Werewolf Druid building advice

[Dannyalcatraz]

As for Shifters, the other difficulty with it is the limited times you can change. Aside from that, they seemed pretty cool. (though I hate losing int, that always hurts)

Mechanically speaking, a Shifter Druid/Arcane caster/Geomancer might never miss that Int, depending upon which arcane casting class you pick.

As for Psionics, some of them seem interesting, but I've never fully gotten into them... one I find most interesting is the one that doesn't actually USE powers... Mindblade or something like that. Soulknife?

The Soulknife is a favorite of mine as well. I love it even though some of its abilities are a little clunky, RAW, so its often the beneficiary of a lot of HRing.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Here is a suggestion that is both inside and outside of the box, and is entirely within the limitations of your list of sourcebooks. And it really has an old-school, legendary, mythological feel to it.

Ask to play PC whose class is Druid and whose race is "Awakened Wolf."

Awaken :: d20srd.org

IOW, your PC is a wolf who has been subject to the Druidic spell, Awaken, and for whatever reason, are no longer in that caster's direct service.

Though this wolf is now on his own, he has picked up the study of the Druidic way, in honor of the one who opened his mind to an entirely new way of looking at things.

Now, since your type would be "Magical Beast" you could not be anyone's animal companion, etc., but that doesn't mean you couldn't pose as one. Your own animal companion could even be a packmate (your older brother or sister?), or perhaps another animal like one of those oddball pairings we see in so many internet photos.

"Why does that Owl always perch on that Wolf, Mister?" they'd ask of your fellow PCs.

As you'd level, eventually you might gain the ability to adopt a more humanoid form...in a sense, you won't be a werewolf, you'd be a wolfwere.

 

[Theroc]

The only problem I see there is I'd have no spellcasting(no hands), so I could only use spells that had no somatic component.

That, and the campaign being wary of non-humans(harder to hide being a wolf than being a werewolf), and the setup being the party was hired as a caravan guard. Though, I COULD setup some interplay between my character and the party ranger... make people think he has TWO companions... might work...

I DO like that idea though, if it can be worked out.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

First of all, "somatic" doesn't necessarily mean you need to have an actual hand to cast the spell- look at the anatomy of the creatures that can cast spells, and you'll see that not all of them have proper hands. Dragons, anyone? Demogorgon?

The Celestial Charger (a kind of unicorn) has hooves and it can cast clerical spells.

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/unicorn.htm

Even if your DM doesn't buy that, you could get past that by using the Metamagic Feat Still Spell. Yes, it would boost all of your spells by 1 level, but it still works.

Still, you might be surprised at what you can cast.

I designed a PC who was an armored sorcerer. Not a UA Battle-Sorcerer, but a regular sorcerer who chose to wear Scale Mail...and a Large shield...and wield a Maul. (And was a total blast to play, FWIW.)

Part of what made him work was using spells without somatic components, which took a bit of research on my part.

The funny thing was that most of the spells without somatic components were divine spells. That's right- the guys who can already cast in armor have more spells that have no somatic components than the guys whose casting is hindered by armor.

 

[Crust]

I DM a good-aligned werewolf in my campaign. I house-ruled some changes, the good-alignment the most-obvious, so he's not totally legit, but this is what we're working with, using the PHB, MM, Exalted Deeds, Complete Warrior, Complete Champion, Magic Item Compendium, and to a lesser extent Spell Compendium. I don't have his sheet, so bear with me:

Kragg: NG Half-orc male werewolf ranger 6/stalker of Kharash 5/warshaper 2/kensai 3.

-Kragg is physically the strongest PC. Combine half-orc, werewolf, warshaper, and kensai, and it's easy to see how he got there. I'm not even certain of his base strength, but I know he can push it into the 40s.

-Kragg can track evil using his nose (on top of the +4 survival the nose gives him already), scent evil from stalker of Kharash (acts like detect evil when Kragg inhales), and detect evil through blindsense using the feat nemesis from Exalted Deeds.

-With his signature maul "Dourstone," Kragg can stack power attack and favored power attack (evil) and deal hundreds of damage (200+ on a crit easy, one time he dealt over 400 damage using the rhino's rush spell) against his favored enemies, which include undead, constructs, and, thanks to stalker of Kharash, evil. Imagine evil as a favored enemy.

-Since taking feral strike (a home-made feat that allows him to use his two-weapon feats with his claws, something I wouldn't allow otherwise) at 18th level, Kragg is now unleashing a new brand of destruction. Combine that with his kensai imbue abilities, nemesis, incredible strength, favored power attack (evil), and greater two-weapon fighting... well, use your imagination.

-His stealth is through the roof, with maxed out hide and move silently. Add hide in plain sight from stalker of Kharash, and Kragg is a stealth expert.

-His movement is awesome. As a wolf, Kragg can achieve movement 50 if necessary. His high strength and jump ranks make him able to leap great distances. Swimming and climbing are no problem either.

-He's immune to crits and stunning thanks to warshaper, has the DR 5/silver, and has vampiric imbued into his claws thanks to kensai.

I understand how fudged he is, and we joke about it constantly at the table, but Kragg really is an interesting PC. The good-alignment comes from his devotion to Selune, patron of good-aligned lycanthropes (FR world). The NG kensai comes from his connection to Kharash, sort of like a variant paladin or ranger. Since he's got an exalted class and feats, I cursed him for committing an evil act (slaying a foe who had submitted), forcing him into wolf form for roughly 6 months out-of-game. I feel like that time stuck in wolf form allowed him to pay his dues. I had to do something.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Here's another thought:

Are there any spirits the ToM Binder can access that would give you a "wolfy" feel & gameplay?

 

[Theroc]

Here's another thought:

Are there any spirits the ToM Binder can access that would give you a "wolfy" feel & gameplay?

None really have a wolf-like feel, though I COULD get a mess of natural weapons and such. But it'd be difficult to run that class past my DM, I'd have to try and type up the entire entry and every vestige I intend to use. Which... might be overwhelming, given the sheer volume of information.

 

[Theroc]

Hm... The DM allowed the Awakened Wolf concept... but I did run into a mild snag.

Firstly: Wolves begin with 2 HD.

Secondly: Awaken grants an additional 2 HD.

While I could likely (as we're starting at level 1), assume that I only get Druid levels(which is 100% fine by me, as if the Awakened wolf becomes ECL4 I may as well play a werewolf anyway!), it also runs me complications when determining my racial traits as a wolf.

From what I can see, I get +2 Nat armor, 50' movement speed, a bite attack (Which... doesn't use BAB[Does that mean my BAB will be virtually irrelevant as a wolf? If so, that is unfortunate, lol]), and scent.

Any recommendations on how to set up a level 1 Awakened Wolf Druid mechanically, in regards to racials and what not?

Edit: Possible progression issues
Armor costs are doubled(nonhumanoid doubles medium armor costs), and I can't use weapons... unless my DM rules I can wield weapons in my mouth(which would be interesting... but weird)

How major am impact will this have while levelling up? (Granted, I've NO clue how long this game will go.)

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Just stat him out as a wolf cub as opposed to a fully grown wolf.

IOW, set up a little racial class progression like you'd do with other critters.

This means you'd probably start with only your 1st HD (a Druid one...maybe a second Wolf one, depending upon your DM) scale down your size one step, which means your bite (which, BTW, actually does use your BAB) will be about 1 die type smaller (there is a chart), and halve your NAC bonus to +1.

Weapons are an issue, to be sure. Of course, you've got to take INA with this build, and that will alleviate some of this. So will the spell, Magic Fang.

Magic Fang :: d20srd.org

Armor shouldn't be too bad, though. The combo of (probably) not being able to use weapons- meaning you're not spending $$ on them- and the fact that you can only wear things like leather or cloth- intrinsically cheap- should let you get about any kind of armor a Druid could wear at 1st level.

In addition, you probably will have a fearsome Dex mod.

In addition, since you'll have an animal companion- Wolf, right?- and the Ranger will too, eventually, you're going to have something resembling a pack!

 

[Theroc]

Just stat him out as a wolf cub as opposed to a fully grown wolf.

IOW, set up a little racial class progression like you'd do with other critters.

This means you'd probably start with only your 1st HD (a Druid one...maybe a second Wolf one, depending upon your DM) scale down your size one step, which means your bite (which, BTW, actually does use your BAB) will be about 1 die type smaller (there is a chart), and halve your NAC bonus to +1.

Weapons are an issue, to be sure. Of course, you've got to take INA with this build, and that will alleviate some of this. So will the spell, Magic Fang.

Magic Fang :: d20srd.org

Armor shouldn't be too bad, though. The combo of (probably) not being able to use weapons- meaning you're not spending $$ on them- and the fact that you can only wear things like leather or cloth- intrinsically cheap- should let you get about any kind of armor a Druid could wear at 1st level.

In addition, you probably will have a fearsome Dex mod.

In addition, since you'll have an animal companion- Wolf, right?- and the Ranger will too, eventually, you're going to have something resembling a pack!

Was hoping to avoid any sort of RHD or LA here, which was why I chose this option... only to realize that may not work.

Granted, I'd also put forth that the special abilities I get are likely already balanced by the negatives. "No weapons and no metal armor, so pooey on your BAB" is a rather significant hit in and of itself. Would I really need to set up racial hit dice and such?