# Gnome druid build



## MeepoTheMighty (Jul 14, 2003)

I'm rolling up a (3.0) gnome druid for a new campaign.  He's third level.  With his low strength, I definitely don't picture him being much of combatant, at least until he can wild shape.  I'll probably end up taking at least one item creation feat, but will most likely hold out for Craft Wand.  What are some good ideas for feats?  I can use core rules and WoTC splat books, but could probably argue my way into using feats from other books if they're not too overpowered.

Dulda
Male Gnome Druid 3
Neutral Good

Str: 10
Dex: 14
Con: 18
Int: 16
Wis: 17
Cha: 10


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## Tabarnak Smokeblower (Jul 14, 2003)

I don't quite remember the name, but there are druid feats that let you cast spells while Wild Shaped, I guess that can come in handy. With that, you'll probably also need the Eschew Material feat, since, in Wild Shape, you won't have access to your spell component pouch anymore...

Before taking the Craft Wand feat, do you have any particular ideas of what type of wands you'll be crafting? Sometimes you're better off with scribe scroll, since it offers more flexibility, IMO.

Since your AC will quite likely suck a bit, Dodge is always helpful, and Improved initiative is a no brainer.

There were a couple of gnome feats in a Dragon issue, lemme dig that out for you... Magically Adept lets you swap the 3 cantrips gnomes get for any cantrip or druidic orison (prereq Int 10, druid orisons taken are considered arcane spells); Scathing Wit lets you make verbal attacks at someone (you need a good Intimidate tho), Bend Spell lets you ignore an enemy's cover with your spell (+1 LA)... That's about it.

Hope this helps, and good luck


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## Ridley's Cohort (Jul 15, 2003)

IMO you would be better served by Scribe Scroll than Craft Wand.  Druids have a number of spells that are superb in _just the right circumstance_ by not flexible enough to bother memorizing on most days.  Scrolls will give you lots of options without breaking the bank.


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## Camarath (Jul 15, 2003)

Have you considered the Shifter? One of my players had a gnome druid that took Shifter. It was a fun character (for him and me).


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## Felix (Jul 15, 2003)

Natural Spell is what you're thinking of for casting while _Wild Shaped_, and you don't need Eschew Materials for it: it isn't a metamagic feat, it's a [Wild] feat.

If you're going to refrainf from entering combat you could always go Spell Focus (something). 

If you do Dodge, Mobility, Spring Attack, your wildshape into a Wolf would be quite effective... but that's a ways away.


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## Speaks (Jul 15, 2003)

Based on the numbers you posted the druid could be a good combat monster assuming the correct shape.  I think the scribe scroll might work better then craft wand in the long run.  Your hit points will be good with the high con and many of the animal forms will help out with the weak strength.
Natural spell is cool but useful around sixth level and when you hit 8th I think large animal like brown bears and dire apes will be good also to help make the gnome combat worthy.
I have looked at dwarf druid build high con decent strength and good wisdom assuming later in the character life the animal forms would be the choice of combat mode.  Feats like power attack and combat reflexs for when you can do large and huge creatures could help out but you might need to switch around a few stats to get the high strength if you wished for like power attack.
As always improved init is always useful.

Speaks


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## MeepoTheMighty (Jul 15, 2003)

Okay, I'll admit it.  The Craft Wand idea came from reading the recent flame blade thread and imagining a druid using a wand of flame blade like a lightsaber.   Probably not worth it from a powergaming perspective, but definitely sounds fun.

I'll agree that scribe scroll would probably be more useful.  Glancing through the spell list, I can see a lot of spells that would be critical every now and then, but not worth constantly memorizing.  

Natural Spell doesn't require Eschew Materials, but you can't use material components unless you can use them with your new form.  Not all that bad when you wildshape into a monkey, but qute the hassle if you whildshape into a banana slug.  Certainly worth considering.

I like the concept of a gnomish druid who gets along well with animals, but neither Tamer of Beasts nor Animal Lord give decent spellcasting progression.  Anyone know of any PrCs that give full or close to full progression and give some neat animal bonuses?


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## youspoonybard (Jul 15, 2003)

I would recommend against PrC's for Druids; none of them can match Wild Shape and spellcasting together.


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## Eccles (Jul 15, 2003)

Eschew Materials is a bit of a waste of time for druids.

If you plough through the spellbook, you'll discover that very few of the druidic spells actually require material components...


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## Saeviomagy (Jul 16, 2003)

I'd consider lowering your dex and increasing something else (like charisma or con) if you can. You ARE going to suck in frontline combat until you can wildshape, and once you wildshape, your natural dex doesn't mean a thing.


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## youspoonybard (Jul 16, 2003)

I second Eccles.  I have the 3.0 list (which includes MotW and some Faerun stuff, I don't have any of the realms books), which a wizards.com boards poster was kind enough to compile.  Stick with Natural Spell.  Basically, you miss out on Fire Seeds.  There are some others, but fire seeds is the big one.

I also second the dex/cha thing.  I find that having high Cha is good, especially in 3.5, when you need leadership to keep your Animal Companion as a cohort.  I also like high Int, as there are plenty of good class skills, but I see you've got that covered (even worse in 3.5!  Sure, you don't need animal empathy anymore, but how could you pass on Spot and Listen, and Ride is fun too!).  

Remember, you only have to survive for 2 more levels before it's all good, and 5 more levels until it's better than that.


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## Dimwhit (Jul 16, 2003)

I wish my low-strength Druid had taken Power Attack. Now that I'm wildshaping into a Brown Bear and the attack bonus is so high, it could really come in handy.


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## Pielorinho (Jul 16, 2003)

MeepoTheMighty said:
			
		

> *Natural Spell doesn't require Eschew Materials, but you can't use material components unless you can use them with your new form.  Not all that bad when you wildshape into a monkey, but qute the hassle if you whildshape into a banana slug.  Certainly worth considering.*




Solution:  don't wildshape into a banana slug, dummy!  

(Helpful advice:  see if your DM will allow the 3.5 version of Natural Spell, which allows you to use any divine focus or material component that's melded into your wildshaped form for spells cast while wildshaped).

Are you looking for feats to take now?  Augment summoning is plenty fun.  Spell focus:  transmutation or conjuration has a lot of payoff for a druid.  Weapon focus (unarmed) won't hurt you when you start wildshaping, although it won't do much good now.

Scribe scroll is good, but it's boring.  You gotta decide whether you want to deal with the boredom factor.  Craft wonderous item, on the other hand, is all kinds of fun.

Daniel


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## MeepoTheMighty (Jul 17, 2003)

Pielorinho said:
			
		

> *
> 
> Solution:  don't wildshape into a banana slug, dummy!
> *





How about a DIRE banana slug??


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## Pielorinho (Jul 17, 2003)

MeepoTheMighty said:
			
		

> How about a DIRE banana slug?? [/B]




C'mon:  dire banana slugs are vermin, not animals, as you surely know if you've spent any time at all in the Pacific Northwest.

Daniel


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## Tabarnak Smokeblower (Jul 17, 2003)

Dimwhit said:
			
		

> *I wish my low-strength Druid had taken Power Attack. Now that I'm wildshaping into a Brown Bear and the attack bonus is so high, it could really come in handy. *




Does you low-strength Druid have at least 13 str?

TS


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## avatarolt (Jul 17, 2003)

With the 3.5 druid's spontaneous casting, the question has been raised as to whether or not Augment Summoning is worth it...+4 str, +4 con, +2 HD to your summoned creatures...unfortunately, the prereq is Spell Focus (Conjuration) and I really don't see how *that* feat is worth much.

But considering how much AS might help...something to think about.

(p.s., I'd take create infusion any day over scribe scroll -- you can eat infusions while wildshaped...scrolls can be hard for dire bears to hold)


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## Dimwhit (Jul 17, 2003)

> Does you low-strength Druid have at least 13 str?




Good point!   Although, could a 10 STR Druid take power attack and only use it in wildshaped form, when his STR would be high enough? Outside of a house rule, of course.


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## Silver Griffon (Jul 17, 2003)

Eccles said:
			
		

> *Eschew Materials is a bit of a waste of time for druids.
> 
> If you plough through the spellbook, you'll discover that very few of the druidic spells actually require material components... *




Very true. But, most of them require your divine focus. I got around this by tying a spare piece of mistletoe to a loop of twine and giving it to another party member with instructions to put it around my neck when I took animal form.

As far as feats, my gnome druid took the feat from Dragon magazine that allowed him to use his racial speak with animals ability to speak with any animal instead of just burrowing mammals. Not having to prepare speak with animals made him a bit more versatile. I also would take the Animal Affinity feat that gives +2 Handle Animal and Ride or Skill Focus:Ride. After all, a gnome can often ride his animal companion. Mine rode a wolf. Very handy.


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## youspoonybard (Jul 17, 2003)

Dimwhit said:
			
		

> *
> 
> Good point!   Although, could a 10 STR Druid take power attack and only use it in wildshaped form, when his STR would be high enough? Outside of a house rule, of course. *




Yes, but he'd have to have access to that str 13 form first.


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## youspoonybard (Jul 17, 2003)

avatarolt said:
			
		

> *With the 3.5 druid's spontaneous casting, the question has been raised as to whether or not Augment Summoning is worth it...+4 str, +4 con, +2 HD to your summoned creatures...unfortunately, the prereq is Spell Focus (Conjuration) and I really don't see how *that* feat is worth much.
> 
> But considering how much AS might help...something to think about.
> 
> (p.s., I'd take create infusion any day over scribe scroll -- you can eat infusions while wildshaped...scrolls can be hard for dire bears to hold) *




Looking in my 3.0 books, SF: conj helps your insect plague fear dc, sleet storm dc, and slime wave dc.  Nothing big.

But essentially Improved Weapon Focus, Weapon Specialization, +2 HP/HD and Great Fortitude for every weapon and every summoned beast you have?

I think it's worth it.


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## MeepoTheMighty (Jul 17, 2003)

I think it might be worth it too, but I'd need to twist the DM's arm into using 3.5 rules.  As it stands right now, I'm the only one in the group who's going to be buying the books.  

I definitely like the thought of a little gnome summoning a ton of pissed-off badgers


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## Pickaxe (Jul 18, 2003)

> Scribe scroll is good, but it's boring. You gotta decide whether you want to deal with the boredom factor. Craft wonderous item, on the other hand, is all kinds of fun.




I definitely favor Scribe Scroll. In fact, I don't see how any of the major spellcasting classes do without it. Of course, we play infrequently and therefore tend to have low level campaigns, which probably increases the value of this feat. I think it's even more valuable for druids, though, because they don't get extra spell slots like sorcerers, specialist wizards, or clerics with domain spells. Thus, your first level druid starts with 2 first level spells, whereas a specialist wizard or a cleric will have 3, and a sorcerer 4. (Ironically, in 1e the druid was the class with the _most_ spell slots, and got them faster as well.) As was already mentioned, there are lots of situationally useful druid spells, which makes scrolls very handy. For my 1st and 2nd level druid characters, I usually prepare shillelagh, magic fang, entangle, and/or CLW, but I like to have scrolls of those four as well as calm animals, invis to animals, pass w/o trace, and obscuring mist, among others.

Craft wondrous item, on the other hand, I find to be of somewhat limited value for the 3.0 druid. Your main possibilities are amulet of natural armor, dust of tracelessness, necklace of adaptation, and bag of tricks. Those are good items, but there's not much else to make. The 3.5 druid gets the ability buffs and can presumably create belt of giant's strength, etc.

It also depends on what role you see yourself in, particularly relative to the party. I run a druid in a campaign without clerics or paladins, so he is the primary healer. Thus, scrolls and potions of curing are a must. It also depends on whether or not magic items can be easily purchased. If so, item creation feats are far less valuable.

Assuming item creation is valuable in your campaign, here are some of my preferences:

Scribe Scroll: Already said why. A must for me at first level.
Brew Potion: Particularly if you are the main healer.
Extend Spell: Not a barn-burner, but there a couple of good uses for it. It makes your Goodberries last longer, so you can stockpile them for a long adventure. You can also make Endure Elements last 2 days instead of one, which means, if you have a day to prepare and enough slots, you could give yourself 5 points of energy resistance for each energy type and still have your full complement of spell slots free the next day.
Craft Wand: Again, especially if you're a healer. A druid with a fully charged wand of CLW goes a long way to overcoming the absence of a cleric. And there are plenty of other spells worth wanding as well.
Craft Arms and Armor: Druid spells include the prereqs for things like flaming and shocking weapons. Flavor-wise, it may seem odd to have a druid creating lots of metal items.
Craft Wondrous Item: Not my favorite, but still very much worthwhile for the necklace and the amulet, IMO.

--Axe


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## MeepoTheMighty (Jul 20, 2003)

Well, I played the first session with this character today.  I ended up taking Scribe Scroll and Track, since we have no ranger in the group.  As it turned out, tracking was extremely important in today's session, and I had time to scribe a few scrolls too.  So all worked out well. 

And there's no better feeling than busting into a room full of sleeping bad guys, tossing your snarling wolverine companion into the room, and shutting the door.


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## Dimwhit (Jul 20, 2003)

> In fact, I don't see how any of the major spellcasting classes do without it.




I know why my spellcasters don't take it (and my Wizard doesn't use it). The rules for it are stupid. It takes way too long to scribe a scroll, and the cost is too high.


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