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2014-04-14, 03:17 AM (ISO 8601)
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Pimpin out my druid in bear form. Wild shape advice wanted.
ok
prob a noobish question
So I'm new to playing a druid and in this campaign and I'm mainly focusing on wild shape, though I'm def still taking some casting feats. This will be a strait druid with no prc's or multi-classing. In this Dm's world the druids take a "special" form that they feel extremely connected to. Their "animal" spirit so to say. So my "animal" spirit is a bear. The shape obviously goes from black up to the dire polar bear mentioned in frost. The ruling is on this that I can change into my "animal" spirit at will and any other animal the number of times according to the players handbook per level. Which yes I def plan on using other forms as needed, eagle using fire seeds like napalm ect, but I'll be in bear form quite a bit.
Question is how to pimp the bears damage a bit. I'm allowed to take natural attack in the mm twice for the bight and claws, however when you look at the melee damage in the frost book for the Dire polar bear.
2 claws +25 melee
(2d6+14) and bite +20 melee (3d8+7) (not including improved nat.)
It's kind of meh. yes I know buffs can help, plus you have spells and your animal companion, but when you take a look at that vs our cleric who will be using some divine persisted cheese with divine power and righteous might with full BAB, plus enchanted items it looks like I won't be holding my own in melee vs our cleric.
due to this being a low money campaign I have taken a vow of poverty, also for rp reasons.
So other than taking improved natural attacks from the mm,(is it even worth taking the feat twice?) which my dm has allowed, how can I improve my bear? Grappling does not seem to be that great of a thing. Any tips on how to maximize this form?
Would love to find a way to go toe to toe with our cleric in the brawling dep.
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2014-04-14, 04:26 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Pimpin out my druid in bear form. Wild shape advice wanted.
So, the only things you can take are feats and specific spells.
Also remember you can be buffed by your allies, but most of the time they have better things to do with their time.
Both of that said, lets start with come spells which may help you:
Blood wind (SpC 1) - you can't cast this, I'm only mentioning this so you can tell your sorcerer, wizard, or cleric to use their swift action to cast this one you so you have ranged weapons while wild shaped.
Metal fang (CChamp 2) - this is one of those you'll need in a certain phase of the campaign where you fight lycanthropes or fey.
Magic Fang Superior (SpC) - if your VoP magical effect doesn't keep up you can use this spell to get magical claws in wild shape.
As for other spells - any which gives you a touch effect also discharges when you hit with a natural attack, so something like produce flame would potentially give you an additional 1d6 + 1/CL fire damage per natural attack. There aren't very many of round based iterative applied touch spell effects though - but at least you can do more damage on all of your attacks.
As for feats - taking the spell enhancing feats are good and dandy, but are you 100% into being wild shaped and being able to cast spells?
If so you'll need to take something like Natural Spell to cast while in wild shape.
Also, your feats can greatly improve the type of wild shape you can do in addition to what your receive as a druid, remember you get some of the immunities that the creature you are wild shaping into has, so take advantage of that with the appropriate feats.
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2014-04-14, 04:37 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Pimpin out my druid in bear form. Wild shape advice wanted.
I would strongly advise against this. It's a spell of far shorter duration and of lower level than greater magic fang, and the actual bonus isn't enough bigger to justify that trade off. Besides that, you should consider looking into the bite of the were x line (SpC, 28), which is of the same duration, but with bonuses that will likely stack up well with the ones from VoP. The AC bonus definitely stacks up, after all, and while the ability score bonuses do not, you can just prioritize using those boosts on scores that bite does not help, which you should mostly be doing anyway.
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2014-04-14, 04:58 AM (ISO 8601)
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2014-04-14, 05:04 AM (ISO 8601)
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2014-04-14, 05:06 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Pimpin out my druid in bear form. Wild shape advice wanted.
You're not going to be equals with a cheesy cleric without using some cheese yourself. Druid cheese includes things like hydras, dragons, Assume Supernatural Ability and Planar Shepherds, with the former two being gouda and latter two being ultra-pungent Roquefort.
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2014-04-14, 05:07 AM (ISO 8601)
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2014-04-14, 05:14 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Pimpin out my druid in bear form. Wild shape advice wanted.
yeah I'm taking the wild dragon shape feat. too bad it only allows medium dragons.. Assume Supernatural ability I had thought of but I would have to prc to really make use of. The same with hydras if I took the frozen wild shape and went twelve headed cyro-hydra. I was skeptical of blowing two feats on the chance that I "might" run into a cyro hydra so I can learn it's shape. Since right now I'm on an island not likely. Since I'm human I can't qualify for Aberration Wild Shape. Thus I don't know how else I could abuse Assume supernatural ability.
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2014-04-14, 05:20 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Pimpin out my druid in bear form. Wild shape advice wanted.
Girallon's blessing (SpC, 106) grants an extra pair of claw attacks for 10 minutes/level, which is nifty. As for form knowledge for cryohydra purposes, I'd figure that knowledge of the relevant forms would come with the feat. As for dragon wild shape, yeah, it's a lot better for random and amazing utility abilities than it is for face consumption.
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2014-04-14, 05:28 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Apr 2014
Re: Pimpin out my druid in bear form. Wild shape advice wanted.
interesting interpretation of the feat. I assumed that it granted you the ability to turn into into a magic creature with the cold sub type but you would still have to "see" the animal in order to "learn" it's form. then that might be worth two feats since you'd get freaking twelve attacks per round, plus your breath attack, animal companion and summon spells, plus your other spells. Would be nice if you gained all the natural healing and two head rejuvenate thing that comes with hydras.
Thanks for the tips. Like I said before I won't "always" be in bear form as that would nerf the class.
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2014-04-14, 06:00 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Oct 2012
Re: Pimpin out my druid in bear form. Wild shape advice wanted.
Dragon Wild Shape can be pretty strong with a little thought. Your type is still humanoid so you'll be able to benefit from Enlarge Person, increasing your damage, the size of your breath weapon and adding a tail slap for 6 natural attacks. Get some bonus damage on that and you'll already do respectable melee damage.
Steel Dragons (DoF) get poison as a breath weapon, making them eligible for Venomfire. A druid in Young Adult Steel Dragon form with Enlarge Person and Venomfire can breath a 40ft cone of poison that does CLd6 acid damage and does 5 Con damage on a failed fort save.
With Enhance Wild Shape and plant shape you can take some really nasty melee forms.
Ironmaw(FF) gets 4 tendril attacks with a natural 60ft reach. The tendrils do Con damage on a failed save and cause bleeding. In addition you get immunity to cold and electricity and SR 30.
The Kelp Angler(FF) gets 100ft Blindsight, 4 attacks, immunity to cold and bludgeoning and regenation 4/acid.
The Octopus Tree(also FF) gets 8 attacks with improved grab, Acid immunity and Regeneration 10/fire or cold.
FF also has the Yellow Musk Creeper for plant zombie creation and the Vine Horror as a low level melee form (5HD, half damage from piercing & slashing). FF is pretty much the "OMG what the hell is that thing" book for druids. It makes me happy.
The Ironthorn(SS) is another strong contender with 15ft reach and a strong paralysis/con poison, high armor, blindsense and some DR.
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2014-04-14, 06:09 AM (ISO 8601)
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2014-04-14, 06:16 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Pimpin out my druid in bear form. Wild shape advice wanted.
I literally just finished a high optimization campaign as a Druid/Planar Shepherd that I went from level 1 to level 21 in. My best suggestion for you is the "Bite of the *BLANK" Spells.
Bite of the Wererat
Bite of the Werewolf
Bite of the Wereboar
Bite of the Weretiger
Bite of the Werebear
I know, they don't have very long durations, BUT they are by and large the best self buff you can put on yourself.
If you are going to try and be a 'tank' druid, you NEED these and need to just forget everyone else. If you don't want to waste spell slots on these then you need to pick up the crafting feats so you can make wands of this. You can always get the party wizard to help or probably find some NPC that would help you out as well.
In regards to this, it is a very nice feat to take. I took it and loved it. Frankly, you only really need to turn into a Shadow Dragon with this feat as it is definitely the strongest Dragon you can turn into. Basically you breathe on someone and they take a minimum of one negative level. Rinse and Repeat.Last edited by Rasman; 2014-04-14 at 06:21 AM.
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2014-04-14, 06:31 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Pimpin out my druid in bear form. Wild shape advice wanted.
so if I take a dire polar bear form 39 str plus bite of the wear bear +16 str plus the 6 str from vop I'd have a str of 61? LOL you just made my day. now would I be able to say also cast Girallon's blessing? Plus since my form stays as human could I tech also cast enlarge person?
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2014-04-14, 06:40 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Apr 2014
Re: Pimpin out my druid in bear form. Wild shape advice wanted.
I had also thought about the shadow dragon, the only thing since I'm taking the vop my character is exalted and the shadow dragon is an evil dragon. I could say though I was playing a "redeemed" shadow dragon as there are rules for redeeming evil monsters in the BOED. lol
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2014-04-14, 07:28 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Pimpin out my druid in bear form. Wild shape advice wanted.
Improved Unarmed Strike will give you iterative unarmed strikes, and your claw/claw/bite become secondary attacks. After that, Snap Kick (Tome of Battle) will give you an additional unarmed strike on every attack, including standard attacks and AoOs. (The rules are a bit murky on how often you can use Snap Kick in a round.)
As far as Improved Natural Attack... your claws are doing 2d6 and your bite is 3d8, so you'd get an additional +1d6 on your claws (+3.5 average damage) and an additional +1d8 on your bite (+4.5 average damage). So yeah, that's starting to get into "Worth It" territory.Handbooks:
Shax's Indispensable Haversack, TWF OffHandbook
Builds:
Archon of Nine, Jellobomber, King of Pong, Lightning Thief
Spells:
Druidzilla, Healbot, Gish
Iron Chef:
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2014-04-14, 08:14 AM (ISO 8601)
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2014-04-14, 08:23 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Pimpin out my druid in bear form. Wild shape advice wanted.
You are taking the form of a Dragon. Why would it matter if the breed you take is normally evil?
Also, just make sure to train in the creature identification knowledges, if you are worried about being able to change into any given creature.
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2014-04-14, 08:26 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Apr 2012
Re: Pimpin out my druid in bear form. Wild shape advice wanted.
Since you're already playing an exalted character, you might think about taking 'Touch of Golden Ice' feat, which would activate whenever you touch an opponent with your hand, fist or natural weapon. It deals dex damage, which could add up fast.
You might also look into taking 'improved unarmed strike', allowing you to make lethal iterative attacks while in wild shaped form, which you could then follow up with your natural attacks as secondary attacks.
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2014-04-14, 11:50 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Pimpin out my druid in bear form. Wild shape advice wanted.
In my game we actually found a Shadow Dragon Rookery. I WAS going to take a bunch of the eggs and raise them. Sadly, while I was trying to locate an alternate exist, our "If it's evil, it must die" cleric smashed all the eggs. I stormed out by going Earth Elemental though the roof and let them walk the long, trap ridden way out.
But I digress, my point that I yelled at the Cleric is that babies are neutral at their core. They learn what is acceptable and what is not from their parents and their environment. Thus, I believed that I could, at the very least, make them remain neutral and not be evil. I would use this argument if anyone tries to bring up that they are evil.
I had an Alchemist that, before they nerfed the feat, would create Alchemical Zombies and plant his bombs in their chests. He didn't create zombies to do evil things, but they were part of his research to find a way to resurrect someone with science. I argued that, even though a cleric of Pharasma chased him for 2 solid weeks without rest, what he did was not evil, but something he did for the greater good. He was very ethical in his approach. You could also use this sort of argument, if you prefer.The Super Special Awesome Yiuel made my very manly Avatar
The Great Steam Golem, Blitzcrank!
He really has a heart of gold...encased in a framework of iron...in a carapace of steel.
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2014-04-15, 05:43 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Pimpin out my druid in bear form. Wild shape advice wanted.
good point as there are also references to exalted red dragons in the BOED.
I'm having a hard time with my feats and I'm also looking for some advice.
This is what I've planned so far. Exalted feats are giving me trouble. Not a whole lot that looks good.
LV 1-Sacred Vow, Vow of Poverty,
LV 3- Extend spell,
LV 6- Natural Spell,
LV 9- Assume Supernatural Ability,
LV 12- Dragon Wild Shape,
LV 15- Frozen Wild Shape,
LV 18- Quicken Spell
Exalted feats
1st – nymphs kiss
2nd- Touch of Golden Ice
4th-
6th- Words of Creation
8th- Sanctify Natural Attack
10th- Exalted Wild Shape
12th-
14th-
16th-
18th-
20th-
Anything to change in core feats or does that look good? Besides the exalted feats not finished.
Sorry to keep asking you question but you seem like you know your stuff.
so if I take a dire polar bear form 39 str plus bite of the wear bear +16 str plus the 6 str from vop I'd have a str of 61? Am I reading this right? now would I be able to say also cast Girallon's blessing on my self and have four bear claws attacks as well as my bite attack? Any other cheese buffs I could combined?
Some one also
mentioned produce flame as a hold touch attack then going into wild shape to be able to add the extra 1d6 per round as part of one of my claw attacks. I can't seem to find a solid answer on this.Last edited by shadowseve; 2014-04-15 at 06:10 AM.
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2014-04-15, 07:44 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Pimpin out my druid in bear form. Wild shape advice wanted.
Important question, because I just don't see it. What books are you allowed to use. Also, this is strictly a 3.5 game or is it Pathfinder?
Also, for your Viewing Pleasure.
Ash Namflee, Planar Shepherd Hater of Wizards
EDIT: I just realized that, based on your description of your stats in Bear Form that you're playing 3.5. So, DUHHHHHHHHH.Last edited by Rasman; 2014-04-15 at 07:49 AM.
The Super Special Awesome Yiuel made my very manly Avatar
The Great Steam Golem, Blitzcrank!
He really has a heart of gold...encased in a framework of iron...in a carapace of steel.
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2014-04-15, 07:57 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Apr 2014
Re: Pimpin out my druid in bear form. Wild shape advice wanted.
Last edited by shadowseve; 2014-04-15 at 08:08 PM.
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2014-04-16, 06:05 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Pimpin out my druid in bear form. Wild shape advice wanted.
It's from a site called DnDSheets
Meta Magic Feat wise I suggest Invisible Spell HIGHLY. Couple that will Silent Spell and maybe even Still Spell and you can do things without it looking like you are doing anything.
I find Extend Spell, while nice for some things, lacking in the 'AWESOME!' department.
Ashbound is an excellent feat since it doubles the duration of your summons AND gives them a +3 to hit. Also VASTLY better than Extend Spell since you should be summoning a LOT, even if you are a tank.
Initiate of Nature is one of my favorite feats since you can pretty much Command animals to help you AND you get Mold Touch, which can get nasty REALLY quick since MOST things will think that burning it with fire is a good idea. It's not.
Speaking of Mold Touch, you want Occular Spell to go with it. This will allow you to store it in your eyes and fire it like a Ray, rather than have to make a touch attack. This is an excellent way to stealthily kill someone if you use a small form, like a sparrow or mouse, to sneak up on them and make some stealth checks to do it without them noticing. Although, if you just make the Mold Touch an Invisible Spell, well...they can't see it anyway...
From what I have used, and that which is not Pathfinder, those are my best suggestions.
Your Exalted feats are about in the order that I would take them myself, based on my knowledge about them. Though there is a spell from the Book of Exalted Deeds called Rain of Roses that is the most OP spell EVER against Evil since it does NOT allow a saving throw.
Always memorize it with something like Thorn Wall or Entangle or the like.The Super Special Awesome Yiuel made my very manly Avatar
The Great Steam Golem, Blitzcrank!
He really has a heart of gold...encased in a framework of iron...in a carapace of steel.
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2014-04-16, 06:11 AM (ISO 8601)
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2014-04-16, 06:37 AM (ISO 8601)
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2014-04-16, 09:52 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Pimpin out my druid in bear form. Wild shape advice wanted.
I'm sure there's a point where those feats are better than the possibilities in BoED, but that has more to do with exalted feats in BoED being terrible than with CoV exalted feats being not-terrible. It's just a pile of absolutely horrible bonuses. The sanctified spells in that book are pretty sweet, however.
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2014-04-16, 10:05 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Pimpin out my druid in bear form. Wild shape advice wanted.
If you've got a good Int, one way to boost damage if you have lots of attacks is with Knowledge Devotion. It's not that great on a Druid since you only have Knowledge(Nature) in-class, but with that and your choice of Knowledge from the feat you can probably get some mileage out of it.
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2014-04-16, 10:29 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Pimpin out my druid in bear form. Wild shape advice wanted.
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2014-04-16, 01:19 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Pimpin out my druid in bear form. Wild shape advice wanted.
Take one level of Warshaper (Complete Warrior, p. 89) - besides the fact that with that 1 level, you are now immune to critical hits and stunning blows (Morphic Immunities), you are also now able to grow additional natural weapons on your druid or on any of your wild shape forms.
Morphic Weapons (Su): As a move action, a warshaper can grow natural weapons such as claws or fangs, allowing a natural attack that deals the appropriate amount of damage according to the size of the new form (see Table 5—1 on page 296 of the Monster Manual). These morphic weapons need not be natural weapons that the creature already possesses. For example, a warshaper polymorphed into an ettin (Large giant) could grow a claw that deals 1d6 points of damage, or horns for a gore attack that deals 1d8 points of damage.
If the warshaper's form already has a natural weapon of that type, the weapon deals damage as if it were one category larger. For example, a warshaper who used wild shape to become a dire wolf (Large animal) could grow its jaw and snout, enabling a bite attack that deals 2d6 points of damage (as a for Huge animal), not the normal 1d8.
A warshaper can change morphic weapons as often as it likes, even if it is using a shapechanging technique such as the polymorph spell or the wild shape class feature that doesn't allow subsequent changes after the initial transformation.
Truth is, acording to the RAW, you could totally cheese out and grow extra appendages (tentacles, tails, extra arms/claws, etc) that all do additional attacks. You can basically just start making up ridiculous wild animals now - and are not really limitted by the whole "familiarity" thing. The two limitations are if you want to change form during combat, you lose all of the morphic weapons, and need to take a turn for each new one you want to make... and the greater danger is that if you abuse the morphic weapons feat too much, your DM will likely retaliate with some insane mutations of his/her own.