Post by fragment on Oct 7, 2007 3:10:10 GMT
A druid, suitable to be played by newcomers. Should be able to go into hells as a shuntmonkey/healer later - or nuke the harbinger's trail, depending on your mood 
Rationale for "newcomers" - I noticed many builds in this forum depend on subraces that are really, really hard to obtain. This build is meant as a counterpoint.
Rationale for "druid" - I noticed how powerful druids are even in lower levels, when I levelled my own druid some time ago. I'm pretty certain they can solo the whole mod (except where some specialized class is required) up to, and maybe even including, the Xul run. Summon, buff the summon up like crazy, and let it loose. Heal it if neccessary. If bored, add a few earthquakes or harms, or heal undead. Loot. Rest. Repeat.
Druids are also less DC dependent than wizzes/sorcs or clerics, and they don't need to find any spells.
1. Subrace considerations
We obviously have to chose a free subrace, and look for one that gives us wisdom or other benefits, so that we get something better than plain human. It must also be medium size at least, so that you can wear a shield and a staff at the same time, and the race should not have a negative int modifier or vulnerabilities. The only subraces that fulfill these criterions is
"Half-Elf - Dryadkin" - requires Half-Elf
WIS +2, STR -1, CON -1, speaks Animal, speaks Sylvan
"Dwarf - Wild Dwarf" - requires Dwarf
WIS +1, free feat: Called Shot, resist fire 5/-, +1 save vs. poison, +4 save vs disease
If you drop the "no vulnerabilities" requirements,
"Half-Dragon - Black" - requires Human (adds wings)
STR +2, WIS +1, CHA -2, 65% immune acid, 150% vulnerable cold, speaks Draconic
is also a choice. Since that one is human-based, you also get an additional feat.
The respective advantages/disadvantages over plain human are:
Dryadkin - Allows higher end DC, loses 1 feat and 1 CON.
Wild Dwarf - Gains 1 WIS, loses 1 feat, gains 2 CON, loses 2 CHA, xp penalty.
Black Dragon - Gains 1 WIS, vulnerable to cold, loses 2 CHA.
We're gonna build this with wild dwarf, based on the assumption that the +1 WIS balances the missing feat, so we gain 2 CON net over human, plain and simple. By the way, I'm one of the people who generally ignore xp penalties.
2. Alignment
Lawful neutral to start. Splashing a monk level is pretty much mandatory to get the AC bonus, so there isn't really a choice.
3. Abilities
Our main stat is wisdom, that needs to be maxed. We also want 14 INT and as much CON as we can get.
S 8
D 10
C 16
W 18 (19)
I 14
C 6
4. Skills
Animal empathy, concentration, heal, parry, discipline (monk), tumble 40 (monk), open lock 1 (cc), disarm trap 1 (cc). Have 83 spare skill points at level 40.
Parry is somewhat debatable. You have quite the high AC anyway in light armor or robes, and might get away without it. If you want a bit more damage output, take either lore or spellcraft instead. The other skills are must-haves:
animal empathy - determines the power of your summons later on
concentration - cast while being hit
heal - benefits your healing circles (important in hell and against undead)
discipline - needed in many places
tumble - can't argue with 8 AC
open lock/disarm trap - open lowbie things
5. Levelling
The build would somewhat benefit from a paladin level, which brings the saving throws to decent levels. I decided against it for this build because I wanted it to be alignment-independent. We need to spend some feats, and hence an epic, to get the saving throws to somewhat acceptable levels. The other reason for splashing paladin, to get the heavy armor feat for free, is pretty much gone since druids now wear light armor.
All levels except the last one are druid levels.
All ability increases go into WIS.
Feats *marked are class feats.
sf stand for spell focus, gsf and esf for greater and epic sf
Pre-epic
1 luck of heroes
3 combat casting
6 spell penetration
9 sf conjuration
12 sf evocation
15 gsf conjuration
18 gsf evocation
Epic
21 greater spell penetration
24 improved combat casting, *epic spell penetration
27 esf conjuration
28 *esf evocation
30 silent spell
32 *great wis 1
33 toughness
36 epic fort, *great wis 2
39 lightning reflexes
40 -> monk, discipline and tumble dump <-
Legendary
41 find and read a transmutation book! find the epic spells!
42 legendary reflexes <- it should stop hurting so much now
45 legendary luck
48 legendary spell penetration
51 legendary spell focus conjuration
54 great wis 3
57 great wis 4
60 great wis 5
Saves @ 40: 30, 19, 33
Saves @ 60: 64, 60, 69
EDIT corrected the headline, and dryadkin no longer have an xp penalty
Rationale for "newcomers" - I noticed many builds in this forum depend on subraces that are really, really hard to obtain. This build is meant as a counterpoint.
Rationale for "druid" - I noticed how powerful druids are even in lower levels, when I levelled my own druid some time ago. I'm pretty certain they can solo the whole mod (except where some specialized class is required) up to, and maybe even including, the Xul run. Summon, buff the summon up like crazy, and let it loose. Heal it if neccessary. If bored, add a few earthquakes or harms, or heal undead. Loot. Rest. Repeat.
Druids are also less DC dependent than wizzes/sorcs or clerics, and they don't need to find any spells.
1. Subrace considerations
We obviously have to chose a free subrace, and look for one that gives us wisdom or other benefits, so that we get something better than plain human. It must also be medium size at least, so that you can wear a shield and a staff at the same time, and the race should not have a negative int modifier or vulnerabilities. The only subraces that fulfill these criterions is
"Half-Elf - Dryadkin" - requires Half-Elf
WIS +2, STR -1, CON -1, speaks Animal, speaks Sylvan
"Dwarf - Wild Dwarf" - requires Dwarf
WIS +1, free feat: Called Shot, resist fire 5/-, +1 save vs. poison, +4 save vs disease
If you drop the "no vulnerabilities" requirements,
"Half-Dragon - Black" - requires Human (adds wings)
STR +2, WIS +1, CHA -2, 65% immune acid, 150% vulnerable cold, speaks Draconic
is also a choice. Since that one is human-based, you also get an additional feat.
The respective advantages/disadvantages over plain human are:
Dryadkin - Allows higher end DC, loses 1 feat and 1 CON.
Wild Dwarf - Gains 1 WIS, loses 1 feat, gains 2 CON, loses 2 CHA, xp penalty.
Black Dragon - Gains 1 WIS, vulnerable to cold, loses 2 CHA.
We're gonna build this with wild dwarf, based on the assumption that the +1 WIS balances the missing feat, so we gain 2 CON net over human, plain and simple. By the way, I'm one of the people who generally ignore xp penalties.
2. Alignment
Lawful neutral to start. Splashing a monk level is pretty much mandatory to get the AC bonus, so there isn't really a choice.
3. Abilities
Our main stat is wisdom, that needs to be maxed. We also want 14 INT and as much CON as we can get.
S 8
D 10
C 16
W 18 (19)
I 14
C 6
4. Skills
Animal empathy, concentration, heal, parry, discipline (monk), tumble 40 (monk), open lock 1 (cc), disarm trap 1 (cc). Have 83 spare skill points at level 40.
Parry is somewhat debatable. You have quite the high AC anyway in light armor or robes, and might get away without it. If you want a bit more damage output, take either lore or spellcraft instead. The other skills are must-haves:
animal empathy - determines the power of your summons later on
concentration - cast while being hit
heal - benefits your healing circles (important in hell and against undead)
discipline - needed in many places
tumble - can't argue with 8 AC
open lock/disarm trap - open lowbie things
5. Levelling
The build would somewhat benefit from a paladin level, which brings the saving throws to decent levels. I decided against it for this build because I wanted it to be alignment-independent. We need to spend some feats, and hence an epic, to get the saving throws to somewhat acceptable levels. The other reason for splashing paladin, to get the heavy armor feat for free, is pretty much gone since druids now wear light armor.
All levels except the last one are druid levels.
All ability increases go into WIS.
Feats *marked are class feats.
sf stand for spell focus, gsf and esf for greater and epic sf
Pre-epic
1 luck of heroes
3 combat casting
6 spell penetration
9 sf conjuration
12 sf evocation
15 gsf conjuration
18 gsf evocation
Epic
21 greater spell penetration
24 improved combat casting, *epic spell penetration
27 esf conjuration
28 *esf evocation
30 silent spell
32 *great wis 1
33 toughness
36 epic fort, *great wis 2
39 lightning reflexes
40 -> monk, discipline and tumble dump <-
Legendary
41 find and read a transmutation book! find the epic spells!
42 legendary reflexes <- it should stop hurting so much now
45 legendary luck
48 legendary spell penetration
51 legendary spell focus conjuration
54 great wis 3
57 great wis 4
60 great wis 5
Saves @ 40: 30, 19, 33
Saves @ 60: 64, 60, 69
EDIT corrected the headline, and dryadkin no longer have an xp penalty
