Author Topic: The Druid Handbook  (Read 598810 times)

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cru

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Re: The Druid Handbook
« Reply #120 on: December 02, 2009, 08:18:06 AM »
Just a note, Magebred Tiger (and Magebred Bear) replace 10th level animals rather than 7th on the list of animal companions (despite being mentioned that they can be taken by 7th level druids... maybe a clause preventing 6th level druids with natural bond from taking them?).

Of course, if you do argue they're 7th level, Magebred Brown Bears are strictly better than normal ones.
"A druid or ranger may never acquire a magebred animal as a companion. " (ECS 37)
Well, this was true until Five Nations was released (p. 75):
A druid from Breland of 7th level or higher or a ranger from Breland of 14th level or higher may select a magebred brown bear as her animal companion instead of a polar bear.
A druid from Breland of 7th level or higher or a ranger from Breland of 14th level or higher may select a magebred ghost tiger as her animal companion instead of a dire lion.

PhaedrusXY

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Re: The Druid Handbook
« Reply #121 on: December 02, 2009, 05:25:27 PM »
http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0346.html

- which is why Companion Spellbond (PHII) is pretty nice for Druids.
Your animal companion can be nice - with Bite of XXX they are  - well better...
You don't need Companion Spellbond for that.

Quote
Additionally, the druid may cast a spell with a target of "You" on her animal companion (as a touch range spell) instead of on herself.
This is a separate effect from the one that is limited to 5'. If you cast a personal buff on the AC instead of yourself (instead of casting it on yourself and having it also affect the AC), then the AC can go as far as it wants and still keep the buff.
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Lektor

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Re: The Druid Handbook
« Reply #122 on: December 25, 2009, 07:22:45 AM »
The link to draconic wildshape forms appears to lead nowhere useful. I searched around but couldnt find it, anyone still have a copy of it lying around?

Edit: Found some good info on the wiki http://coboard.wikia.com/wiki/Druid. I'll repost it here for convenience

The Dragon Wild Shape feat from Draconomicon gives all the Su and Ex abilities of a dragon. While dragons aren't quite as much melee combatants as your better animal forms, the ability to speak, good natural armor, breathweapons, immunities, SR, and miscellaneous other supernatural abilities make this a very powerful choice, especially for druids who prefer to cast spells.

Several dragons have Alternate Form several times per day, usually for medium or smaller humanoids and animals. This can be used to effectively multiply your wild shape choices, though it prevents large forms and plants.

    * Level 12
          o Young Steel Dragon (DoF) Move 60 ft. fly 200 (poor) 30 ft swim, 19 AC, SR 20 (30 vs spells of 4th level or lower), Alternate form 5 times per day, acid immunity, poison resistance and a 3 con damage breath weapon (reflex half). The SR and con breath weapon make this a worthwhile form.
          o Juvenile Mercury Dragon (DoF) Move 60 ft. fly 250 (good), 24 AC, , Alternate form 3 times per day, fire immunity, and a 4d8 breath weapon (reflex half). Good AC and a great flyer.
          o Juvenile Mist Dragon (DoF) Move 40 ft. fly 150 (poor), 21 AC, Mist Form, fire and acid immunity, and a 5d6 breath weapon (reflex half). The Mist form ability is a great defensive ability, especially in conjunction with a way of conjuring mist or fog.
          o Young Shadow Dragon (Drac) Move 80 ft. fly 150 (average), 24 AC, SR 15, 1 negative level (reflex half) breath weapon and total concealment out of sunlight. The last one is probably the best ability of bunch (Total concealment is a superb defensive ability), but nothing to complain about for any of them.

    * Level 13
          o Juvenile Steel Dragon (DoF) An extra 2 AC and 2 SR over the young steel dragon, as well as breath weapon and stat boosts. Remains a solid choice
          o Juvenile Shadow Dragon (Drac) A boost to AC, SR, Stats, size, and best of all breath weapon at the cost of maneuverability. A good upgrade.

    * Level 15
          o Young Adult Mercury Dragon (DoF) The typical breathweapon/AC boosts, but gains DR, SR, and frightful presence.

    * Level 16
          o Young Adult Steel Dragon (DoF) The typical boosts as well as DR and Frightful presence from Young Adult.
          o Young Adult Shadow Dragon (Drac) The normal boosts to Young Adult (DR, Frightful presence) and the normal SR/Stat/AC boosts.
« Last Edit: December 25, 2009, 09:55:55 AM by Lektor »

nijineko

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Re: The Druid Handbook
« Reply #123 on: December 29, 2009, 03:47:39 AM »
would there be interest in a method of qualifying for druid-intended prestige classes without taking a single level of druid? this is mostly useful for wildshaping specialists.
Bamboo spirit folk?
Wildshape Ranger, Divine Minion etc.

i did not use any of those methods actually. thank you for those tips, at the time i made this method i had not thought of, or did not know of those options.

the idea is simply to qualify for the shapeshifter prestige class (oriental adventures, updated to 3.5 in the dragon mag article). this requires a bab+3, 10 ranks in concentration and some form of ability (magical via spell, innate, etc) to alter self, polymorph, or shapechange. the method i use to qualify for this is psionic. there is a psion:egoist alternate class feature (player's handbook 2: web enhancement: part two of four) granting minor shape shift as a changeling, allowing one to qualify for not only the shapeshifter prestige, but the warshaper as well.

in any case, the shapeshifter class grants wildshaping as a class feature without requiring it as a prerequisite. so does the bear warrior, but the mechanics are more suited to the style of the shifter race in general. once you have the wildshaping class feature, you can fairly easily qualify for many other druid/shaping prestige: master of many forms, natures warrior, etc.

i find it an added bonus that you have at least 7 levels of psionics to work with, completely unimpeded by one's form. i imagine that it is possible to achieve this more gracefully. wasn't there a psionic version of a ranger somewhere? while one must take at least one level of egoist to accomplish this method, any other class with concentration as a class skill will work. i have thought of taking psychic warrior levels after the first egoist level, as the powers work better with a wildshaper, not to mention the slightly better progressions in some areas.

of course, one need not take all psionic classes either.
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deuxhero

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Re: The Druid Handbook
« Reply #124 on: January 21, 2010, 01:07:30 AM »
Don't blow a feat on track if you want to track (as suggested next to survival), instead grab a Mask of the Tiger

Optimator

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Re: The Druid Handbook
« Reply #125 on: January 23, 2010, 09:51:50 PM »
DoF... Dragons of Faerun?

dougch

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Re: The Druid Handbook
« Reply #126 on: January 25, 2010, 03:01:42 PM »
ide reccomend checking out dragon 311 for some really cool alternate druids

wild reaper druid is 10 lbs of awesome

bayar

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Re: The Druid Handbook
« Reply #127 on: January 26, 2010, 05:19:13 PM »
ide reccomend checking out dragon 311 for some really cool alternate druids

wild reaper druid is 10 lbs of awesome

Wild Reaper is awesome.

Lots of options for spontaneous spellcasting, fast healing, Turn Undead...and some limitations on what animal companion and wildshape forms you can have (no plants unfortunately...but bears are still omnivores).

The rest...mediocre at best (the ice specialising one looks preety good, but the metal druid is terrihorrible).

Prime32

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Re: The Druid Handbook
« Reply #128 on: January 26, 2010, 08:41:54 PM »
As Phaedrus mentioned in the lycanthrope thread, clawfoot dinosaurs are good for low-level wildshape. 4 natural weapons and a +8 bonus on Hide, Jump, Listen, Spot and Survival checks.
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Dictum Mortuum

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Re: The Druid Handbook
« Reply #129 on: January 29, 2010, 10:22:50 AM »
I just figured out that fangshields druids get wild shape (humanoid), to a humanoid creature of medium size. It requires you to be nonhumanoid to get the alternative levels. What does that mean? Can a race of the outsider type get these alternative levels, even if it is roughly humanoid?
If not, does anyone know of playable non-humanoid races?
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Rebel7284

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Re: The Druid Handbook
« Reply #130 on: January 29, 2010, 10:26:10 AM »
Well Venerable Dragonwraught Jungle Kobold is a good non-humanoid :D
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Dictum Mortuum

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Re: The Druid Handbook
« Reply #131 on: January 29, 2010, 10:38:10 AM »
That's what i'm asking. Is it? It still has two legs, arms and a head.
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BowenSilverclaw

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Re: The Druid Handbook
« Reply #132 on: January 29, 2010, 11:21:44 AM »
That's what i'm asking. Is it? It still has two legs, arms and a head.
So do Treants and Medusas :P

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Dictum Mortuum

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Re: The Druid Handbook
« Reply #133 on: January 29, 2010, 03:28:54 PM »
That's what i'm asking. Is it? It still has two legs, arms and a head.
So do Treants and Medusas :P



This is sooooo great. HELLO HOBGOBLIN WARSOUL.
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Akkristor

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Re: The Druid Handbook
« Reply #134 on: February 01, 2010, 01:42:55 AM »
As for interesting wild shape options, I'd like to point out the Planar Shepard prestige class.

Yes, I realize it has it's own topic discussing it, but it never seems to be discussed outside of an eberron setting, and while some DMs may enforce a rule such that non-eberron games have no eberron material, that by itself gets rid of many good druid feats used here (Ashbound being my particular favorite), and with a logical extension into Forgotten Realms settings, more great options.

At 3rd level, a Planar Shepard gains the ability to wild shape into an magical beast native to it's chosen plane.  The options are even expanded into the use of templates.  Now, as to "native to it's chosen plane", since only those planes that have minimal occupants (such as the Positive or Negative energy planes) have 'extensive' occupant lists, this option allows wild shaping into magical and templated creatures, assuming they follow certain rules which would allow them to be considered 'native' to another plane.

There are no hard-and-fast rules as to what creatures inhabit what planes, but it's fairly easy to assume that a creature can be native to (born on) any plane that it is similar to, and not opposed to. Basically, the creature must share the alignment of the plane on at least one axis, and not oppose any other axises(sp?), and/or must share a similar alignment/elemental subtype to the plane.

For those of us that pick a Neutral Good plane, for example, we'd be able to shape into almost ANY non-evil Magical beast through this, even templated ones.

Some interesting options this allows, template wise:

Celestial/Fiendish/Anarchic/Axiomatic templates
What it Offers:  The alignment templates are the bread and butter for this.  Any Animal or Vermin that has this template becomes a Magical Beast, and it's alignment shifts to match that Template.  Thus, a Monstrous Scorpion under the Celestial template becomes a Good Magical Beast.  Note that these templates cannot be added to any creature that opposes it's alignment, but for Animals and Vermin, this is not much of an issue, being almost always Neutral.  With Enhance Wild Shape, there are a number of special qualities one can pick up, such as Darkvision, Spell Resistance, Energy Resistance, and Damage Reduction.  Smite abilities are possible with Assume Supernatural Ability.

The Draconic Creature  (RotD)
What It Offers:The Draconic Creature is a useful template in that it does not chance the creatures type, other than the ever useful Animal->Magical Beast.  More importantly, the template adds two (weak) claw attacks (One may consider taking the INA: Claw feat), but most significantly, increases the form's Natural Armor by 1 (Not an enhancement bonus, an increase to the base value), and gives +2 STR and +2 CON (and +2 CHA, but you don't get that).
Note:  The claw attack granted by this form, according to the table in RotD, is the strength of a creature one size category SMALLER than the base critter.  It's odd, but there was never any errata.

The Woodling Template  (MM3)
What it Offers:The Woodling Template does not change a creatures type, but adds some HEFTY bonuses.  A nice Slam attack, and a +7 bonus to your existing natural armor.  Like Draconic, this is not an enhancement bonus, the two stack.  This template does come with a downside.  If you use Enhance Wild Shape, while you do gain Damage Reduction 5/Slashing and Low Light Vision, you also gain their Vulnerability to Fire.


Yes, by the rules of this template, you can shape into a Celestial Draconic Woodling Dire Lion if you feel like it.

I leave this to you guys to find interesting mix/match templates and critters for this.

Negative Zero

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Re: The Druid Handbook
« Reply #135 on: February 01, 2010, 06:44:01 AM »
The planes in Eberron have a set list of creatures that exist in them - "All kinds of magical beasts" is in the flavor text of the twilight forest, I believe, so that should work fine.

cru

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Re: The Druid Handbook
« Reply #136 on: February 01, 2010, 09:51:19 AM »
Templates stacking is the way to hell. Don't.

Akkristor

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Re: The Druid Handbook
« Reply #137 on: February 01, 2010, 04:59:11 PM »
Yeah, it's defiantly cheesy and cheap, but mostly I'm wondering what other templates there are that are usable in this manner.  Face it, Planar Shepard is already considered -THE- broken class, might as well have some fun with it, ya know?

Hitoshura

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Re: The Druid Handbook
« Reply #138 on: February 01, 2010, 06:02:14 PM »
Aside from Cyrohydra, are there some others forms worth assuming?

I've just found three others so far... Tlalusk (Frostburn), Frost Worm (MM) and Frost Salamander (MM2)

cru

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Re: The Druid Handbook
« Reply #139 on: February 02, 2010, 06:52:52 AM »
@Akkristor: http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19869266/Master_Template_List
@Hitoshura: I guess you're talking about Frozen Wild Shape, and basically its really only the Cryohydra that shines. As for Tlalusk, e.g. Grizzly Mastodon from MM2 is similar, and it's an animal (see 3.5 update). Worm and salamander are underwhelming. Another option is Whitespawn Iceskidder from MM4 (but better animals exist). Guulvorg (MM5) does not have [cold] subtype, but it actually could. So could Steelwing or Thrym Hound. Beg your DM.