Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Rio_Tyrr 07-09-06, 07:06 AM	Alright, I'm fairly stuck in a Wilderness campaign I'm in. I'm using a level four Druid [pretty fun class and all] who's got and AC of 13. That's right, while the rest of the party is running around with a 16-18 [or a better] I can get hit by almost everything. I took a couple ranks in craft armor to help, but the only material I can get a hold of is chitin [from large spiders], bark or wood. Which will take months of crafting to complete. What should I do to improve my AC?
Pyritefoolsgold 07-09-06, 07:10 AM	dodge feat combat expertise a shield or go partially defensive.
Rio_Tyrr 07-09-06, 07:17 AM	dodge feat combat expertise a shield or go partially defensive. A shield would be wonderful...but the only ones anywhere right now have metal in them [I'm a stickler on the whole 'no metal armor thing' >>;;]. I won't get a feat for another two levels, and if I fight defensively I end up with a -1 to hit [no STR modifier and I'm using Weapon Finesse to boost my Sickle attacks]. Good ideas...but nothing I can use...sorry.
Shaggy_Shaggs 07-09-06, 07:30 AM	Get a tower shield (they're made of wood), and take full cover from it in the direction of the enemies, every time. Sure, you have to give up all attacks to gain full cover from a tower shield, but using one unproficient you wouldn't want to make attack rolls anyway - and, you don't actually give up any actions - you can still cast buff spells and the like when taking total cover from the thing. Settle for doing your part in combat through enhancing and healing your allies for one or two more levels, then all hell will break loose with Wild Shape. If a tower shield isn't available, make one - it's more or less just a portable piece of wall anyway, all you need is a roughly 6'x3' piece of wood and a handle.
Rio_Tyrr 07-09-06, 07:39 AM	Get a tower shield (they're made of wood), and take full cover from it in the direction of the enemies, every time. Sure, you have to give up all attacks to gain full cover from a tower shield, but using one unproficient you wouldn't want to make attack rolls anyway - and, you don't actually give up any actions - you can still cast buff spells and the like when taking total cover from the thing. Settle for doing your part in combat through enhancing and healing your allies for one or two more levels, then all hell will break loose with Wild Shape. If a tower shield isn't available, make one - it's more or less just a portable piece of wall anyway, all you need is a roughly 6'x3' piece of wood and a handle. Interesting idea to say the least...Anybody have any others?
Identitystolen 07-09-06, 08:47 AM	Use all avalailbe natural cover and try to place a more melee oriented person between you and a threat. Spells and feats that enhance speed and manuvaribility (Run feat, spider climb spell, etc.) or something that would limit your oppenent's ability to move (Entangle spell, tanglefoot bag) help a lot with this . Since you are a druid, some spells of intrest would be Barkskin (+2 to natural AC, lvl.2), longstrider (+10ft to speed), Obscuring mist/fogcloud (provides concealment 5ft out, total concealment beyond that lvl.1 & 2 repectively), spider climb (allows you walk on walls and ceilings, taking combat very 3d.), Spike Stones (1d8 of damage and possibilty to slow opponent, lvl. 4) There are more, but sometimes you have to look beyond direct combat effectiveness of the spell. Your low AC doesn't nessicarly equals doom, but you will just have to play smarter than tougher.
Sunai_Retsinis 07-09-06, 09:08 AM	How did you get an AC that low? Very bad DEX and a hide armour or something like that? It might be usefull to try to get your hands on the gloves of DEX (+2 DEX), which combined with the tower shield would work well. Next level you will get wildshaping, which might be usefull. The standard DEX is often 14, and there is some natural armour. For high AC armour, go for a dragonhide breastplate. It is expensive, but it works (with 1 fighter level, I have now 25AC at level 8, with a dragonhide fullplate +1). There are also some tips in the Complete series. Good luck Sunai
Rio_Tyrr 07-09-06, 12:52 PM	How did you get an AC that low? Very bad DEX and a hide armour or something like that? It might be usefull to try to get your hands on the gloves of DEX (+2 DEX), which combined with the tower shield would work well. Next level you will get wildshaping, which might be usefull. The standard DEX is often 14, and there is some natural armour. For high AC armour, go for a dragonhide breastplate. It is expensive, but it works (with 1 fighter level, I have now 25AC at level 8, with a dragonhide fullplate +1). There are also some tips in the Complete series. Good luck Sunai Close, I rolled a lot of stat with +1 or +2...and I'm running around in Leather Armor. And if I want Dragonhide....I need to find some and craft it....no shops out in undiscovered country and all that. The problem is Barkskin only lasts 40 mins right now, and it usually wears off between encounters. Small Earth Elementals are proving useful right now, but with only three lvl 2 spells a day it's still pushing the envelope.
nhs_boy 07-09-06, 07:19 PM	I found that taking a level of Monk worked for me, although my current character _is_ Sir-Cheese-A-Lot: Getting your previous character killed by an overgrown plant tends to bring out the RPG-survivalist in anyone... :-/ A level in Monk will let you stack your WisMod to your armour, and I assume you've got a fairly good one, it being your primary stat. Failing anything else just hang in there until next level, and use BarkSkin for one encounter a day, WildShape for the other. An average of more than two serious hardcore combat encounters per day whilst exploring countryside (rather than dungeons), and I think you might have the wrong character for the campaign...
Pyritefoolsgold 07-09-06, 08:09 PM	If you've got craft (armor) you should be able to make a large wooden shield. Other than that, you've got to stop playing like a fighter. You're not a fighter, you're a druid. attacking from range and casting buff and attack spells is what you should mostly stick to. Don't let the enemy get close enough to hit you.
sneak_Blast 07-09-06, 10:08 PM	Um... sorry to break it to you guys, but the only people that are proficient with tower shields are fighters, and people who take the "Tower Shield Proficiency" feat. So unless you want to take big @** penalties to attack and stuff, dont get a tower shield.
Marendithas_the_Necro 07-09-06, 10:23 PM	I got the same problem I suggest you: dragonhide armor like up and take a shield,small,wooden. Druids can take them and make spells with a little shield but not with a heavy wooden shield and attack with a club or a scimitar. And let your animal compagnion fight partially for you: If he die summon another one the day after lame but good... :D
sag3 07-09-06, 11:00 PM	If your barkskin is wearing off between battles go with cats grace. +2 AC from dex and +2 range attack, +2 touch AC. If you only expect to be fighting one fight with your barkskin this could be a better option in the short term. It comes back to the old saying a good defence is a strong offence. Entangle is one of the most powerful for level spells in the game, use it and range attacks to crush things. Child and heat metal can be useful for stopping foes useing weapons of choice. Warp wood can stop any wooden weapon wielding foes. Fog cloud obscuring mist give a miss chance. Soften earth and stone can stop foes attacking you. Summon swarm can shut down foes as well just need your allies to know how to deal with it. You can also do this from behind cover.
Shaggy_Shaggs 07-09-06, 11:17 PM	Um... sorry to break it to you guys, but the only people that are proficient with tower shields are fighters, and people who take the "Tower Shield Proficiency" feat. So unless you want to take big @** penalties to attack and stuff, dont get a tower shield. Which means very little when you don't use the penalized checks, and instead throw your power into combat by making your allies better at it.
BW0222 07-09-06, 11:56 PM	Rio_Tyrr, Large wooden shield is useful. You aren't proficient with tower shields. Some type of leather might be good also. If you don't like the shield, consider a longspear. It keeps a lot of folks back and most don't like charging it. However, your next step should be to bard your wolf (or other animal campanion). Teach them the armour trick and give them some leather. Stick close to your animal companion and barkskin with share spell. By that time you likely have an AC 20 or so creature between you and any bad guy. Also, don't overlook summoning as a defensive measure. 1d3 wolves virtually assures that no one is going to cause you any problems for at least three rounds. In the long-term, get an animal companion large enough to use as a mount. Then get hide armor and some leather for the mount. A dire wolf, tiger, elk, etc. Finally, work with the rest of the party. Talk with them and try developing strategies. There is merit in just barkskinning the fighter and letting him/her stay close. Provided your fighter knows his job is keeping you safe... it is a good plan.
Kresalak 07-09-06, 11:57 PM	Stand back a shoot a bow and laugh as your wolf (you DO have a wolf, don't you?) overshadows the fighters.
TheSkinnySkeleton 07-10-06, 12:14 AM	Are your adventures largely forest base? If so, check the DMG, page 87: "A creature standing in the same square as a tree gains a +2 bonus to Armor Class and a +1 bonus to Reflex saves." -- DMG, 87 A small bonus, but every little bit helps. :)
MindWandererB 07-10-06, 12:35 AM	According to the FAQ, using a tower shield to get cover is a standard action every round. I recommend some hide armor and ranged spells. Produce Flame is one heck of a useful spell from levels 4-7 or so. Entangle is a thing of beauty where it works. Hide in the edge of an Obscuring Mist to net yourself a 20% concealment and have no penalty to attack things outside it. And don't forget SNA II! Hippogriffs are powerful summons at your level, just as strong as a black bear, plus it flies. Dire Bats make great meat shields with their AC of 20. Crocodiles dish out huge damage, and the best defense is a good offense.
Shaggy_Shaggs 07-10-06, 01:22 AM	Aw nerts. Note to self: become familiar with character rebuilding rules and get rid of tower shield proficiency on undead army guy cleric.
Encard 07-10-06, 05:06 AM	Keep in mind that in one more level, you'll have Wildshape. That should open up a host of tasty (and, at your option, high-AC) forms to assume.
ShubNiggurath 07-10-06, 05:37 AM	I am playing a monk1/druid 4 right now, and, while I don't have your problems with AC (18), I was rarely attacked till now, so I see a problem here: 1)Are you using your animal companion ad a bodyguard? 2)Are you using the party meatshield as a bodyguard? 3)Are you using your summons as a bodyguard? A good druid player should answer yes to all three. Till level 5 (and out of wildshape even after that) you are essentially a wizard that can heal, can summon spontaneously ungodly strong critters, and has more hp. What do you want more? Out of wildshape, just play your role as a buffer and summoner and use your animal companion as a meatshield. (On a side note: you need augment summong to be really happy) Essentially, if you are a druid and you find yourself hand to hand with someone without having a whole zoo around you and/or without being part of the zoo yourself, you are doing something wrong. See that scimitar? Throw it away, bro.
rogue_lettuce 07-10-06, 05:55 AM	I think your DM may be trying to nerf you because he's heard the term CoDzilla and is unaware that it doesn't apply to low-level druids (except their animal companions are still good...) I mean, seriously, "all the shields here have metal in"? And let me guess, if you took the metal OFF, you would lose the shield bonus? Just get a wooden shield with metal on, and a claw hammer, and have some fun. If he doesn't allow you the shield bonus after you've ripped off the metal bits, you KNOW he's trying to nerf/kill you.
Harmattan_Assassin 07-10-06, 07:13 AM	Well, the good news is that this will change... For now you could also use certain spells... (Barkskin, etc.) And try sticking to ranged attacks. Starting next level you can start Wild Shaping. Stick to forms that have the maximum AC, Con bonus, and Damage (to start) that will change you into a helpful melee combat addition to your group. I'm currently playing a druid as well (5th level). I LOVED the druid class in previous editions, but am getting pretty fustrated in my current campaign. All we ever do is adventure underground or in town. I FINALLY got the party to go out into the surrounding jungle, where we instantly got our butts handed to us (5th level party, ran into a random encounter... FOUR VROCK DEMONS). To put it mildly, the DM was VERY nice to ALLOW us a way to escape with 1 or 2 hp each (and sprouting Vrock spore growths). (This adventure is from a Dungeon Magazine, not one created by our DM)...
kelvinaw273 07-10-06, 07:25 AM	Most shields were made of leather and wood. They would sometimes have a steel boss and rim, but a good shield could be made without them. Shields could be made in a day from cowhide and lindenwood, with a glue made of milk and vinegar. From memory: Form the lindenwood into thin layers, cut to form a convex circle. Make the glue by heating the vinegar and milk together. Glue at the edges and glue together. Add further slats over the joins and around the rim and in the centre. Soak the cowhide until supple, and form over the shield, especially around the rim. Stitch on the inside while still supple. Add further strip around the rim for added strength. Lastly glue and pin (use wooden pegs) leather straps to the inside to act as your handle. You now have a wood and leather shield with no metal. As a last note, you can make several at once, so the party can have spare shields in case any break. Alfred the Great used shields made like this to arm farmers and vllagers to defeat a viking invasion, they were were actually pretty tough ....
Rio_Tyrr 07-10-06, 09:44 AM	I am playing a monk1/druid 4 right now, and, while I don't have your problems with AC (18), I was rarely attacked till now, so I see a problem here: 1)Are you using your animal companion ad a bodyguard? 2)Are you using the party meatshield as a bodyguard? 3)Are you using your summons as a bodyguard? A good druid player should answer yes to all three. Till level 5 (and out of wildshape even after that) you are essentially a wizard that can heal, can summon spontaneously ungodly strong critters, and has more hp. What do you want more? Out of wildshape, just play your role as a buffer and summoner and use your animal companion as a meatshield. (On a side note: you need augment summong to be really happy) Essentially, if you are a druid and you find yourself hand to hand with someone without having a whole zoo around you and/or without being part of the zoo yourself, you are doing something wrong. See that scimitar? Throw it away, bro. I have a sickle, and a large club [made from an eight pound thigh bone [-2 to attacks, but it does 1d8 which is better than the 1d6+0 I've been doing]]. I stick in the back lines already, and when I run out of second level spells I end up feeling useless for the most part. The campaign segwayed into the Forge of Fury for the moment, so even if we find better armor it has metal in it [Studded Leather...Chain Link....ect]. It's not the DM's fault, he's going verbadum out of the book, and honestly for a level four character I should have gone with better stats, but I had cruddy rolls, and spread them out as best as I could. I can't get leather [need hide of somekind], and wood is plentiful out there. I'm going to see if I can talk the normal DM into letting me "chance" upon a Spider or two...Namely because I need the exoskeleton...I can make a Shield and Scale Mail out of that. And if I can't use that...I'll make bark armor, and a solid wooden shield. Some good ideas, but not many I can use right now. Namely because I don't have materials.
nhs_boy 07-10-06, 09:53 AM	Maybe suggest to the DM that he tweak things a bit for the sake of party-balance. As far as the in-game situation goes, he might be perfectly justified in what's happened, but you could try explaining to him how useless you feel and that he might want to correct that. WotC don't come round your house to beat you up if you don't stick to the rules 100%, after all! (to steal an old FASA joke: ...they stopped doing that _years_ ago!)
Rio_Tyrr 07-10-06, 11:41 AM	Maybe suggest to the DM that he tweak things a bit for the sake of party-balance. As far as the in-game situation goes, he might be perfectly justified in what's happened, but you could try explaining to him how useless you feel and that he might want to correct that. WotC don't come round your house to beat you up if you don't stick to the rules 100%, after all! (to steal an old FASA joke: ...they stopped doing that _years_ ago!) Hmm...good point....I will talk to him when I can again. Looking at my character I'm like a Dire Human....cruddy AC but good HP.
Brotha_T 07-10-06, 04:40 PM	I agree with nhs Boy. Your DM has a responsibility to make sure that everyone is having fun. If that means tweaking things a little, so be it. Of course, he isn't responsible for pandering to you either, so there has to be a balance. As far as your character goes, I suggest focusing on summoning and wildshaping. Browse the forums for druid optimization tips, and look for feats to help you with this. Usually when I'm feeling like my character sucks, it turns out that I'm just not taking advantage of his strengths.
AZNsupermarket 07-10-06, 07:14 PM	two words: monk's belt
madhatter619 07-11-06, 12:15 AM	Yeah, monks belt tends to kick considerable *****. You get to add your wisdom + 1 to your AC..... We have a druid in our party [level 20] with 50 AC, 45 touch, and no armor.
Tytalus 07-11-06, 04:03 AM	A level in Monk will let you stack your WisMod to your armour, and I assume you've got a fairly good one, it being your primary stat. To be precise: it add your WIS modifier to your AC, and does not stack with armor (only works if unarmored). However, loosing a caster level as a primary caster is a serious pain, so I'd just use a Monk's Belt instead.
ShubNiggurath 07-11-06, 05:46 AM	I have a sickle, and a large club [made from an eight pound thigh bone [-2 to attacks, but it does 1d8 which is better than the 1d6+0 I've been doing]]. I stick in the back lines already, and when I run out of second level spells I end up feeling useless for the most part. The campaign segwayed into the Forge of Fury for the moment, so even if we find better armor it has metal in it [Studded Leather...Chain Link....ect]. It's not the DM's fault, he's going verbadum out of the book, and honestly for a level four character I should have gone with better stats, but I had cruddy rolls, and spread them out as best as I could. I can't get leather [need hide of somekind], and wood is plentiful out there. I'm going to see if I can talk the normal DM into letting me "chance" upon a Spider or two...Namely because I need the exoskeleton...I can make a Shield and Scale Mail out of that. And if I can't use that...I'll make bark armor, and a solid wooden shield. Some good ideas, but not many I can use right now. Namely because I don't have materials. I see some problems here. a) You keep your place as a second line (as you should) and you get mauled anyway? How many times did your party wizard die in this adventure? b) You have bad stats c) After you are done with your second level spells you feel useless Now, I am starting to think that we play two different RP games. 1) If you are a second line you should *rarely* fight. And those rare times you can go full defense and let your party/animal companion help you 2) Druids are stat-independent. As long as you got good wis/con you are golden. You DIDN'T spread around your points, right? RIGHT? 3) You are able to summon wolves with first level spells. You can produce flame. What else do you want? Summing up: you could go around unarmed and naked and you should be the most powerful character in your party anyway.
nhs_boy 07-11-06, 09:14 AM	Conjuration Focus: Starting Human Feat Augmented Summoning: Lvl1 Feat. Speak With Animals: Lvl1 Spell. SNA II: Lvl2 Spell. Having your super-strong hippogriff grapple a medium-sized boss opponent with ease and fly up until its summon duration expires? Priceless.