My wife will be joining my game group for the first time this Saturday. We’re starting a new campaign, and she actually asked to be a part of it. She is still a bit apprehensive, but she’s wanting to make a go of it.
When we first started talking about what sort of character she wanted to play, all signs pointed to Druid (love of nature, wanting to cast spells, the desire for a pet – she wanted a mini-pony with wings to start, but with a little coaxing from me she finally settled on a wolf), so we worked it up. She is an elf and we’re close to finishing her build. In the last stages of character creation she was beginning to get a bit frustrated with some of the stuff her druid can’t do. When she said she wanted her druid to be more like a ninja, I realized perhaps we should have been building a Ranger after all.
We talked about it some more, and Ranger doesn’t quite suit her either. She wants the spell casting and the animal companion at first level, but she wants some of a Ranger’s flavor as well. She has already decided on the Track feat (since the party doesn’t have a ranger already it seemed a prudent choice). It seems the only thing missing now is some of the quiet sneakiness of the Ranger.
Other than the obvious solutions of taking cross class skills in Hide and Move Silently or multi-classing with Ranger can anyone think of how to make her druid more Rangery? I do give one of the “+2 Skill/+2 Skill” feats as a bonus at character creation, so she could take Stealthy which would help in the short term, however I’d like to figure out some way to open up those skills moving forward. I do want to keep it strictly inside the rules, but I also really want my wife’s first character to be something she really likes and wants to play. It was a huge thing for her to ask to play – I figure the least I can do is work as hard a possible to get her the character she’s wanting.
Check Heros of Battle - Guerilla Warrior feat. You get a reduction of armor check penalties for light and medium armors and Hide and Move Silently cost you 1 point, even tho max ranks are still same for being cross-class.
That should help a bit... I'll get my wife - whose first D&D character ever was a 3ed Ranger/Druid - to offer up anything she can think of in a bit...
Old Star Wars d20 had this rule for "multiclass characters at level 1", where your little Frankenstein went on like this:
He starts the game with the class skills of both classes but the amount of skill points of only one (player's choice). Likewise, she choses either of the two for:
Lvl 1 hit die
saves
proficiencies
class abilities
If your wife wants to start the game with spells and animal companion let her, other than that Druids and Rangers have both redundant class abilities so it shouldn't be a problem.
Once the character hits level 2 give her the "other half" of all her features, so you end up back with a regular lvl 2 multiclass character. Happy ending, your wife started the game with the character she wanted and neither your game broke down nor your world exploded. =)
Now, if she wants that ponygasus I'm sure there must be around somewhere a feat for druids similar to the Improved Familiar one (if there isn't one, create it), but it's a lvl 3 one, so either give her the winged pony but tell her she'll need to wait until lvl 3 for it to be able to actually fly (when she invests the feat) or ask your other players whether anyone's world will explode if she takes a lvl 3 feat a little earlier.
3.0 had the Apprentice rules, which were similar.
My wife says the only other thing she can think of is to use the gestalt option from Unearthed Arcana. That can tax your sanity, if your players aren't seasoned. I just looked and didn't see any ready-made class variants that fit her concept in UA's classes chapter.
What do you consider strictly by the rules? Could you swap out two skills on her class skill list for Hide and Move Silently and let her take them as class skills?
If not, I recommend looking into cloak and boots of elvenkind, as well as shadow and silent moves armor, which can be upgraded nicely. That may take a while for her to acquire, but it's better than nothing. Is she willing to wait a while and work towards making her character the way she wants, or does she want the stealth capabilities from the get-go?
Would she be interested in switching to a halfling? That and the stealthy feat might give her big enough bonuses to Hide and Move Silently to keep her sneaking relatively successfully until she can get hold of the cloak, boots, and armor enchantments.
She may also want to look over some of the druid's spells and class features. Obscuring mist is a great 1st level spell which can help mask an entrance or exit, along with any other activity taken within the perimeter of the cloud. []iPass without trace[/i] won't stop anyone from seeing her while she's sneaking, but it can allow her to make a sneaky getaway. You may want to introduce an evil range antagonist who tries to track her, so she can use the spell to some effect. Also, perhaps create some situations with natural barriers, such as hedgerows and thorns, which a druid can pass through with woodland stride. That might make her feel more ninja-like. Once she gets access to 2nd level spells, she can use things like spider climb and tree shape to be stealthy, and warp wood to get past most doors.
Hope that helps.
Be flexible and give her a combination of the Druid and the Ranger.
Call it a Defender Druid or a Warden.
Hit Dice : d8
BAB : As Druid
Saves : Will + For or Ref
Class Skills : Climb, Craft, Fly, Handle Animal, Heal, Knowledge/Geography, Knowledge/Nature, Perception, Profession, Ride, Spellcraft, Stealth, Survival, Swim
Skill Points : 4 per level
1st Level : Animal Companion, Orisons & Spells, Track, Wild Empathy
2nd Level : Combat Style or Enemy or Woodland Stride
3rd Level : Terrain or Trackless Step
and so on...
Thanks for all the help guys!
For the record, the ponygasus was her attempt at making my head explode - the best part was after some explanation that the flying part kind of broke the game her response was "well I never said it could FLY - I just want it to have wings." Ah, marital bliss :-)
I had forgotten the Guerrilla Warrior feat - thanks Doc, I will check that out with her tonight.
Also, good idea with the sneaky use of spells Saern - I'll go over those to see what we can find that might make her feel more like a ninja.
In the final analysis I think the best option maybe to either do something like the d20 Star Wars multi-classing at first level option, or switch out a couple of class skills for new ones. We're using the variant classes from UA anyway, so it wouldn't be outside the spirit of our world. Everyone else in the group really wants her to play and enjoy it, so I doubt anyone would have an issue with tweaking the class some.
One of my friend's wives played a druid as her first character, and it's been kind of difficult. The druid is REALLY complex, especially with the spontaneous summoning, Augment Summoning feat, huge list of spells, animal companion, etc. etc. And she has a Ph.D!!!
Honestly, for a newby, I would suggest she play a ranger, and slowly learn how to play. A ranger is great for that: They slowly acquire class features with increasing complexity: Track, Favored Enemy, Two-Weapon Fighting/Rapid Shot, spells, animal companion, etc.
Alternatively, I would design a whole new class (Warden?) based on a cross between the druid, ranger, and duskblade (PH2).
BAB: +1
Good Saves: Fort and Will
Hit Dice: 1d8
Class Skills, as Ranger, plus Spellcraft.
Skill Points Per Level: 6 + Int.
Class Features
1. Track, Animal Companion, Spells
Animal Companion as druid
Spells: Learn and Cast them as a duskblade, but based on Wisdom, and from the druid list. She'll cap out at 5th level spells at 17th level, but she'll also be a decent warrior, plus have a great animal companion. Also, it's easier for a newbie to spontaneously cast from a limited spell list rather than prepare spells from a huge list of spells every day.
Maybe sprinkle in some flavorful class features, like woodland stride, quick cast, etc.
RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8
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There's also the Druid Monk hybrid from www.d20srd.org
Druid
The druid might choose to give up her wild shape ability in exchange for becoming a swift and deadly hunter.
Gain
Bonus to Armor Class when unarmored (as monk, including Wisdom bonus to AC), fast movement (as monk), favored enemy (as ranger), swift tracker (as ranger), Track feat (as ranger).
Lose
Armor and shield proficiency, wild shape (all versions).
Picture a druid running through the woods with her animal companion, scimitar trailing behind her, using trackless step, swift tracker, and spells to hunt down someone.
Hmmm, I like that image.
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There's also the Druid Monk hybrid from www.d20srd.org
** spoiler omitted **Picture a druid running through the woods with her animal companion, scimitar trailing behind her, using trackless step, swift tracker, and spells to hunt down someone.
Hmmm, I like that image.
Remove Scimitar and replace it with Bone Knives, Add Half Fiend-elf to that mix and you have:
Bernard led the way now, through the brush toward the edge of the Wood, his companion in the rear.
"You hear that?" the voice of Carlo came from behind him.
"Just you Carlo. Just you." Bernard focused on his footfalls.
"I'm telling you, I heard leaves rustle..." His friend seemed nervous.
Bernard shook his head. "You realize that we are in a forest?"
"Yes but still the noise seemed wrong somehow."
"Oh gods, not that Crooked Wood fairytale again...what was it?" Bernard couldnt remember and his friend had fallen silent.
"Elves of Crooked Wood or somesuch." Bernard laughed.
Bernard stopped laughing at his friend. Had he stopped to sulk about it?
"Your not giving me the silent treatment for laughing at that old superstition...Carlo?" Bernard turned his head until he could see the toned man like creature, bald with pointed ears standing in the steaming, warm stomach cavity of his friend. It was chewing on a liver, a bone Knife sitting casually in its spare hand.
There's also the Druid Monk hybrid from www.d20srd.org
** spoiler omitted **Picture a druid running through the woods with her animal companion, scimitar trailing behind her, using trackless step, swift tracker, and spells to hunt down someone.
Hmmm, I like that image.
You could also let her take levels in the ninja class from Complete Adventurer.
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There's also the Druid Monk hybrid from www.d20srd.org
** spoiler omitted **Picture a druid running through the woods with her animal companion, scimitar trailing behind her, using trackless step, swift tracker, and spells to hunt down someone.
Hmmm, I like that image.
Remove Scimitar and replace it with Bone Knives, Add Half Fiend-elf to that mix and you have:
Bernard led the way now, through the brush toward the edge of the Wood, his companion in the rear.
"You hear that?" the voice of Carlo came from behind him.
"Just you Carlo. Just you." Bernard focused on his footfalls.
"I'm telling you, I heard leaves rustle..." His friend seemed nervous.
Bernard shook his head. "You realize that we are in a forest?"
"Yes but still the noise seemed wrong somehow."
"Oh gods, not that Crooked Wood fairytale again...what was it?" Bernard couldnt remember and his friend had fallen silent.
"Elves of Crooked Wood or somesuch." Bernard laughed.
Bernard stopped laughing at his friend. Had he stopped to sulk about it?
"Your not giving me the silent treatment for laughing at that old superstition...Carlo?" Bernard turned his head until he could see the toned man like creature, bald with pointed ears standing in the steaming, warm stomach cavity of his friend. It was chewing on a liver, a bone Knife sitting casually in its spare hand.
->played a Goblin Druid in Rise of the Runelords with this exact setup. Except I focused on the animal companion (Beastmaster PrC) and spells that worked between the two of us. Replace "Little Man" with "Crazy Goblin" and "Bone Knife" with "Four Armed, Spell-Buffed Dire Wolf" and you'll pretty much have it.
As for "Ninja-like"...moving stupid fast, having favored enemy, good AC boosts, and still having all the spellcasting and animal companion stuff? Sounds like what you're looking for, perhaps with some skill list tweaks (who needs Heal, anyways? swap that for Stealth, and you should be pretty much all set.)
-t
Don't know if this will be of any help to you, but I play with several groups of people who like versatility in their characters. In most of the campaigns I've played (and all of the ones I've run) we house-rule the Jack of All Trades feat. It makes all skills class skills, so you can put your points wherever you want up to normal skill levels. It can only be taken as a first level character, though. I've had some people say that's pretty powerful, but I've never had it come even close to breaking the game. So I want a sorcerer who can move silently, so what? Every point I put into move silently is a point I'm NOT putting into spellcraft or concentration.