[CO Build] As good as it gets: Building the best Druid build step-by-step!

[Dictum Mortuum]

So, everyone's talking about Druids and how about straight Druid is awesome and yadda yadda, but we haven't yet had a build that's a CO staple. I'm suggesting that we create one, full with information like available feats, equipment, best spells, best forms and team tactics on each level.

We're assuming all 3.5 books are available. I don't like anything Dragon or 3.0 (even if they updated them) but, anyway, this is the best druid build we're talking about.  However best also means available, so keep in mind to suggest stuff that most DMs will allow.

Let's start brainstorming: Natural Spell!


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

[OblivionSmurf83]

Best as in Druid 20 best? Or prestige classes included?

[Endarire]

Start as a NG Druid.  Be an Elan.

Go Druid5.  Enter Planar Shepherd and take it for 5 levels.  You have Natural Spell at 6, of course.  (Or if you're Hi Welcome, you have Leadership @6 and Natural Spell @9.)

Dip Contemplative1 (Complete Divine 31) for the Balance Domain (Spell Compendium 271).  Go Sacred Exorcist1 (Complete Divine 57).  You now have Divine Metamagic capabilities.

Take the appropriate feats and procure a polymorph any object spell on you to become a True Beholder.  Go Beholder Mage2 (Lords of Madness 43) or gain some means of counting level 1 arcane spells as level 2 arcane spells for prerequisite purposes.

Finish off with Arcane Hierophant (Races of the Wild 108).

Alternatively, nix Contemplative and Sacred Exorcist for more Beholder Mage or/and Arcane Hierophant.  Another possibility is Planar Shepherd9 for Wild Shape: Outsider SLAs.

If you can become a Divine Minion, choose Isis.  Go Druid1/Beholder Mage4 and mix Planar Shepherd, Beholder Mage, and Arcane Hierophant to taste.  You may want Druid3 for Trackless Step.  (If you can get it by some other means, that's probably better.)

[OblivionSmurf83]

Also: I'd *really* like to see a Cleric/Druid spell compendium, deliberately targeted at Clerics/Druids who want to take the Wizard's position. With the amount of splatbooks available to each class, I'm sure most Wizard functions can be approximated.

[Dictum Mortuum]

Best as in Druid 20 best? Or prestige classes included?

Whatever. There are not many prestige classes that are better than straight Druid anyway.

[OblivionSmurf83]

I don't want to say Planar Shepherd, because I always do. But, um, I should. Aside from that, no, there's not many, though Druids can probably benefit from Sacred Exorcist as much as anyone.

[Dictum Mortuum]

I don't want to say Planar Shepherd, because I always do. But, um, I should. Aside from that, no, there's not many, though Druids can probably benefit from Sacred Exorcist as much as anyone.

I'm a little worried about sacred exorcist. Sure, turn undead fuels DMM, but if someone turns up and says "i want to play a druid, do you have a build?" do you say "sacred exorcist"?

[OblivionSmurf83]

Yeah, I see your point. I suggest access to DMM for any Divine Caster; Druids are no exception to this. However, I can also see how it's not a core part of every Druid build. Potentially include it as an option to consider?

[Dictum Mortuum]

Yeah, I see your point. I suggest access to DMM for any Divine Caster; Druids are no exception to this. However, I can also see how it's not a core part of every Druid build. Potentially include it as an option to consider?

Quite possibly, although I don't want to turn this into a handbook with "prestige classing"/"dips" sections.

[brujon]

I scoured many sources to get the best prestige out there for my druid. The conclusion i got to was Lion of Talisid from Book of Exalted Deeds. It progresses EVERYTHING. 10/10 casting, Animal Companion & Wildshape Progression. On top of that, Immunity to fear @ level 1, and you get "always on" pounce & scent (ex). The other good prestige class, is Moonspeaker, from Races of Eberron, and it's unfortunately, Shifter Only, which limits it a bit... But Shifters are some of the best druids anyway, and it's a good prestige class that also progresses everything and gives you a power boost. A simple, effective build would be: Druid 4/Moonspeaker 4/Lion of Talisid 10/Moonspeaker +2. Full animal companion, casting & wildshaping, plus a host of other freebies. Straight up better than a single-classed druid. Oh, and both prestiges require few feats. Actually (AFB right now), i think that Moonspeaker doesn't require a feat at all, and know lion of Talisid only requires one: Favored of the Companions. So here's my suggestions!

[Mooncrow]

That's a fair amount of wild shaping lost.

-2 from Lion of Talisid
-4 from Moonspeaker

Also -4 to animal companion.

That's not to say your wrong about the build being good, just want to point that out though.

[brujon]

That's a fair amount of wild shaping lost.

Lion of Talisid explicitly says it progresses wildshaping if you have levels of druid. You add your levels in the PrC to your druid levels to determine your ability to wildshape [per druid]. Moonspeaker IIRC also progresses Wildshape.


EDIT: There's also an Item in MoF that boosts your wildshape by 4. It's expensive, though. Moonspeaker only adds it's level -4 for wildshape, so you end up losing 6 levels of Wildshape overall. (2 from Lion of Talisid, plus 4 from Moonspeaker). IMO it's worth it, you get a lot of cool stuff through moonspeaker that make up for the difference in wildshape levels, but YMMV.

[Mooncrow]

That's a fair amount of wild shaping lost.

Lion of Talisid explicitly says it progresses wildshaping if you have levels of druid. You add your levels in the PrC to your druid levels to determine your ability to wildshape [per druid]. Moonspeaker IIRC also progresses Wildshape.

Lion of Talisid is -2 levels, Moonspeaker is -4 levels - they do progress wild shape, but not at a 1 to 1 rate.

[brujon]

Lol, i was editing in the observation, when you edited your own, lol!

[Mooncrow]

Lol, i was editing in the observation, when you edited your own, lol!

Alright, stopping the edit chain here^^

But yeah, Lion of Talisid is great for good characters who want to focus on melee. 

Lion gives:
Fear Immunity
Pounce
Self haste
Exalted Companion (mostly nice for the Int boost to your pet, one of the very few ways to have a better than animal intelligence)
A SLA of (effectively) holy word

In exchange for mostly crap no one cares about.

Moonspeaker is a bit more of a mixed bag, but the first 4 levels do give you a few nice things.  Note that Moonspeaker does not advance your Animal Companion, though.

Planar Shepard is still probably the best, though, even if you ignore the two real game breakers.  The magical beast/outsider/elemental wild shape has a few nice forms you can pull.

[OblivionSmurf83]

Lol, i was editing in the observation, when you edited your own, lol!

Planar Shepard is still probably the best, though, even if you ignore the two real game breakers.  The magical beast/outsider/elemental wild shape has a few nice forms you can pull.

Thelanis is a really good Wild Shape focused plane, if you don't feel like free wishes or super-broken time bubbles. Every Eladrin form, combined with the Book of Exalted Deeds, means you've got some amazing Spell-Like abilities that can come out of the plane.

[Noliar]

So, in a level by level guide I guess we need to state the obvious. I'll start:

Level 1

This is where you make the biggest choices in terms of variant classes and alternate class features. Most of the alternatives on offer require that you give up the animal companion and/or wildshaping in return for features of other classes that are not as strong so don't take them.
Here is why the animal companion is strong:
The animal companion is tough enough to survive in a level appropriate fight and make itself useful in melee. That means another set of actions for the party each round. So long as you don't have to waste actions keeping it alive, obviously. At lower levels it's contributions to hunting, tracking and camp security can be pretty valuable too.
Here's why wild shape is strong:
It gives you great movement options - anywhere an animal can go, you can go. It gives you very solid close combat options that don't depend on your equipment or your own physical stats (with the exception of HP which are unchanged by a change to CON in your new form.) Wild shape is well supported with useful feats and magic.
And both these abilities scale well with level.

Race. We recommend * and here's why:*

Ability spread. We reccomend * and here's why:*

Feat(s). We reccomend * and here's why:*
If flaws are allowed, we reccomend * and here's why:*
If traits are allowed, we reccomend * and here's why:*

Skills. We reccomend * and here's why:*

Animal companion. We reccomend * and here's why:*

Spells. There are many excellent druid spells and you can choose from all those of a level you can cast (hence the tier 1 status). Our favourites at level 1 are:
<spell name><sourcebook><brief description of what it does and why it's good>

Tactics. A low level party is squishy and many mundane hazards and creatures in the wilderness are serious dangers. As the expert in this environment it your job to help the party avoid them where possible and be ready for them where it is not. In a  fight you are a spellcaster so you want to stay clear of the enemy yourself and cast spell with a view to affecting the overall outcome of the fight as efficiently as possible rather than trying to hurt particular enemies. Entangling as many foes as possible so that your animal companion and the fighter can gang up and defeat them in detail is a classic for a reason.

[Mooncrow]

Lol, i was editing in the observation, when you edited your own, lol!

Planar Shepard is still probably the best, though, even if you ignore the two real game breakers.  The magical beast/outsider/elemental wild shape has a few nice forms you can pull.

Thelanis is a really good Wild Shape focused plane, if you don't feel like free wishes or super-broken time bubbles. Every Eladrin form, combined with the Book of Exalted Deeds, means you've got some amazing Spell-Like abilities that can come out of the plane.

Lammania has quite a few decent ones as well. 

Btw, the druid guide has been ported over, and we have permission to modify it if we want to add this to the existing one. 

[Dictum Mortuum]

I think, while we should recommend races, prestige classes, etc, it's best if we work a 'chassis' that is independent of these choices to max customizability!

[OblivionSmurf83]

Well, presumably that chasis would just be Druid 20. So, spells and feats around that?