So basicly I get (almost) killed when I WildShape because my AC drops like mad.
Sure, we have Barkskin and a ring of protection, but as soon as my level 8 druid changes to a huge shape my AC goes back from 21 to 18. And i don't have to tell you how easy 18 is to hit at level 8...
so, i want more!
Enter full plate dragonhide armor (and one feat for future use)
My GM will allow me to get it, but only if i make up HOW to get it... i have to supply him with a bit of storyline or how i would like to get the skin to make it.
Could any fellow druid help me out with how they got their armor of something simular? I don't want to pay 9k gold for the wild enchant on my hide armor...
Spend a summer as an intern for a green dragon, helping him expand his swamp into some recently abandoned farm land. You're collecting scales as payment. Given the discrepancy between the paltry price for enough scales to make a full suit, and how rare the hide of a DEAD great wyrm would be , it should follow that you can make it out of gathered scales.
I believe there was also an old 3.5 Armor Enchantment that would allow a Wild-Shaping Druid to retain their Armor Bonus in animal form. However, this was firmly in the 'Cheese Apocalypse' era of the WotC 3.5, and you might find the enchant is far, far too powerful.
Alternatively, ask the GM if you can have a friendly Wizard with the right feat whip up a unique suit of armor, utilizing a suitable Polymorph spell so that when you Wildshape, the armor is not absorbed by you, but instead reshapes to your new form.
Expect this to cost an arm and a leg. Possibly, quite literally!
I think dragon scale as a special material is silly. You'd think it would have some kind of effect other than make druids happy. And it's dirt cheap... and maybe there's campaign settings where you find dragon scales all over the place, but I've never played in one of them. :)
If it was me, I'd try to convince my GM to let me use, say, giant scorpion carapace or something similar. Something natural. It could easily have the same cost and effect as dragon scale does in the book.
I don't want to pay 9k gold for the wild enchant on my hide armor...
Wouldn't it be 16,000gp?
Wouldn't it be 16,000gp?
I don't want to pay 9k gold for the wild enchant on my hide armor...
Bah, that will teach me to not watch Godzilla vs Mothra while surfing the forums!!
Ahm .... really, Wild Enchantment seems to be your only option, however ... perhaps a variation on the Folding Plate magical armor from page 284 of the Advanced Player's Guide, slap the spell Ironwood into it to make it Wooden Armor, rather than Metal, and enchant the suit of armor as you level up, assuming the GM will allow it.
Get your animal companion or a PC Friend to hold onto it, and when you wild-shape, tie it around your neck (Ape-type animal companions only, and I'd call that a Trick in and of itself!) and boom, +10 to your base AC!
Any manner of dragonhide will suffice. Be it from actual dragons, wyverns, chimera dragon-heads/necks, behirs, etc etc etc
No requirement that the armor needs to be made from the scales of a single dragon that needs to be of ridiculous proportions. If that were the case, I really doubt the price would be a paltry 3000 gp.
Ahm .... really, Wild Enchantment seems to be your only option, however ... perhaps a variation on the Folding Plate magical armor from page 284 of the Advanced Player's Guide, slap the spell Ironwood into it to make it Wooden Armor, rather than Metal, and enchant the suit of armor as you level up, assuming the GM will allow it.
Ironwood works the other way. It makes wood iron-like, it doesn't turn metal into wood. That said, Ironwood is a decent option though I'm not sure if you can enchant it further.
Aaanyway. I guess you could have barding fashioned for your wildshape form, if you have one particular form that you like to stay in as much as possible. Dunno how viable that is... certainly not as convenient as the Wild enchantment.
Any manner of dragonhide will suffice. Be it from actual dragons, wyverns, chimera dragon-heads/necks, behirs, etc etc etc
No requirement that the armor needs to be made from the scales of a single dragon that needs to be of ridiculous proportions. If that were the case, I really doubt the price would be a paltry 3000 gp.
Actually there kinda is rules for it. To fashion a suit of full plate requires a dragon four size categories bigger than the creature the armour is intended for. So that's... uhm... colossal? That's a great wyrm. Heck, white and black dragons never get that big.
I think that's kinda silly though, and I don't see why it all has to come from the same dragon, but I could see a strict GM go by the wording of dragonhide.
I think I'm missing something here: You want to avoid getting a wild armour, so you get dragonhide.
However, dragonhide armour will not solve your problem, as it will not confer any armour bonus to a wildshaped druid (unless I am missing something).
The only way to get that is to have wild armour. There's really no way around that. Sure, getting a dragonhide armour will allow you to use some types of armour that aren't normally available to druids (like full plates), but they won't help you in wild shape.
As for the size and number of dragons: The rules do state clearly what size the thing must be when you get armour out of it. They say nothing of using several smaller dragons. It's something you'll have to talk to your GM about.
The price for the armour is so low because nobody will kill a dragon just for its hide, the way some people do with animals that make good leather.
You kill a dragon as part of an epic quest, because it needs killing, because you want its hoard, etc. Skinning it for nifty armour is just the icing on the cake.
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I think I'm missing something here: You want to avoid getting a wild armour, so you get dragonhide.
However, dragonhide armour will not solve your problem, as it will not confer any armour bonus to a wildshaped druid (unless I am missing something).
The only way to get that is to have wild armour. There's really no way around that. Sure, getting a dragonhide armour will allow you to use some types of armour that aren't normally available to druids (like full plates), but they won't help you in wild shape.
As for the size and number of dragons: The rules do state clearly what size the thing must be when you get armour out of it. They say nothing of using several smaller dragons. It's something you'll have to talk to your GM about.
The price for the armour is so low because nobody will kill a dragon just for its hide, the way some people do with animals that make good leather.
You kill a dragon as part of an epic quest, because it needs killing, because you want its hoard, etc. Skinning it for nifty armour is just the icing on the cake.
To be of use the armor needs to be wild and dragonhide. The point is, that it's rather expensive to create a wild armor, so it seems wasteful to use it on a rather suboptimal armor like hide armor.
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For the easiest way to get the ac boost you are looking for commission a dwarf mason to make armor for you. +1 wild stone plate is what I'm referring to. It's in the AA. Basically full plate made from stone instead of metal. Only downside is when you aren't wildshaped you will lose an extra 5' of movement.
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If the GM's amenable to it, kill lots of tatzelwurms, forest drakes and / or wyverns, to collect the choicest bits of hide and sew them together into a motley patchwork 'coat of many colors.'
I also like the idea of interning with a local dragon and doing them some favors around the cave, to earn the right to use some shed scales. S/he'll probably send the druid on some quests, which, hey, free adventure hook!
The local ogre tribe of Blackskull are led by a terrible warchief, feared by all, as he's a half-dragon (black). Destroy the tribe, and their warchief, and skin the sucker. Unlike a quadrupedal dragon, he's got humanoid proportions and requires less work than expected to make into armor...
"You want to surrender? Gosh, sorry dude, your skin is worth more to me than you are..."
Research your own spell. Pray to the gods of the woodlands to allow you to transform into a body of oak, like a weaker version of iron body, gaining the hardness and natural armor appropriate to being a bear made of oak (+5 NA, DR 5/- sounds about right). Then craft up a collar / necklace that can be activated as a swift action to allow a total of CL minutes / day of this 'oak body' effect, usable in 1 minute increments.
To be of use the armor needs to be wild and dragonhide. The point is, that it's rather expensive to create a wild armor, so it seems wasteful to use it on a rather suboptimal armor like hide armor.
Ah, makes sense now.
There's always stoneplate, though that makes you really slow. If the GM is up to non-standard material, you can always see if you can find some special kind of wood that can be made into armour as hard as metal.
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I think +1 wild stone plate would be the way to go. He is a druid with high enough level for wildshape huge creature, he can probably go around all day in wildshape. The lost of movement will only impact him if he is in his normal humanoid form.
Has it ever been clarified how wild armor works when it comes to ACP, max Dex and movement?
So basicly I get (almost) killed when I WildShape because my AC drops like mad.
Sure, we have Barkskin and a ring of protection, but as soon as my level 8 druid changes to a huge shape my AC goes back from 21 to 18. And i don't have to tell you how easy 18 is to hit at level 8...
so, i want more!
Enter full plate dragonhide armor (and one feat for future use)My GM will allow me to get it, but only if i make up HOW to get it... i have to supply him with a bit of storyline or how i would like to get the skin to make it.
Could any fellow druid help me out with how they got their armor of something simular? I don't want to pay 9k gold for the wild enchant on my hide armor...
Get non-magic hide armor. Hire an npc spellcaster or get a scroll to cast Polymorph any object. The two objects are similar enough that the transformation will be permanent. It'll cost a few thousand gold (possibly more than the dragonscale), but you'll be saving time. There's a chart somewhere with the cost.
Wildhide will still be necessary unless you make barding for your form of choice.
It's a bit cheesy but I think the cheapest solution is to find a colossal animal/vermin and use a scroll of polymorph any object.
Colossal Animal to Colossal Dragon
Same Class +5 to Duration
Same Size +2
Same Intelligence +2
For a +9 which mean permanent duration. Congratulations you now have a Int 1 or 2 Colossal Dragon which is far easier to kill than a regular dragon.
I suspect you can polymorph any object a dead colossal animal and then get a dead colossal dragon but that starts getting into the no intrinsic value clause which many GMs are going to pound you for.
Anyway Polymorph Any Object is a bad spell and I should feel bad for suggesting it as a possible solution to the question "How do I into dragonplate armor?"
Has it ever been clarified how wild armor works when it comes to ACP, max Dex and movement?
I think +1 wild stone plate would be the way to go. He is a druid with high enough level for wildshape huge creature, he can probably go around all day in wildshape. The lost of movement will only impact him if he is in his normal humanoid form.
Not that I've seen.
All I can find is the vague notion that armour continues to function normally while wildshaped, except that the armour bonus ceases to function. I might be reading too much into that though.
I believe there was also an old 3.5 Armor Enchantment that would allow a Wild-Shaping Druid to retain their Armor Bonus in animal form. However, this was firmly in the 'Cheese Apocalypse' era of the WotC 3.5, and you might find the enchant is far, far too powerful.
Its not that cheesey or even powerful for a high level druid. All a druid has to do is pick their favorite form, turn into it, and walk into a master armorsmiths shop with a sign around their neck "please measure for barding" and hand them a bag of gold. Paying 4x the normal cost for a normal suit of armor is cheap compared to adding another +1 onto it. (and wild was +2 wasn't it?)
I believe there was also an old 3.5 Armor Enchantment that would allow a Wild-Shaping Druid to retain their Armor Bonus in animal form. However, this was firmly in the 'Cheese Apocalypse' era of the WotC 3.5, and you might find the enchant is far, far too powerful.
Its not that cheesey or even powerful for a high level druid. All a druid has to do is pick their favorite form, turn into it, and walk into a master armorsmiths shop with a sign around their neck "please measure for barding" and hand them a bag of gold. Paying 4x the normal cost for a normal suit of armor is cheap compared to adding another +1 onto it. (and wild was +2 wasn't it?)
Wild is +3.
It's a bit cheesy but I think the cheapest solution is to find a colossal animal/vermin and use a scroll of polymorph any object.
Colossal Animal to Colossal Dragon
Same Class +5 to Duration
Same Size +2
Same Intelligence +2For a +9 which mean permanent duration. Congratulations you now have a Int 1 or 2 Colossal Dragon which is far easier to kill than a regular dragon.
Make sure nobody hears about it. One dispel magic and the armour is ruined, since permanent means "until dispelled".
Why not just buy the armor. Obviously the DM doesn't just want to have Dragon Hide armor available in any armor shop so your story is what it took to find someone willing to part with a suit of it. Maybe they want a favor do as well the cash.
Ahm .... really, Wild Enchantment seems to be your only option, however ... perhaps a variation on the Folding Plate magical armor from page 284 of the Advanced Player's Guide, slap the spell Ironwood into it to make it Wooden Armor, rather than Metal, and enchant the suit of armor as you level up, assuming the GM will allow it.
Ironwood works the other way. It makes wood iron-like, it doesn't turn metal into wood. That said, Ironwood is a decent option though I'm not sure if you can enchant it further.
Aaanyway. I guess you could have barding fashioned for your wildshape form, if you have one particular form that you like to stay in as much as possible. Dunno how viable that is... certainly not as convenient as the Wild enchantment.
This is what my 3.5 druid does. She has a +1 set of barding she had made for her mountain lion form and the party cleric carries it, when she wildshapes the cleric helps her put it on. Then she stays in the barding until she wildshapes back to her "normal" form. If she wildshapes into a different form, she has no additional armor bonus.
I have personally found all of the means of keeping armor enchantments when wildshaped to be unacceptably cheesy. I don't allow "wildshape clips" or whatever those 3.5 magic items are in my games.
One idea, that i have not heard mentioned is... Just forget about using wild-shape.
For flight, or as a supernatural breath underwater, fine. but Not to use wild-shape all the time.
Then:
* = You do not need +3 Wild enchantment.
* = You Can use Dragon Armor Plate for better AC, take Heavy Armor Proficiency instead of Natural shape, at 5th level when you can afford the Dragon plate.
* = You can enchant your Dragon Plate with other enchantment bonuses.
* = You can wield a magic weapon.
* = You play a Character instead of an animal, and can talk, with the other characters.
* = Your movement is now normal, so you can travel as a group.
If your building as a Pounce, Fighter Kitty, with High Str, and average Wis, then i can see going Animal, all the time.
If your building as a Caster Druid Priest, with low str, and high Wisdom, then you might want to just use wildshape as a once in a while movement/environmental survival trick.
If you want to play as a normal human being, who cast druid spells, and fights with the rest of the group, you might just gear up and play your character, like everyone else, and not worry about wildshape at all. In the long run, this might be the easiest, cheapest, and most logical way to group with everyone else.
(( ok old timer, so Eagle-flight, Octopus-breathunderwater, Dog-city, and Panther-combat, sounds like 4 good chooses at 4th level === would love raven also, but can not take that form until 6th level when you gain assess to tiny animals shapes, eagles are small and have flight for you can take that at 4th level )).
Anyway, just something to consider. Or idea to play around with.
Ps.. Page 466 CRB = DragonHide Plate = Full Suit = 3,3000 gold. 25% wealth by level, lets you buy the armor at 6th level or above.
Go to Ye Olde Library and research the life and times (and especially burial place) or Sir Bob the Legendary Dragon Hunter and loot his tomb for that collosal dragon trophy.
Or similar. The dragon scales don't have to be *fresh*, do they?
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Go to Ye Olde Library and research the life and times (and especially burial place) or Sir Bob the Legendary Dragon Hunter and loot his tomb for that collosal dragon trophy.
Or similar. The dragon scales don't have to be *fresh*, do they?
I would state that they do not need to be fresh but that they would need to properly stored if saving for later use. My opinion as a gm on dealing with the scales of a dragon. I would also require one to have the dragoncraft feat or properly make the necessary heal checks to remove the scales from a dragon that is less than 48 hours dead.
Constable, someone arrest ye necromancer!
It'd still be easier to locate existing or even legendary sets of dragonhide armor, worn by heros long dead, than to kill your own collossal dragon. Bardic lore, commune, locate object, etc, then a quest to find where that armor wound up.