[FA/O] Druid specialities

[Psi]

My first FA druid to need to pick a second speciality. He's an ent, CL33, currently in Nar40 after 520K turns and has Power Strike as his first speciality. I'll link in a dump when I can upload one from my other machine, however his kit is briefly:

Long Bow of Bregor(x5) (aka Bard)
=oSkill(+14)
=oSkill(+13)
"oWis(+6)
The Pearl (aka Elendil)
Augmented Chain Mail of Caspanion(+3)
Cloak of Thingol(+3)
Large Leather Shield of Haleth (aka Celegorm)
Hard Leather Cap of Mablung(+2) (aka Thranduil)
Gloves of Power(+5)
Boots of Stealth(+3)

His primary attack is currently bare-handed melee, so he is almost permanantly in Gazelle form for the +6 to speed (though for tough uniques I'll return to normal and use Bregor from a distance). I will want to take Heighten Magic for the 20CL boost to spells, however that is only really going to be useful for the spells I am yet to be able to cast, so I will take that after Glaurung (assuming he makes it that far!). I am not sure what is going to be the most useful second speciality though. My current thinking is either Clarity or Enhance Magic. Armor Proficiency, Beguile and Meditation provide some interesting alternatives, though I am not sure I will get enough benefit out of them.

Any thoughts?
Si

[Nick]

I guess they are mostly effectively mana boosters - apart from Regen and Harmony which are HP boosters, and Beguile (which I've never tried). Beguile might be interesting, actually - soften the monsters up before you melee them. All good choices, really, but what else am I going to say?

[Seany C]

Hmm, if your character is anything like mine (nice equipment, by the way) then SPs will still be a bit short and most monsters will be suitable for melee.

In that case, I'd look at Regeneration - it'll let you stay in the fight a good bit longer, hopefully... not tried Beguile but I've never had any joy with slow/sleep/confuse for any mid-to-high level monsters (except for confusing with Power Strike!)
S.

[Psi]

Hmm, if your character is anything like mine (nice equipment, by the way) then SPs will still be a bit short and most monsters will be suitable for melee.

SP is not too bad when not shapechanged, as with my current kit my Wisdom is maxed. However none of my spells are that exciting yet to warrant straying from Gazelle form. An undetected Q summoned my first Ancient D, which fell to melee - so that has given me even more confidence in that form of attack.

In that case, I'd look at Regeneration - it'll let you stay in the fight a good bit longer, hopefully... not tried Beguile but I've never had any joy with slow/sleep/confuse for any mid-to-high level monsters (except for confusing with Power Strike!)

Regen isn't something I've tried, but what worries me is big hitters and I can't see HP recovery being fast enough to help me there.

A lot of deep monsters have NO_SLEEP and NO_CONF so it is only really slow that is going to be of benefit. Taking the song of lulling as an example, the power of the spell is 5/3 CL, so at level 50 you are casting it at power 83. In order to save against it monster level + 2 has to be higher than randint(83) - so high level monsters will save most of the time... However... consider boosting CL by 20 with Heighten Magic. Power is now 117. Druid's get the charm ability which gives a 1/3 chance of a 50% boost. Power could be 175. Then beguiling adds another 50% boost - max possible power is now 263!!! (admittedly that is 1 in 3 and the other 2/3 of the time it will be 175). This is what makes beguiling interesting to me. As a comparison the strength of the power strike confusion attack is 110.

[Seany C]

Crikey, you've code-dived more than me. It's worth giving it a whirl, in that case. Is the plan to soften them up with Beguile and then melee them?

[Psi]

Crikey, you've code-dived more than me. It's worth giving it a whirl, in that case. Is the plan to soften them up with Beguile and then melee them?

That would be the plan if I took it - I'm still weighing it up though. I can see myself wanting to swap out Caspanion if I find Thalkettoth and similarly there are three art amulets with +2/+3 Wis which I may prefer to my "oWis(+6). So I may well find myself needing the +2 from Clarity... decisions, decisions...

[Psi]

Here is the dump. Still haven't decided which speciality to take...

[Psi]

Well I took Heighten Magic and then nailed Glaurung which still leaves me wondering about which speciality to take. If I can get a lucky find of Bombadil's songs then I make take Beguile as an experiment.

[Psi]

Well I struck gold with Bombadil's but was toasted by a lightning strike from Vecna before I really got to test it out.

I think I'll pass on druids for now. The bare-handed thing is a nice concept but they are tough to play.

• No banish, genocide or destruction spell
• Magic device skill is not good for a magic user
• No teleport spells except blink
• Has melee skills, but armour limits of a magic user - would be useful to set this higher
• Similarly could really do with some more HP!
• Until level 40 you only get 3 blows per round

[Nick]

Well I struck gold with Bombadil's but was toasted by a lightning strike from Vecna before I really got to test it out.

I think I'll pass on druids for now. The bare-handed thing is a nice concept but they are tough to play.

I could lecture you about taking on Vecna at level 38, but maybe that would be insensitive

Part of the problem was that you didn't get the two big damage dealing books. I have some new spells planned for druids; terrain-based, and will probably work best outdoors. Just in case you were wondering why anyone would want to go to Nan Dungortheb

[Psi]

I could lecture you about taking on Vecna at level 38, but maybe that would be insensitive

Believe me, I had absolutely no intention of taking him on at that point, more of teleporting him off!