My sister is having some problems with her druid in combat, mainly she usually isn't conscious at the end of the fight. I just wanted to know if anybody could offer advice or see a problem with the build that I haven't. She is a level 8 half orc druid.
Stats: used 4d6 and pick 3 best.
Str - 16
Dex - 12
Con - 16
Int - 15
Wis - 18
Cha - 11
Feats: Combat casting, Power attack, Natural spell, Craft wondrous item.
She is new to pathfinder and pen and paper rpg's in general so she spends most of her spells on all day buffs like Greater magic fang for the monk and the animal companions plus air walk and longstrider for herself. She usually leaves her bonus spells open so that if a party member gets diseased, cursed, poisoned. etc. she can cure it right away. She has also taken to crafting wondrous items in between missions that they have (travel time on boats can add up).
She wants her focus to be wildshaping and mauling the closest enemy into oblivion and she favors the forms of a dire tiger, but doesn't usually last more than three or four rounds in a fight with anything that is a serious threat.
It's hard to tell what she's doing wrong, if we don't actually know what she's doing and why she's getting hit so much.
Is the GM targeting her unusually often? Is she manouvering herself into being flanked by the enemy? Is she not using her AC to assist her? What animal is her AC?
Also she should take a look at Treantmonk's guide for druids, lots of good stuf in it:
Clicky
She isn't targeted more than the other party members and if she is I guess the argument would be that a large sized tiger walking on air is much more threatening than an unarmored guy in a tunic with nothing but his fists. I do not have the figures in front of me, but her AC while wildshaped is probably around 17-19. I have read the guide on druid's but its long so a second look through is probably a good idea.
I did not know that part about the spells, thank you for bringing that to my attention name violation.
actually druids cant leave spells open.they have to prepare them at a particular time of day
Spell Selection and Preparation
A divine spellcaster selects and prepares spells ahead of time through prayer and meditation at a particular time of day. The time required to prepare spells is the same as it is for a wizard (1 hour), as is the requirement for a relatively peaceful environment. When preparing spells for the day, a cleric can leave some of her spell slots open. Later during that day, she can repeat the preparation process as often as she likes. During these extra sessions of preparation, she can fill these unused spell slots. She cannot, however, abandon a previously prepared spell to replace it with another one or fill a slot that is empty because she has cast a spell in the meantime. Like the first session of the day, this preparation takes at least 15 minutes, and it takes longer if she prepares more than one-quarter of his spells.
I see there says cleric... RAW is clear although I've always taken this as a synechdoque for divine spellcaster...
She isn't targeted more than the other party members and if she is I guess the argument would be that a large sized tiger walking on air is much more threatening than an unarmored guy in a tunic with nothing but his fists. I do not have the figures in front of me, but her AC while wildshaped is probably around 17-19. I have read the guide on druid's but its long so a second look through is probably a good idea.
I did not know that part about the spells, thank you for bringing that to my attention name violation.
The guy above linked to the wrong part of the druid guide. Check out THIS one for the beast mode druid.
If she's having trouble staying in combat, consider taking some time to cast spells like Barkskin and such before hand to up her AC and HPs, then go into the fray. Or if you have a character who can cast cure spells, have them just follow her around the whole time healing.
Air walk and longstrider are fun and sometimes - rarely - handy, but pretty unnecessary most of the time. Not that they don't have their place, but she could be holding those slots to summon things to watch her back and help her fight. Likewise the buff on the monk. It's nice of her and all, but as a PC he might consider finding a way to buff himself. Or if there is somebody else in the party who can buff, let them take turns.
That's the first thing I think of, off the top of my head.
If she must use air walk, advise her to take the Death From Above feat. Will help her charge down from above with scimitar or whatever, and get a healthy bonus from it. (This last part is partly tongue-in-cheek - though it is a fun feat.)
I found part of her problem, she has yet to spend any money on magic items for herself and is level 8 . . . Anyway, I take the all day buffs into account for air walk and the greater magic fang on the monk, but I think longstrider is pretty standard. She doesn't summon a lot and I can bring that up as a possible solution to help (it certainly would have in the last session). So some wild darkwood armor is well within her budget and ups her AC by 4.
The wild enhancement on something even weaker than hide usually falls under the "not really worth it" category. I mean, for the same price you could just buy a set of "Bracers of Armor +4." No need to even bother with the armor.
If she really wants to up her AC, I'd recommend a Dragonhide Breastplate, or even Fullplate. It isn't much more expensive, and will give a MUCH larger boost. If the GM is grumbly about letting you just buy dragonhide, my response would be "find a dragon, and take its hide." The AC boost is totally worth it.
Dragons are actually extinct in this particular campaign setting.
In that case, I'd recommend just buying a Wand of Mage Armor for the local wizard to use on you. If there is the money, invest in a Ring of Protection or a heavy shield with the wild enhancement.
It's her AC, (Contrast her AC with the high-30s AC for an 8th level PC in a current thread)...
and perhaps her timing.
"Pounce" is so beautiful and attractive, it's hard to resist...and then get yourself in deep doodoo.
She should pounce on people on the fringes of combat, or as a finishing move, essentially whenever and wherever she won't be Full Attacked by multiple attackers in return, or ever, in the case of dragons, et al.
While the armored folk charge up the middle, she and the Monk chew up the edges. If enemies swing around her, she backs up, (maybe even withdrawing because she can come back with a pounce).
If she's the 'armored folk' she needs mid-20s AC at minimum.
The buffs are okay except for Air Walk, which is more for people trying to stay out of reach, or for higher levels when it's less of a cost.
Barkskin is very valuable, and should be on several PCs (if knowingly entering dangerous territory.)
Run some 'mock' battles with her (if she's up for it), not rolling dice, just showing ebb and flow for various types of combat, i.e.:
Tons of cannon fodder. (w/ & w/o leader "target" in back)
Cluster of thugs
BBEG
It may be that the shift in danger levels as she went to 8th hasn't sunk in.
Barding.
Instead of shelling out an obscene amount for +1 wildling armor, go to the armorer, turn into whatever fighting critter she prefers to use, and say "hey, make make me some armor for this" (or have a friend say it, or tie a note that says that around your neck)
You pay 150 gp +twice the cost of the armor for masterwork barding, then get it enchanted at the same price as anyone elses armor.
She has craft wondrous, so a big old amulet of barkskin and a belt of con should get her going.
Barding.
Instead of shelling out an obscene amount for +1 wildling armor, go to the armorer, turn into whatever fighting critter she prefers to use, and say "hey, make make me some armor for this" (or have a friend say it, or tie a note that says that around your neck)
You pay 150 gp +twice the cost of the armor for masterwork barding, then get it enchanted at the same price as anyone elses armor.
She has craft wondrous, so a big old amulet of barkskin and a belt of con should get her going.
That is actually a pretty good idea, the only potential problem would be transport and then donning the actual armor when she has to wildshape.
That is actually a pretty good idea, the only potential problem would be transport and then donning the actual armor when she has to wildshape.
She has natural spell, and more hours of wildshape in a day than there are in a day, so there's little reason not to wake up and get it put on and keep it there all day.
The only thing is that the armor goes away if she needs to turn into a bird or other noncombat form, but she can get it back by resuming her own shape
On that note, if you and your companion are the same critter and wearing the same barding its like having your own built in mirror image.
She does have a companion, but it typically isnt there when they go into cities because you know, its large sized tiger. Hmmm the Stoneplate would provide a large AC bonus.
|
The Wild enhancement is not needed in pathfinder as armor bonuses are retained in wildshape.The wild enhancement on something even weaker than hide usually falls under the "not really worth it" category. I mean, for the same price you could just buy a set of "Bracers of Armor +4." No need to even bother with the armor.
If she really wants to up her AC, I'd recommend a Dragonhide Breastplate, or even Fullplate. It isn't much more expensive, and will give a MUCH larger boost. If the GM is grumbly about letting you just buy dragonhide, my response would be "find a dragon, and take its hide." The AC boost is totally worth it.
Not sure what you are saying but it is needed to get the armor bonus from actual armor while wildshaping
When you cast a polymorph spell that changes you into a creature of the animal, dragon, elemental, magical beast, plant, or vermin type, all of your gear melds into your body. Items that provide constant bonuses and do not need to be activated continue to function while melded in this way (with the exception of armor and shield bonuses, which cease to function)
If she can choose planar wildshape it will be a great solution because you don't have to be worried about your AC when you have RD 5 and in higher level RD10.
The problem that your sister has it's the problem of every single druid without a wild armor, if you have a mage in the party he could cast mage armor to improve your AC.
Furthermore the best way to avoid damage with a druid it is not a great AC, the best way it is to make a great amount of damage and kill your enemy as quick as posible.
My advise to do this it's use wild shape (behemot hippo) + strong jaw + vital strike (at 9th level you could do this).
16d8 + x + grab = Ouch
When you cast a polymorph spell that changes you into a creature of the animal, dragon, elemental, magical beast, plant, or vermin type, all of your gear melds into your body. Items that provide constant bonuses and do not need to be activated continue to function while melded in this way (with the exception of armor and shield bonuses, which cease to function)
I could not find this anywhere, thank you.
Also the party does not have an arcanist, and my sister is the closest to a primary caster we have, but we all know she can never come close to a substitute.
The party consists of:
Gunslinger 1/Rogue 7 (sniper archetype)
"Switch hitter" Ranger 8
unarmed strike snapping turtle style monk 8
The rogue has quite a few ranks in UMD and tries to pick up some slack, but he still can't even come close to a good substitute.
RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32, RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
|
Michael Loy's suggestion makes me think of another option: take a level of Unarmed Fighter, granting you a combat syle feat for free. Take Snake Style.
It gives you a +2 bonus on Sense Motive, and then lets you use an immediate action when you're attacked to roll Sense Motive and treat the result as your AC against that attack.
Wait... Druids don't have Sense Motive as a class skill? That's unfortunate. I guess you could take the Cosmopolitan feat to help with that (at level 9).
If you did so, and had max ranks in Sense Motive, you would have:
9 (ranks) + 4 (WIS) + 3 (class skill) + 2 (Snake Style) = 18
That would mean that against one attack per round, your AC would be somewhere between 19 and 38, average 28.
So that's an option.
She does have a companion, but it typically isnt there when they go into cities because you know, its large sized tiger.
A druid is supposed to be able to release an animal companion at any time and get a new one. So she might be able to get a large savage dog to protect her in the cities, and recall the tiger when returning to the wilderness.
The monk idea sounds plausible except for the fact that she is adamant on wearing armor. As far as any other multiclass solutions go. I really do not think she will go for them though thanks for the help and suggestions, I might use the monk one for a future PC.
Monks must be lawful
Druid must be neutral
I think that make it impossible
Druid has to be neutral, but remember that there are two axises of alignment, and the druid can pick which one gets their neutrality.
Law/Chaos axis: Lawful Neutral, True Neutral, chaotic neutral
Good/evil axis: Neutral good, True neutral (again) Neutral evil
A lawful neutral druid is possible. They may be particularly fond of organized insects, or believe in the hierarchical structures like a wolf pack or pride of lions. They see nature as a wonderfully intricate machine churning along with billions of precisely calibrated, interlocking parts that make up the greater whole.
Someone has probably already mentioned this, but does the Druid's favored class points go into HP or skills and is Toughness a looked at feat in the future?
Its surprising what a little extra health will do.
|
|
She does have a companion, but it typically isnt there when they go into cities because you know, its large sized tiger.A druid is supposed to be able to release an animal companion at any time and get a new one. So she might be able to get a large savage dog to protect her in the cities, and recall the tiger when returning to the wilderness.
Or cast reduce animal on the cat while in the city, if 'large' is the issue.
but given a fantastical world, it should not be strange to see large mounts and animal companions of all sizes in the city.