Tell me about your druids

[candidus_cogitens]

I'm creating a druid character and I am very excited about it, except for one thing: I like to feel like my character is archetypal but also at the same time unique. I don't want to be just exactly what people expect a druid to be. So, I thought it might help to hear some of people's various approaches to the class, to help spark my imagination.

What are your skill selections? Ability score arrays? Weapons? Animal? Personality?

Thanks in advance.

 

[humble minion]

Well, Caelum, my druid, was created under 3.0 so there'll be a few inconsistencies with 3.5 here, but anyway...

Caelum (human, str 17, dex 18, con 13, int 12, wis 16, cha 11) was the secondary hand-to-hand combatant of the group, and was the major fast-mover (considering the other melee warriors were a str 10 cleric and a sloooow halfling fighter, both in full plate). He was interested in druidic philosophy and animal behaviour, and often modelled his combat tactics after the hunting methods of predatory creatures (notably wolves and crocodiles). He always preferred to stalk and observe his enemies, learn about them and bide his time until he could attack ferociously when they were at their weakest.

In game terms, to aid him in hand-to-hand he took Weapon Focus (shortspear), and a level of barbarian (useful for the increased movement as well as rage). His skills were mostly taken up in Wilderness Lore and knowledge (nature), though he had sidelines in Swim, Hide, and so on. I tried to give him a wide variety of skills rather than making him too reliant on the skills of others.

Later on he took Craft Wand (to give himself some reliable healing and animal-companion-buffing ability), along with Natural Spell and Extend Spell, both of which were useful for his preferred combat tactics. He also chose Improved Critical (shortspear), because even when his magic was the more powerful option, he still enjoyed the primal, primitive sensation of melee combat.

His spell selections were generally optimised to strengthen and protect himself or his allies, or to hamper or confuse his opponents. He rarely used direct-damage spells (except for Call Lightning!), preferring to get his hands (and fangs) dirty. Among his favourites were Barkskin, Entangle, Animal Growth, Sleet Storm and Dispel Magic from the PHB, and Bear's Heart, Poison Vines and Slime Wave from Masters of the Wild. Feathers (also from Masters of the Wild) is worth a special mention - this spell is indispensable for the druid who has to get himself and his friends somewhere without his enemies noticing...

Caelum's first animal companion was Grey, a wolf, but he eventually released it as his adversaries were becoming too dangerous and he didn't want to endanger Grey unnecessarily. Later he befriended a pack of dire wolves, two of which he Awakened, and a small flock of ravens, who worked with him as airborne scouts and spies.

As the campaign progressed, Caelum became more and more a feral creature of the wild. He spent more time with his wolves, and in the aftermath of a disastrous encounter with a demon (a near-TPK) that left him with hideous facial scars (cha dropped to 6), he abandoned the adventuring life (the GMs plot was messed up totally when one of the players left, and we had to start over with new characters) and lived a solitary life in the wilderness. He was a significant, if little-known power in the Valgorian War, when his command of the weather and mastery of ambush tactics helped keep the armies of Xargithian from despoiling the lands of the halflings...

 

[Vymair]

I play in the Greyhawk game and play a True Neutral druid of the old faith. His outlook is that Outsider (of all alignments) are not to be trusted with Beory's creation. He was born to a merchant family but an old Elven relative rekindled his curiousity in nature. I'm currently 14th level.

Stats on a 28 pt buy. S 10, D 10, C 14, I 14, W 15, Ch 12.

I didn't worry about Strength or Dexterity since I was planning on do all my fighting in animal forms.

Main skills are Concentration, Know (nature), Know (planes), Spot, Listen, Sense Motive, Diplomacy, Heal, Survival. I had actually been spending 2x pts for Listen before the 3.0 conversion.

Feats - Improved Initiative, Scribe Scroll, Extend Spell, Natural Spell, Craft Wondrous Item and Empower Spell.

I'm leaning towards Quicken Spell at 15th.

Druids are amazingly versatile and can be effective in very different ways. I personally focus on spells and rarely melee. I vary my spell list greatly. I especially like Barkskin, Resist Energy, Produce Flame (at lower levels), Entangle, Spike Growth, Spike Stones & Commune with Nature. I generally memorize at least one cure at each level once I get 3-4 spells of that level. I also get a lot of use out of the Spontaneous Summoning 4th level and higher.

 

[candidus_cogitens]

It's interesting that humble minion put his two highest scores in strength and dex, while Vymair put the highest scores in Int Wis and Con.

One druid I played in 3.0 had pretty low Dex and Str because I figured I would be doing a lot of combat in animal form, so those scores would not matter as much. But in 3.5 you can't just stay in animal form all day long like you could in 3.0. Besides I like the idea of being able to weild a weapon.

 

[humble minion]

The problem with fighting in animal form is that your AC really suffers when you lose your armour, enhancement and deflection bonuses. But on the other hand, a druid with a good Wisdom can get away with fighting entirely using his spells, especially at a higher level. My putting higher scores into Str and Dex and preference for close combat was partly a character concept choice and partly an attempt to fill in a hole in the party's capabilities. For pure power, a spellcasting-oriented druid (or a cleric of a nature god) will normally outdo a melee-focused druid. Caelum and his little army was a load of fun to play, though.

If you haven't seen it already, you really should go have a look at Sepulchrave's story hour, and especially Nwm, the druid character. You can find character stats in the Rogue's Gallery 'Eadric' thread.

 

[Vymair]

The true strength of the Druid is versatility. I've seen the druid played by 3 different players now and they all took very different approaches. I love skill points, so I often put more stock in Intelligence than many other players.

In 3.5, with Barkskin now stacking with natural armor and wilding armor now an standard option, the animal meleeing druid is much more viable than he was in 3.0. I personally like the spellcasting route, but one of my friends playing a druid believes I underestimate the melee power they present.

 

[Pielorinho]

I play a dwarven druid, exiled from his people for inadvertantly causing a few deaths in a mining disaster (his sudden visions of the walls of the tunnel bleeding, the moans of the earth around him, etc. led to a big old freakout). Lived on a mountaintop for a few decades with little humanoid contact until another set of visions brought him down to civilization and adventuring.

Stats: S12, Dex14, C14, Int12, Wis 16, Ch8. Skills focused on animal handling/empathy (under 3.0), with decent knowledge: nature, spellcraft, and a smattering of others (healing, spot, survival, etc.) Feats: animal affinity, craft wonderous item, natural spell (an absolute necessity for a druid), spell thematics.

Attitude: dour, fatalistic, pragmatic, merciful, loyal. Considers pastries to be the primary redeeming feature of civilization, and always picks up something extra for his animal companion (blueberry pie for a bear, meat turnover for a tiger, etc.). Smells faintly of goats, even after not having been around them for months.

Currently adventuring in a set of abandoned dwarven mines that have been taken over by evil nasties; his long-term goal is to reclaim these mines and practice a kind of ancient, druidic-based, living-earth mining in them that involves the use of earth elementals and other creatures to gain access to minerals without digging tunnels.

Daniel

 

[Wippit Guud]

Well, I have to convert to 3.5, he won't have a dire wolf companion...

Serith is a mounted combat druid. Originally based on using the dire wolf as a mount, in 3.5 probably run off of using a heavy horse. On the good side, 3.5 druids can take any weapon, hello heavy lance.

Skill selections:
Ride is paramount, as is handle animal to get the synergy bonus. Bwyond that, typical druid stuff.

Feat selections:
Your first 4 in a nutshesll:
Monted Combat, Ride-by attack, spirited charge, martial weapon (heavy lance)

Stat array:
Ride is based off dex, so that should be decent. OTher than that, standard druid stat array.

Weapons:
Use half-spear until you pick up the lance proficiency. After that, lance from horseback, spear from foot.

Animals:
Heavy horse would get you an animal from the start, and the most bonuses added over druid levels. Alternates would include a bison at level 4, or a few dire choics at 7 (or a rhino)

Personality:
He's be a free-spirited, take charge kind of guy, one to want to lead the heroic charge. Front-line rather than sit back.

Possible PrCs:
If 3.0 PrCs are allowed, Windrider is what it's all about. Going by the letter of the rule a Windrider cannot take a maount that is 'bound to another person', but it makes no distinction about taking a month that is bound to yourself. So you'd get the druid bonuses until you cross class, and then the windrider bonus on top of that.

 

[Darklone]

We have a golden halfling druid now, (already had an elven archer druid with wolves) riding his albino cheetah animal companion.

He's got a good dex, high con... ah well. His worst stat is strength 11
(never lend the players the DM dice!)

He's going to be artillery and enjoy the missing penalties for small character size while wildshaping.

 

[candidus_cogitens]

I play a dwarven druid, exiled from his people for inadvertantly causing a few deaths in a mining disaster (his sudden visions of the walls of the tunnel bleeding, the moans of the earth around him, etc. led to a big old freakout). Lived on a mountaintop for a few decades with little humanoid contact until another set of visions brought him down to civilization and adventuring.

Stats: S12, Dex14, C14, Int12, Wis 16, Ch8. Skills focused on animal handling/empathy (under 3.0), with decent knowledge: nature, spellcraft, and a smattering of others (healing, spot, survival, etc.) Feats: animal affinity, craft wonderous item, natural spell (an absolute necessity for a druid), spell thematics.

Attitude: dour, fatalistic, pragmatic, merciful, loyal. Considers pastries to be the primary redeeming feature of civilization, and always picks up something extra for his animal companion (blueberry pie for a bear, meat turnover for a tiger, etc.). Smells faintly of goats, even after not having been around them for months.

Currently adventuring in a set of abandoned dwarven mines that have been taken over by evil nasties; his long-term goal is to reclaim these mines and practice a kind of ancient, druidic-based, living-earth mining in them that involves the use of earth elementals and other creatures to gain access to minerals without digging tunnels.

Daniel

Now THAT is a creative character. I love the sense of humor.

I once thought about a dwarf druid who had very strong notions about architecture. To him, it was just NOT okay to cut stones into bricks to build huge unnatural structures. Better to just pile up stones and mud into natural structure if you're going to build at all.