Originally, I wanted this character to be a melee Druid (NOT a dragon or shifter as Druids are usually abused for) using a scimitar who was also able to get excellent casting but because of the ability-score split required for this, I decided I may as well ditch the offensive casting bit and focus on buffing/melee. I'll still be working on a more caster-orientated version. I received a lot of help from Cinnabar Din on this and I'm very grateful for him putting up with all my ranting and spam and offering invaluable advice on how to go about this

I only found one build up which had this goal in mind, The Nice Forest Guy by Aligory - Druid 33/ Fighter 5/ Monk 2 Click Here

Druids are nowhere near the super nuko-powerhouses that Clerics are. They are fairly balanced until epic levels but Clerics go ZOOOOM away into stratospheric power compared to Druids after that (their spells are generally quite a lot better - especially Divine Power) while Druids stay pretty much the same . Anyhow, I will now present my build and later, a spell breakdown for Druids somewhere else since nobody else seems quite as familiar with them. This build is probably best played on a low-mid magic server.

Race: Human
Alignment: any Neutral, non-evil and must remain neutral
Playable 1-40 PvM

Stats:
STR: 15(28)
DEX: 10
CON: 14
INT: 12
WIS: 16(22)
CHA: 8

NOTE: if you're not planning to wear heavy armor, you probably want to consider getting more DEX - perhaps a 12 DEX/CON split as Druids don't get Cat's Grace, nor do they get Endurance which is patently unfair IMO.

01: Druid(1): Power Attack, Cleave
02: Fighter(1): Weapon Focus: Scimitar
03: Druid(2): Toughness
04: Druid(3): STR+1, (STR=16)
05: Druid(4)
06: Druid(5): Extend Spell
07: Druid(6)
08: Druid(7): STR+1, (STR=17)
09: Druid(8): Blind Fight
10: Druid(9)
11: Druid(10)
12: Druid(11): WIS+1, Empower Spell, (WIS=17)
13: Druid(12)
14: Fighter(2): Improved Critical: Scimitar
15: Druid(13): Knockdown
16: Fighter(3): STR+1, (STR=18)
17: Fighter(4): Weapon Specialization: Scimitar
18: Druid(14): Still Spell <- for spellbook flexibility
19: Druid(15)
20: Druid(16): STR+1, (STR=19)

21: Champion of Torm(1): Epic Weapon Focus: Scimitar
22: Champion of Torm(2): Great Wisdom I, (WIS=18)
23: Druid(17)
24: Druid(18): STR+1, Epic Prowess, (STR=20)
25: Druid(19)
26: Druid(20)
27: Champion of Torm(3): Epic Weapon Specialization: Scimitar, CT: (Smite Evil)
28: Druid(21): STR+1, (STR=21)
29: Druid(22)
30: Druid(23): Great Strength I, (STR=22)
31: Druid(24): Great Wisdom II, (WIS=19)
32: Druid(25): STR+1, (STR=23)
33: Druid(26): Great Strength II, (STR=24)
34: Druid(27)
35: Druid(28): Great Wisdom III, (WIS=20)
36: Druid(29): STR+1, Great Strength III, (STR=26)
37: Druid(30)
38: Druid(31)
39: Champion of Torm(4): Great Strength IV, Great Wisdom IV, (STR=27), (WIS=21)
40: Druid(32): STR+1, Great Wisdom V, (STR=28), (WIS=22)

Max HP: 456
AB (mundane Scimitar): 39/ 34/ 29/ 24
BAB: 26
AC(naked/full plate + tower shield): 14 (10 + 4 tumble)/25

Saves:
Fort: 28
Ref: 18
Will: 29

+8 vs. spells

Skills (242 skillpoints):
Discipline: 42(51)
Concentration: 43(45)
Spellcraft: 39(40)
Tumble(cc): 20(20)

Animal Empathy: 43(42)
Heal: 35(41)

Main Pros:
-9 levels of Druid spellcasting and decent melee capabilities so should be a pretty flexible character

Main Cons:
-gets 9th level spells very late (level 31) though they're not terribly terribly useful . This was for the AB in the end. Hopefully someone like grizz can help me work it in earlier.

Think of some more...

I'll post a spell breakdown later somewhere else when I get the time. Anyhow, enjoy!

Edited By griphook on 09/25/05 23:39

Nice build! First time I see a melee druid (in his own form, I mean )

I'll throw here my first suggestion:

get rid of CoT and take some monk. 2 should be ok, for wis AC bonus, deflect arrow and tumble.

So doing, you are:
-losing an epic feat from CoT
-losing +2 on all saves
but:
-gaining +4 tumble ac, and without armor your Ac will be higher than before. It really depends on dex items you have, but considering owl's insight gives +12 wis you will have: -8 from full plate, -3 from tower shield, + 12 from wisdom, + ? from dex.(aura of vitality is in druid book, if I remember right)
Getting rid of the shield, you can use a greatsword or halbard for massive damage.

...and just in case, when you shift to an earth elemental you keep monk's unarmed attack progression, which ain't bad...

Hope that helped!

Arfra Druids rock by the way... I have a Ecomancer Druid/ Cleric that I've built in PW that's a buffing machine. I seldomly use the Wildshaping ability as well... except to talk with an animal or the like... I really should post that build but I assume that it's already been done although I haven't checked.

The Monk suggestion also gives you Cleave... it might be something to think about. But the talk about level 9 druid spells being terrible, one word Elemental Swarm... the ultimate in IGMS tanking. , so we should see if we can get it earlier... if you went the Monk route you should take Monk 2 on level 37 (but you knew that).

Nice build though... nice to see other Druid fans out there.
Quote: Posted 09/21/05 17:33:21 (GMT) -- Arfra

Nice build! First time I see a melee druid (in his own form, I mean )

I'll throw here my first suggestion:

get rid of CoT and take some monk. 2 should be ok, for wis AC bonus, deflect arrow and tumble.

So doing, you are:
-losing an epic feat from CoT
-losing +2 on all saves
but:
-gaining +4 tumble ac, and without armor your Ac will be higher than before. It really depends on dex items you have, but considering owl's insight gives +12 wis you will have: -8 from full plate, -3 from tower shield, + 12 from wisdom, + ? from dex.(aura of vitality is in druid book, if I remember right)
Getting rid of the shield, you can use a greatsword or halbard for massive damage.

...and just in case, when you shift to an earth elemental you keep monk's unarmed attack progression, which ain't bad...

Hope that helped!

Arfra

Monk is a good suggestion for Druids and/or Clerics, but in this build dropping CoT will lose you 3 GRT WIS feats (they can be taken as the CoT bonus feat in epic).

Also, the Druid/Monk/x builds have been done to death. I think this is a nice combo (but I hate Monks, so my opinion is suspect).
_________________
It's rogue, dammit, ROGUE!!! Yes, I really wanted monk for the build but the CoT was taken for the Great Wisdom feats under Cinn's suggestions (even though it may not be so RP-friendly) and I had to mess with the levels a bit so I'd have the AB without sacrificing too many casterlevels. I don't think you'll want to be fighting in shapeshifted forms though without the monk levels, though you don't get dragonshape (but can fudge a bit with that 9th level polymorph spell) so meh :/.

I actually took 2 Grt WIS from CoT levels and 3 from Druid with this level setup but with a Druid 28/ Fighter 4/ CoT 8 split, more will have to be taken from CoT levels.

Edited By Jennalee on 09/22/05 00:24

I think the max AB for this build would be 40. If AC is more important to you than AB, drop STR to 14 at the start and use the two freed-up points on DEX. Drop one GRT STR feat in Epic and pick up Armor Skin. 38 AB with a scimitar but +3 more AC.

Also, I posted a spell-breakdown here the Druid class if you're interested in the Druid spells. I also didn't fail to notice that the Cleric one promised hasn't been posted (lol). You can do the maths with those spells (a Druid should be able to hit or almost hit the +12 STR bonus cap with their spells alone and hit the +12 WIS cap easily once they reach casterlevel 24 with Owl's Insight).

Edited By Jennalee on 09/22/05 13:14