I'm working on building a Storm Druid hoping to focus on battlefield control and debuff with a taste of blasting.
The domains I think I'll choose would be Winds and Storms (subdomains of Air and Weather respectively.) Reason being they have as little overlap as possible between domain spells. Question is, which domain do I take first? Winds starts me off with a bull rush wind blast and a communication spell. Storms starts me off with a debuff and a hiding spell. At 9th, I get the full compliment of spells and abilities quite suddenly.
Also, if I were to take the Eldrich Heritage line, which bloodline should I focus on? I was thinking Stormborn, since I like the electricity themed first level power. Any other feat recommendations? Also, would there be a way to cast spells while in Gaseous Form?
Thank you
If you're getting a bloodline get the air (elemental) bloodline for a fly speed and take the clouds subdomain so you don't get electricity resistance twice. You won't get immunity but that's a capstone effectively.
Really depends on how much charisma you have/can get.
I really like this idea. I'd like to see where you go with it because I think I want to try something similar, possibly cleric rather than Druid...
I think I'm going to lead with the Storms domain. The fog spells I can see using more than once per day. More so than the options for the Wind domain. (Wind Wall is a possibility. Anyone care to talk me up on Wind Wall?) I will miss Gaseous Form, but I'll be able to Wild Shape by that point. Hopefully I won't miss it. AND I'll have the ability to turn any spell into Call Lightning.
My main reason for the choice of Storms over Weather and Wind over Air or Cloud is to avoid redundancy. Weather and Air have redundant spells at 1st (Obscuring Mist), 5th/6th (Control Winds), 8th (Whirlwind with no other option). Storms also gives me Sirocco, which is a prety handy spell. Unfortunately I'll lose Chain Lightning, but I will gain Wind Walk, which is just dandy.
I don't really need to obtain a fly speed with my feat chain as I will have Wild Shape and eventually Air Walk to let me fly. Wild Shape at 6th and I can *poof* into an air elemental. The fly speed also comes REALLY late in the game and I'm not sure it will have that much time to play.
The 3rd and 9th level sorcery bloodline powers are the ones I prefer. I would prefer to take skill focus KN Nature or Survival, or something on theme. Looking at some of the alternate bloodlines, verdant is good, though not on theme. Honestly, Boreal is probably most on theme. If I'm allowed to do Rime-Touched instead, I may do that rather than step on the toes of my 4th level druid ability.
That gets me Resist Electricity 20, Resist Cold 10, possibly Resist Fire 10 if I go the rout of the favoured class bonus. That's neat.
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Good call with Storms first. Wind Wall can be handy against archers, but Obscuring Mist and Fog Cloud are both very good, especially as Eyes of the Storm makes you resistant to their effects.
Lightning Lord might be worth the redundancy on Control Winds, as it looks like a very good blast for the Weather domain vs the Storm domain's Gale Winds power. But that also might depend on your build. It won't make or break you, that's for sure.
Also not sure I'd trade Boreal for Rime-blooded. It does make Eyes of the Storm irrelevant at level 9, but you've got to look at this in terms of the net effect of all abilities, and I think Boreal might just be a better 9th level power, so it's silly to trade it just so Eyes of the Storm will feel better about itself. Eyes of the Storm won't be wasted - think of it as limited early entry to the Boreal power. Again, though, probably won't make or break you.
funny thing is, I was playing around with a "lightning guy" idea a little while back and came to pretty much this exact build (storm druid, weather/air domains, stormborn bloodline. only difference so far is that he was a sylph with the lightning in the blood racial ability and that extra cloud sight distance racial feat, but that's just icing on the cake). It's lots of fun, to say the least.
Good to hear AIMM, and thanks for the advice Weirdo.
AIMM, Which domain did you take first? (assuming it mattered)
I was thinking of Silph too, more for the druid spell TO TURN INTO A GIANT CLOUD!!! I probably won't be allowed, so I'll probably go Gnome.
I'm more keen on controlling the battlefield than providing damage. The water spells like Aqueous Orb and Hydraulic Push along with fog spells will keep critters where they need to be for the melee types to get their smacks down and/or take them out of the battle. Blasty spells come into play when I don't need anyone moved about.
I also plan to RP him as surfer beach bum. When he gets Slipstream, he's going to be surfing all over the place. (Maybe he'll have a surfboard like wooden shield that he can put down to surf on.) At least until he starts flying regularly.
I do believe I will go full Boreal Heritage feat chain. Thanks for the pep-talk.
I still think I'm going to go Storms subdomain and follow that up with the Wind subdomain. Hail Storm is 5d6 damage to an area, but Call Lightning Storm is 5d6 individualized that doesn`t muss up the melees. Control Winds I will already have access to, and Sirocco is a pretty slick power.
The feats would flow like...
1st Skill Focus (Survival), 3rd Eldritch Heritage (Boreal Bloodline), 5th Natural Spell, 7th Persistent Spell, 9th (???), 11th Improved EH, 13th Improved EH (???) etc.
I should be able to manage a CHA of 15. 17 might be pushing it so I might never get to Greater EH.
What common threats should I be prepared for with my spells? I know I should have at least one thing ready for Swarms. Anything else important? Any other advice in general for playing a non-summoning druid (at least, not as a focus.)
went with weather first, but it hardly mattered much since we were starting at 10th level.
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Im playing a debuff/battlefield control storm druid right now, and i think you got it pretty much figured out, just 1 thing, meta-magic rods are your friends! Esspecially the dazing rod!
"Dazed
The creature is unable to act normally. A dazed creature can take no actions, but has no penalty to AC.
A dazed condition typically lasts 1 round."
This is the best battlefield control feat out there. But because it is sooo good, it is sooo expencive, but worth it.
And get different elemental rods too, because your going to run into things that are eather resistant to, or immune to electricity...
Hoo yes, metamagic rods. I have a feeling that's where the majority of my gold will go. Although at some point I want a Staff of Weather for coolness.
@AndIMustMask: How often did you spontaneously cast? Which spells would you Spont-Cast most often? What niche spells did you take?
Starting at 10th will be a luxury I cannot afford. Aside from that, I'm hoping to watch this character grow. Druids look like fun to RP.
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Faerie Fire is a nice first-level spell to keep always on hand to deal with invisibility - you can get scrolls a wand cheap. If you Wild Shape into something with Scent, it's easier to target your burst to where the invisible thing is. You can also chug a potion of See Invisibility and then tag the invisible thing for the rest of the party.
Flyers can avoid many common (and otherwise effective) battlefield control spells, such as Entangle. Luckily you have wind spells!
Once you get Fickle Winds, prepare it frequently. Makes the entire party immune to arrows, crossbow bolts, slings, gas, and swarms made up of Small or smaller flying creatures - without interfering with you in any way. It's Wind Wall's older and more awesome cousin. At this point you'll also have a use per day of Wind Wall as a 2nd level domain spell, but archers and creatures with gas breath weapons can still walk through the wall - they can't walk through your individual wind curtains.
At mid-to-high levels, Liberating Command is great for getting yourself or allies out of grapples and entangle effects quick, thus interfering with the opponent's battlefield control. Freedom of Movement likewise protects your allies from your and your enemies' battlefield control.
I recommend being familiar with the entire spell list so you can prepare specific spells for specific threats. Quench, for example, is the best 3rd-level spell you'll ever get if you know you'll be fighting things with the Fire subtype - large area, d6/caster level, no save or SR, and a free dispel on active fire spells in the area. I've also used Warp Wood on siege engines to devastating effect. Remember also you can leave a few slots free and prepare them later with 15 minutes meditation. Very useful to leave a little room for the unexpected utility spell, so long as you don't need it now. Easier to make use of that if you're familiar with your spell list.
I like Quick Wild Shape as a feat because you don't always have to spend a round getting into your combat shape (assuming you don't already spend most of your time in WS). You'd probably be taking it at level 9, allowing you to WS into an eagle as a move to gain that fly speed, but the benefits keep growing as you level. By 16th level you can use any WS you like as a Swift.
Seconding the Metamagic Rods. Dazing is excellent once you can afford it. Extend is good at lower levels, though I'm not sure it's the best for battlefield control. I mostly used mine on pre-combat buffs (Barkskin, Energy Resist, GMF).
Excellent advice! Thank you very much.
Faerie Fire: Can that be used to make critters inside of a fog spell hittable without miss chance?
I do love the look of quench. That was one of the spells I was thinking of always having prepared in place of an actual Call Lightning so I can just surrender it if we're not facing an appropriate opponent.
I did not see Liberating Command. That is a fantastic spell. (Possibly because I had not read the druid list in UC yet. I will get on that.) It would have come in handy had someone in the party had it last night. (Different game entirely, a Piscodemon (sp?) had the summoner's eidolon pretty well stapled.)
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Faerie Fire: Can that be used to make critters inside of a fog spell hittable without miss chance?
Not explicitly, but it might fall under the category of negating "similar effects" to blur, invisibility, and displacement. It's a good idea. Ask your DM.
I do love the look of quench. That was one of the spells I was thinking of always having prepared in place of an actual Call Lightning so I can just surrender it if we're not facing an appropriate opponent.
Not a bad idea. There have definitely been times I wished I had a Quench on hand but hadn't prepared one. It can easily kill entire armies of fire mooks.
I did not see Liberating Command. That is a fantastic spell. (Possibly because I had not read the druid list in UC yet. I will get on that.) It would have come in handy had someone in the party had it last night. (Different game entirely, a Piscodemon (sp?) had the summoner's eidolon pretty well stapled.)
Yeah, another one of those spells that can situationally be very useful - used it once to keep the party's alchemist from being carried off by a wyvern. Unfortunately it's not a great spell to keep in scroll form for situational use because you can't use the scroll as an immediate action. So it's another thing to prepare one of daily and swap it out for a domain spell if it's not being used.
I say get Air elemental and use this as guide start with a tiny one the let is get biger as you level.
Stone Servant (Su): At 5th level, a stonelord may call a Small earth elemental to her side, as a paladin calls her mount. This earth elemental is Lawful Good in alignment and possesses the celestial template, and it increases in size as the stonelord gains levels, becoming Medium at 8th level, Large at 11th level, Huge at 14th level, Greater at 17th level, and Elder at 20th level. This ability replaces divine bond.
The idea of Winds and Storms... Hmmm well I get both list side by side then give points to each list. Then one with most point wins.
A) one point if spell is not on you list as druid. If you cast noramly itnot that cool.
B) one point to usefullness if this spell was on my list would I take it anyway.
C)Wind VS Storm spell by spell withc do you like better.
Add total that list with bigger total wins.