Druid

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I have Motb v.123. I've completed the game as a RRD 10/5 FB/ 1 SORC/ 14 FG and I want to try a druid for a change. I had some simple questions:


1. Are Dragon Companion and Dragon Shape any good? I've heard some spells do not work on them.
2. If so then what are the best companion and schapeshift choices?
3. Is the Druid a good offensive caster?

 

What's an FG?

Dragon Shape is good. It's too big for some places (so plan on not being able to use it as much) and some think it's not worth the sacrifice of some other useful feat (like Blind Fight or Extend Spell or an epic spell). Overall you should take it only if it suits the ff:
*your play-style (for pure druids - your choice; for fighter type-multiclasses, you're better off not taking it while caster-multiclasses should probably consider it)
* the campaign you're playing on (DS is decent enough in OC)
*And if it complements your party (if fighter-heavy, consider taking a spellcasting feat instead).

Dragon Companion is powerful but is only available late in the game so some just settle for the other companions. All the other companions are great and unique. Fighters, probably spider or bear for added damage. Casters, probably bear or boar. Pure druids, any.

All of them. For normal combat, it's still best to fight in your normal form (best damage). The wild shapes are best used in situational battles or when you simply lack a good weapon.
All the animal companions are unique in some way. The dragons are very powerful, but cost a feat and are available late. Deinonychus is great overall and is available from the start, but costs a feat. The bear is offensive, the boar is a better tank, the spider has poison and some immunities, the wolf has knockdown, the badger is good in everything except damage-wise and the panther is cool (but pretty average).

Yes. Thanks to Owl's Insight default druid DC is the highest in the game. Even with max bonuses only a Red Wizard's DC's would be better. Druids also have some very nice spells - great buffs and unique offensive spells that benefit from their DC. The one downside to druidic spellcasting is that druid spells are not as specialized as wizard spells, so while wizards and sorcs have spells for every situation druids (like clerics) will be forced to fight in some cases.

 

You get Dragon Shape very late, so it is not worth the effort to get it, imho.

Tree Shape (available at level 12) was pretty good, but due to spell changes isn't that good anymore since some buffs won't work on it anymore (and neither with the dragon).
You can't even combine druid shapes with Sacred Fist, since shapes aren't considered being barehanded anymore, but using 'creature weapon', which you can't enhance by feats either.
To make it short, shapes are still fun but not overly powerful.

 

FG= Fighter

What buff spells do not work on dragon form?


And does it help if I take one monk level for the extra AC?

Are the wild shapes good enough for MOTB or should I just use Okku as a tank?

 

Short list: Storm Avatar, armor buffing spells (from clerics), shield buffing spells (from clerics), Enlarge/Reduce Person, and weapon buffing spells (Flame Weapon, Keen, Bladeweave).

BTW, all your active fighter feats become disabled (no Knockdown, Disarm, etc.) when shifting. Exceptions are Power Attack and Combat Expertise.

When shapeshifted, yes. Taking 1 monk level also gives you Flurry of Blows or +1 extra attack while shapeshifted.

If you mean "Are the shapes good enough to make you tank like a fighter in MotB?" then the answer is no.
If you mean "Are they good enough to remain useful in MotB?" then the answer is yes, but not so much in damage dealing.
If you mean "Are they good enough to make my pure casting druid with 10 str/dex/con become a decent fighter when my spells are not as useful?" then yes - definitely.
Father bear comes very recommended as a tank. (actually you can try making a tanker out of Kaelyn, but that would take time and resources)

 

Thanks! I think I'll mainly make a caster druid with the shapeshift thing to fall back on when I run out of spells. I'm also thinking of getting SoZ to get the nice dino companion.

For race I"ll stick with Wild Elf or Tiefling. I know the Tiefling isn't the best race for a druid, but there's always the console to take care of that.

I also recently saw the Spirit Shaman. From the looks of it it seems to be a weaker version of the druid. Some sort of sorceror/FS type of druid without the many great abilities. Is there any scenario where the SS might me better than the druid?

 

Yes, in a campaign full of spirits like MotB.

But since you already can get a Spirit Shaman as companion in your party in MotB, as you know, I would go with a plain Druid if I were you.

The Spirit Shaman is not much useful in other campings IMHO.

 

It's should actually be a decent enough class (for any game). Unfortunately the developers probably lacked the time to work on it much. It's a bit buggy (its skills will not discriminate between friendly and hostile spirits at hardcore+ difficulty - so you might just end up killing allies like Okku) and it lacks good feats and a proper prestige class (Stormlord is nice, but it doesn't really add much to the class). An alternative PrC is Warpriest... which (while better) seems rather inappropriate.