Questions about Druids

Any gear worn or carried by the druid melds into the new form and becomes nonfunctional. When the druid reverts to her true form, any objects previously melded into the new form reappear in the same location on her body that they previously occupied and are once again functional. Any new items worn in the assumed form fall off and land at the druid's feet.

 

Ok then, what is the use of wild shape? It seems my spell casting weapon wielding character is better without it.

 

It depends on what the druid's original stats are like - Shape-changing into a wolf drastically improves Meleny's stats.....

You need to give her Natural Spell to allow her to cast in wolf form which means no Craft Weapons and Armour or Craft Wand until level 9 at least.

This more significant if you have a monk in the party so Meleny is already 6000 XPS down ( that'll be an Amulet of Mighty Fists +5 please Wifey..........)

 

Well, at higher levels your druid will gain some nice shapeshifting abilities. When you're in bear form, your str & con gets higher, thus giving you a certain edge.

Also, when in shapechanged form, your druid is automaticaly competent with his forms' natural weapons, so no need to put a feat in that.

On the original question: As a druid knows how to use spears (and a javelin is a spear), you might want to try once with the "Quick draw" feat, so that your druid can launch a barrage of javelins. (But do remember to take them back once the fight is over )

 

A Druid in the form of a Dire Bear is a formidable foe, or even in wolf form she is nothing to smirk at.

 

Gaear (and others interested): re Warp Wood: ah, sorry. I remember using it on Brother Smyth's chest with an earlier party, but I can't remember when. Would be 7.3 at the latest, though as I'm currently on 7.4 and don't have a druid. In 7.3 my Rogue was a cat, and I did have 2 Druids, so I may well have used it then.

 

Re: wild shape, I think one of the reasons it is a bit underwhelming in cRPGs generally is that it tends only to be used for combat bonuses. It would be great if in ToEE it were possible to change into a mouse or bird or snake, with the effect that Hide and MS skills were raised so high you became virtually impossible to detect. This would be great for a stealthy party and would add another dimension to the game without overpowering druids.

 

you can't even open Brother smith's chest with the "knonk" spell, so I guesee it's justr something you can open only with a good enough skill (though a 7 in Open lock should do the trick - if you got the necessary buffs)

 

Is a "knonk" spell similar to a "bonk" spell .... Heh heh

The wizard cast his best Bonk spell and BONK the gnoll crumples to the floor.

 

I have finished my run with my seven PC party consisting of a fighter, a cleric, a ranger, a druid, a rogue, a sorcerer, and a wizard. They all ended up at level 19 after having dinner with the lady and fighting the balors (a long and tedious battle).

Since I liked the druid, and have always liked magicians, I am going to have a third go at the game using a party of two druids, two sorcerers and a wizard. I'm making the druids as elves so that they can use bows -- one of the suggestions made to me in this thread.

We'll see how it goes. The only thing I think will be missing is a rogue, but I'm going to try to train one of the druids in traps and chests -- the other will focus on merchant and negotiation skills.

I've been playing the games of an anthology disk, BG1&2, IWD1&2. This is the first game I have been tempted to play a third time. Well done to the Co8 crew that have made it so much fuller and interesting than the original game would have been.

 

I use human Druids due to feat and skill point bonuses. I also multi,if you multi with an Elf you can only have a Wiz without penalty.

Use Longspear/Scimiter and Sling.
Sling gives strength bonuses.
You find stones more places than you think. Try Jack&Bing,and Traders etc in Hommlet. Bing makes the Msterwork slings. You wear Leather Scale or Barbarian Armour as best,or 'small' Studded leather.

My druid uses entangle/stone growth/call lightning/summon creatures + animal companion-Jackal,to help party.

 

I was having a problem opening Brother Smyth's chest with my level 5 druid that I had trained in chests. Even with the set of tools, she was three points shy of opening the chest (skill level 11 + roll of 20 = 31, but chest is a 34).

Dismayed by this I considered a number of options.
SPOILER

Spoiler

Things I thought about:
a. The locksmith oil only gives one more point. That and cat's grace for extra 4 in dex should have been enough.
b. Craft a special rogue -- but not possible to get one without cheating that could handle the chest.
c. Try the card cheater from the inn -- but he was no better than my druid.
d. Try warp wood -- WOW, that opened the chest with no further action.

And so, on to AoH I go

 

Gloves of dex +6 and inspire competence?

 

I thought only Rogues could equip the thieves tools.

 

The gloves would have also worked. Didn't think of that, but they would have been just enough. I can see them in her future.