Shadows of Undrentide - Druid thoughts

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For anyone that isn't a Rogue, or a Sorceror or Wizard with a rogue-like familiar, traps get annoying. It almost locks you into having Dorna as your companion.

My Fighter/Sorc/RDD had no real trouble with the Skeleton Blackguard; I just beat the hell out of him with the Desert Fury flail. Of course, Dorna got flatlined and I used a few healing potions...

I also noticed the lack of XP my F/S/RDD got; when I recently finished the game with him, he was level 12. That's after doing everything I could find in the game. I'm going to run him through parts of the OC again to get him up to level 15+ so he's fit to take on HotU (and for that obscene +4 Strength bonus that RDDs get at level 10).

 

I've got Deekin as my sidekick now so he's no good with traps even if you level him as a Thief because he only learns stealth.

I think I'm going to have to bite the bullet and start summoning stuff to help as this game is just too hard otherwise. Even the Minotaur gets slammed eventually with his low AC. Bring on the trusty Dire Rat!

 

Actually, the blackguard skeleton is doable in wyrmling with improved expertise. But I was high enough level, iirc, to have unlimited wyrmling shapes at that point. Thanks to barkskin/good equipment/improved expertise, the blackguard missed enough. And I just waited till he had knocked off enough hp, switched back to human, healed (potion/spell) and changed back, getting some bonus hp each time you shift.

Oh, one thing, unless you have a modded shifter, don't directly shift from shape to shape. Always pass through human, or you will lose your bonusses from your shifted equipment. And if you reload a savegame where you are in shifted form, you lose those bonusses too.

 

Well, I can't get Expertise so that discussion is moot. I'm now in the haunted valley place and trying to beat a giant ant who is caning my minotaur. The minotaur's AC is rubbish and Deekin always dies within the first few seconds.

 

You really should be using your druid's animal companion. The bear is especially good. Buff him up with Bull's Strength and Greater Magic Fang.

"Stealing your XP" is just silly. You will end SoU at level 12 (or 13) no matter what. XP gain is relative to your current level. So kill a dragon at level 6 and get 750 xp. Kill a dragon at level 7 and get 500 xp. Do the math. Animal companion or no you will finish the campaign at very nearly the same amount of total XP.

Same could be said of HOTU. You can start that campaign with a level 12 character from SoU no problem. You will gain like 7000 xp from the first drow you kill and be level 15 in no time. And you'll finish the campaign at level 27. Take animal companions, henchmen, summons, etc. -- or take none and solo it if you're a masochist. Either way, you'll finish the campaign at level 27.

Again, a bear or dire wolf with Greater Magic Fang will make things much easier for you and little Deekin.

 

I can also second the animal companion advice... I remember at level 20, if I used spells like empowered bull's strength, awaken, greater magic fang, etc. the bear would end up with a higher AB than a level 20 fighter, which is quite sickening if you buff it up with stoneskins and such forth.

At lower levels the same concept should apply, give it a bull's strength and greater magic fang, it will have a high AB and be a competent tank, despite its inherently low AC. Personally I never found any of the shifter forms useful until kobold commando - most of my planned epic dragons are majority level druid, though shifter makes much more RP sense - but if you're able to use them in ways I cannot, more power to you

Also about the XP thing. It's based on your average party level, and when the game was first released, I found that summoning dire badgers while I was at level 12+ helped exponentially in increasing the XP I gained. This can be viewed as a bug abuse, though, and as such would not openly recommend the practise

 

The dire badger is cool! If the portrait had been a bit better, I would have chosen it as my avatar.