Druids, Clerics, and soloing...

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I'm planning on doing a solo game as a part priest (so far, anyway). Right now it looks as though I'll be playing a zerk/cleric dual class.

I've always had a nagging attraction to the druid-types, however (it is that Green Party side of me), even though in comparing clerics and druids, the cleric hybrids almost uniformly seem to have the upper hand in power and durability. If I were to do a solo druid type, does any one shine more than the others in that role? Would a fighter/druid dual-class or multiclass be better? How does the Shapshifter's werewolf (and then g-werewolf) stack up in a solo scenario? Etc...

Also, with the different rewards, spells, equipment, etc. of playing good or evil, which would be more beneficial to a soloing fighter-cleric typer (whether it is dual or multi)?

Thanks.

 

I have no personal experience, xxxxxx/cleric may be slightly more powerful indeed than xxxxxx/druid, but on high levels both are very powerful and enjoyable. Nine level druid-specific spells are very effective, and druid HLAs may be even a bit more powerful than cleric HLAs.
But to reach so high levels, multi/dual-class is not the best choice. Despite you wanted advice for these, I would recommend single-class.

 

I think the Druid class Shapeshifter is awesome. I am playing that class right now and my character barely gets touched by anything once you have the Greater Werewolf form. With all the resistance that form provides and the -11 AC it is next to impossible to kill the main character. Add in the fact that he can equip items that will allow him to lower his thaco, AC and saving throws. My goal with my druid is to dual him into a fighter after he reaches level 16.

 

I agree with Abdel. They made me rethink the idea that Druid's weren't that great and got shafted in the game.

 

Well, now that I am intrigued, the question for me now is... do I make my main character the SShifter, or do I use Cernd as the SShifter? I want to have Jaheira in my party for the romance (which I have never done, so it is mandatory). So, If I were the shapeshifter, and having Jaheira, that essentially covers all buffing, healing, and resurrection needs that I can foresee, as a well as providing some nice tanking (at least later). Any suggestions or preferences after that?

Questions:
I want an non-evil party, and especially since I've always had Edwin in my parties, I want to try someone new for magery. How does Nalia stack up to fill the mage role? I don't want Aerie, as I don't need another part-cleric. Is there any equipment that Nalia can use to increase the vital thief skills in her repertoire? Jan is interesting, but how does he stack as a mage with a multiclass (ie- do I really need as much "thief" as he offers at the expense of mage powers?). Essentially, I am wanting an interesting new party of non-evil folk, but am at a creative block on what would be a fun balance to play (and interesting as far as character interactions go).

 

There are a couple rings Nalia will need to increase her thief skills. You can always use potions of perception/power/thievery to help also. IIRC, her lock picking (LP) is 80%, and find traps (FT) is 60%. She dualled at theif level 4. She has her De'Arnise ring permanently on, so she only gets one ring slot. Nalia is a good mage, but a poor thief unless you stock up on thievery-like potions.

 

Well one option is for you to be the shape shifter and decide who you want for thieving. Nalia does well with her mage stuff. It's her thieving that is a little harder to rely on.

Another option is for you to play the Mage. Take Cernd as your Shape Shifter. Keldorn as one of your tanks. Jaheira for her tanking/healing ability. Jan as your thief with some back up magic ability. Then decide what you would like to try or do with the 6th slot.

 

I have decided that this will likely be my core group:

Me(Shapeshifter)
Jaheira(hybrid fighter)
Keldorn(2 handed sword/tank)
Jan(double as thief and mage)
Minsc(dual-wield flails)

I will have quite enough tank and support power here. I will have to rely on arcane magic almost exclusively as a means to break down the defenses of mages and such in order to allow my (many) melee character to do their jobs, rather than using magic as a major offensive tool in itself. After Spellhold, I will exchange Jan for Imoen, and thus have more mage power for the later stages (on top of the offensive druid spells and such). I will probably just have the 6th slot on rotation for the different NPC's quests (Nalia for D'Arnisse, etc.) and then pick someone to round out the group before I head off to Spellhold (maybe Nalia to round out the lack of magic, or Haerdalis for the oddity factor... any suggestions here?).

I do have a question concerning my second "tank" slot that Minsc is currently in. Would it be better served by someone like Mazzy, or Valygar? I have never used either of them extensively, and thus do not know their strengths or weaknesses very well. Or is Minsc a sufficient/better tank for the position (since he will be using FoA for guaranteed damage output, and Defender of Easthaven to absorb more damage)

 

If you want to play a druid then definitely don't let Cernd stop you from making your PC a shapeshifter. Your PC will be considerably better than Cernd anyway.

If you have Keldorn you won't need to rely on arcane magic quite as much. Jan ought to be enough, just bear in mind that he can't cast things like skull trap, animate dead, death spell and horrid wilting. It's a shame Nalia is such a subpar thief.

You have plenty of tanks, you can dispense with Minsc in a pinch unless you're worried about your melee damage. Mazzy is a pretty good archer if you think that might make for a better-rounded party.

 

Well, it seems your set on a Shapeshifter, and I won't try to turn you away from that, but I will give the following bits of advice.

If you are planning to take this character all the way through ToB, a multi-class will always outshine a single or dual classed character, as they get to pick HLAs from both classes. With a 2 class multi-class, you start receiving HLAs at 1.5 million XPs as opposed to 3 million XPs, so there is no penalty to when you start getting HLAs. In fact, with two classes, you end up receiving more HLAs than a sinlge or dual classed character would receive, and you have two lists instead of one to pick from.

Overall cleric spells are probably more useful than druid spells, but druid HLAs are superior to cleric HLAs. In fact, cleric HLAs are pretty crappy IMO. The druid's ability to summon elemental princes is great.

As far as enjoyability goes, I'd probably list them this way:

1st: F/D multi (but you're taking Jaheira, so it's redundant)
2nd: F/C multi
3rd: Zerk/Cleric dual class (because I think cleric weapons fit in better with what a berserker would use.)
4th: Zerk/Druid dual class (which I must admit I have never played.)

You can certainly include Nalia in your group because with Jan, you won't need to rely on her for her thieving abilities. Nalia is IMO a slightly better mage than Imoen, although I will readily admit that Imoen is more useful for her thieving abilities. However, with Jan pulling all of your thief duties, the Nalia/Imoen question comes down to magic alone, and I think Nalia wins in that comparison.

Finally, bringing down opposing mages' defenses is going to be surprisingly easy because you have Keldorn. Dispel magic effectiveness is based on the character's level (the higher the level, the better chance of dispelling). Inquisitors cast their dispel magic at twice their actual level, meaning that Keldorn should be able to break the defenses of anything he comes across. By the end of the game, his dispel magic goes off as a level 50 caster, which blows anybody else out of the water.

 

When it comes to Spellhold time, if I bring both Nalia and Jan, I can always simply replace Jan with Imoen, use some equipment to guarantee functional thief abilities with Imoen, and use both of the ladies as mages. Yes, I think that could work out nicely.

Darn. If I am going to be doing that, and replacing Jan rather than Nalia, should I just take Yoshimo rather than Jan at all (i have never used Yoshimo as my thief, and thus never experienced his betrayal quest.... is it worth trading thief characters for?), and use Yoshi mainly as a trapper and thief... or will Jan's magic/ and or thief skills and personality be more useful overall?

 

Yes, you can just take Yoshimo and Nalia and use them as a thief and a mage respectively. Then you can dump them both after you get Imoen back, if you like.

Powerful though they may be in TOB, multiclasses prohibit the use of kits. Kits are fun to play, and if you're not soloing then you don't really need a torqued out überprotagonist. I'm going to try a shapeshifter out myself once I'm done with this sorcerer, it'll actually be the first time I've ever played a druid PC.

 

The problem with saying you can make a much better one is kind of a misnomer. Cernd makes up for all of his faults by using his shape shifting ability. Even werewolf form covers anything you could give yourself with stats. Though a higher con reguardless might be nice it's really not that needed. Definitely don't let him stop you from making Shape Shifter PC's though. Specially for the fact that he can be a pain in the ass to get and you inevitably have to deal with his family problems.

 

My favourite build is Berserker/Druid. Not as powerful as MC by the time you reach ToB you still have some great immunities (Berserker!) and a quick progression as a Druid (not much XPs before level 15). All in all Druids are far more offensive than Clerics (even given the fact that they can't turn undead and that plain animal forms are nigh useless).
Druids rule!

 

Mages don't have any problems with dealing with AC below -20 . Powerful creatures, such as Golems, wouldn't be impressed too.
You still should have ways to deal with hard and tricky opponents, like Dragons or Beholders.

I'm playing with tactis and many other mods, so not every enemy can be simply smashed with Werewolf's claw.