Help me decide on my NPC feats!

[nittanytbone]

SF Conjuration + Augment Summoning FTW. SF has no prereqs so he could take it at level 1 in anticipation of being a caster of some type. I would also ditch Scribe Scroll and take Practiced Spellcaster instead -- longer duration on spells and such is always good! He can buy any scrolls he needs easily with his NPC wealth.

He should have enough summons spells to lay one down every round if necessary.

For your ranged attacks, use Produce Flame. Range 120 feet, damage 1d6+5, touch attacks. Far superior to a sling.

I'd have him 5' step back from the edge of the rock and spend a few rounds summoning flying critters; then 5' step forward after firing up produce flame and start hurling flame/summoning land-based critters as needed. If he has a potion of invisibility, summoning critters is not something that will break his cover, so he'll be well-nigh undetectable and undisruptable.

 

[orcmonk220]

Hiya guys
Practised Spellcaster is actually a really great feat suggestion, cheers.
Also, think I'm gonna go with the augmented Summoning + SF idea too.

Nittanytbone, cheers for the idea of using an invisibility potion. It's a great idea, cheers.

Chris

 

[nittanytbone]

Be warned, this could easily chew up your party. A single druid of equal level to the PCs can pretty easily TPK them with hit and run tactics like this. The only thing I think might save them is a Protection from Evil spell, which prevents bodily contact by summoned critters... So naturally your druid should pack a Dispel Magic (which he can always convert to a summons if need be!).

Add in an Entangle to catch the hapless PCs on the ground in the kill zone and it'll get ugly in a hurry.

 

[FreeXenon]

Yellow Musk Plant, interesting idea.

I am glad that we can help.
Good luck with the encounter.

This would make for an interesting recurring villain.

 

[orcmonk220]

Be warned, this could easily chew up your party. A single druid of equal level to the PCs can pretty easily TPK them with hit and run tactics like this. The only thing I think might save them is a Protection from Evil spell, which prevents bodily contact by summoned critters... So naturally your druid should pack a Dispel Magic (which he can always convert to a summons if need be!).

Add in an Entangle to catch the hapless PCs on the ground in the kill zone and it'll get ugly in a hurry.

Obviously, this is designed to be a final encounter, so the EL can be slightly higher, as I plan to have a few encountered beforehand that will help the PCs latch onto how how handle the Gnoll Musk Zombies.
OK, what do you all think of this list of spells?

3-call lightning, summon nature's ally III
2-cat’s grace, resist energy, summon nature’s ally II
1-entangle, produce flame (x3)
0-cure minor wounds, detect magic, light (x2), read magic

He's at Wis 16, so he gets a bonus spell for each level (except, of course, 0). The idea is that the resist energy can be easily converted into summon nature's ally, and cat's grace can be used at the point of getaway, if needed. Otherwise, it is switched out for a final summon natures ally to destract the attacker. The four offensive spells (produce flame and call lightning) are direct damage units.

Cheers
Chris

 

[IcyCool]

He's a druid, right? So there's no need to prepare the Summon Monster spells, he can spontaneously cast those, much like a cleric who channels positive energy can spontaneously cast cure spells.

 

[nittanytbone]

Don't bother memorizing Summon's Nature Ally. He can spontaneusly convert.

I'd take one Lesser Vigor spell (Level I), or if you don't have access to that one, Cure Light Wounds. Always wise to have some healing on hand. Two produce flames should suffice.

Some sort of obscurement spell would work nicely -- he can summon critters with Blindsense or whatever, but the PCs can't do missile fire into a cloud. Or, barring this, just make sure he has a smokestick on his belt.

Remember that this guy has an animal companion, as well. The animal companion shares spells, so a long duration buff like Barkskin or Resist Energy will help both of them. Long duration buffs should be running before the fight begins.

Flaming Sphere could be nice -- you can target someone with it with a move action and then fire off a spell with a standard action.

Bear's Endurance gives staying power, and is much more useful than Cat's Grace.

Sleet Storm seems like the ultimate get-away spell.

Spike Growth could be a good complement to Entangle to pin the group down.

Wind Wall would shut down missile fire (but magical missile fire like Produce Flame would not be as affected).

Dominate Animal would be great if the any of the PCs have animals -- companions or just a heavy war horse or something.

For summons, you probably want to stick to flying things as the range is too short to create a land-based critter on solid ground if he's 60' up. I suggest a swarm of Hippogriffs; an elemental or two could catch runners, and Dire Bats have Blindsight (hunt those invisible mages). For your level I summons, Small vipers can climb and Eagles are fairly tough.

Finally, a Speak With Animals would be smart. That allows you to give much more specific commands than the base Handle Animal commands. With speak with animals, you could say, "Attack the scrawny man in the blue coat!" instead of just "Attack!"

 

[orcmonk220]

Hiya guys
Well, just double checked, and it turned out that to make him a CR 8 encounter, he can be an 8th level druid (Base CR 1 + 1 (2 non-associated levels) + (6 Druid levels) = 8) This means that he's casting fourth level spells. So, in that case, I'm thinking of throwing in Command Plants (the zombies are plants, and as they'll be already under his command, the spell lasting for a number of days and it already being precast a few days ago), should I be able to turn any PCs into plant zombies, I can turn them against their own party. It's cruel, but it's also fun, and challenging to the PCs. also, a Wind Wall spell will be used, to protect the druid from any arrows fired.
Cheers for the suggestions to not memorise SNA spells. I'll definately look into some of the alternatives mentioned also.

I may up the level of this encounter.... :/

 

[Darklone]

Flame Strike.

 

[orcmonk220]

Cheers for all the feedback guys. Hoping to publish him in a section on the website tonight, once he's done.