Author Topic: Advice for optimizing a 7th lvl. Druid?  (Read 1158 times)

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trazwald

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Advice for optimizing a 7th lvl. Druid?
« on: March 15, 2010, 09:47:21 AM »
Hi all, I'm looking for tips to optimize my so-far less-than-optimal druid.
I'm a 7th level Gnome druid, with a cougar as my companion that I use predominantly as a mount. I REALLY like the flavor of this part of the character, so I'm really not looking to change that in particular. What I DO want advice on is how to make up for the following:
as it was one of my first characters made, I didn't realize the importance of Concentration, Spellcraft and Knowlege Nature, so my ranks in these are pretty low, furthermore I aligned my stats like so:
str 15
dex 15
con 13
int 9
wis 18
cha 11
Meaning my concentration is pretty weak and I only get 3 skill points at each level. The majority of my skill points are in Ride and Handle Animal. On top of that, I chose Mounted combat, Ride by Attack and Natural spell as my feats, and haven't used Ride-by-attack once.
So, as you can see, less than optimal.
I'm wondering if anyone has any tips about feats, where to put my lv.8 ability point, strategies for boosting/dealing with a low concentration, or really any tips on how to make the druid work best.
I really don't want to multiclass and don't have very many sourcebooks at my disposal, so please keep that in mind.

BruceLeeroy

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Re: Advice for optimizing a 7th lvl. Druid?
« Reply #1 on: March 15, 2010, 10:28:13 AM »
This belongs in the Min/Max forums.

In any case, see if your DM will allow you to retrain ride-by-attack. it's worthless. Put that point into Int so you stop getting penalized for skills. Normally I'd say all points should go into Wis, but it doesn't sound like an optimized game, so you should be OK.

use your mount to stay away from melee for now, using produce flame as your main source of damage.  Wild shapes should be used for scouting, navigating terrain obstacles, etc. Hmm.

http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=1354.0

Druid handbook. Learn it, love it, live it.
« Last Edit: March 15, 2010, 10:30:18 AM by BruceLeeroy »

trazwald

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Re: Advice for optimizing a 7th lvl. Druid?
« Reply #2 on: March 15, 2010, 10:40:19 AM »
oops! my bad. Thanks for the tips though. Can I move this thread somehow? Also: produce flame as primary damage? Ok, I've been using Call lighting so far, but Produce flame seems pretty handy too. I've been using my wild shape as you described, so far, usually as an eagle (which let me have a pretty cool round of combat in eagle-form calling lighting and flame-striking some BEETCHES) Any recommendations for a feat to replace ride-by attack?

This belongs in the Min/Max forums.

In any case, see if your DM will allow you to retrain ride-by-attack. it's worthless. Put that point into Int so you stop getting penalized for skills. Normally I'd say all points should go into Wis, but it doesn't sound like an optimized game, so you should be OK.

use your mount to stay away from melee for now, using produce flame as your main source of damage.  Wild shapes should be used for scouting, navigating terrain obstacles, etc. Hmm.

http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=1354.0

Druid handbook. Learn it, love it, live it.

BruceLeeroy

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Re: Advice for optimizing a 7th lvl. Druid?
« Reply #3 on: March 16, 2010, 05:26:16 AM »
You've got so many options, depending on the path you want to take. Read the handbook, pick one of the strategies that sounds fun. It's hard to go wrong with straight druid.