Feats, feats, feats. AGH! (spellcasters)

Feats already taken:

Cleric: Improved turning (lvl1)
Wizard- Spell Focus: Enchantment (lvl1) , Craft Wondrous Item (lvl 3)
Druid(human): Spell focus Conjuration (lvl1), Augment summons (lvl1)

Feats I want:
Cleric- Not sure (lvl 3), Craft Magic Arms and Armor (lvl 5)
Wizard- Greater Spell focus: Enchantment?(lvl5)
Druid- Not sure. (lvl3)

Basically, I really don't know what other feats can help my druid and cleric at level 3. Or which spell focuses to take for my wizard for later levels. It doesn't seem like spell focuses will really help my druid or cleric all that much - or am I mistaken?

 

Imho all casters need Improved initiative from start to have more chances to neutralize enemies. I even add Cat's grace additionaly to be more sure that my casters will move first and cast something nasty at enemies. Later all casters need Heighten spell, since sooner or later you'll understand, that you smart low level spell is often resisted by enemies. Then if you play without level cap, Heighten spell is a Must, since there are few high level spells.

Then

Cleric
It's wonderful thing to take improved turning against undead, but at emridy meadows I lost some undeads, who were destroyed underground... So I could not loot them.
It's good to take spell focus on Enchantment. To Pray, Bane, Calm and to Hold or Command persons more often. Calm Emotions and Hold person are great spells, but they are of low level, thus they really need to be heightened.
It's good to give spell focus conjuring and augment summoning. Your cleric will summon tough monsters.
But I prefer to give my human cleric Enchantment focus and Improved Initiative at start, later Heighten spell. Craft weapons and armor at 6 (because of early availability of Holy enchantment). And Craft Item at 9 level. What to take later? Don't know yet. Earlier I played only original version.

Druid
Personally I don't like this class much since he is a poor enchanter and doesn't have much neutralising spell which I like most of all. So there remains focus in conjuring and augment summoning...

Wizard
That's another thing! Improved Initiative, Focus on Enchantment, Greater focus on Enchantment and you will charm and hold and dominate lot's of enemies. It's not bad to focus in conjuring also. But don't mess with summons, those mists and webs and dusts that a wizard can conjure can really neutralize the whole group of enemies. There is reason to focus on evocation and also take penetration spells, but just killing is too boring and simple for a wizard (imho). They really can do much more fun with enemies! Let fighters kill. Wizards should make wonders.
So I take Improved initiative and Focus on Enchantment at start. Heighten spell at 3 level. Craft Wand at 5. Craft Item 6. Greater focus on Enchantment (or first focus on Conjuration) at 9. Craft weapons and armor at 10 (compare with cleric). On higher levels I'll take better focus on conjuration or something.

 

What you take for druids depends on the role your druid plays in the party. A front-line combat druid is going to be different from a caster druid who stays in the rear. Here are some common feats and my thoughts on them. Recommended ones are bold.

spell focus (conjuration) / augment summoning - good choice. Druids summon a lot, so get more out of them.
combat casting - mildly useful, only for combat druids
improved intiative - get an area spell off before monsters move and you might win right there!
natural spell - druid forms suck in toee so I wouldn't bother
lightning reflexes - druids have For/Wil. Boosting Ref is useful
spell focus (________) - useful for caster druids
spell penetration / greater penetration - useful for caster druids
power attack / cleave - useful for combat druids
improved crit scimitar - scimitars already have 18-20. good for combat druids
dodge / mobility - okay for combat druids if you want them in the thick of things. Prolly better for fighters or rogues
point blank shot et al. - useful for caster druids

brew potion - get scroll instead
craft arms - good for boosting items, if you have multiple casters in party only one need take it
craft rod - rods suck
craft staff - staves suck
craft wand - only get if you are too lazy to make a batch of scrolls
craft wondrous - cleric or druid should have, not both
scribe scroll - increase your spell casting ability per day with extra spells!

empower spell - best for blasting things, thus really goes to mage
enlarge spell - rarely are monsters out of range
extend spell - could be useful, depending on your play style
heighten spell - not useful imo. if you want more copies of a spell, boost it with one of the other meta feats here
maximize spell - see empower
quicken spell - this is a low level game. A waste imo
silent spell - don't bother
still spell - dont' bother
widen spell - see extend

 

Druids and Clerics are great item crafters, as good or better at it than Wizards. So, Craft Item is often a good choice. Druids in particular can craft Bags of Tricks (get a long lasting small army of moderately useful animals) and Druid's Vestements (turn your Druid into a spell casting Hill Giant; the HtH damage isn't great, but you should get a fair HP boost, and it's a nice visual effect).

Natural Spell is a good Level 6 feat for Druids, if you plan to use Wildshape. The Bear forms and Hill Giant (with Druid's Vestement) are fairly good in HtH if the Druid self buffs. That said, a high stat Druid loaded down with magic items is better, so you can skip this feat if you're willing to spend the money on crafting.

Spell Penetration is a good feat for Wizards, Sorcs and Druids (Clerics rarely get much out of it). There are foes in the mid and late game who fall much faster if the party casters have Spell Penetration.

Craft Weapon is very useful for Clerics, Druids and Wizards at level 6 or 9.

Scribe Scroll gives any spellcaster unlimited spells per day. So does Craft Wand. Pick one or the other for Sorcerers, Clerics and Druids. If you're short on money, give Craft Wand to your Wizard, use each wand 18-19 times, then sell it. If you're not short on money, Wizards will probably get more out of other feats.

Improved Initiative is good for Druids, Wizards and Sorcerers; give them disabling area spells and you can turn a room full of enemies into a room full of helpless targets.

Never take Greater Spell Focus; at the moment it's bugged and does nothing.

Empower Spell is a moderately nice Metamagic feat for Wizards and Sorcerers; Empowered Fireballs do nice damage.

 

What is that "Bags"? Is it the mod's addition?
But I also thought that wizards are the best item crafters, since clerics and druids miss some enchantments. Druids miss Strength and Clerics miss Dexterity enchantments. As well as both miss Intelligence enchantments. But wizards have everything. They even can make cloacks of elvenkind. As for items which boost intelligence, they are three times useful. They help wizards, they help to Appraise, they help to disarm traps. Wizards can also make gauntlets of defense, unless clerics and druids don't have 1 wizard level

Perhaps Craft Wand is better for saving experience and money... and inventory slots.
Though I like at the very start to scribe 0-level spells with 0-exp-penalty and resell them to Burnie... if I'm short at money, but need 20 gold pieces to make the tailor happy.

Is this still nonfunctional in 5.0.0.? I was told that it works now. But I didn't test it yet. Now I'll pay more attention to this issue.

 

The Bag of Tricks may be a Co8 additon; not sure. It is a D&D standard item, and fairly useful when you get access to it.

Druids have Bull's Strength, and can craft Girdles of Giant Strength.

This is true; if you want a Headband of Intellect, your Wizard will need to craft it. It's always better to have a couple of crafters in the party.

Not exactly. Like Clerics and Druids, there are a few items Wizards can't craft (Amulet of Mighty Fists, Pipes of Pain, Bag of Tricks, Druid's Vestements). Also, in order to be able to craft items, wizards need to either pick the appropriate spell at level up or find/purchase a copy of the appropriate scroll. Druids and Clerics get all of their spells automatically, which saves the player the trouble of tracking down the spell he needs.

If you want to craft Bracers of Armor rather than relying on the bracers you find in game, a Wizard crafter is a good choice. Two or more crafters, one or more Divine and one or more Arcane, are probably better.

Again, not exactly. Scribe Scroll is cheaper in terms of XP and GP for every spell except Identify, and Scrolls stack. It's a great feat. Where Wands start to shine is in their resale value; a wand with 1 charge left sells for just as much as a wand with 20 charges. This means that you can make a good profit if you have someone with a high Appraise skill sell your almost used up wands to Burne. If money isn't an issue, or you don't have someone with solid Appraise, Scribe Scroll is a better choice.

Great method. I do the same thing to increase my starting money and tweak out the team in Hommlet.

If it works now, very groovy.

 

Actually, wands can't be recharged in PNP in 3.x and a wand's resale value should decrease as the charges decrease. (Though this isn't implemented in ToEE.)

Also, in PNP, wands are actually cheaper per use than scrolls, but wands in PNP also have 50 charges rather than 20.

 

Hmm. I did not know this.

Yes.

In ToEE, Wands are more expensive to use, with the exception of Wands of Identify. Pump up the charges to 50 and things will shift back again.

 

It works now. My Wizard with 18 Int and both enchantment focus feats casts sleep with DC 17.

 

Perhaps in the next version of the mod, wands should have 50 charges again?

First, this will make the feat Craft Wand more useful against Scribe Scroll in terms of experience and gold expenses. Scribe Scroll is a starting feat for wizards, so they will not take Craft Wand if it is less effective than Scribe scrolls. BTW, Scribe Scroll is a 1-level feat, and Craft Wand needs 5 caster level.

And changing to 50 charges may also somehow stop players from too frequent reselling 1-charge-left-wands. Wands will last longer, so players will not sell them too often.

There is another good aspect which doesn't overpower wands with many charges. That's the experience level of the wizard. Wizards grow in experiense and can make more powerful wands. The former wands that were not used to the end, appear to be weak and may even be obsolete.

But of course let the modders decide themselves what to do.

 

Hmm. I didn't realise druids had so many options for crafting. But since when do Druid's vestments allow the druid to shapechange into a HILL GIANT???

Btw, are armors with the "wild" mod craftable? Also, does animal growth affect the druid in animal form according to TOEE rules? These factors will have a *significant* impact on my feat choices (natural spell and craft arms and armor).

What spell focuses are good for a druid? I hear enchantment for the cleric for hold person and prayers. Improved initiative of course is a brilliant idea for casters.

I can't do without Headbands of Intellect though. The consistent extra spells and higher DC spells is a must have. Still, a druid who also Crafts Wondrous itrems can help take a BIG load away from my poor wizard. Hmm.

 

No. The best you can do is have the Druid use Natural Spell to self buff with Barkskin, Cat's Grace, and Stone Skin, and have the party mage buff the Druid with Mage Armor. There is an amulet of natural armor that probably should add to AC in wild shape, but I don't know if it does.

Haven't tried it.

Clerics and Druids get so few feats that I rarely give them Spell Focus. That said, Druids get a lot of value out of Spell Focus:Conjuration and Augment SUmmons, and they have some pretty good Evocation spells, so SF: Evocation might not be a bad choice.

I usually take at least two characters with Craft Item. Less of an XP hit for the crafter, and a wider range of items sooner.

 

I usually give obsolete wands and scrolls to a Bard or Rogue with Use Item, at least until the party gets back to Burne's tower and has a chance to sell them off.