Alrighty, I've got a dilema and it seems that you people are the ones to talk to. Recently, my DM started an epic level campain and I've created a druid. Now, in the first battle that I got to engage in, we fought a dragon that I really couldn't do much to. In short = How can I turn my druid into a force to be reckoned with?
In short = How can I turn my druid into a force to be reckoned with?
Well, in the 3.0+ world, I have only DM'd 2 campaigns, but we did have one druid. The party level was in the 4-6 range, certainly not epic level. Most of our adventures were underground, so a lot of the nature spells were useless. In those situations, she got pretty good at distracting the bad guys so that the others could attack more effectively.
For example, when facing a powerful melee combatant, the rogue would delay and wait for the Druid to cast Summon Nature's Ally on the other side of the enemy. Even if the Ally's attack was ineffective, the rogue could use it to flank the enemy at 30' and get a ranged sneak attack for extra damage.
As an epic level druid, you should probably have a pretty fierce animal companion. Slap a Greater Magic Fang on it and you've got a pretty powerful extra member of the party.
She also made good use of the Summon Swarm spell. It's a low level spell, so a decent SR roll would resist it, and does no real damage, but a spellcaster is unable to cast from within the swarm. She would Ready casting it if an enemy spellcaster began casting. If the enemy fails its SR roll (if any), it can't cast anything from within the swarm.
Unfortunately, a mind flayer ended the druid's career at 7th level, so we never got into any high level spells. She was never a force for causing huge amounts of damage.
Yeah, in my experiences with I've never seen a truly impressive Druid combatant. They're more of a support class. I could suggest a few things, though I don't know how many you've already considered yourself.
The Druid doesn't have access to very strong weapons, so find ways to enhance damage. One way to do this is to add an "elemental" bonus tou your weapons (flaming, frost, shocking, etc). This can be particularly useful with a keened scimitar; at epic level it should be easy to have something like a +5 keen flaming burst aberration bane scimitar. Take the improved critical feat and you threaten a critical hit on a natural roll of 12 or higher. Damage dealt would be 1d6 slashing + 1d6 fire + strength mod + 5 normally, and 2d6 slashing + 1d6 fire + 1d10 fire + (2 X strength mod) + 10 on a critical. A added in aberration bane since it would make sense for a druid, and also adds +2 to attack and damage (+4 damage on a crit) and +2d6 damage to any hit against an aberration. Quite a few epic level monsters are aberrations, as well as more than a few old favorites that can be boosted by character levels (Mind Flayers being a great example). You could drop the Bane ability or a few points of basic enhancement bonus to make the weapon cheaper if you wanted to. For a ranged weapon you could get a sling with the flaming/frost/etc ability; not as damaging but you could buy several with low enhancement bonuses (+2 or +3) and different other abilities (use the flaming one for cold subtype opponents, different bane abilities, etc). Most DMs would likely let you use multiple slings per round if you have them preloaded and folded to be easily pulled from a pocket (might require quickdraw, maybe not such a good idea).
I'm not particularly familiar with druid spells, I'm an arcane player myself, but I'm sure there are at least a handful of high level ones capable of doing quite a bit of damage or somehow hindering or handicapping opponents, as long as you pick the right spell for the right time.
Also of note is your Wild Shape ability. There should be numerous ways to make that effective. One such way is to look into the Nature's Warrior prestige class, found in Complete Warrior. It allows for a few nice little enhancements to a Druid's combat abilities in wild shape form.
I hope that helps.
I have had first-hand experience with druids in my gaming past. Before I go on giving you tips, here is a USEFUL HINT- if you are using your wild-shape ability as some sort of flying creature and are scoping the land above your party, and you see some sort of creature that is around the party that you think might harm them DON'T go and try to attack that creature so you get a surprise attack. For me it resulted in being an animal (For my Druid she was a wolf, since she was close to that animal, already had a wolf animal companion, and it was her favorite animal) for a month. So there is a hint for ya! (although some how I got more experience then the party did =)
For tips, you could take a presteige class. There is a shape shifter (pg. 68 in the book Masters of the Wild) that lets you turn into almost any creature with time, and you get to use the Wild Shape ability ALOT more often(it adds to your already exsiting Wild Shape). I had a druid like this and she rocked. If your DM or GM is planning on your party fighting more dragons, I recommend getting the book Draconomicon and maybe getting a prestiege class out of there.
There are also spells that druids have that are a good help to the party. Stone to Mud and Mud to Stone are good.
I recommend getting a dire animal companion or a legendary animal companion (see pg. 37-43 in Masters of the Wild). They do alot more damage. Wolves can trip, and cats, like tigers, can rake for extra damage. I also suggest getting a symitar, and putting like +5 with spell storing or frost, fire, electricity, etc. For armor, Rino Hide is probally your best bet.
Cool wonderous items are always fun to have. The Torc of Animal Speech will help ALOT. It alows you to talk to animals whenever. Wilding Clasp is also a good one, but only for Druids, not Shape Shifters. It alows you to have an amulet or such on your new form so that it can still operate. Both of these are found in Masters of the Wild.
Good books to have for a Druid are Masters of the Wild, and The Quintessential Druid. A fun book to have is Draconomicon.
I hope this information helps you to update your Druid.
I just picked up a copy of Complete Adventurer and it has a few useful things for druids (and everybody else too, actually). The two that come to mind first are beastskin armor and the Daggerspell Shaper prestige class; conveniently enough, both of these specifically augment combat abilities while using Wild Shape. Beastskin, which is a special armor quality equivalent to a +2 bonus, makes the armor shift in shape with you so that you're still wearing it in your wild shape form; you are still proficient with it and all bonuses and check penalties still apply as normal. The daggerspell shaper prestige class has a few requirements, namely two weapon fighting and weapon focus (dagger), but allows you several benefits: you can cast spells as normal if wielding a dagger in each hand, your wild shape abilities continue to improve (including times per day), and beginning at second level any magic qualities on your daggers apply to your corresponding claws in wild shape form (assuming you were wielding them when you shifted). You also improve your casting abilities as normal, except for at first level, and later pick up a few extra little tricks to mix magic and your daggers (or claws).
OK kid, here is what you do.....
Step 1: Ignore everything these guys are saying. Don't start multiclassing unless its a one level dip for something really very good.
Step 2: Recreate the character along these very basic lines.
A. Blow a feat and get Heavy Armor proficiency and get some Wild Dragonscale Full Plate with the best bonuses you can get. This stuff wildshapes with you and you are getting at least a +9 armor bonus on it.
B. Get Natural spell. Don't spend points on Str, Dex, or Con., and live out your days as a dire ape or dire tiger or something with amazing physical and mental stats. Get an item with telepathy or cheat your way in a level of Beguiler if you really want to talk to fellow PCs.
C. Check out the feats that expand your available Wildshape forms. Eberrron has feats that get you magic beasts, and thats some good stuff. Epic has dragon forms.
Failing that, check out the high HD Animals. All of them. Choose forms as needed.
D. Find all the long-lasting buffs like Barkskin and Greater Magic Fang. Cast them.
E. Find all the cheatery Druid spells like Slime Wave. Make sure you cast them.
Good luck. Druid is the most broken class in the game, and it should be easy for you to be the most powerful character in your campaign. Just do your research and don't ignore your Wildshape.
Don't forget that you can cast Shapechange as well. The number of supernatural abilities that you can get with that spell is amazing. Read the monster books and shop for useful powers.
I'll have to second K's suggestions. A druid, when played right, is one of the most powerful classes in the game. But don't multi-class in anything that doesn't advance your wildshape and spellcasting. Make sure to take feats that give you access to advanced wildshapes. Wildshape is the key to making a druid into a combat monster, so make your homework on that ability.
You can also check out this thread on WotCs message boards:
But don't multi-class in anything that doesn't advance your wildshape and spellcasting.
Along these lines, I reaffirm my suggestion for the Daggerspell Shaper prestige class. You give up only one level of spellcasting ability (a mere formality at epic levels) and gain the ability to use magic weapons while in wild shape, while progressing further in wild shape, a great bonus. You also pick up a few extra nice little abilities. If you have access to Complete Adventurer, you want this class; it is THE way to be a strong combat druid.
Hi,
First prestige classes. There's a shifter class in Complete adventurer. It allows you to wild shape into amazing things. Mix this with Daggerspell Shaper (same book, complete adventurer) and you can kick ass while in wild shape. Then remember animal companions? Well if you think theyre cool, then get the Beastmaster prestige class. You can get up to 5 great animal companions. Plus remeber you have spells like enlarge animal. Plus never ever forget, the call lightning storm spell. It is nature's fury. Its also one of the best straight up damage spells a druid can get.
Druids can get nasty. I once had my party encounter a sahaguin druid with a shark animal companion that he had enlarged, and his two rnager buddies had shark animal companions. He also took shark form. So while the Pcs on their sinking ship were fighting these sharks. Teh smallest shark starting using call lightning on them.
Just remember as a druid, you should be a master of your environment. The ranger has the skills and combat ability to survive the forest. You are the forest. From little tricks to big ones, make whatever environment you are in, into a formidable weapon. Also remember that feats like energy substitution and other metamagics aren't just for wizards.
Check out complete divine and complete adventurer for more great druid stuff.
Jay
Honestly, druids can be very powerful. Mainly because they be customized to be either powerful melee attackers or brutual spellcasters. The wildshape ability is useful and there are at least 2 magical items that I know of that can boost your effective wildshaping abilities (either by adding more effective levels to determine your wildshape or increasing the number of times per day that your druid can wildshape).
Secondly, your animal companion. Oh boy, can you ever have fun with this. Once you´re high enough level, cast Awaken on your companion. Two, keep handy spells like Nature´s Favour and Nature Avatar (I think that is the name of the spell but I might be mistaking it for another spell). Slap permanent greater magic fangs on both yourself and your animal companion, one on each natural weapon. Learn how to brew potion or craft alchemy...make stuff that you can consume to reserve your spell slots for potent spells.
Finally, learn feats originally intended for monsters. Like the ones for dragons. Sure, they are only worth it when you can wildshape into a dragon but at epic levels, having feats like Rapid Strike and Improved Rapidstrike means you have a lot of attacks and you´re more likely than not to hit high ACs. Besides, having monster feats that you can only utilize when wildshaping means you got tricks up your sleeve that most foes don´t suspect. Having the Natural Spell feat is a must for most druids.
At lower levels, it´s fun to wildshape into critters like Girallons. Face it, Nature has given you the ability to be a monster...so use it and tag-team on foes with your animal companion, and if spellcasters are pestering you with range spells, remind them that you can do that too and generally have more means of stopping them in their tracks so you can just walk over there and start rending them to pieces.
But do not try to cover every field of the game...try to build your druid around a theme and work in that. If you like your druid to summon like mad, focus on improving what you can summon (through PrC or feats).
Hope that helped and have fun with your druid! :)
D&D can be played with alternate rules. Check with your DM. If it's okay, you can use every sugesstion that's been given, but if the DM's sticking to the offical rules, then you might have a problem with a few of the more recent sugesstions:
For instance, according to the offical 3.5 Player's Handbook, you:
1. Can't have an animal compaion who is Awakened, per the spell.
2. Cannot use the Wild Shape ability to become a Dragon or Magical Creature subtype (through Druid levels, at least). You CAN cast Shapechange, however, but not until 17th level.
3. Cannot (with Druid levels) cast "Permenancy" on anything.
Druids are fun. . . and serve as a great role-playing opportunity. Despite what happened with the described encounter, you'll have more effective combats in the future - without having to Min/Max all your abilities. I woud suggest taking feats, skills, and class levels based on your conceptual architype (i.e. what feel the most heroic/villanous to you). You may not do quite as well at the others in every combat situation, but your character (and each round of combat he participates in) will feel more real to you.
Did your party try to talk down the Dragon before fighting it? Diplomacy is a class skill for Druids, after all. . .
1. Can't have an animal compaion who is Awakened, per the spell.2. Cannot use the Wild Shape ability to become a Dragon or Magical Creature subtype (through Druid levels, at least). You CAN cast Shapechange, however, but not until 17th level.
3. Cannot (with Druid levels) cast "Permenancy" on anything.
Druids are fun. . . and serve as a great role-playing opportunity. Despite what happened with the described encounter, you'll have more effective combats in the future - without having to Min/Max all your abilities. I woud suggest taking feats, skills, and class levels based on your conceptual architype (i.e. what feel the most heroic/villanous to you). You may not do quite as well...
Well I´ll be danged. Forgot all about those (since I´m on vacation and all of my 3.5 books are back home).
(1) However, you can still cast awaken on several animals and then befriend them, ;)
(2) Shapechange helps but you can also go for the Shapeshifter PrC from Complete Adventurer (if I remembered correctly).
(3) Perhaps druids cannot cast Permanency but your fellow arcane spellcaster(s) can, :) What are friends for, right? You can also buy items that grant an enhancement bonus to your natural attacks, if you so desire.
But Wereplatypus is correct though. Play what brings you the most fun. After all, the game is not about winning (although it does feel fun to win), it is about having fun and that can be accomplished through various means in the game.
With that being said, enjoy!
It's been said here... But it deserves being said again: Wildshape. With nothing but Druid levels, Wildshape's your best bet for dealing out combat damage. at 20th level, a druid gains the ability to transform into a huge elemental. So at 21st level, you can turn into a 21hd Earth Elemental... let's see what that can do: Spcl attacks: Earth mastery, push. Earth Mastery gives you a bonus to your attack rolls against anything standing on the ground, assuming you are too. Push makes it much easier to bull rush your opponent. Doesn't seem like a very useful ability... unless your opponent's in water. You need to get it out of the water and back onto dry land. So, what do you do? Push it out. Spcl qualtities: Damage reduction 10/-, earth glide, darkvision 60 ft. Damage reduction 10. Always nice. Darkvision may not be that handy... but its good to be able to see in the dark. Earthglide. Earthglide is your friend. Melt into the ground and pop back up where you're least expected. To be continued...
Now, remember that wildshape gives you the feats as well: Alertness, Awesome Blow, Cleave, Great Cleave, Improved Bull Rush, Improved Sunder, Iron Will, Power Attack
Briefly stated, you are a pounding machine. Awesome blow is a bull rush that does damage. And being that you are Huge, most things are going to be smaller than you. Cleave and great cleave are wonderful for wading through, say, an opposing army.
Let's not forget Summon Nature's Ally. Combined with wildshape and natural spell, You can summon several elementals (of whichever type is most advantageous against this particular foe), Become one yourself, and co-ordinate your attacks.
To sum things up: Wildshape is your friend. It lets you take whatever form would be best against your opponent. Natural spell is absolutely vital. Keep those spells coming when you're wildshaped.
A few quick things to keep in mind based just upon the PHB:
(1) Druids can summon a new animal companion with 24 hours notice. Whenever possible scout out or research the adventure locale and get the companion that most suits your needs for that particular adventure (scent ability, aquatic, a fast mount,etc).
(2) Keep those spontaneous casting of "summon nature's ally #" in mind, it makes druids the best conjurers in the game. Use your allotment of buff spells to make these creature's tougher (maybe take Augmented Summoning if you have the spare feats) and send them in as your enforcers.
(3) Druids also make fantastic scouts/guides. Wildshape lets them go anywhere, and they have a nice selection of travel spells which they can cast on the rest of the party (up to and including animal shapes) to take them along for the ride. They've also got the right skills (Spot and Listen) and class ability like pass w/o trace (is it still called that?).
(4) One final thing, always, always, always, cast lots of goodberry spells and hand the berries out to your allies. It lasts 1 day/level, each berry is good for 1 hp of healing and I think you can eat half a dozen or so each day. It's like giving everyone a free healing potion.
In short = How can I turn my druid into a force to be reckoned with?
By the looks of the lion's share of responses, this is going to be an unpopular opinion and I'm sure it will draw some flames, but in the interest of this being a forum, I feel there's a side of this thread which is not being represented.
"How can I turn my druid into a force to be reckoned with?"
Don't focus on combat. That's not what a Druid is for or about. The first thing I'd do is reread the Druid description...he's not a combat monster. He's not there to wreak havoc on the evils of the world by turning into a monstrous bear or zapping himself full of spells and laying low score of enemies or ancient dragons...That's what Fighters and Wizards are for.
This doesn't mean you're a "supporting class" as some have said. Your responsibility is not simply to stand behind the ranks and cast heal and barkskin spells on your fellows. Druids have amazing abilities to work with the wilderness around them and harness its aspects into manifestations of their own power.
There are plenty of books out there, by WotC, Kenzer, White Wolf, Monte Cook, etc that will give you enough feats, spells, prestige classes, and special abilities to turn any character into a combat monster...but that's the true definition of "breaking" a class. Classes are not inherently "broken"...
What's the best way to improve your character? Become very familiar with the spells, special abilities, and description specific to the Class. They are designed to work in harmony and with a bit of creativity, they can turn any character into a force to be reckoned with in one way or another.
My two cents.
-Rob
In short = How can I turn my druid into a force to be reckoned with?By the looks of the lion's share of responses, this is going to be an unpopular opinion and I'm sure it will draw some flames, but in the interest of this being a forum, I feel there's a side of this thread which is not being represented.
"How can I turn my druid into a force to be reckoned with?"
Don't focus on combat. That's not what a Druid is for or about. The first thing I'd do is reread the Druid description...he's not a combat monster. He's not there to wreak havoc on the evils of the world by turning into a monstrous bear or zapping himself full of spells and laying low score of enemies or ancient dragons...That's what Fighters and Wizards are for.
This doesn't mean you're a "supporting class" as some have said. Your responsibility is not simply to stand behind the ranks and cast heal and barkskin spells on your fellows. Druids have amazing abilities to work with the wilderness around them and harness its aspects into manifestations of their own power.
There are plenty of books out there, by WotC, Kenzer, White Wolf, Monte Cook, etc that will give you enough feats, spells, prestige classes, and special abilities to turn any character into a combat monster...but that's the true definition of "breaking" a class. Classes are not inherently "broken"...
What's the best way to improve your character? Become very familiar with the spells, special abilities, and description specific to the Class. They are designed to work in harmony and with a bit of creativity, they can turn any character into a force to be reckoned with in one way or another.
My two cents.
-Rob
Actually, Rob, I'm with you on that one;
Some folk consider a class "broken" based on how they stand up in combat, and some others measure the 'fun' of playing these classes based on the offensive firepower of said classes. There are myriad books that do no more than describe different ways to achieve the same ends - to min/max out your character into the 'bad-ass-est' fighting machine around...at the cost of the character's other skills and of good role-playing.
When my old group years ago ran a party of combat-machines, I would negate their advantages by either having them fight monsters that could match their ability or by picking them apart with traps. A resourceful DM provides material for ALL players, not just the fighters.
As an older player/DM, I'd say this is a symptom of the video-game generation, which demands immediate reward for effort and frequent "power-ups" as a reward for progress in the game.
The inability of the Druid to be a "force in the game" has as much to do with the DM focusing too much on running fight after fight, with little or no puzzle-solving, story & plot investigation, trap-detecting & defeating, mystery-solving and NPC interaction, than it has to do with player capability.
The druid can be a force in the game simply by having the DM run their game in the wilderness and by having the party do more than meet monster after monster to fight.
My 2 cents also,
M
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Personsally, I would stick with a large animal companion like a dire bear and advance it as you level. I wouldn't take arcane Heirophant but go straight druid for spellcasting and add metamagic feats for you spells.
A lot of PrC's for druid empahize wildshaping, the reason I sugguested going straight druid is that your spells will advanced to enable you to deliver some good 8th and 9th level spells. Those will certainly add to the party such as calling elder elementals to boost your party combat potential in cruical situtations such as different evironmontal areas like underwater or in the air.
Just my two coppers...
Mike
Well this thread interested me as I have a new party starting up and a player who wants to be a Druid.
OK kid, here is what you do.....
A. Blow a feat and get Heavy Armor proficiency and get some Wild Dragonscale Full Plate with the best bonuses you can get. This stuff wildshapes with you and you are getting at least a +9 armor bonus on it.
Where are you supposed to get this stuff? As a DM I certianly would not have this on the shelf at my adventurers local Quickie Mart.
Come to think of it I'm about as likely to start leaving heavy armour around for Druids as I am to start pitting in Staffs of the Magi that are only usuable by Barbarians.
B. Get Natural spell. Don't spend points on Str, Dex, or Con., and live out your days as a dire ape or dire tiger or something with amazing physical and mental stats. Get an item with telepathy or cheat your way in a level of Beguiler if you really want to talk to fellow PCs.
Worth pointing out that the description of Wild Shape specifies that the Druid Can only transform himself into a creature he is familier with. Strictly speaking I'd think that might limit one to the relitivly common animals from where ever the Druid trained. As a DM I'd probably go with a slightly more leniant interpretation of allowing the player to take the wild shape if they ever manage to find such a creature in its natural habitat. That said in all my years of DMing I don't ever recall any party I have run encounting a Rhino. So I somehow suspect that my Druids options won't be endlessly open...I see a lot of snakes and lizards in his future. At high levels maybe he'll meet some Dinosours and be thrilled to finally be able to transform into their likeness.
C. Check out the feats that expand your available Wildshape forms. Eberrron has feats that get you magic beasts, and thats some good stuff. Epic has dragon forms.
There sure are some leniant DMs out there. I'm pretty restrictive about what is and what is not allowed in my campaign world. Much of the material from the Complete books would be allowed but certianly nothing from a sourcebook on some other completely different campaign world.
Failing that, check out the high HD Animals. All of them. Choose forms as needed.
I'll not agin that unless teh animal is common in teh region the player is presumably restricted in some manner from tacking them. The books example is that a Druid from the temperate forests cannot take a Polar Bear. One way or another the Druid should not be allowed to pick and choose from any animal in the book but merely from a small subset of the possible animals with maybe more being added at a slow rate as he gains 'familiarity' with more animals.
Furthermore its specifies that the Druid may never choose an animal with more HD then the Druid so thats going to restrict the choices somewhat.
D. Find all the long-lasting buffs like Barkskin and Greater Magic Fang. Cast them.E. Find all the cheatery Druid spells like Slime Wave. Make sure you cast them.
Good luck. Druid is the most broken class in the game, and it should be easy for you to be the most powerful character in your campaign. Just do your research and don't ignore your Wildshape.
Don't forget that you can cast Shapechange as well. The number of supernatural abilities that you can get with that spell is amazing. Read the monster books and shop for useful powers.
As to the armor, it could be special ordered. Any crafter of magical arms and armor, with the appropriate prerequisite caster level and spells known, should be able to make it and likely would agree to as long as you pay the market price, which is pretty much expected. The only downside is that you have to find a sufficiently skilled craftsman (probably shouldn't be hard in a large, fairly prosperous city) and wait around for the required time for them to make it. Most of this could be done on downtime between adventures, as long as you're within traveling distance of a sufficiently large city to support such a craftsman (and a druid can make pretty good time on such a trip since "as the crow flies" isn't just a figure of speech for them). A druid should easily be able to put up with the city for a little while to get such an item. Also, keep in mind that the character that the original poster has made is epic level, so it shouldn't be too difficult for him to afford this.
As to the animal familiarity, I wouldn't have any reservations allowing a druid to wildshape into a rhino as long as they have spent any significant amount of time in an area with warm plains (rhino habitat). Africa isn't a place in any D&D world I know of, so if there's appropriate environment then there's a good chance that a particular animal is at least occasionally seen in that area.
No offense, man, but you sound like an overly strict DM. I hate munchkinism and all, but it seems as if you're one of those DMs that doesn't allow any magical items into the campaign until eighth levelor higher (and the only magic items that ever exist are in hoards of powerful dragons, none can actually be bought) and any new characters (including ones that die, which happens about twice per session) must start at first level regardless of what level the group is at.
As to the armor, it could be special ordered. Any crafter of magical arms and armor, with the appropriate prerequisite caster level and spells known, should be able to make it and likely would agree to as long as you pay the market price, which is pretty much expected. The only downside is that you have to find a sufficiently skilled craftsman (probably shouldn't be hard in a large, fairly prosperous city) and wait around for the required time for them to make it. Most of this could be done on downtime between adventures, as long as you're within traveling distance of a sufficiently large city to support such a craftsman (and a druid can make pretty good time on such a trip since "as the crow flies" isn't just a figure of speech for them). A druid should easily be able to put up with the city for a little while to get such an item. Also, keep in mind that the character that the original poster has made is epic level, so it shouldn't be too difficult for him to afford this.
OK...I did not notice the epic moniker. At Epic levels I have significantly less of an issue with this...then again for Epic level characters...well if the fighter wants to pay for a specially made Staff of the Magi for his personal use I might let that go through.
As to the animal familiarity, I wouldn't have any reservations allowing a druid to wildshape into a rhino as long as they have spent any significant amount of time in an area with warm plains (rhino habitat). Africa isn't a place in any D&D world I know of, so if there's appropriate environment then there's a good chance that a particular animal is at least occasionally seen in that area.
I'd rather keep the creatures as rewards acquired through the course of adventuring. That said if a character is starting at Epic then one can assume its seen everything that is not very rare or unique.
No offense, man, but you sound like an overly strict DM. I hate munchkinism and all, but it seems as if you're one of those DMs that doesn't allow any magical items into the campaign until eighth levelor higher (and the only magic items that ever exist are in hoards of powerful dragons, none can actually be bought) and any new characters (including ones that die, which happens about twice per session) must start at first level regardless of what level the group is at.
Not quite that bad...
Still I was responding to K's post which specified that the Druid was the most broken class in the game and seemed to outline a way to max out the druid making it into unstopable killing machine. This sent me back to the Druid entry and much of the stuff being advocated can't really be done within the official rules...thus reducing the danger that the class is actually more broken then any other class in the game.
It appears to me that the class is viable and not to powerful if the DM is fairly strict with enforcing the limits within the class description. That said Wildshape is an extremely powerful ability. I see no problem in deciding that such a potent ability should have to be played within certian restrictions. Not letting my player utilize every animal in all the books as his own personal catalogue of shapes is just such a restriction. As time goes on he'll get ever more shapes to add to the repitoire without ending up with a monster for every situation; which hardly seems balanced.
Anyway for me personally I'm going to keep Druids and Psionics on a short leash for my first campaign using 3.5. I've had problems with these two classes (and illusionists) in the past. Better I start tight and then slowly loosen up then start loose and realize that I screwed up big time.
Wow, a thread on Druids! I’ll have to give my two cents here because Druids are my absolute favorite Class (bet you couldn’t tell from the Avatar).
First I must say that the Class is definitely NOT “broken”. In any case, it seems as though the very well thought out responses are falling into two camps: 1) those who are addressing the question and writing suggestions for how to make a Druid a “butt-kicker”; and 2) those who have taken a step back to look at the Druid and the class’s role in greater context. Let me just say thanks to everyone for taking the time to offer your comments on this often neglected and under used class.
Now, I’ll pretend to ignore those in the second camp temporarily and add some comments to the “butt-kicking” camp. How on earth can you be playing an epic level druid and be having combat problems?!? To side trek just a moment I agree with the comments that urge you not to pick up a prestige class (or multiclass). In my opinion you enter a prestige class because you’re interested in the prestige class and Druid becomes a mere prerequisite. If you want to play a Druid, play a Druid!
When entering combat as a Druid you really have to think like a Druid. You are a master of your environment – use it to your advantage. You are not constrained by your shape – shift to your advantage. Heeding this advice means you must really know the combat chapter of the PHB inside and out (tripping, overruns, attacks of opportunity, reach, grappling, etc…). Let’s take a look at that Dragon that caused you so much trouble. Dragons are big (i.e. clumsy) and can deal lots of damage and have a breath weapon (good melee and ranged). At Epic Level you should have no trouble neutralizing the creature’s breath weapon with some form of energy protection. You don’t want to melee the critter because it’ll shred you (and as a good Druid you haven’t put all your eggs in the “combat” basket anyway, i.e. feats, etc…) but you can easily Wildshape into a huge Air Elemental that has superior aerial maneuverability, the “Flyby” feat and reach to boot. Don’t worry about all the permanency nay sayers; Greater Magic Fang lasts all day at your level and you were smart and cast it this morning (+5 to hit, +5 damage). Why not cast Produce Flame to put a little “punch” in your slam. You’ll fly circles around the beast, you have superior movement, supporting magic, healing, ally’s (via summoning) where’s the problem? However, if you’re really thinking like a Druid you’ll stay out of the Dragon’s way altogether (as a fast air elemental or any number of other options) and use the environment to bring it down. Outside you can control the weather and wind, you have long range attacks (Call Lightning) and a host of potential ally’s (summoning again). Inside (like a dungeon) you could literally bury the thing alive (Move Earth, Rock to Mud, etc…). As an earth elemental cave ins and mud slides just aren’t an issue for you (Earth Glide) but they’re big problems for enemies!
I’ll offer a quick example from my own experience (though not as an epic character). While separated from my party I was faced with a combat situation against a group (10 or more) of Ogre Fighters in an underground setting. I was outnumbered, out gunned and out of my preferred environment (forest). I was able to defeat these creatures with good use of tactics. First, I cast Obscuring Mist and used a move action (the ogres lost their opportunity to charge and responded by blundering into the fog to look for me). Next, I cast Spike Stones to slow, hamper and injure the enemy and took a move action placing myself against the wall with my animal companion up front and hefted my long spear (can’t close with me because of the animal companion, attack of opportunity from long spear and two defenders against the enemy). Last, I summoned a Xorn because it can use Earth Glide to avoid the Spike Stones and Tremor Sense to find the baddies.
What I’m getting at is that you don’t have to max out your combat feats and such. The Druid class has got it covered. You’ve just got to know how to use what you’ve got creatively.
As for the second camp of cementers; hear, hear! All this combat talk has almost made me forget why I like the Druid. They are not fighters but can fight. They are not Wizards but can cast wicked spells. They area not Clerics but they can heal. To quote the PHB “The fury of a storm, the gentle strength of the morning sun, the cunning of the fox, the power of the bear—all these and more are at the druid’s command. The druid however, claims no mastery over nature. That claim, she says, is the empty boast of a city dweller. The druid gains her power not by ruling nature but by being at one with it. To trespassers in a druid’s sacred grove, to those who feel the druid’s wrath, the distinction is overly fine.”
If you end up with a strict DM (like Jeremy - sorry, I couldn't resist the Jab) who is going to limit your wildshape options (especially at epic levels) just tell him/her you spent a year as an Arctic Tern and have completed a circum polar migration of the campaign world which has given you experience with animals in all the habitat types the stingy DM wants to ban you from ;-). Also, for some good Druid attitude check out Mt. Zogon in Dundeon.
Nuff fer now.