Shadows of Undrentide - Druid thoughts

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As some of you may be aware from other threads, I recently started a game of Shadows of Undrentide with a new character, a dwarf Druid, and I was getting a bit annoyed with him because his animal companion was rubbish and his spells were all useless. The only that was cool about him was his ability to have amusing conversations with wildlife.

That has all changed now that he has reached level 5. At level 5, two great things happened. He got the Wild Shape ability, and he got the spell Call Lightning. Now, instead of whacking ineffectually at a group of gnolls with his spear, he can wipe them all out with one spell cast. He can also turn into a bear and actually hit with his attacks.

People on these boards spend a lot of time arguing about which character is the most powerful but the discussion is usually about super high level characters. For me, it is more important how good a character is in the lower levels because you spend so much of the game at these levels.

 

Well, congrats on getting to higher levels . The begining of SoU is quite tough, I agree. I still remember being kicked around by a couple of kobolds . not a nice feeling .

I assume you are still playing solo? That would make it even harder. I had the half orc, equiped with a long bow, with me, and it was passable. Of course, I was playing as a cleric and wearing heavy armor, so I could tank (sort of )

 

Well, I have the rogue with me because you need someone to deal with locks and traps. The animal companion is useless though because he just steals your XP.

 

At lev. 5 you should have access to the direwolf, though? I would think it would rip through the kobolds.

Also, if you can do without a thief, try hiring Deekin as a companion. You can do this towards the end of Chap.1, I think. He's hilarious Also, the bard buffs are quite good.

 

Cool, now reached Level 6 so an extra Call Lightning is available! Quality. I'm enjoying this game much more than the OC.

Still not sure about these Wild Shapes. What use is the Badger shape?

 

Since NWN is in many ways designed for multiplayer there are various features in the game which have absolutely no purpose for the singleplayer game but can be used for roleplaying in various multiplayer sessions. Shapechanging to a badger is one of these funny features.

 

Ah, that makes more sense, Morgoroth. I tried the Bear shape but he got ripped up by a Mummy even though he had loads of hit points. Getting past the Mummy's damage reduction is a bit of a trick at this level.

Maybe I will try some levels of Shifter a bit later on and see if that helps up my Druid's fighting abilities. I can't just use Call Lightning for every fight.

 

I just started SoU with a druid a few days ago too. I think you get stoneskin around level 7, which helps a lot in melee. My character is level 9 now.

For most the of the harder fights I can usually just cast stoneskin and barkskin on myself, dorna and my companion (using the direwolf) then just use the bear form and whack away.

 

How did you get to Level 9 in only a couple of days?

Anyway, stoneskin sounds useful but I don't have that yet. At the moment, I have most trouble with enemies that have damage reduction and immunity to critical hits.

 

Well I can't remember exactly when I started, so I just say it was a few days ago.

I had problems with the creatures with DR too, that's another place where the bear form comes in handy. Since my character is dex based and still has a crappy weapon the only way I can deal major damage is with the bear form. That or try to blast them with call lightning.

 

I played through SoU and later HotU with a druid (half-elven)... it wasn't that easy, but not too hard either.
Frankly, I liked the animal companion. I'm usually going for panther... the sneak attacks are useful. If it weren't for the bad weapon selection (went with scimitar+shield), it'd have been much better.
BTW, can elven druids use longswords and long bows?

 

Awesome, I just took a level of Shifter and now my Druid rules. Red Wyrmling is miles better than waving a spear around. Now the dilemma of whether to take more Druid or Shifter levels from now on.......

 

You decide. I favor the spells, but the forms can also be quite useful I suppose, especially if you get to some of the special ones, golems especially.

 

I'd at least take 3 shifter levels for the minotaur form.

 

Boo! I want the spells AND the shifter forms! But as there are more melee encounters than magic ones, I might go for more shifter levels (as my non-shifted melee skills suck big time).

 

The basilisk form is remarkable, especially when you get the unlimited shifting ability for it.

 

BTW, has anyone gotten the epic shapeshifts (including the dragon)? What is your opinion?

 

A good dragon kills everything except a pure spellcaster... to make it short.

 

Hmm, I'm still getting caned by this Manticore. What's the best way to kill it?

 

That can be a tough one. I found it best to get up close as fast as possible and bash it. Otherwise the tail attack kills you.

You should be also able to summon some allies. I think I was able to summon an earth elemental from a stone I got in some dungeon in Chap 1.