I'm creating a druid of the circle of stars, but I'm having a hard time choosing the feats, these are the ones I've chosen: Lvl. 4 Skill Expert (+1 Wisdom x2 Perception x1 Stealth) Lvl. 8 +2 Wisdom Lvl. 12 War Caster Lvl. 16 Resilient (+1 Constitution) Lvl. 19 Aberrant Dragonmark (+1 Constitution)
Wisdom=20 Constitution=16
Although this druid has the dragon constellation, 1...9=10, at high levels it seems insufficient to me. In addition the druid has many skills that depend on concentration.
Does this seem like a good build? If you have alternatives I'll be happy to hear them. Thanks.
I think dragon constellation and warcaster and resiliant is overkill and doesn't give you that much extra. At level 20 Dragon constellation on it's own guarantees (with 16 Con) you save when you take up to 27 damage if you take 48 damage you guarantee losing concentration. Resiliant Con will increase these to 39 and 60. Most of the attacks against you will either be less than 27 so you automatically save whatever when you get hit by a big attack it is likely even with warcaster and resiliant you will still auto fail, for example meteor swarm does 40d6 damage (average 140), even if you save for half it is unlikely that you will take less than 60 damage and thus auto fail any con save.
I nice example is the classic high level monster the ancient red dragon, its claw tail and wing attacks are unable to give you more than 27 points of damage outside of a crit (and are unlikely to do that much even with a crit) for the bite to do28 damage on a not crit requires a 1d10 damage roll of 18 (4% chance). On the othert hand the breath weapon does an average of 91 damage on a failed save which means concentration does down whatever, only if you make the dex save is there a chance resiliant or warcaster may help.
Generally spell casters are likely to want one of resiliant con or warcaster and only consider both if they are likely to get into melee (for example a forge cleric or sword bard). If you are likely to spend a reasonable amount of time in archer or chalice form if might be worth getting one but not both. The main advantage of warcaster is the ability to cast spells with your hands full (though some DMs pretty much ignore this rule), it also helps more for concentration up to level 8. Resiliant is better for concentration saves after level 13 and also helps for other con saves which are pretty common.
I would recommend the observent feat. I have just reached level 5 with my stars druid, the DM granted us a feat at level 1 and I chose observent, it depends how the DM handles it but in our case it is almost impossible to be surprised. (For example we entered a cave where a dragon was perched up 50 ft up having cast invisibility on itself and the DM said that wilth my passive perception I would hear it breathing and had a good idea where it was. The lipreading has also come in handy a couple of times.
You haven't mentioned dex, Dex is good for AC and initiative and one of the important saves, I would put it on a par with Con especially if you will not be able to wear medium armor
If you want to design a character frm level 1-20 you need to know how the DM will handle things for this character in particular:
When will the campaign end (if it is going ot end at level 12 there is no point taking your character past that)
How they will treat casting spells with a somantic but no material component if you have a shield in one hand and your star map in the other (do you need warcaster?)
How they will deal with the restrictions for non metal armor (will studded leather / any medium armor be available to you)
When they will use passive perception and when will they use active perception, will they ever use passive investigation (for assessing the observer feat)
I appreciate your response, it's nice to be able to ask questions about the subject.
As far as I know, the campaign will end around lvl 15, but the GM has told us that it could be longer.
You are right that carrying both warcaster and resilent may be too much.
I think warcaster only can be a good option, the advantage and being able to carry shield is quite useful. As you told me, resilient is better from Lvl 13, and I intend to take one of these feats at Lvl 12, is it better +2 AC or better saves?
I plan to put 14 in dexterity, to add +2 to the studded leather armor. And +2 to initiative. Also for later I had thought about dragon scale armor.
As for the talent of observer, I had thought about it, it was between that and skill expert. Skill expert can go up to +6 in passive as well as active perception. In addition to giving me proficiency in stealth.
Observer is better from the start, but going up to +5, lip reading can be useful, but I wasn't quite convinced, and my GM doesn't use passive investigation.
With this in mind: Lvl 4: Skill Expert/Observer. Lvl 8: +2 Charisma Lvl12: Warcaster /Resilient (From what I understand maximizing your spell casting stat is the most important thing, that's why I put warcaster/resilient so late) At this point my stats are: 20 Wisdom 14 Constitution 14 Dexterity "X" The rest (Not so relevant) I have the level 16 and 19 level up left, if I were to reach that level what would you recommend me to do?
That looks pretty good. Skill expert is a really nice feat as well. I got a free feat at level 1 and observent is better at low levels (it doesn't scale where skill expert does) so take your pick.
AC v saves it depends to a certain amount what the DM throws at you but at low levels most things are likely to be using attack rolls so AC is good but at high levels it is less useful. It is virtually impossible for your AC to keep up with attack roll. At level 1 you might have an AC of 15 or 16 and enemies might have a +4 or +5 to hit so will hit about half the time. A +2 AC will therefore reduce the hits by 20%. The red dragon I mentioned has a +17 to hit so you would need an AC of 28 to have a 50% chance to hit (to get their you would be sacrificing you saves, your attacks and your utilities), your AC is going to be maybe 19 to you have a 90% chance to be hit and a +2 AC only reduces your hits by 11%. On top of that saves get more common in the end game.
For level 16 and 19 see how the game progresses (and if you get that far) and decide what you thing it will benefit most from your experiance of the campaign to that point.
For comparison my druid was granted a feat at level 1:
Level 1 Tortle Bonus feat in observent (Wis 18, Con 14, Dex 12) though dex is less important on a tortle Level 4 +2 Wis Level 8 & 12 Will probably Take Resiliant Con and Skill expert (+1 Con) though not decided the order yet.
I have proposed to my DM to get a feat at level 1 and he was fine with it. Like you I will take observer, +1 Wisdom and +5 passive perception is very good. I will also take +2 Wisdom at level 4 and I have reached the same doubt as you when it comes to resiliant and skill expert.
Resiliant will help more in combat and skill expert out of combat.
I think in the early game I will be able to hold my concentration well, perception can help me get a lot of things, evade ambushes and much more. But I will still decide depending on how I do from level 1 to 7.
Thank you very much for your answers, you have been a great help.
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I'm creating a druid of the circle of stars, but I'm having a hard time choosing the feats, these are the ones I've chosen:
Lvl. 4 Skill Expert (+1 Wisdom x2 Perception x1 Stealth)
Lvl. 8 +2 Wisdom
Lvl. 12 War Caster
Lvl. 16 Resilient (+1 Constitution)
Lvl. 19 Aberrant Dragonmark (+1 Constitution)
Wisdom=20
Constitution=16
Although this druid has the dragon constellation, 1...9=10, at high levels it seems insufficient to me. In addition the druid has many skills that depend on concentration.
Does this seem like a good build?
If you have alternatives I'll be happy to hear them.
Thanks.
I think dragon constellation and warcaster and resiliant is overkill and doesn't give you that much extra. At level 20 Dragon constellation on it's own guarantees (with 16 Con) you save when you take up to 27 damage if you take 48 damage you guarantee losing concentration. Resiliant Con will increase these to 39 and 60. Most of the attacks against you will either be less than 27 so you automatically save whatever when you get hit by a big attack it is likely even with warcaster and resiliant you will still auto fail, for example meteor swarm does 40d6 damage (average 140), even if you save for half it is unlikely that you will take less than 60 damage and thus auto fail any con save.
I nice example is the classic high level monster the ancient red dragon, its claw tail and wing attacks are unable to give you more than 27 points of damage outside of a crit (and are unlikely to do that much even with a crit) for the bite to do28 damage on a not crit requires a 1d10 damage roll of 18 (4% chance). On the othert hand the breath weapon does an average of 91 damage on a failed save which means concentration does down whatever, only if you make the dex save is there a chance resiliant or warcaster may help.
Generally spell casters are likely to want one of resiliant con or warcaster and only consider both if they are likely to get into melee (for example a forge cleric or sword bard). If you are likely to spend a reasonable amount of time in archer or chalice form if might be worth getting one but not both. The main advantage of warcaster is the ability to cast spells with your hands full (though some DMs pretty much ignore this rule), it also helps more for concentration up to level 8. Resiliant is better for concentration saves after level 13 and also helps for other con saves which are pretty common.
I would recommend the observent feat. I have just reached level 5 with my stars druid, the DM granted us a feat at level 1 and I chose observent, it depends how the DM handles it but in our case it is almost impossible to be surprised. (For example we entered a cave where a dragon was perched up 50 ft up having cast invisibility on itself and the DM said that wilth my passive perception I would hear it breathing and had a good idea where it was. The lipreading has also come in handy a couple of times.
You haven't mentioned dex, Dex is good for AC and initiative and one of the important saves, I would put it on a par with Con especially if you will not be able to wear medium armor
If you want to design a character frm level 1-20 you need to know how the DM will handle things for this character in particular:
I appreciate your response, it's nice to be able to ask questions about the subject.
As far as I know, the campaign will end around lvl 15, but the GM has told us that it could be longer.
You are right that carrying both warcaster and resilent may be too much.
I think warcaster only can be a good option, the advantage and being able to carry shield is quite useful. As you told me, resilient is better from Lvl 13, and I intend to take one of these feats at Lvl 12, is it better +2 AC or better saves?
I plan to put 14 in dexterity, to add +2 to the studded leather armor. And +2 to initiative.
Also for later I had thought about dragon scale armor.
As for the talent of observer, I had thought about it, it was between that and skill expert.
Skill expert can go up to +6 in passive as well as active perception. In addition to giving me proficiency in stealth.
Observer is better from the start, but going up to +5, lip reading can be useful, but I wasn't quite convinced, and my GM doesn't use passive investigation.
With this in mind:
Lvl 4: Skill Expert/Observer.
Lvl 8: +2 Charisma
Lvl12: Warcaster /Resilient (From what I understand maximizing your spell casting stat is the most important thing, that's why I put warcaster/resilient so late)
At this point my stats are:
20 Wisdom
14 Constitution
14 Dexterity
"X" The rest (Not so relevant)
I have the level 16 and 19 level up left, if I were to reach that level what would you recommend me to do?
(By the way my race is harengon)
I will be waiting for your reply, thank you.
That looks pretty good. Skill expert is a really nice feat as well. I got a free feat at level 1 and observent is better at low levels (it doesn't scale where skill expert does) so take your pick.
AC v saves it depends to a certain amount what the DM throws at you but at low levels most things are likely to be using attack rolls so AC is good but at high levels it is less useful. It is virtually impossible for your AC to keep up with attack roll. At level 1 you might have an AC of 15 or 16 and enemies might have a +4 or +5 to hit so will hit about half the time. A +2 AC will therefore reduce the hits by 20%. The red dragon I mentioned has a +17 to hit so you would need an AC of 28 to have a 50% chance to hit (to get their you would be sacrificing you saves, your attacks and your utilities), your AC is going to be maybe 19 to you have a 90% chance to be hit and a +2 AC only reduces your hits by 11%. On top of that saves get more common in the end game.
For level 16 and 19 see how the game progresses (and if you get that far) and decide what you thing it will benefit most from your experiance of the campaign to that point.
For comparison my druid was granted a feat at level 1:
Level 1 Tortle Bonus feat in observent (Wis 18, Con 14, Dex 12) though dex is less important on a tortle
Level 4 +2 Wis
Level 8 & 12 Will probably Take Resiliant Con and Skill expert (+1 Con) though not decided the order yet.
I have proposed to my DM to get a feat at level 1 and he was fine with it. Like you I will take observer, +1 Wisdom and +5 passive perception is very good.
I will also take +2 Wisdom at level 4 and I have reached the same doubt as you when it comes to resiliant and skill expert.
Resiliant will help more in combat and skill expert out of combat.
I think in the early game I will be able to hold my concentration well, perception can help me get a lot of things, evade ambushes and much more. But I will still decide depending on how I do from level 1 to 7.
Thank you very much for your answers, you have been a great help.