Tactics for 9th level druid?

[Hawkson]

ya. have a small river run through the cave and cast control water to raise the water 18 feet and fill the cave completely so there is no space at the top for them to breath. the river can be raised to a 90x90x18. Have the raise water spell end right before the end of the cave so when they are dumped out of the raised river they are dumped into the cave and can't go anywhere(think of getting caught in a white water rapid).

morph into a giant octopus or summon a couple giant octopuses. they don't do too much damage but they get 10 attacks so after buffing them they will be dangerous.


Then, after the octopuses are killed or you are done playing with them in the water(probably very effective) dispel the water, have them crash to the floor, and then cast rock to mud, and then dispel that too.

If you do it right i bet you could kill the whole party. wouldn't that be sad

 

[azhrei_fje]

Animal growth, control water, other techniques

First, I apologize for the long post. I'm trying to gather everyone's suggestions into a single list. And what good suggestions they are, too!

The most bang for the buck of your 5th level spell has to be Animal Growth though - if you can use a 4th level spell to summon 1d3 dire wolves, and then cast Animal Growth on them plus the Dire Bear, you have a very, very powerful strike team. The huge dire wolves have obscene trip modifiers.

He's taken the Augment Summoning path, so the allies will automatically get +4 STR and CON. And I just noticed that the AS feat doesn't say they grow in size! So it should stack with the animal growth spell! Cool!

If the Druid has 20 wisdom you get a second 5th level spell, and use one of those to get 1d3 Tigers which you animal growth... pounce gives 5 attacks which can come to about 11d6+32 per enlarged tiger in their first round. That could spoil a PCs entire day and the improved grab with about +18 to grapple is going to make it hard the pounced PCs to avoid being grappled and bit/clawed/raked in subsequent rounds.

Man, that's nasty! I love it!

A druid can also do fun things like Empower Spell + Produce Fire. Have him ready an action to lob it at any spellcasters that dare to cast spells, causing decent damage and big Concentration checks.

I don't think I've got a feat to spend on Empower Spell, but I already planned on using produce flame as you describe. At his level, he'll be doing 10-15 points of damage. The only thing better would be call lightning, but then we're back to running out of spell slots.

Have the druid hit them while they are standing in a puddle in a hollow. Suddenly, the party is in an 18' deep pond. Use Summon Nature's Ally to get nasty aquatic monsters to attack them while you pick off anyone who makes it out of the water with spells and dire bear.

Oh, good idea! I'll make sure that the entrance to his "lair" is a long hallway that drops about 8 feet and then comes back up again. And a little bit of moisture in the area makes sense in relation to the mushrooms and fungi.

Then, after the octopuses are killed or you are done playing with them in the water(probably very effective) dispel the water, have them crash to the floor, and then cast rock to mud, and then dispel that too.

Hmm. I'll have to check the aquatic animal list... But I like the idea of turning the floor to mud so that they sink, then dispelling it so that they're stuck. Now raise the water level and they're drowning! While they're trying to get free, send sharks or some other aquatic after them. (Again, I'll have to check the list of creatures.)

A 7-PC party, all "at least level 9"? For such a group, an 11th-level druid would be an "average" encounter. Your 9th-lvl druid will indeed be a pushover, even with the home field advantage he will have a tough time even surviving, much less defeating the party. After the first round or three he should probably realize this, and seek to flee.

Exactly my thinking. He has information that would make future events easier for the party, so I would love for them to parlay with him instead of just blasting away. If they don't, though, summoning is probably the way to even the odds, for the reasons you point out next.

The big problem is being outnumbered - for every action the druid takes, the party takes 7 actions, overwhelming him with sheer numbers. [...]
A 9th level druid can cast Awaken; I would suggest he Awaken a few animals as bodyguards. You could keep him 3.5-legal by Awakening the dire bear, and giving him something else as an animal companion (Dire Ape is legal for a druid of level 7+, and its 10' reach can be useful).

Hmm, good thinking. I'll review that combination...

You then could even add a class level or two to the Awakened bear (Barbarian, anyone?). A couple of drider allies would add a mix of spellcasting and melee to the defenders.

This isn't supposed to kill the party, though! I don't want this to be a major encounter -- the druid is just a non-random Random Encounter, basically.

He should probably have at least one escape route that can only be traversed by a Small flying creature (i.e., wildshaped into bat form).

Another good suggestion!

The Snare spell lasts until triggered - without a tree to tie it to its effects are minimal (briefly Entangling the target), but with a few days prep time you could scatter multiple snares about, ready to mildly hamper your enemies in combat - it doesn't cost you anything but time and a few lengths of rope.

Actually, before running away from his hidey hole, I figured he's use entangle on the mushrooms and fungi around the cave opening to slow own the party.