druid armor [Archive] - Wizards Community

druid armor [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
arngsoldier1
01-27-08, 08:19 PM i play a druid and was wondering if you can buy wooden armor and cast the ironwood spell on it??? and also can you purchase this type armor under the masterwork catagory. and maybe i missed it but what is the ac or wooden armor??? hope to hear back soon
Jay_Ibero_911
01-27-08, 09:05 PM i play a druid and was wondering if you can buy wooden armor and cast the ironwood spell on it??? and also can you purchase this type armor under the masterwork catagory. and maybe i missed it but what is the ac or wooden armor??? hope to hear back soon

There are no core rules for wooden armor. You could use the wood shape spell along with an appropriate craft check to create a wooden suit of armor and then use Ironwood on it. Or you could just look for access to dragonhide/Wildwood armors.
bitznarf
01-27-08, 11:07 PM You could look at stone plate in Races of Stone if you have heavy armor proficency.
Potmos
01-28-08, 05:45 PM i play a druid and was wondering if you can buy wooden armor and cast the ironwood spell on it??? and also can you purchase this type armor under the masterwork category. and maybe i missed it but what is the ac or wooden armor??? hope to hear back soon

The Arms and Equipment Guide has wood armour in it. Even though it's a 3.0 book, some of its stuff still crops up from time to time. Getting access to it is probably going to be quite difficult. My druid used it for a while (got access through a metaorg), but dropped it in favour of sharkskin armour when that became open access.

It's not bad, being light armour with a +3 armour bonus, +4 max dex and a -3 armour check penalty, but there are better armours for druids. For light armour, I prefer the previously mentioned sharkskin (+3 armour bonus, +6 max dex, -1 ACP, it has armour spikes built in, and gives a +6 to escape artist checks to escape from being tied up by ropes) and you're immune to heat metal and also warp wood. Dragoncraft hide or scale armour also makes pretty good light armour.

If you're looking for heavy armour, then you need to look at dragonhide fullplate (dragoncraft fullplate if you can get access to it) or the various stone armours from RoS.
Iswald
01-28-08, 10:14 PM My cleric had access to Blue Ice full plate (FB, pg 80). If he'd had a little more gold, he'd have bought it too. He'd have to cast endure elements on himself every day but, it'd have been spiffy enough armor to make it worthwhile. It'd be usable by a druid. If you watch, you might find some exotic armor that your druid can use.

My own druid passed on dragon hide plate (or maybe it was half plate) and I think some shell armor since he wasn't proficient with heavy armor. At seventh level, he's still using generic leather armor and it hasn't been a factor very often since he mainly summons creatures.
UMiskatonic
01-29-08, 03:29 PM Don't overlook the usefulness of a wooden buckler or shield. Most druids aren't cut out for TWF or THF, so you might as well protect yourself.

And I would think you could cast ironwood on that without any flak from a judge.

And as for me, druids are a trifle feat-starved in my opinion. There are a lot of good choices out there, but I don't think heavy armor proficiency is one of those good choices. Dropping a level of druid for, say, fighter, is also generally poor.
Jay_Ibero_911
01-29-08, 03:37 PM Don't overlook the usefulness of a wooden buckler or shield. Most druids aren't cut out for TWF or THF, so you might as well protect yourself.

And I would think you could cast ironwood on that without any flak from a judge.

And as for me, druids are a trifle feat-starved in my opinion. There are a lot of good choices out there, but I don't think heavy armor proficiency is one of those good choices. Dropping a level of druid for, say, fighter, is also generally poor.

I dunno...my druid has dropped feats on both Heavy Armor Porficiency AND Exotic Shield Proficiency (Rider's Shield) and hasn't really felt wanting at all...also have the stone form wild feat for another +4 natural armor all day...then again his stats, access, and early selections made it easy for him to go this route...
TetsujinOni
01-29-08, 04:55 PM I dunno...my druid has dropped feats on both Heavy Armor Porficiency AND Exotic Shield Proficiency (Rider's Shield) and hasn't really felt wanting at all...also have the stone form wild feat for another +4 natural armor all day...then again his stats, access, and early selections made it easy for him to go this route...

does your gnome ride a rhino named Smoochy?

I'd love to see the full build I was running opposite for the BI this weekend, if so... (PM would be fine)
UMiskatonic
01-29-08, 05:16 PM I dunno...my druid has dropped feats on both Heavy Armor Proficiency AND Exotic Shield Proficiency (Rider's Shield) and hasn't really felt wanting at all...also have the stone form wild feat for another +4 natural armor all day...then again his stats, access, and early selections made it easy for him to go this route...

Well, that proves my point, actually. Usually, it's a bad move for a druid to go this way. This is especially true for a generalist druid who does a little summoning, does some wild-shaping, casts some evocation spells, etc.

If you are going to go the melee druid route, you HAVE to commit to it early, and fully. Jay, you've already done this, and furthermore, you know how do to it well. That isn't automatically true of everyone who writes druid at the top of their character sheet.
Potmos
01-30-08, 11:15 AM And as for me, druids are a trifle feat-starved in my opinion. There are a lot of good choices out there, but I don't think heavy armor proficiency is one of those good choices. Dropping a level of druid for, say, fighter, is also generally poor.

Totally depends on the focus for your druid. I've adventured with some very effective combat-oriented druids who use heavy armour, two-handed weapons and power attack to great advantage. For them, the feats or ranger or barbarian or fighter level(s) were well spent.

I've gone the opposite route for my druid. I've focused on summoning, healing and buffing. My AC is 18 (masterwork sharkskin armour, +1 Dex, +1 heavy wood shield, ring +1), and I almost never wild shape (don't even have the Natural Spell feat). I do, however, have a ring of invisibility. I can (usually) wander about the battlefield with impunity, summoning stuff, and buffing and healing those who need it. But even without being invisible, I don't find myself the enemy target often. AC won't help against area of effect spells, and it's of minimal help against touch attacks, and those are the only two types of attacks that I'm usually subjected to. The enemy melee combatants usually have a hard time getting through a group of summoned critters to get to me.

(summoning can be a pain though, for both the party and the DM. I played a mod one time where there were three PC druids, all of us summoning. After the third round of combat, there were an extra 15 combatants on the map. talk about a slow fight!)

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
arngsoldier1 01-27-08, 08:19 PM	i play a druid and was wondering if you can buy wooden armor and cast the ironwood spell on it??? and also can you purchase this type armor under the masterwork catagory. and maybe i missed it but what is the ac or wooden armor??? hope to hear back soon
Jay_Ibero_911 01-27-08, 09:05 PM	i play a druid and was wondering if you can buy wooden armor and cast the ironwood spell on it??? and also can you purchase this type armor under the masterwork catagory. and maybe i missed it but what is the ac or wooden armor??? hope to hear back soon There are no core rules for wooden armor. You could use the wood shape spell along with an appropriate craft check to create a wooden suit of armor and then use Ironwood on it. Or you could just look for access to dragonhide/Wildwood armors.
bitznarf 01-27-08, 11:07 PM	You could look at stone plate in Races of Stone if you have heavy armor proficency.
Potmos 01-28-08, 05:45 PM	i play a druid and was wondering if you can buy wooden armor and cast the ironwood spell on it??? and also can you purchase this type armor under the masterwork category. and maybe i missed it but what is the ac or wooden armor??? hope to hear back soon The Arms and Equipment Guide has wood armour in it. Even though it's a 3.0 book, some of its stuff still crops up from time to time. Getting access to it is probably going to be quite difficult. My druid used it for a while (got access through a metaorg), but dropped it in favour of sharkskin armour when that became open access. It's not bad, being light armour with a +3 armour bonus, +4 max dex and a -3 armour check penalty, but there are better armours for druids. For light armour, I prefer the previously mentioned sharkskin (+3 armour bonus, +6 max dex, -1 ACP, it has armour spikes built in, and gives a +6 to escape artist checks to escape from being tied up by ropes) and you're immune to heat metal and also warp wood. Dragoncraft hide or scale armour also makes pretty good light armour. If you're looking for heavy armour, then you need to look at dragonhide fullplate (dragoncraft fullplate if you can get access to it) or the various stone armours from RoS.
Iswald 01-28-08, 10:14 PM	My cleric had access to Blue Ice full plate (FB, pg 80). If he'd had a little more gold, he'd have bought it too. He'd have to cast endure elements on himself every day but, it'd have been spiffy enough armor to make it worthwhile. It'd be usable by a druid. If you watch, you might find some exotic armor that your druid can use. My own druid passed on dragon hide plate (or maybe it was half plate) and I think some shell armor since he wasn't proficient with heavy armor. At seventh level, he's still using generic leather armor and it hasn't been a factor very often since he mainly summons creatures.
UMiskatonic 01-29-08, 03:29 PM	Don't overlook the usefulness of a wooden buckler or shield. Most druids aren't cut out for TWF or THF, so you might as well protect yourself. And I would think you could cast ironwood on that without any flak from a judge. And as for me, druids are a trifle feat-starved in my opinion. There are a lot of good choices out there, but I don't think heavy armor proficiency is one of those good choices. Dropping a level of druid for, say, fighter, is also generally poor.
Jay_Ibero_911 01-29-08, 03:37 PM	Don't overlook the usefulness of a wooden buckler or shield. Most druids aren't cut out for TWF or THF, so you might as well protect yourself. And I would think you could cast ironwood on that without any flak from a judge. And as for me, druids are a trifle feat-starved in my opinion. There are a lot of good choices out there, but I don't think heavy armor proficiency is one of those good choices. Dropping a level of druid for, say, fighter, is also generally poor. I dunno...my druid has dropped feats on both Heavy Armor Porficiency AND Exotic Shield Proficiency (Rider's Shield) and hasn't really felt wanting at all...also have the stone form wild feat for another +4 natural armor all day...then again his stats, access, and early selections made it easy for him to go this route...
TetsujinOni 01-29-08, 04:55 PM	I dunno...my druid has dropped feats on both Heavy Armor Porficiency AND Exotic Shield Proficiency (Rider's Shield) and hasn't really felt wanting at all...also have the stone form wild feat for another +4 natural armor all day...then again his stats, access, and early selections made it easy for him to go this route... does your gnome ride a rhino named Smoochy? I'd love to see the full build I was running opposite for the BI this weekend, if so... (PM would be fine)
UMiskatonic 01-29-08, 05:16 PM	I dunno...my druid has dropped feats on both Heavy Armor Proficiency AND Exotic Shield Proficiency (Rider's Shield) and hasn't really felt wanting at all...also have the stone form wild feat for another +4 natural armor all day...then again his stats, access, and early selections made it easy for him to go this route... Well, that proves my point, actually. Usually, it's a bad move for a druid to go this way. This is especially true for a generalist druid who does a little summoning, does some wild-shaping, casts some evocation spells, etc. If you are going to go the melee druid route, you HAVE to commit to it early, and fully. Jay, you've already done this, and furthermore, you know how do to it well. That isn't automatically true of everyone who writes druid at the top of their character sheet.
Potmos 01-30-08, 11:15 AM	And as for me, druids are a trifle feat-starved in my opinion. There are a lot of good choices out there, but I don't think heavy armor proficiency is one of those good choices. Dropping a level of druid for, say, fighter, is also generally poor. Totally depends on the focus for your druid. I've adventured with some very effective combat-oriented druids who use heavy armour, two-handed weapons and power attack to great advantage. For them, the feats or ranger or barbarian or fighter level(s) were well spent. I've gone the opposite route for my druid. I've focused on summoning, healing and buffing. My AC is 18 (masterwork sharkskin armour, +1 Dex, +1 heavy wood shield, ring +1), and I almost never wild shape (don't even have the Natural Spell feat). I do, however, have a ring of invisibility. I can (usually) wander about the battlefield with impunity, summoning stuff, and buffing and healing those who need it. But even without being invisible, I don't find myself the enemy target often. AC won't help against area of effect spells, and it's of minimal help against touch attacks, and those are the only two types of attacks that I'm usually subjected to. The enemy melee combatants usually have a hard time getting through a group of summoned critters to get to me. (summoning can be a pain though, for both the party and the DM. I played a mod one time where there were three PC druids, all of us summoning. After the third round of combat, there were an extra 15 combatants on the map. talk about a slow fight!)