Vitesse's page

So I'm about to play a melee combat druid and I'd like to make sure I understand the fairly tricky effect of Wildshape on a druid's armor class. I've read the various applicable sections scattered around in the rules and googled a bunch of message threads on the subject. So I think I understand the rules but I'd like to post some example scenarios here and see if anyone agrees or disagrees with how I calculate them.

Suppose my druid has Wisdom of 18 and all other stats of 10. These stats are for simplicity of calculating the following examples. They're not the actual stats I would have (or want) as a melee combat druid. With those stats and just standing there in shirtsleeves with no armor or shield and no spell or magic effects would give me an AC of 10.

Example 1:

The druid Wildshapes into a Leopard, a medium sized beast with an AC of 15, consisting of +1 Natural and +4 Dex. In this example, the druid does not get the Leopard's +1 natural armor bonus and the druid's Dex of 10 replaces the Leopard's Dex, so the druid doesn't get the Leopard's +4 to AC from Dex either. The druid does, however, get a +2 Natural AC bonus for being a medium sized animal, according to the Beast Shape 1 spell description, which means which means the Druid's AC in Leopard form is AC 12.

Example 2:

The druid from example 1 is wearing hide armor, which provides a +4 AC bonus, so he has AC 14 in his normal form. If he then Wildshapes into a Leopard, he loses the +4 AC bonus from the hide armor, as if the armor didn't exist, so in Leopard form he has an AC of 12, just like in Example 1.

Example 3:

Suppose the druid in Example 2 has a Dex of 20. That would give the druid an AC of 18 in his normal form, +4 from the hide armor and +4 from Dex. He can't get the full +5 Dex bonus because hide armor allows a maximum +4 Dex bonus. If the druid then Wildshapes into a Leopard, he now longer gets the +4 AC from hide armor, just like in example 2, but he can now benefit from the full +5 bonus from his dexterity, as if his hide armor didn't exist. So he has AC 17 in Leopard form, +2 Natural for being a medium sized animal (per Beast Shape 1 spell description) and +5 from Dex.

Example 4:

Suppose the druid (with his Dex back to 10) is wearing +3 hide armor. He then has AC 17 in his normal form, +4 from the hide armor itself and +3 from the enchantment on the armor. If he then Wildshapes into Leopard form, he plummets to AC 12 as he loses the benefit both of the hide armor itself and the +3 enchantment on the armor.

Example 5:

The druid is wearing +3 hide armor with the "Wild" enchantment, which means it doesn't effectively vanish while the druid is Wildshaped. Now the druid Wildshapes into Leopard form. In this example, the druid in Leopard form retains the +4 AC from the hide armor, and the +3 bonus on the armor, and also acquires a +2 natural armor bonus (from being a medium sized animal per Beast Shape 1), and all of these stack, for a total of AC 19 in Leopard form.

Example 6:

The druid is wearing +3 hide armor with the "Wild" enchantment, then Wildshapes into a polar bear, a large animal. The druid retains the +4 AC bonus from the hide armor itself and the +3 enchantment bonus on the armor, and acquires a +4 natural armor bonus (for being a large animal per Beast Shape 2 spell description), but he also has a -1 AC size adjustment for being large sized, for a total of AC 20.

Example 7:

A friendly wizard casts mage armor on the druid in example 6. This has no effect on the druid as the +4 AC bonus from mage armor does not stack with the +4 bonus from the druid's hide armor. Hence the druid has AC 20 in polar bear form, the same as in example 6.

Everyone agree with these calculations? If you disagree, can you state why and what your calculation of AC would be? I'd rather get all this worked out now so I can go in confident that I'm not going to bog the game down as soon as my druid tries to Wildhshape.

Putting the character into a spreadsheet-style character sheet at some point is also a useful first check for obvious errors, like using the wrong stat to modify a skill, getting a feat without the prerequisite and that sort of thing.

I store my characters on Excel spreadsheets, but I outline them on paper first, before I start typing. I also use handwriting during combat to track which round we're in, spell durations, etc. I find it easier that way as I already have a lot of windows open on my screen but maybe someday I'll try using a spreadsheet for combat as well.

If you like handwriting, get a fountain pen. Seriously, it will go a long way towards alleviating your hand cramping problem. The reason is that your cramping is a result of the pressure necessary to write with a ball point pen. A fountain pen can write without that pressure. Have a look at the Lamy Safari or Faber-Castell Loom, with a fine point nib.

I will adhere to the template religiously and I carry an iPad everywhere so I can post from anywhere. I'm posting this from a Starbucks during a lunch break, so 2 posts a day is easy for me.

Oops, I thought the deadline was next Sunday. I'll post a character sheet this evening after I get home from work. I have a copy of Ultimate Psionics and I'd like to put it to work.

I'll post a full arcane (Elven Arcanist) caster when I get home from work this evening.

Finally, a psionic game - they're so rare. I will definitely post a character sheet, well before the Sunday deadline.

"Magic is very rare. Magical items are even rarer. Wizards, Mages and Sorcerers are the talk of legends."

For backstory purposes, does this mean that a caster (or at least an arcane caster) character would have to live in hiding?

I love Druids. I'll see if I can put one together.

I nominate Vye Cuttelar, Fetchling Rogue, for consideration. The numbers aren't cast in stone and a few things aren't fully calculated yet, but the idea and the backstory are there.

Could you be a bit more specific on the "not super-powerful" heirloom requirement, eg a max gold value or something like that? I wouldn't want to devise something wildly at variance with what other people have.

Quite interesting. I'll work on a fetchling rogue when I get back home. And no, he won't bail on the Prime Material Plane by fleeing to the Shadow Plane. That would be part of the background story.

Re welcome animal companions, there's always the cuddly puppy option :)

Posting a character, getting recruited, and the really technical parts of playing the campaign. All campaigns I played before we're free form, no minis or flip mats. OH and I'd rather not bog my PC down with a bunch of unnecessary software.

A lot of the resources are reference documents maintained on websites so you don't have to download them. There is some custom software around, e.g. the Roll20 interface, but to play by post here you don't need to download anything.

Personally I love having a monk around but for some reason, even though they are a core class, they just don't seem that popular.

Any chance of a fetchling rogue?

Darn it, a certain human psion missed his opportunity. I guess I'll keep an eye out for vacancies.

Do our charters contain anything useful?

Is this marshall willing to be more forthcoming about what we may face down below?

On the other hand, the mountains in the distance are rather picturesque.

OK i've copied the info from the character sheet into the alias window. The formatting isn't nearly as pretty, but it's there.

Is my Google Docs character sheet sufficient?

"I am gurrently building a half-elven hunter. Stats should be up today if yall still have room. I am picturing a versatile sneak type that can still stand in battle with a sword or mace."

Strangways pictures himself as someone who can stand behind the person who can stand in battle :)

Obligatory XKCD lightsaber reference incoming (bonus points for crafting angle):

http://xkcd.com/1397/

Speaking of 3PP, any opinions on Ultimate Psionics? That would seem to mesh with Steampunk at least as well as magic would.

Slightly revised.

OK, I didn't realize it was scaled. I've revised the stats based on the calculator and set up a Strangways alias along the lines of your Dario alias, though not as developed at this point.

Strangways, Neutral Good Elven Wizard:

Str 10
Dex 10
Con 17
Int 18
Wis 14
Cha 11

That's 20 points total, and before Elven racial modifiers (+2 Int and Dex, -2 Con).

Strangways runs with a focus object (a faceted obsidian ring) rather than a familiar. His one trait is Focused Mind.

In that case, Strangways the Elven Wizard is ready to rock. He likes to remind people that he's a scholar, not a fighter but, nevertheless, he can be quite useful in a fight.

I know an Elven mage who'd be interested after a long, long (as in years) absence from RPGs.

Anybody with any degree of intelligence should default to "kill the most dangerous enemy first," which would be the caster. Also, many creatures would default to "kill the most fragile enemy first," which would be the guy without any armor.

So, with the exception of Int 1-2 creatures that don't know any better, why aren't the casters (especially arcane casters) the very first target? (Note that this doesn't apply when obvious strategic concerns and/or an irrational hatred of some other character or type of hero make them a lower priority).

The question is oversimplified, but a more precise version of the question is worth asking. It is oversimplified because it assumes that "most dangerous" = "caster." This isn't necessarily the case. What if the opponent is physically fragile but has high magic resistance? How does the opponent know that he's not dealing with a high level fighter paired with a low level wizard? As others have pointed out, it's also often not obvious at the start of a fight who the casters are.

A more precise way of phrasing the question would be to ask why an opponent (or group of opponents) wouldn't take reasonable action if they had reason to believe the a group included casters of roughly equivalent power to the non-casters. I would opponents in that situation to take reasonable action, e.g. directing their archers to target the casters or something like that. But a suicidal rush past multiple fighter-types in the hopes of getting to the caster isn't a reasonable action. If it's a small party without a lot of cover for the casters, and they have reason to be concerned that the casters will be rushed, then, as others have pointed out, there are lots of things the party can do to ensure those rush tactics will just be a rush into a trap.