Druid Questions

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I'm thinking of starting a Druid through BG1-BG2:SoA, and i ahve a few questions.

Do the Spirit Animals of the Totemic Druid ever increase in THAC0 or HD?
Are the new Shapeshifting abilities of the Avenger really worth the deduction of STR and CON, if so... can you still cast spells while shapeshifted to a stronger form?
Can Shapeshifters wear Magical Rings/Cloaks while a Werewolf, what about Bracers?
What do the Werewolf and Greater Werewolf's claws count as? +1? +2?

Thanks in advance

 

I can answer only some of these:

- Avenger shapeshifts are useful, especially early in the game - sworspider is my favourite - does posion damage. Fire salamander is quite handy for a solo as it is very quick, so you can run away from most things. You CAN'T cast spells while shapeshifted (goes for all druid kits).

- Shapeshifters can wear braces, rings, amulets, cloaks (and Cernd can even wear the shadow dragon armor - bug?).

- 16 Str is not that important - except in the fact that it stops you from dualing to a fighter. 16 Con gives the same number of HP as 18 con for non-fighter classes, so that's not a problem at all.

[This message has been edited by Vukodlak (edited June 01, 2002).]

[This message has been edited by Vukodlak (edited June 01, 2002).]

 

The hp of a druid stops getting bonusses after 16CON.The 18 STR is not needed.Finally only the avengers forms are worth it.

 

Thanks Vokudlak. And you too Padine, but you have obviously not ever played a Shapeshifter, IIRC, When transformed to a Greater Werewolf, you get STR 23, DEX 24 and CON 22. Ac-10 and some other neat things. Killing machine if you ask me.

I'll probably go for a Shapeshifter eventually, because even thought a Fire Salamander and Swordspider are the only 2 decent ones, i think the werewolf out-does them both.

Thanks anyway

 

If you are going to start the char in BG1 and you import that char to SoA, then you won't lose the attribute points if you select Avenger. In fact, with the tomes of BG1, your Avenger could begin SoA with a str of 19, dex of 19, cha of 19 and a wis of 21 if you wanted to be very munchkin-like about it.

 

Actually gopher the stats are not anything like that. the cons is 25 and the strength is about 19 20. my memory is fuzzy. The biggest bonus is that you can stay in the form all day

 

Hmmm... forgot something. What makes the Avenger really worthwhile (IMO) are the mage spells he gets. It's a nice selection - especially when chromatic orb gets the effect of instant death after a failed save. I'm going through SoA with a party of clerics/druids and my avenger has about 10% of kills but among those are both the Shadow and Red Dragon - both felled by a well aimed chromatic orb.

 

I have not played either the Avenger or the Totemic, but I can answer a couple of your questions about the Shapeshifter.
The Shapeshifter can wear bracers, rings and cloaks. They cannot wear armor, but the bracers AC3 plus rings help to lessen the blow (with Iron Skins, it almost doesn't matter). The Werewolf form isn't all that great; the stats are actually a little lower that the human stats I had, and the claws hit as +1 magical. The Greater Werewolf, however, has incredible stats. The Con is set to 25 which means that you actually regenerate (although very slowely). The claws hit for +2 magical and you get 3 attacks per round. What is cool, though, is that if you have the Belm Scimitar equipped, you still get the extra attack even in werewolf form. also you can have him holding the Shield of Harmony and he gets the Mind Shield benefits in Werewolf form.
The Greater Werewolf also has 50% magic resistance and various resistances to Fire, Cold, Acid, etc.
The only weaknesses of the Shapeshifter, is that you can't cast magic in Werewolf form, and you only get 1 transormation into Greater Werewolf per day. Whether or not this changes with TOB I don't know.
All in all I enjoyed this Kit quite a bit.