Mitx
Neophyte
Posts: 20
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Post by Mitx on Jul 28, 2007 16:20:36 GMT
For my next char, i plan on making a caster Druid.
I have looked over the Charecter building guide, and it says to take spell focuses in 5 schools, but i dont have enough room for that in my build.
I only have room for two spell focuses, for one I have decided to take evocation, But i'm unsure about the other, I was leaning towards either conjuration or transmution.
It might be possible for me to squeeze in a 3rd set of focuses. At the cost of some Great wisdom feats.
What typically are the best schools to focus in as a druid on Higher Ground?
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Post by bort on Jul 28, 2007 16:48:45 GMT
There seems to be two popular ways to build a druid on HG at the moment. One is to drop the great wis feats in favour of getting more epic spell focuses (and therefore access to more HG custom epic druid spells). The other route is to maximize wisdom and take legendary spell focus transmutation to increase the DC on natures balance, fitting in as many other epic spell focuses (for a few HG custom epic druid spells) as you can.
I believe there are both types of druid build in the build forum with discussion of which are the most popular custom epics.
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Post by uncanny on Jul 28, 2007 18:22:29 GMT
I'm still new, but here is how I've always rationalized it before: It really depends on how many you're dropping.
Say you'll have 44 DC in two chosen schools at lvl40, 38DC in all other schools. This requires (depending on race), for eg 6 Great Wisdom feats and two epic school focus feats. Now, if you dropped two Great Wis feats, you drop those two schools to 43 DC - but now you have 4 schools with 43DC, AND two extra legendary spells (these are very useful to have). You could then find an Epic focus book for a 5th Epic Focus (and 5th Legendary spell).
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Post by ZeroGravitySE on Jul 28, 2007 19:34:12 GMT
It can be argued that the only epic spell focuses that you truely need is Transmutation, Abjuration, and Evocation. To take more then those three is personal choice. Those are the standard for any druid to be built on.
The Fallen Angel build I posted best explains in detail what I play. I personally love my character and haven't found any major flaws that make me not useful no matter where I am.
I personally would go no lower then 60wis on HG, for the DC's are very important later on. Epic Transmutation plays a huge role in many things later. And to not have the epic version of that spell would make your druid non-groupable compared to as if you had it.
The druid class overall isn't that great alone. So throwing in evasion comes in very handy. Use Masgic Devise is a must, so the only way I see it, is to play with 37druid, 2rogue, 1paladin. To play with all the epics would make the character dull in my eyes, and non-fun compared to having great wisdom 10.
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Post by ZeroGravitySE on Jul 28, 2007 19:37:13 GMT
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Post by tyranlthixis on Jul 28, 2007 22:23:15 GMT
If you did maximum wisdom, you should take epic transmutation and legendary transmutation. That school influences a great number of your better spells and gets you the shunt epic. Evocation is another must/non negotiable epic focus.
Tyran
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Mitx
Neophyte
Posts: 20
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Post by Mitx on Jul 29, 2007 3:29:40 GMT
Thanks for the responses, Will probably focus in evocation and transmution.
Another Question that is kinda off topic, Why do most high lvl parties, like those that go to the hells, specify that they want a druid in their party?, what is so special about a druid, that other casters cant do?
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Post by bort on Jul 29, 2007 3:39:32 GMT
Nature's Balance is pretty nifty, but it pretty much comes down to these: highergroundpoa.proboards3.com/index.cgi?board=info&action=display&n=1&thread=1139035275Shunt, Immutable force and Dust to Dust in particular make surviving in the hells much easier. On top of that, they have healing circle and mass heal (which are very useful in the hells) and shifters are always after a barkskin to boost their AC (natural AC from items doesn't merge when shifted). They're all about spreading the luuurve, man.
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Post by ZeroGravitySE on Jul 29, 2007 7:57:24 GMT
They're all about spreading the luuurve, man. ROFL!!!
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Post by Raj on Jul 29, 2007 10:11:42 GMT
Another Question that is kinda off topic, Why do most high lvl parties, like those that go to the hells, specify that they want a druid in their party?, what is so special about a druid, that other casters cant do? not really off topic, because the only thing druid are specifically asked to do in a hell party is use their epics, then heal. If you join a party with a druid w/o transmutation and evocation epics it's assured the same party will never invite you again; abj/necro/conj are other epics you'll be asked to cast, not must haves but important ( in that order ), and your druid effectiveness is estimated about the presence of those. Dc is really important only for one spell, nature's balance, and the abj epic is nice as well so instead of raising wis you could take those focii
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Post by chainlink on Jul 29, 2007 10:44:45 GMT
Another Question that is kinda off topic, Why do most high lvl parties, like those that go to the hells, specify that they want a druid in their party?, what is so special about a druid, that other casters cant do? Dc is really important only for one spell, nature's balance, and the abj epic is nice as well so instead of raising wis you could take those focii Well technically its important for crumble as well but unless you have no cleric in your party you won't be needing to do that much anyway.
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Post by Raj on Jul 29, 2007 14:17:37 GMT
crumble is the poor man implosion just for machs and I won't join any party w/o cleric
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Post by ZeroGravitySE on Jul 29, 2007 19:48:06 GMT
Dc is really important only for one spell, nature's balance, and the abj epic is nice as well so instead of raising wis you could take those focii Your going to gimp your character if you don't have a decent DC for almost all your damage spells. You won't be as fun to play in other LL area's other then Hell. Hell isn't the sole reason why you should create a druid....
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Post by chainlink on Jul 29, 2007 20:26:53 GMT
crumble is the poor man implosion just for machs and I won't join any party w/o cleric Good call Raj, Divinity O'Toole at your service Actually after foolishly double-demi'ing her I have to do it all over again.
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Post by Raj on Jul 29, 2007 21:47:35 GMT
Your going to gimp your character if you don't have a decent DC for almost all your damage spells. You won't be as fun to play in other LL area's other then Hell. Hell isn't the sole reason why you should create a druid.... you're talking to a player with a demigod druid who chosed to max dc ( with LL focii and all great wis feats ) and took 'only' 4 epics. I regret that every time I log that character, better ignore 2 great wis and the ll focus and take a 5th epic. That's using a old fallen angel, would be the same with a easy availabe kenku subrace. Fitting 5th epic and max dc would be now possible with half celestial but I'm not in the mood of rebuilding the same char because druids aren't really funny to play in hells. If you're building your druid ONLY for LL areas then you 'must' have only transmutation. Other epics come for free depending which schools you want to raise dc in.
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