Playable in PvE 1-40.PvP Lite (dragonform and harm). More powerful relative to other characters in a low-magic environment.
Human, Lawful Neutral
Str 8 Dex 14 Con 10 Int 14 Wis 18 Cha 8
1 Dr (1): Dodge, Extend Spell 2 Mo (1): 3 Dr (2): Weapon Finesse 4 Dr (3): +1 wis 5 Dr (4): 6 Dr (5): Weapon Focus (Unarmed Strike) 7 Mo (2): 8 Dr (6): +1 wis 9 Dr (7): Empower Spell% 10 Dr (8): 11 Dr (9): 12 Mo (3): +1 wis, Blind-Fight 13 Dr (10): 14 Dr (11): 15 Dr (12): Silent Spell* 16 Dr (13): +1 wis 17 Mo (4): 18 Dr (14): Mobility 19 Dr (15): 20 Dr (16): +1 wis 21 Dr (17): Epic Weapon Focus (Unarmed Strike) 22 SD (1): 23 SD (2): 24 Dr (18): +1 wis, Great Wis 1 25 Dr (19): 26 Mo (5): 27 Mo (6): Great Wis 2 28 Dr (20): +1 wis 29 Dr (21): 30 Dr (22): Great Wis 3 31 Dr (23): 32 Dr (24): +1 wis, Great Wis 4+ 33 Mo (7): Epic Prowess* 34 Mo (8): 35 Mo (9): 36 Dr (25): +1 wis, Armor Skin* 37 Dr (26): 38 Dr (27): 39 Dr (28): Epic Spell (Greater Ruin)*, Dragon Shape+ 40 Mo (10): +1 wis
* - optional, but recommended feat + - druid epic bonus feat % - could reasonably replace with maximize
Over 300 skillpoints - I maxed Concentration, Discipline, Tumble, Spellcraft, Hide, Move Silently, and Listen.
Unbuffed Ending Stats (Human Form) 32 wis
AC 35 320 max hp F 24 R 21 W 35
AB +31 unarmed, 1d10 fist damage, -1 str penalty
Elemental Form Unbuffed Stats Air: AC 55, AB +41, 2d8+6 damage, F 28 R 31 W 35 Water: AC 49, AB +38, 2d10+9 damage, F 30, R 25, W 35 Earth: AC 43, AB +41, 2d10+12 damage, F 30 R 19 W 35 Earth: AC 43, AB +35, 2d8+6 damage, F 34, R 23, W 35
Dragon Shape Unbuffed Stats: AC 66, AB +48, 2d8+19 damage, F 35 R 32 W 35
FAQ: Q: What's the scoop with this build? It doesn't seem to make a lot of sense - obviously you intend it to use shapeshifting but you take a lot of casting feats, and strong stealth. A: The build is inteded to use a combination of magic and shapeshifting for offense and defense both. Druids get a lot of spells that offer battlefield control by slowing down enemies or stopping them altogether. By stealthing ahead and scouting out an area, you can choose shapes or spells that are well-suited to your opposition.
The goal I was pursuing was to make a worthwhile epic druid that could hold her own as a divine spellcaster but also support her shapeshifting abilities heavily with melee-related feats and monk levels.
Q: Why Shadowdancer then? A: I wanted uncanny dodge, but the only classes I could take without an alignment change that get it are Rogue and SD. Rogue would require 3 levels instead of 2, and impose an xp penalty, which is primarily why I chose SD.
Being able to go monk 10 also gained me a point of monk bonus AC and let me do a level 40 skill dump while getting improved evasion at level 9 earlier in the build.
If you don't mind taking the xp penalty and such, or are popping out the build fully-grown at level 40, you can gain access to a lot of useful skills and 2d6 sneak attacks by doing Druid 28/Monk 9/Rogue 3. You'll also free up your feats from Dodge and Mobility, which is nice.
Q: You said you wanted the build to function as a divine caster and use spells for offense, but you don't take penetration feats and don't take any spell focuses. What exactly can you do offensively like that? A: Druids get an SR-reducing spell called Nature's Balance that will reduce enemy SR in an area by 5d4 at level 28. It allows a will save, but it is still pretty useful as it area heal allies in addition to dropping SR.
You are close to being able to beat the 32 SR benchmark just on your caster levels even if nature's balance doesn't land, and druids have a couple spells that bypass SR (quillfire, earthquake). And you take greater ruin. Though if you are in a very SR-heavy environment you might replace one or more optional feats with spell penetration feats. And of course, you can always shift and melee to deal with SR targets.
As for saves, druids have quite a lot of powerful no-save offense spells. Harm, of course, is the classic flagship of this fleet but you also have ice storm, spike growth, inferno, and creeping doom. You also have Crumble for those pesky constructs, and can make good use of spells like entangle, grease, vine mine, and spike growth to keep enemies at a distance regardless of saves.
Q: Well, what about shifting then... why bother with the elemental forms when you have dragon shape? A: Dragon shape has the best combat stats of all the forms, but you only get it three times a day, it comes late in the build, and it is really hard to work with the super-sized dragon body in indoor areas or with a party.
That's why uncanny dodge and weapon finesse are in the build. The combination of these two feats makes the Air Elemental shape with its extremely high dex into an excellent combat form. Good AB, great AC, and its point-blank pulse attack doesn't cost half your hitpoints the way water elemental shape does. Unarmed, so it fights on the monk AB progression, too. The only way it could get better would be if your items merged in instead of just armor.
Earth elemental shape isn't nearly as well defended, but it's great for crunching low-AB enemies fast without wasting spells. Fire elemental shape and water elemental shape don't have the AB or AC, but do have immunity to fire damage and the fire elemental gets fire bonus damage.
Q: What other tricks does this character have? A: Well, you have a high wisdom, and 10 stunning fists per day that you can use while shifted. The DC will be 41 unbuffed, 47 with your wis capped.
And speaking of wis caps, with owl's insight you'll be over the wis cap and it will last 28 hours at a time non-extended.
With maxed hide/MS and air elemental form, you'll have hide/MS checks of 55 or 56. Add in your druid buffs and you can have 69 or 70 hide and 59 or 60 MS to go with your HIPS. With your high wisdom and buffs, your listen check will be 60. So you're great at stealth, and great at counter-stealth.
You have four area movement speed decreasing spells (entangle, grease, spike growth, vine mine) and an area paralyzation abiliy (stonehold) to control crowds with. You can layer them to make it extremely likely that enemies caught in the no-save ones will have to stick around long enough to fail their saves against the others and be stuck fast, letting you cast a creeping doom on the area then go bash chests while the insect swarm eats your nearly helpless enemies to death. _________________ Experience is the mother of good judgement; bad judgement is the father of experience.
Edited By griphook on 12/02/05 20:29
The woman sat on a rock outcropping at the edge of the cliff, legs crossed in a medatitve lotus position. The forested valley below seemed tranquil, a bright, clean river running through the trees. Animals went about their lives, predator and prey engaged in a dance of stalking and evasion as old as the world itself.
She could feel the rightness of it as she meditated. She had spent a long time protecting this valley, longer than the lives of many humans, though outwardly she appeared no more than middle-aged. The area had not always been so peaceful. When she'd arrived she'd had to dispose of several tribes of humanoids, and she'd nearly lost her life in a battle with an ogre whose cave hadn't been far from this spot.
It had been a long time since the last such battle, however, and the creatures nearby in other areas of the wilderness had long ago learned not to trespass in what they now called the Valley of Unseen Death. Goodly travelers knew of it as a safe haven where the land was rich and the waters pure, and had named it Calia's Vale after her. She knew her time was approaching, however. Calia's bond with nature had extended her life and preserved her youth, but it also gave her the certain knowledge that she too must pass on. She was at peace with that, but she did not want to leave the lands under her care without a protector, and she did not want the things she had learned from her long guardianship to die with her.
The time had come for her to leave the valley and find an apprentice. Gathering her energy, Calia stood, and then dove off the cliff face, falling through the air towards the valley's floor below. Her body shimmered and blurred midair, until it had changed into the nebulous form of an air elemental. Almost invisible in the sky, it flew off down the valley along the river. What would be a four-day hike across heavily forested terrain took her less than an afternoon in the form of the speedily flying elemental, and she landed in a secluded area in the outskirts of the town of Varabin just as evening was beginning to fall.
Shimmering back into her original form, she pulled up the hood on her long cloak. calia rarely came to this town, but she didn't want to be recognized casually, as many townsfolk knew of her and she had made some enemies among the... less well-intentioned... parts of human society in the area. She wasn't afraid of battle, but neither did she relish confrontation, especially not when people innocent of wrongdoing could be caught in the battle.
Soon she was at the Red Mare Inn, Varabin's largest. It was a place frequented mainly by travellers and adventurers, and was a good source of the latest news and rumors. It was her usual destination in the town, her way of keeping in touch with the world at large despite her isolated lifestyle. She could likely find a child to apprentice here - the town had no shortage of young folk, and humanoid raids on the surrounding farms had orphaned more than a few of them.
But first she would listen to the gossip at the Inn and see if any great conflicts were afoot, if any great adventures were underway. In such times and places, she knew, extraordinary people in ordinary lives often rose above their circumstances and proved their character. Such a person would make the ideal apprentice, she judged, someone to whom she could pass down her secrets in the knowledge that they would be used wisely.
It was just getting to be dinner-time, and the Inn's residents were in the common room taking their meal together and talking about the news from distant lands. She joined them, smiling at the Innkeeper, who did not reveal her identity as he knew she preferred. Long ago she had healed his son of an illness, and he had since given her free room and board while she was in town, and would fill her in on all the latest news when the patrons had gone to bed.
The news from afar was grim. A dwarven trader had come from the south with metal goods to trade for the warm furs of the northern forest, and he was telling the assembled visitors of a brutal war.
"I dunna kid ye, 'tis an army of demons and monsters! Some evil priestess - and git this, her fallen paladin bedmate! - got their dirty hands on some lost artifact or another an' are raisin' Hell with it. Lit'rally. The littler monsters, gobbers and orc scum and such, all fell into line behind 'em once they saw the bloody demons. An' with their Sceptre, the two of 'em can blast fire all over an area, turnin' ranks o' men to naught but charred bones."
A more recently arrived traveller spoke up, "I had heard on my way up here that Zazindra - that's the priestess - I heard she was killed."
"No way!" the dwarf snorted, "Not with an army o' fiends around her an' all! The rumors are takin' ye for a ride, m'boy."
"I think it's true," the man riposted, "I heard it from a refugee whose village had been burned by goblins. Someone crept into their fortress and assassinated the priestess, but couldn't get the sceptre and barely got out alive. Quenten, the ex-paladin, he has the Sceptre now and he's driving the beasts even more mercilessly than before. They'd razed Westgard Keep last I heard."
Someone else chimed in, "That's awful... can't anyone stop them? Where's the army?"
It was the dwarf who answered first, "Lad, no earthly army I know of can face the likes o' these demons in a battle an' win. The Crusaders, may the Gods smile on 'em, they were tryin' as hard as any man could ask when I came north. But even when they won a battle, they suffered hideously at the claws o' the fiends. I'd be surprised if more'n a handful were left by now." The dwarf grunted, "Without Crusaders to fight those demons, the regular army'll get butchered if they give battle."
The newcomer nodded at the dwarf's words, "The Crusaders have indeed suffered horribly at the hands of the beasts, but from all the tales have given a good accounting of themselves in the process. Even if they fall, their bravery will not soon be forgotten. In fact the only thing staving off a total defeat in Castanya is a pair of Crusaders, whose combined powers can - barely - counter the artifact's evil influence and help stave off the demons' attacks."
Calia considered this as she had a modest meal of bread and cheese with tea. The talk went on about the war, but other than the fact that it was starting to be known as the Dread Crusade, no new information came forth. She didn't really need more information though... her path was obvious. She would go south. Somewhere in the war-zone would be a young person with the strength of will to master her training, and the depth of character to make the right use of it.
And being able to slay some demons and humanoids in the process of her search was an attractive idea to the old druidess. The unnatural beasts and the destroyers of nature were her enemies, the enemies of all druids. Calia had a few things to teach them about setting foot in a world where they don't belong. _________________ Experience is the mother of good judgement; bad judgement is the father of experience.
Nice! I like it
Keep 'em churning! _________________ .:\_/:. Only those who have known darkness in (OvO) their hearts will see the shadows in life... (|__|) ..".."..
I can't stress enough how fun this build is to play. ACs in the 60's from Air Elemental and some of the Shapechange forms (Iron Golem is nice for the immunities when you run out of Air Elemental shapes at lower epic levels).
If playing the OCs, I might be tempted to go to level 20 druid a little earlier for Improved Elemental Shape, as the stats increase considerably and you get more uses (i.e. druid 20/monk6/SD1 at level 27, then SD2 and more monk). I'd also swap out Silent Spell and replace it with improved critical unarmed, which does apply to your shifted attacks. I can't see much use for Silent Spell except for additional Drowns, which are always fun, but Dragon Shape crits are better. _________________ Vulcano's Bard Studio (in beta, 1.67). *Updated* Compose, play, and save your own bard music dynamically in game!
Hmm. After some more testing, it seems there is a bigger issue with the difference between standard elemental shape and improved elemental shape. I did some combat debugging and found out that standard shape air elemental does not apply weapon finesse, but STR instead, and weapon foci/epic for unarmed strike do not apply to your attacks rolls in either case, even though it shows up on the character sheet. As such, the foci are pretty much wasted feats for a build that will be shifted most of the time. On the other hand, improved critical: unarmed *does* apply to attacks in elemental and other forms. So, it is indeed better to get those 20 druid levels earlier in the build. Going to need some tweaking. _________________ Vulcano's Bard Studio (in beta, 1.67). *Updated* Compose, play, and save your own bard music dynamically in game!
It is a known issue for experts of unarmed shifted shapes that most of the melee feats do not work when shifted. Weapon Finesse is one of these feats, but the good news is that it's gonna be fixed with patch 1.67, so that air elemental shape will benefit from the high dexterity, adding it to AB if weapon finesse was selected.
Cheers, Kail _________________ Wait for me Dragon, we'll meet in the sky By fire and magic, I'm sworn Hell is calling, we cannot be denied Fly to the blackness of the Storm
We must die to be reborn!
You could very well change WF for Maximize Spell, so that you don't struggle between Maximize and Empowered, not sure what would be best instead of EWF though.....
Patch 1.67 will fix Weapon Finesse, but what about Weapon Focus and Dev Crit, are they going to be too?
I wouldn't trust too much on speed decreasing spells, it's quite easy to get freedom from a spell or an item, and some enemies are inmune to speed decrease too, although it might work fine in general PvMs.
As of 1.67 Beta 3, only finesse and improved critical are working for shifted forms. Foci, Specialization, and OverCrit/DevCrit are not. _________________ Vulcano's Bard Studio (in beta, 1.67). *Updated* Compose, play, and save your own bard music dynamically in game!
Actually in 1.66 Over Crit: unarmed is working, I don't think they are gonna change it in 1.67.
Actually in 1.66 Over Crit: unarmed is working, I don't think they are gonna change it in 1.67.
Overcrit is still working. The combat feedback doesn't state it clearly, it's in with the die roll damage as it can exceed your possible die damage roll (x2) and generate odd numbers on a x2, which should not be possible unless it is there (so yeah, it's there). Dev crit is not working, nor are the foci. Weapon finesse is, but only with the greater air elemental for some reason.
With that in mind, I tried this same class combinations but with Focus: Conjuration, Greater focus: Conjuration replacing the wf and Silent Spell. In Epic I take EF:Conj, Dragon Shape, and 7 Great Wisdom Feats. Buffed with Owl's insight, this leads to DC 43 Storm of Vengance saves, DC 42 Bombardment saves, DC 40 stonehold saves, DC 39 Vinemine entangle saves, and DC 35 Grease saves. Missing a save here means yet another round inside a Creeping Doom effect (or Two, and no save there). Stonehold is a will save, not a reflex save, which may help with rogues. So yes, it can still cast quite well. You might also switch to Evocation (obvious) or Transmutation (DC 40 Drown, DC 42 Nature's balance which will drop SR by 5d4 with this build). Necromancy can also be fun with a DC 41 Finger of Death, a DC 39 slay living, and a DC 37 Infestation of Maggots (very fun).
The great thing about this build is that, unlike most other Dragon builds I've seen, is that it is playable well before the dragon shape arrives. Kudos to the Mystic Druid. _________________ Vulcano's Bard Studio (in beta, 1.67). *Updated* Compose, play, and save your own bard music dynamically in game!
