Druid build help

[Christian]

I'll second Natural Spell- but you can hold off on that until you can actually wildshape, so leave that for 3rd level. If you wait until 6th level, it might be too late.

Um, the wildshape ability is a prerequisite for Natural Spell, so you can't take it as a 3rd level druid. You need to make it your 6th level feat, like it or not ... You can only wildshape once per day at 5th level anyway, so it's not a huge handicap to be stuck without spellcasting while you do it. But it's another good excuse to take a monk level--your sixth character level will be your fifth druid level in that case, and you then get the ability and the feat at level six.

One other hint for the core druid: unlike the wizard's familiar and the paladin's mount, your animal companion doesn't cost you anything but your time if you lose it & need to replace it. So in making tactical plans, don't give too much weight to keeping it alive--you probably won't succeed anyway, so you're just wasting energy being overcautious. It's a once-per-adventure Summon Nature's Ally with unlimited duration; treat it as such.

 

[Votan]

I may take the level of monk for the ac

This appears to be rarely regretted. If you are human, it is worth considering ABle Learner (or just playing double for a while) to be able to Tumble. It makes closing to grapple very pleasant and allows you to avoid meatshields to grab the enemy caster. This is a very annoying thing for the enemy caster and could be easily fatal under the right circumstances.

 

[Darklone]

Or do the Giant octopus with Animal Growth stunt and grapple the enemies 40ft away...

Edit: Now in which book was Able Learner again ?

 

[shilsen]

Edit: Now in which book was Able Learner again ?

Races of Destiny, or so saith the WotC website. I don't have the book, so you'll have to take their word for it.

 

[Pielorinho]

One other hint for the core druid: unlike the wizard's familiar and the paladin's mount, your animal companion doesn't cost you anything but your time if you lose it & need to replace it. So in making tactical plans, don't give too much weight to keeping it alive--you probably won't succeed anyway, so you're just wasting energy being overcautious. It's a once-per-adventure Summon Nature's Ally with unlimited duration; treat it as such.

You realize that the local humane society is never going to let you adopt a puppy, don't you?

One other problem with the monk level: you've got to be lawful to be a monk. This means your character must be, for at least one level, lawful neutral. That may not fit in your character concept. (after that level, you can revert, by whatever means the DM allows, to your preferred druidic alignment).

Daniel

 

[boolean]

Races of Destiny, or so saith the WotC website. I don't have the book, so you'll have to take their word for it.

This is correct. Prerequisite is the character must be a human or doppelganger, and it can only be taken at first level.

And just a reminder, if you do take one level of monk, Improved Grapple is much better for this character than Stunning Fist.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Um, the wildshape ability is a prerequisite for Natural Spell, so you can't take it as a 3rd level druid. You need to make it your 6th level feat, like it or not ..

Ah- thanks for the correction! I didn't have that one in front of me when I posted.

 

[Pickaxe]

I agree with Produce Flame and Goodberry as nice spells, and they are particularly good for the Extend Spell feat. The number of attacks you get with Produce Flame is determined by the duration, so you can double your available flame attacks by extending it (using a 2nd level slot). Since goodberries are the kind of thing you'd prepare before an adventure anyway, and since they have a duration of one day/level, you can spend a day using all of your first and second level slots for Goodberry and Extended Goodberry, giving you a nice supply of emergency healing (and food) that will last for many days.

Overall, druids seem to get a lot of mileage out of Extend Spell. You can cast an extended Endure Elements the day before you have to trek through some extreme environment. Extend Spell works well with durations of one round/level or one hour/level, and druids have a number of those, like Longstrider and SNA.

--Axe

 

[Darklone]

This is correct. Prerequisite is the character must be a human or doppelganger, and it can only be taken at first level.

And just a reminder, if you do take one level of monk, Improved Grapple is much better for this character than Stunning Fist.

Thanks.

Imp Grapple: Our druids didn't have access to wild feats, so they had some spare feats ... taking Imp Grapple wasn't a problem. So you're right, most druids I know take both though. Stunning Fist is often considered to be weak, but it's a mage killer (and I never experienced it as weak). Simply take a char with maxxed out wisdom like the abovementioned halfling druid and you'll quickly have a Fort DC in the mid twenties. That was usually a 50% chance against fighters of his own level.

Pickaxe: Duh. Thanks. The thing above I've mentioned was a houserule... a compromise between DM and player to avoid too much available healing power at the beginning of an adventure. We simply assumed that the player doesn't know when the adventure starts usually, so he can't prepare all his spell slots for Goodberry. But you're right, pretty often he can

 

[shilsen]

Pickaxe: Duh. Thanks. The thing above I've mentioned was a houserule... a compromise between DM and player to avoid too much available healing power at the beginning of an adventure. We simply assumed that the player doesn't know when the adventure starts usually, so he can't prepare all his spell slots for Goodberry. But you're right, pretty often he can

Of course, since you can only heal a max of 8 hp in 24 hrs from Goodberry, that help only goes thus far.