|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
So I got a boon that lets me play a sylph in PFS, and I went with the Sky Druid archetype from the Advanced Race Guide, just because it would be something I couldn't do with any other race. I built her as a pure caster, with the Weather domain instead of an animal companion, and dumped strength, so no melee capability at all, but more spells than most druids.
I've only actually played this PC twice, but I also put some GM credits on her, so I'm up to advancing her to level 3. I'm hoping to play her again this weekend, and some more in the near future, so I'm looking for advice on feats and spells that would be good for this type of druid.
My first level feat was Cloud Gazer, the sylph specific feat that lets me see through non-magic clouds, and three times as far through magic clouds. The idea is that my domain gives me Obscuring Mist and Fog Cloud as my first two domain spells, so I can hide in my clouds and cast spells at the enemies without being targeted back. Of course, this only works in large, open battlefields - in closer combat, I'll just hide behind the front liners and skip the cloud spells, since they could mess up the rest of the party.
For other feats, I'm not sure what else would be useful for this type of druid. I'm thinking Spell Focus: Conjuration with Augment Summoning, to improve my Summon Nature's Ally spells. Beyond that, maybe Spell Penetration (and Greater) and Spell Focus (possibly with Greater) for the schools I use the most? Starting at level 5, my archetype will let me fly in combat most of the time without having to wild shape, so I won't wild shape as much as most druids, so I think I can skip the usual Natural Spell. I'd also consider Combat Casting, Toughness, or Lightning Reflexes. Reflex is my lowest save, and I figure the biggest threat to me when I'm hiding in my clouds would be an area of effect blast.
I'm also wondering what offensive spells I should be looking at. Due to the PC's pacifistic personality, I'm leaning towards non-lethal damage whenever possible, but she might do lethal damage with a spell as a last resort. This is another reason Weather domain works for her - the first level blast is non-lethal, but it has a little debuff to go with it, which is nice.
I'm also really liking that most of the sylph specific spells in the ARG are castable by druids. I've already used Windy Escape as a level 1 defensive spell, and now that I can get level 2 spells, Gusting Sphere is an offensive spell that goes with her theme (non-lethal, weather/wind based). Gusting Sphere isn't as good as Flaming Sphere for damage, but it's a little non-lethal damage with some battlefield control.
Like I said, I'll consider lethal damage if absolutely necessary, but I'm more inclined to look at battlefield control spells. In the past, I've prepped Entangle and Charm Animal for outdoor adventures. I was thinking Stone Call or Flaming Sphere now that I get level 2 spells. Soften Earth and Stone is another tempting one for outdoors, but it doesn't affect worked stone, so it won't work indoors. Similarly, Entangle and Charm Animal aren't good for dungeon crawls. What are some good spells to use instead?
And of course, I'm mostly looking at level 1 and 2 spells right now, since that's all I can cast so far, but I could use suggestions for higher level offensive spells, too.
|
|
I'll consider it, but it'll be a while. This archetype doesn't even get wildshape as early as most druids, so I don't think I qualify for the feat until level 7. So I'll probably stick to Spell Focus: Conjuration and Augment Summoning at 3 and 5.
It's too bad there are so few conjuration spells for druids to go with that.
Any other recommendations for offensive druid spells, though? Especially stuff that works indoors, since many require a more natural setting?
aqueous orb is a personal favorite of mine (and if you fluff it as a giant raindrop I'd say it fits a sky druid) as far as non-lethal conjuration offensive spells go. Unfortunately you will not get it for another 2 levels.
maybe ray of sickening at early levels for at least something non-lethal?
Sorry to say, but I don't think you can go pure non-lethal on a non-combat oriented class this early on. Having produce flames as a back up ranged attack is going to be too helpful for you.
Summons sounds like your best bet if you personally don't want to get your hands dirty so I'd say so augment summons. Druids actually get enough conjuration spells to warrant it, such as snowball.
|
Natural Spell may not be a necessity as you can assume air elemental form at 6th and that may be your go to for several reasons. First its humanoid shaped and can speak so you can use some items in that forms. However with natural spell you can lose the need for material components and most held objects and just whirlwind combined with Call lightning for more damage. Also great vs. swarms and cloud effects.
Keep in mind that a low str does not preclue melee. With a good dex you can grab weapon finesse, piranha strike and an Agile AoMF and still do some damage, especially combined with spells like frostbite and produce flame.
If you want to have fun as a blaster grab spell pen, Sp Focus Evocation/Gr and use flaming spheres, call lightning, ball lightning, aggressive thundercloud and similar spells for consistent damage. Keep in mind that you can generally have two of these out in a turn, so its fun having a flaming sphere and aggressive thundercloud running around the board hitting for 3d6 each, each round.
|
|
I like your choice of OOTS avatar, by the way.
Thanks. I'm a huge OOTS fan. That's part of the reason I made my sylph character a female pacifist. Her name is Celia. She's not quite as dedicated a pacifist as Celia from OOTS, but she's at least partially modeled on that character.
aqueous orb is a personal favorite of mine (and if you fluff it as a giant raindrop I'd say it fits a sky druid) as far as non-lethal conjuration offensive spells go. Unfortunately you will not get it for another 2 levels.
maybe ray of sickening at early levels for at least something non-lethal?
Sorry to say, but I don't think you can go pure non-lethal on a non-combat oriented class this early on. Having produce flames as a back up ranged attack is going to be too helpful for you.
Summons sounds like your best bet if you personally don't want to get your hands dirty so I'd say so augment summons. Druids actually get enough conjuration spells to warrant it, such as snowball.
Yeah, I was already thinking Aqueous Orb will be great when I reach that level.
The spells don't have to be non-lethal, but I prefer to stick to that where possible. Like I mentioned earlier, Gusting Orb is pretty good for that, as is Entangle. But Entangle is location dependent. But stuff like Stone Call and Flaming Sphere seem like necessary backup plans for when I can't avoid doing lethal damage, along with having summoned critters who do real damage for me.
Keep in mind that a low str does not preclue melee. With a good dex you can grab weapon finesse, piranha strike and an Agile AoMF and still do some damage, especially combined with spells like frostbite and produce flame.
If you want to have fun as a blaster grab spell pen, Sp Focus Evocation/Gr and use flaming spheres, call lightning, ball lightning, aggressive thundercloud and similar spells for consistent damage. Keep in mind that you can generally have two of these out in a turn, so its fun having a flaming sphere and aggressive thundercloud running around the board hitting for 3d6 each, each round.
This is definitely not a melee focused character. Partially due to the racial constitution penalty, I intentionally made the decision to dump strength, and go caster focused with this one to stay off the front line. Thus, the whole "hide in my clouds casting" approach.
I'll definitely do a little blasting later. After all, I get Call Lightning as a domain spell. And it fits as a priestess of Gozreh, God of Storms (among other things). But as I said, I don't want that to be my focus.
I'm more looking for battlefield control spells, like Entangle, Soften Earth and Stone, Expeditious Excavation, etc. But most of those are location dependent. I'm really hoping to find more stuff that I can do in any environment, but the down side of being a druid is that a lot of their stuff only works in natural settings, so I may have to stick to summoning and blasting in urban settings.
|
|
If you like the entangle line consider this armor. It really changes how you play Combine with flight to try and shape its effects at ground level or just to keep you out of their hands. Have Feather Step, Communal prepped to help your teammates out.
Druids just gained access to nauseating trail which combined with a good fly speed can let you shape the battle field.
Don't forget buffs, Spider Climb and Touch of the Sea are spells that can change encounters if having to go in the right environment. I have seen a PFS scenario neutered by Spider Climb, Communal.
A few good control spells:
3
Ash Storm
Aqueous Orb
Hydraulic Torrent
Nauseating Trail
Sheet Lightning
Shifting Sand
Sleet Storm
Wind Wall
4
Gravel Vortex
Ice Storm
Obsidian Flow
RIver of Wind
Slowing Mud
Volcanic Storm
5
Hungry Earth
Wall of Thorns
|
|
Situational buffs make great scrolls. Every caster I play has scrolls of Comprehend Languages. In this case, I've got low level stuff like Faerie Fire, Touch of the Sea, Air Bubble, etc as scrolls already. Don't have the PC in front of me, so I don't remember all of them off the top of my head.
I think your list of spell suggestions highlights my big problem right now. All your recommendations are level 3+ spells. I think the lower level druid control spells are more environment dependent, so there just aren't many that can be used in an urban setting.
I was kind of hoping that hitting level 3 meant that the character would start to become more useful, as pure casters tend to suck at low levels. But I may have to wait until level 5 for that to happen, or else stick to adventures that I know take place in outdoor settings.
|
|
Check out that armor which can make entangle viable at any location.
If you want level 2 Cloud of Seasickness and Euphoric Cloud are really useful, Euphoric Cloud can be really nasty since it fascinates then blocks line of sight so breaking the fascinate becomes more difficult.
Ice slick is a 2nd lvl Grease spell that does a little damage
Stone call is a massive area of difficult terrain and does some damage
Winter's Grasp is another large AoE difficult terrain and also sets up further cold spells.
Gusting Sphere I think you mentioned before.
First level has entangle which can be combined with Tree feather tokens so you can always have plants when you need them.
Tripvine can make a 10 by 10 area trip a target apporaching or trying to escape.
Obscuring Mist is one of the most useful 1st lvl battlefield control spells.
While you won't get Grease, Black Tentacles, Glitterdust or some of the other popular spells you do get a lot of options. Keep in mind that most of these spells are Conjurations so stack with the summon side of your build and summons can be used for control not just damage. Also with spontaneous summons each spell becomes more versatile for you as it might be a control/utility spell or a summons.
Sky druids can get the Liberation Domain which is like freedom of movement levels early.
|
|
I'll have to look those up. I've never even heard of a lot of them, so I'll have to figure out what books they're from. This is for PFS, so I have to own the book to use the spell. I have most of the earlier hard back books, and a few splat book, but I haven't bought many new books recently.
As I said, I've already got Gusting Sphere, along with Obscuring Mist and Fog Cloud as domain spells (Weather Domain).
I actually looked at the Liberation domain when I created the character, but I ruled it out. The movement abilities are great, but the domain spells are all very circumstancial. Given that I took a domain instead of an animal companion specifically to have more spells to cast per day, I really wanted spells that I'd be using constantly, rather than things that only come up in very specific situations. That domain just looks like it would be fantastic for a cleric who gets two domains, but it's not worth it as the only domain for a druid.
On the other hand, Weather isn't as good for a cleric. They'll frequently have other things to do regularly and not need the little first level blast, and other domains might have better spells for them. But for a casting focused druid who needed something to do every round at low levels without burning spells, that little blast is a pretty good filler ability. And the spells aren't half bad, especially for a sylph who can see through the cloud spells.
|
|
Weather is a great domain. I have a "caster" druid in PFS that just hit 12. He had the Eagle domain (his familiar was a Hawk with delusions of grandeur, thought he was a majestic eagle, a member of the Eagle Knights and part of the Andoran faction, the main character was Exchange) Eagle domain was useful for Familiar + Evasion + Fly spell to cast on others but I wanted Evasion.
My caster primarily tanked, summoned and whirlwinded while dropping a variety of spells down on foes.
|
|
I played this character over the weekend, and had fun overall.
Our first fight was outdoor in a large area, against several bad guys, so my spell selection was very useful. The best part was using Gusting Sphere to bull rush a gremlin off a rooftop, where it landed in the area of the Entangle spell I'd previously cast.
The down side was that after using my Entangle, Stone Call, and Gusting Sphere that early, I was already running low on offensive capability after just one fight. That's really the danger of being a pure caster at low levels.
In the easier fights, I used my wand of Cure Light on the front liners a lot, and didn't contribute much on offense. I did use Fog Cloud to force some archers to come closer where our melee guys could pound on them, so I helped that way. And I discovered the joy of summoning stirges with my remaining level 1 spells against the BBEG.
Also, we faced an enemy with Greater Invisibility, so I really wished I had more than one Faerie Fire scroll, and/or some way of knowing where to target it more reliably. Someone suggested that I should get a wand of that one, and I think I agree. I just haven't decided if it's worth the 750 gp to get immediately, when that's still a lot of money at my level.
I also realized that Stone Call has no saving throw and ignores SR, so it's one of the few offensive spells that's just as good as a scroll/wand. That might be my way to get more offense this early - just carry a couple of those scrolls, and save my level 2 spell slots for other things. The down side is the huge area of effect - it'll be hard to miss my allies, so this is pretty much only useful in very large battlefields.
I still need to look up some of the spells Taenia recommended. I don't even know what books they're in. I'll use the Archives of Nethys to figure it all out when I have some time.