My First Druid - tips?

[The Souljourner]

As I said in another thread - I'm building a druid for a wilderness based campaign. This will be my first druid, though I have played several rangers before (love the 3.5 version).

Any tips I should take into consideration? I know natural spell is almost a must-have once wildshape comes around. Anything else?

I don't really know what to do with my druid for right now... the other druid in the party is planning on being wildshaping-heavy, taking warshaper and master of many forms, so maybe I should try to go a different route.

I'd love to hear any suggestions, even if they're really simple ones.

-Nate

 

[pallandrome]

I beleave the name of the feat is Spontanious Healer out of complete divine (hey, if I'm wrong, someone will correct me nigh instantly, I'm sure). It lets you convert a small number of your spells into cure spells (a number equal to your wis mod I think). It is massively useful if your party doesn't have a dedicated healing cleric. It allows you to prepare no healing spells, and still not feel guilty!

 

[szilard]

I recently played a straight Druid to level 20ish.

Do you like summoning? I'm not a huge fan of it, so I took the Spontaneous Rejuvenation option from PHBII. It was really useful, as I often had spells that went unused and healing is always nice.

If you want to take a different approach that doesn't emphasize Wild Shape as much, focus on spellcasting. Particularly with the addition of spells from new books, druid spellcasting can be incredibly effective. Look at the Spell Compendium (Updraft is one of my favorite low level spells ever)... and the Heart of [Element] spells from Complete Mage. Pick up Extend Spell, Empower Spell, and - eventually - Persistent Spell (in conjunction with Master Air, this is great).


Also - get a high Spot score and Natural Spell. Wild Shape into a hawk or eagle. Become your own high-flying aerial spell platform.

-Stuart

 

[nightmage61]

I love druids.

Take weapon focus touch, you have several very effective touch spells at your disposal.

Summon, summon, summon. It is what you do best; toss low level critters out to allow your party to get flanking and sneak attacks.

Expect to use grapple a lot, escape artist might not be a bad idea.

Buff your pet and your party. Better to let them be on the front line then you. A companion is easy to replace if it dies.

Take natural spell, it is a must once you start shapechanging.

Have fun, use your knowledge skills, learn lots of languages, you get plenty of skill points.

Even if another druid is going to be heavy on the shapechanging, you will still want to make use of it.

Stone shape is one of my favorite spells, in 3.5 it is an instant spell,. Are you about to get blasted with a fire ball? Whip up a little instant full cover for you and your friends.

Use your spells to control the battle field, entangle, stone spikes, rock to mud; all these can help put your opponents where you want them and keep them there.

Zen archery could also be useful; it lets you use your wisdom mod in place of your dexterity mod in ranged attacks.

 

[Hypersmurf]

I'm fond of ignoring Wildshape - the Swift and Deadly Hunter variant from UA is good for this - and focusing on Summoning and the animal companion.

A level of Beastmaster is a tough choice - +3 effective druid levels for the animal companion, for a spellcaster level and a feat (Skill Focus: Handle Animal).

And it depends on your DM's take on the interacton of Natural Bond with the modifier to druid level for companions from the 4th+ lists...

-Hyp.

 

[Moon-Lancer]

yeah, if the other druid is going to wildshape and go into prc for that, focus on healing or summoning. Take natural spell anyway though. Nothing beats turning into a desmodu hunting bat to escape from battle while blasting produce flame at your persuer. You could also focuse on shapeing spells, while i cant think of a feat that helps this, you could take all the wood shape and stone shape spells and have them on your list at all times. Also wall of thorns and entangle are also shaper theamed spells. Show this wildshaper what real power is using your shapers imagination. Summon is a really good spell, but dont use summons unless you have the sommoned creatures stats printed out or it will slow down the game. Druids take alot of book work but it pays off.

 

[Hammerhead]

I'd recommend taking a look at the Druid's Handbook on the WotC character optimization boards. http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?p=6718617#post6718617

 

[Legildur]

...but dont use summons unless you have the sommoned creatures stats printed out or it will slow down the game. Druids take alot of book work but it pays off.

I'll second that! I have a 14th level druid and I have a character sheet, animal companion sheet, spell sheets, multiple sheets for each of the Summon Nature's Ally I through VII, and a sheet for possible Wildshape forms (tiny animals through to huge plants) - it's like carrying a porfolio! And yes, it can slow the game down with all the options...

Feats are Spell Focus (conjuration), Augment Summoning, Natural Spell, Sudden Extend, and Sudden Maximise. I've had pretty good mileage out of all of those, but particularly the first three.

 

[Ridley's Cohort]

Augment Summoning is very good. It also changes the combat dynamics in a way that is interesting and really fun, once you get the hang of the handling the statistics.

I agree. with the 'smurf; Natural Spell is not a must have. If you are not really into Wildshaping because you want to differentiate yourself from another Druid, spend the feat some other way.

Depending on your DM's rule interpretation, Natural Bond to boost your Animal Companion could be very cool.

Multiple Druids in the party have some very useful potential synergies. The granddaddy is Animal Growth. Now, normally you would Summon something big and followup with an Animal Growth on Round 2. But with 2 Animal Companions in the party pulling, this spell out on Round 1 is well worth it. Even those little spells like Speak with Animals and Magic Fang look a lot more useful with another Druid in the party.

Take your time (when possible).

With the Animal Companion, HP-rich animals to Summon, Wildshape, some good wide area control spells, and a few oddball spells like Call Lightning, the Druid has the deepest pool of combat resources to draw on of any Core class. The Druid rules the day in slow combats.

The tactical problem for the Druid is that these resources take precious time to deploy. Worst still, you will have the worst AC in the party; so getting any spells off successfully, much less your favorite Summon, is not a given.

Understand your strengths and weaknesses. When you not like the lay of the battlefield, do not be afraid to make a small tactical retreat and drop a Obscuring Mist/Fog Cloud/ Sleet Storm to buy some time.

 

[Darklone]

Have a look at the two druid variants in the SRD, one gets the monk abilities for wildshape and the other one gets the barbarian abilities for the animal companion and the spontaneous summoning.