some extra damage and to decrease the effects of a single bad roll. Effectively it's close to a 2 player party (Druid + panther), with both players at Level 4.
The Druid player has 35 hitpoints and an AC of 14 at the moment:
I'd like to get that up to the 16-18 range over a couple of sessions, preferably with items described somewhere in the "literature" (i.e. dmg, phb), while at the same time not using very rare or unique items yet, because she is just a Level 4 now. I noticed that she is coming up to bigger monsters now, who get larger bonuses to their attack rolls, and she is getting hammered because a lot of the attacks hit her. The obvious problem is that she has no tank in her party. Obviously, Druids cannot use metal. And that's something that I don't want to violate. Also, Druids normally don't need such high AC, but one-player campaigns are different.
Regarding the pet panther: The player controls the pet in combat, but I (the DM) control the pet in roleplay outside combat. The panther has an AC of 13 (increase by 1 compared to the monster manual) and 28 hitpoints (large increase compared to the monster manual, because the panther's HP increases by 5 every time they level up). I will eventually give the panther some cat-armour, which may include small bits of metal - to increase its AC as it levels up, keeping in mind that a panther needs to remain stealthy. I will also slowly increase its damage and attack bonuses, so that it basically levels up.
All ideas to increase the Druid's AC are welcome!
tl;dr
What is a good way to significantly increase the AC of a Druid, using regular items and game-rules?
The longer explanation
I'm having a one-player campaign which I play with a friend just for laughs... (And because the 2 other campaigns we play just isn't enough).
The player is a Druid, who has a pet panther with some extra features (and quite a bit extra HP) as permanent pet, to do some extra damage and to decrease the effects of a single bad roll. Effectively it's close to a 2 player party (Druid + panther), with both players at Level 4.
The Druid player has 35 hitpoints and an AC of 14 at the moment:
- Hide armour (AC = 12)
- Wooden shield (AC = +2)
- Unfortunately no Dex bonus to the hide because her Dex is 11, so +0
I'd like to get that up to the 16-18 range over a couple of sessions, preferably with items described somewhere in the "literature" (i.e. dmg, phb), while at the same time not using very rare or unique items yet, because she is just a Level 4 now. I noticed that she is coming up to bigger monsters now, who get larger bonuses to their attack rolls, and she is getting hammered because a lot of the attacks hit her. The obvious problem is that she has no tank in her party. Obviously, Druids cannot use metal. And that's something that I don't want to violate. Also, Druids normally don't need such high AC, but one-player campaigns are different.
Regarding the pet panther: The player controls the pet in combat, but I (the DM) control the pet in roleplay outside combat. The panther has an AC of 13 (increase by 1 compared to the monster manual) and 28 hitpoints (large increase compared to the monster manual, because the panther's HP increases by 5 every time they level up). I will eventually give the panther some cat-armour, which may include small bits of metal - to increase its AC as it levels up, keeping in mind that a panther needs to remain stealthy. I will also slowly increase its damage and attack bonuses, so that it basically levels up.
All ideas to increase the Druid's AC are welcome!