Hey all, I'm playing a druid for the first time and so far I'm not really sure what direction to take her in. Party is composed of:
Half-elf rogue
Half-elf cleric
Elven ranger (going for Arcane Archer)
Half-orc fighter
Half-elf monk
Half-elf druid (me)
We're currently all 3rd level and on the first book of RotRL. I'm not inclined to be picky, but I do want a way to be useful and round out the party. Oh, and I have a wolf companion. Thanks! :)
Keep it simple. Stay Druid, pick up the natural spell feat, and maybe take some teamwork feats with your animal companion. Get some ranks in stealth and maybe bluff for scouting in animal form, and talk to your cleric about spell prep.
Focus on solid buffs for both you and your party/AC, maybe take some cool damage spells too (especially for the outdoorsy bits).
Max ranks in perception.
Some thoughts :)
Check out any druid guides. I'm having fun with my Druid who focuses on using summon natures ally most of the time, but when he wants to do some damage, uses spells like flaming sphere, call lightning, ice storm, flame strike, etc.
Also when summoning, stirges are pretty awesome, even at higher levels because its a touch attack, it's attack sort of scales, and if you can get a bunch of them, especially with with your fighter, monk, and ranger doing damage. Using that tactic, the biggest monsters drop like flies.
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One of the issues you will run into in your party is going to be the fact you have 4 potential meleers with rogue, monk, fighter, possibly cleric.
This means in a number of situations your ability to get your AC in if you have one or in yourself maybe limited. Summons are really nice in these situations as many have reaches and you often have range to drop them behind enemy lines and either attack their rear or provide flank for the rogue without having someone in a vulnerable position.
If so consider Spell Focus Conjuration, Augment Summoning and Natural Spell to be your first choices.
Consider Beast of the Society for a trait, as it can really help at level 4/5 and as a caster you may continue to use small wild shape for longer when needed.
Str isn't as critical so Wis Dex/Con Int/Cha/Str becomes the stat priority
One strategy I know of is to plan to do the following things every fight, some CC (Entangle, Sleet Storm, Stone Call), Some Summon and some buff or heal. One druid talked about how they would do one of those each fight, always felt like they were contributing and still had a lot of fun.
Thanks for the suggestions, everyone!
@CaptainJandor - Scouting was something that the guy playing our cleric suggested, especially once I can start Wildshaping. His idea was to focus on bird forms for scouting and possible aerial bombardments with items. Our ranger and rogue can do quite well on the ground, but having eyes in the air couldn't hurt.
@Snow Tiger & Taenia - Summoning definitely sounds like it has possibilities, especially since my stats aren't that great for a melee build and I don't have access to many good blasty-type spells yet. Our cleric said his spell selection would be chiefly focused on healing and buffs, so that does free me up to be a little more damage/utility focused with my spell selection. As far as ACs go, am I okay with my wolf or should I look at maybe changing her out for something else?
I'd normally suggest that you take a level of Monk (with the Martial Artist archetype if you don't want an alignment restriction). The fact that your party doesn't seem to have anybody who can cast Mage Armor makes that less appealing though since you can't be sure how a DM will rule on whether wild armor counts as wearing armor while in wildshape. I'd say it does, but if your DM says it doesn't then Monk1/DruidX would be pretty awesome.
Summoning is definitely a strong option. You also might want to craft or purchase a few amulets of mighty fists for use on not only your PC but your animal companion and even summoned monsters. Menacing is a great enchantment since it gives an extra +2 bonus for flanking. Especially with the Outflank feat this can make a big difference in fights. I think you'll also find that bane amulets are quite useful in RotRL since certain types of enemies are very common later in the AP (you'll figure out what). Extra bonuses to hit could really help both you and your wolf, especially since the wolf can add those bonuses to Trip attempts (which otherwise won't succeed much if ever at higher levels)
At higher levels you can also contribute to melee even without great stats. Wildshaping into Air Elemental can alter the entire nature of outdoor combats as you sweep enemies up into a whirlwind and drop them from great heights. Shapes with large damage dice can also do will with Strong Jaw plus Vital Strike.
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Druid is nice in that it's probably the most versatile class - between wildshaping and full casting, there's very few situations you won't be useful. No matter what, you'll have access to a lot of utility spells that your party will definitely need considering its lack of arcane casters.
That being said, I would pick either melee or spellcasting to focus on, and boost your strength or wisdom as high as possible, accordingly. If you go for melee, you'll want to use large wildshape forms, an animal companion, and buff/battlefield control spells. If you go for spellcasting, you'll favor the small wildshape forms, probably be better off with a domain, and can use just about any spell you like.
No matter which route you go, you'll definitely want Natural Spell at 5th level. If you go caster, you may want the summoning feats: Spell Focus Conjuration, Augment Summoning, and Superior Summoning. (Improved Initiative is also fantastic for a caster.) If you go melee, you'll want Power Attack and probably Toughness to supplement your d8 hit die and low AC while in wildshape, and there are some feats like Planar Wildshape and Powerful Wildshape you might want to take a look at. Scribe Scroll is a really, really useful feat for either route - having access to a library of utility spells at any given time is not to be underestimated.
I would advise against multiclassing - even for all the bonuses the 1 level monk dip gives you, slowing all your class features, especially casting (considering your party), probably isn't worth it.
Check out Treantmonk's guide (you can find it in the advice sticky), and good luck!
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Another alternative to the Str or Wis route is to go Dex primary, wis secondary and grab wpn finesse. Eventually grab an agile amulet of mighty fists for 4k.
This way you can actually melee effectively after 4th level while still grabbing the summoning feats (humans can grab augment at level 3, others have to wait til 7. Unlees you go pure melee, than grab piranha strike at level 3)
Dex based wildshaping has a couple different paths to follow. You can look at small and tiny animals or Air/fire elementals. Both offer good bonuses to dex with plenty of special abilities that can be useful.
Air and fire elemental are both good shapes. I think the air is generally better because of the Whirlwind ability.
@Reynard - If you’ve got somebody who will cast Mage Armor on you and or a DM who says wild armor doesn’t count as wearing armor while in wildshape then Monk1/DruidX is a great combo. I think folks should try it before they knock it. Getting a decent AC in wildshape is nice, but getting IUS and Improved Grapple as bonus feats makes it possible to get Greater Grapple without giving up on summoning and other aspects of being a Druid. Since Druids have easy access to Grab for a +4 on grapples this works out nicely.
Sample Monk1/Druid12 (Grappler/Summoner)
1-Spell Focus(Conjuration)
3-Augment Summoning
5-Natural Spell
7-Power Attack
9-*Improved Unarmed Strike, *Improved Grapple, *Stunning Fist, Greater Grapple
11-Superior Summoning
13-Rapid Grapple
Power Attack and or Superior Summoning could be swapped out to customize a bit. Very high base damage can be achieved with various bite and tail attacks, and even unarmed strike damage in Huge forms can get impressive. Half the time your summoning is as good as it gets. The other half it is probably as good as it would be for a melee focused Druid.
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And if we speak on monk dipping : there are 3 options , I wonder how you rank them?
1) martial artist / normal monk - give you flurry - and I wonder if its any better than the natural attack you have ....
2) manuver master for a solid extra action every round - but I wonder if the cmb will cut it
3) master of styles - free dragon or crane is nice
If you're going to be doing any mixing of Monk and Druid you may as well do a 10/10, 8/12, or 12/8 Qinggong M/Something D.
Grab an AoMF with Guided or Agile, Monk's Robe, Monastic Legacy, and whatever other feats you want, then Flurry for up to 6 attacks at 12d8 a pop. Your AC, saves, CMD, and other defenses will be pretty top notch, and only hittable on a crit if you have Mage Armor and/or Shield(sp) put on you by someone else. Throw on Snake Fang and Medusa's Wrath(bonus feat via monk), and you'll be pounding things to a pulp quickly and often. Not to mention you'll still have a plethora of useful spells and druidy things to work with.
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@Reynard - If you’ve got somebody who will cast Mage Armor on you and or a DM who says wild armor doesn’t count as wearing armor while in wildshape then Monk1/DruidX is a great combo. I think folks should try it before they knock it. Getting a decent AC in wildshape is nice, but getting IUS and Improved Grapple as bonus feats makes it possible to get Greater Grapple without giving up on summoning and other aspects of being a Druid. Since Druids have easy access to Grab for a +4 on grapples this works out nicely.
Ah, I'm not denying that splashing Monk has some nice benefits. I advised against it in this case because I think the party needs the druid to be at full spellcasting capacity more than it needs another front-line fighter/grappler. (And of course, Improved Grapple isn't as necessary when you can polymorph into something with grab.)