Self-explanatory title.
So, we completed our second campaign arc and the GM is rewarding our party with a magic item (for each of us, of course. The monk in our party gets to fire Hadoukens at a 30 foot range by spending his copius amounts of Ki Points, as he can't get magic items). However, I'm not sure as to what I'd want as an item (without having to custom-make it, which I'd like to avoid so as not to throw the GM a curveball).
We're 6th level currently, and technically severely under WBL overall. The thing is, I took a level in UCMonk so that I can maintain some semblance of AC when I Wildshape (because losing Armor and Shield bonuses is too much), and since I have over 20 Wisdom, it was actually better then my existing armor, and it applies while Wildshaped as the expectation became that I will be in the front lines. This makes me Druid 5/UCMonk 1. I also took Barbarian VMC, so as to shore up the fact that I have only 14 or so Strength (though I can certainly fight and beat things down when needed), so I am lacking in feats (though I do have the basics intact).
To clarify, we're using ABP at Level+1 progression, so no Big 6 items are available.
Here are some things I'm looking to shore up:
-Bonuses to Hit: I can hit pretty hard (5 attacks, usually ends up being ~12+ average damage per hit, or 60 damage total), but I also hit pretty inconsistently. Even with Wild Shape giving me bonuses to Strength, I can't reliably hit with a lot of my attacks; a smart enemy's AC is pretty damn high at our level, and with only +9 to hit, with Power Attack and everything, AC 26 (which is the amount the stronger enemies had) is only hittable 25% of the time, and for my secondary attacks, I'd need a 20. That's only going to get worse over time, so anything which increases this is good (and if it increases damage, it's Double+Good).
-Spellcasting Ability: This is sort of more of a raw numbers thing; being down a caster level is a bit of a drag, even with using my Menhir Savant archetype to shore that loss up. I'm fine with delaying spell level progression so that I don't go splat when I Wildshape, but doing so at a rate of reduced spellcasting compared to what I could be doing is a hamper. There's also the matter of having a garbage spell list; items which give me other (or better) spells would be huge as well. (Before anyone suggests it, the GM turned down the Caster Level trait.)
-Combat Utility: I sort of have some of this, with a trait to cast a Cure spell 1/day as a Swift Action, as well as the ability to detect Undead, Fey, Outsiders, etc., but some things that have been cropping up are the ability to see through Fog (as our Alchemist throws out Smoke Bombs for battlefield control, which also screws me out of targeted spellcasting), or even the ability to cast spells while Raging. (I know there's a metamagic feat with Occult Adventures that fixes this, but I'm feat-starved.) Anything which provides me this sort of stuff would help.
So, anyone know or can find me an item that can do or fix at least one or even more of these issues that my PC currently has?
|
Pearls of power would allow you to make the most of your more limited spell slots. If you're buffing up and wading into melee, a 2nd level pearl of power would give you multiple uses of something like bull's strength. This is assuming you have Natural Spell.
By the way, 26 AC for a level 6 party is WELL above what you should be fighting on a regular basis. If you are fighting those enemies on a regular basis, maybe ask your GM what gives.
Pearls of power would allow you to make the most of your more limited spell slots. If you're buffing up and wading into melee, a 2nd level pearl of power would give you multiple uses of something like bull's strength. This is assuming you have Natural Spell.
By the way, 26 AC for a level 6 party is WELL above what you should be fighting on a regular basis. If you are fighting those enemies on a regular basis, maybe ask your GM what gives.
Bull's Strength wouldn't stack with the +2 Strength bonus I get from ABP. It'd override it, sure, but a 2nd level slot for a +1 to hit and damage seems very underwhelming.
And for the 26 AC, they were Warpriests. They had Shields, they have Sacred Armor/Weapon benefits to apply (which stacks with their ABP benefits), and had copius amounts of buffs out that boosted their To-Hit, something which Druids are extremely lacking on. To be fair, I can have AC 29 at this current level in comparison to them, but not having the to-hit to fight those in kind really sucks if I want to contribute in melee.
@ Kazaan: I didn't realize there was more than one kind of Hybrid. For the last couple fights, I've been wading into melee, but I do throw out the occasional combat utility spell (Burning Disarm, Summon Nature's Ally, etc).
Since I have the relevant Summon Monster Feats, the summons are fairly durable and can create a good enough distraction for the bad guys. (They certainly lack AC though.) The only thing that could make this better would be to be able to summon them as a Standard Action instead.
The cracked pale green prism ioun stone is +1 insight to attack.
A menacing amulet of mighty fists (no enhancement bonus, considering) should be useful if you can regularly set up flanking, perhaps with summons.
Debuffing the enemy (e.g. with the Vine Strike spell) can be easier than buffing yourself sometimes.
I don't think the GM would let the cracked Ioun Stone fly. That being said, the regular Ioun Stone, while damn good, is a little too expensive for the GM to pass off to us.
The AoMF option would decrease my actual Enhancement bonus to hit and damage that I currently use now through the ABP, since I would have to subtract my current enhancement bonus to make use of the property. I do use Flanking regularly (we have a Ninja in the party), so I'll be picking up the Outflank feat soon enough.
Also, I didn't consider debuffing (though that usually requires hitting them first); are there other spells that I can cast that would reduce their AC or otherwise make it easier to hit them?
Plain old Entangle will do it if you're outdoors. No attack required there, though there is a save. Shifting Sand works on any earthen or sandy surface. Vine Strike's just handy because it requires no special conditions, and if you can tag them even once they stay entangled for minutes. Heatstroke may work too; exhausted is -6 dex is -3 AC.
& yeah, I'm not familiar enough with the way the ABP works to catch that bit with the AoMF properties. I'll remember it in future.
There are a couple of items for seeing thru fog/smoke BTW - fog cutting lenses or a goz mask spring to mind.
|
|
I missed your mentioning ABP. That throws a wrench in the druid's easiest buffs, unfortunately. Since you have ABP, items that improve your combat abilities are expected to be made up through that, so it will be difficult to find you extra stuff.
Have you considered taking a teamwork feat with an ally? Outflank would really improve your combat abilities if you have a flanking buddy.
A few items which might stand out
Goz Mask: fixes your smoke problem. Fogcutting Lenses are a strictly worse version (from an even more obscure source) if you're having trouble getting DM approval for the mask.
Rod of Furious Spell: lesser or normal depending on what kinda boons your DM is handing out. Alternately, a pile of potions of lesser restoration can somewhat alleviate the casting in rage problem, as they let you get back into rage if really necessary without having to deal with lesser restoration's 3 round casting time.
Gloves of Elvenkind: it sounds, from your stats and vmc, like you're doing a lot of combat casting. These give you a +5 to concentration checks to cast defensively and spellcraft checks (in general).
Ring of Rat Fangs: If you're having trouble hitting with those natural attacks, piling on even more of them can up your overall chance of hitting at least. There are other items that suit this goal but a lot of them might require you having an appropriately shaped version for your favorite wildshape form. (helm of the mammoth lord comes to mind)