Yet another druid request...

I have a druid currently lvl 7 we have no spellslinger and no Party sneak. I am looking to maybe help fill at least one of those roles as we have plenty of melee power(Including my celestial riding dog).

stats

Str 10
Dex 14
Con 18
Int 16
Wis 19
Cha 15

Extremely low chance of getting money. I think we may have gathered a total of 7k ea and been playing since level 1.

Feats:
Natural Spell
Exalted Companion
Touch of healing*
Companion Spellbond

*Willing to trade out next level as I am mostly out of combat healing now since we all have healing belts.

All spell lists should be Ok but campaign specific ones I'd have to ask about. If you can list some spells that are great and can be used in an underground dungeon setting that would be great.

We should retire these characters around lvl 15 so I won't really need a build past 17 I think. (just in case it goes longer)

I know druid is uber-OP and all i really need is nat spell so please don't post saying anything of that nature it really doesn't help when looking for builds. I am keeping myself at the parties level and not outshining them, but we are lacking those 2 roles. Also, I have seen 2 different handbooks but they only list a few spells and I am trying to find more.

The party consists of a Barbarian Goliath, a Dragonborn Totemist and a Human Duskblade/fighter focusing on using his shield as a second weapon.

As a side note I am currently using Luminous armor but need to find a perma darkness (any ideas?) to stop being a bright beacon telling the enemies where we are especially if i will fill the sneak role.

I Planned on picking up Lion of talisid once i can WS into large creatures but may change my mind if an idea is good enough. and No Planar Shephard I am trying to stay a member of the party not make a new character because I suddenly become godlike.


thanks for your help and input.
Ark

If you can get the skill requirements you could take Rogue 2/Bard 1 and get into Fochlucan Lyrist at 11. FL gets d6 HD, Full BAB, dual casting, bardic music and knowledge and 6+int skill points.

You'd lose 3 levels of druid casting, but it's the only reasonable option i can see that achieves you goals.

If your dm allows you to retcon a few levels you could also look into the Green Whisperer (Dragon 311), it advances Druid & Bard casting, music and is available at lvl 6.

For more information, look here Tools for Fochlucan Lyrist Builds

Put points into Hide and Move Silently, turn into the smallest creature you can with innate hide bonuses (there are a bunch), and take the Darkstalker feat.

Congratulations, you are now the party sneak.


As for arcane casting.. that's thornier. Bard isn't actually an arcane caster, especially without lots of wands (which your WBL precludes). I don't really know what you think of as the 'arcane caster' 'role'? Do you mean area damage? There are druid spells for that. Do you mean Battlefield Control? There are druid spells for that. Do you mean Dispel Magic? Cleric can handle that, theoretically. Knowledge Arcana? There isn't really an arcane 'role', arcane casters are just giant battlecannons that destroy enemies, find stuff using magic, and teleport everywhere.

If you wanted to build that onto your druid, i'd go bard 1/Sublime Chord (enterable level 11 by using some form of heighten, I like metamagic song, or alternative spell source) 1/Fochluchan Lyrist X, using Fochluchan Lyrist to advance your druid and Sublime Chord casting (ending up with double 9's if you do it right).

This isn't as powerful as it seems, but it does let you cover the 'arcane casting' role, the 'sneaking' role (largely via spells and wildshape) and still be a druid.

In order to get the evasion for Fochluchan Lyrist (you can always just go Mystic Theurge), dip 2 levels of rogue, or take Open Lesser Chakra: Feet and Shape Soulmeld: Impulse Boots (or again, dip one level of incarnate and take the open lesser chakra feet feat), or get a Ring of Evasion and wear it for 24 hours (danger, do not take off, ever, or you lose your Fochluchan Lyrist class abilities).

My bad didn't mean it had to be arcane I just meant spellslinger just not really sure what spells to use. We have no range at all.

Use druid battlefield control like Downdraft and Entangle (et al) to tie people up so you can get into melee with them.

Do druids get wind wall? If so, that can protect you from enemy archery.

Kelpstrand is a good grappling spell, and there's blinding spittle is also a great debuff. Splinterbolt is also a low level spell that deals a lot of damage. Think scorching ray, but piercing damage.

You could trade out touch of healing for a damage dealing reserve feat like Fiery Burst, Storm Bolt or Acidic Splatter. (from complete mage). Every day, prepare one high level damage dealing spell but keep it uncast for most of the day, letting you use your feat. Flame strike could power Fiery Burst, or Arc of Lightning for Storm Bolt.

Considering his party is entirely melee, it would probably be a better idea to focus on spells that get enemies into melee, rather than being the sole person with a small amount of ranged damage.

It would probably help if we knew a little bit more about your party composition beyond the fact that you have plenty of melee.
The combination of Wild Shape and high Listen/Spot modifiers thanks to Wisdom being your primary stat means that there's very little you need to do to act as the party scout if needed. Given that you already have Natural Spell, there's very little you need to worry about in that area, though putting skill ranks in Hide, Listen, Move Silently, and Spot couldn't hurt. (If you're feeling particularly callous, you can use summon nature's ally as a means of trapfinding)

Arcane casting, on the other hand, is an extremely broad category. It would be easier to think of the specific roles that you see your current group as needing that an arcane caster would fill, i.e. blaster, crowd control, information gathering, buffing, etc.. Assuming the melee in your party are halfway competant, than blasting is likely a waste of time, which is just as well as that's one of a Druid's weaker areas. Most likely, your best advice is to simply split your spell selection between buffing your allies and using crowd control spells to nullify your enemies ability to do much of anything.

For what its worth, the Druid's biggest flaw from what I understand is the fact that they don't multiclass well, as the benefits they gain from straight-classing Druid almost always outweigh anything to be gained from Prcs, and the few exceptions to this rule tend to be hideously overpowered (see Planar Shepard).

Nightbringer Initiate Feat - get Hide and Move Silently to your class skill list. as well as a few other spells to your spell list. Nor sure if it is worth it though. It does grant you Deeper Darkness to cancel out the light from your armor, and it lasts multiple days.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Rejakor

Put points into Hide and Move Silently, turn into the smallest creature you can with innate hide bonuses (there are a bunch), and take the Darkstalker feat.

Congratulations, you are now the party sneak.


As for arcane casting.. that's thornier. Bard isn't actually an arcane caster, especially without lots of wands (which your WBL precludes). I don't really know what you think of as the 'arcane caster' 'role'? Do you mean area damage? There are druid spells for that. Do you mean Battlefield Control? There are druid spells for that. Do you mean Dispel Magic? Cleric can handle that, theoretically. Knowledge Arcana? There isn't really an arcane 'role', arcane casters are just giant battlecannons that destroy enemies, find stuff using magic, and teleport everywhere.

If you wanted to build that onto your druid, i'd go bard 1/Sublime Chord (enterable level 11 by using some form of heighten, I like metamagic song, or alternative spell source) 1/Fochluchan Lyrist X, using Fochluchan Lyrist to advance your druid and Sublime Chord casting (ending up with double 9's if you do it right).

This isn't as powerful as it seems, but it does let you cover the 'arcane casting' role, the 'sneaking' role (largely via spells and wildshape) and still be a druid.

In order to get the evasion for Fochluchan Lyrist (you can always just go Mystic Theurge), dip 2 levels of rogue, or take Open Lesser Chakra: Feet and Shape Soulmeld: Impulse Boots (or again, dip one level of incarnate and take the open lesser chakra feet feat), or get a Ring of Evasion and wear it for 24 hours (danger, do not take off, ever, or you lose your Fochluchan Lyrist class abilities).

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I'm confused as to how a bard isn't an arcane caster?

In the sense of doing things arcane casters are famous for doing.

Not in the sense of it's type of casting is not arcane.