Pathfinder - Druid player aids

[Radu]

Hey there Kadets!

Here's some player aides I've cooked up for druids. The Wildshape Analysis covers, obviously, wildshape. At level 4 druids gain their signature ability, and it improves pretty steadily as they continue to level up until around 12 or so where, generally speaking, they have already gained all they can from unlocking new abilities.

I've gone through the entire Bestiary and analyzed every single form a druid can take, and noted what special abilities, if any, they gain.

For example, a level 4 druid can wildshape into a deinonychus, but doesn't gain the pounce ability until level 6. That too is noted.

The spreadsheet is split into several pages: Ability Access (when you get what abilities), Form Access (when you get what forms), All Forms (the heart and soul of the sheet, combining the previous two), Land Speed/Climb+Burrow Speed/Fly Speed/Swim Speed (narrower lists, for when you need to isolate one of these special movement types), and lastly Stealth (a specialized list of animals that are either unobtrusive/inconspicuous like dogs, horses, and housecats, or have merit as infiltration/stealth forms like rats, bats, and my favorite, the monkey familiar- thumbs plus climb plus tiny size)

For your Druidic wildshaping edification, here is the result of many hours of painstaking poring over all currently released monsters from Paizo:

https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AooL4_tdpYnMdEUtVWdjVVhSa1NiVVl1ZmtEeDRnS 2c&hl=en#gid=0

[Radu]

Coming Soon:

Summon Monster Reference List (detailing all options for the Summon Monster line of spells, including the latest errata, if any. It's important to note that this sheet assumes you have the Augment Summoning feat, as I'm literally re-building the stat blocks for each monster to account for the beefier physicals.)

Summon Nature's Ally Reference List (similar to the Summon Monster list only for the Summon Nature's Ally line.)

Spell Focus: Conjuration Analysis (https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B4oL4_tdpYnMMTMzZDA5ZGUtYTA1Yi00NjRjLTg0Z TEtZTU1ZjljYWNjNTBh&hl=en), where I figure out exactly what spells will benefit from the +1 DC bump you have to take as a stepping stone to Augment Summoning. Some interesting results here- it actually HELPS conjurers a bit with some signature spells (Grease, Glitterdust, Web, Planar Binding, Wall of Stone)

[Dacke]

Coming Soon:

Summon Monster Reference List (detailing all options for the Summon Monster line of spells, including the latest errata, if any. It's important to note that this sheet assumes you have the Augment Summoning feat, as I'm literally re-building the stat blocks for each monster to account for the beefier physicals.)
Awesome idea. I had something similar for 3.5e that I got to via a link on ENWorld (which I don't have anymore).

I'll just add that Augment Summoning, while awesome in its power level, really does show the weakness of the 3e approach to monsters and bonuses - add a bonus in one place and then let it cascade to the places where it's actually used. You could get 90% of the functionality of the feat by saying it gives "+2 to melee attack rolls, melee damage rolls, and Fortitude saves, as well as +2 hp per HD." The main thing you'd be missing would be Str-/Con-based skills, Con-based save DCs, and one point of damage (either direction) based on single-attack monsters or monsters with secondary attacks.

[Radu]

Yeah, you really can get by saying that, but some monsters use 1.5x Str on their attacks and some have Str and Con based saves they require. Honestly? You don't need it. it's much easier and simpler to do it your way, and that's what I do at the table.

These are also an attempt to analyze this information for my own use so I know what is available. For example, with that worksheet in hand I have the knowledge base now to make a goddamn motherfucker of a good wildshaper, because I know what's available. With summons, versatility is the name of the game, because they're generally weaker spells compared to level but you can often summon something particularly advantageous to tackle all sorts of issues.

I'm uploading my MS Access Spell Focus: Conjuration analysis to google docs now. I'll edit in the link in the 2nd post. This document uses all the Conjuration spells in the Player's Handbook and Advanced Players Guide that allow saves for the 5 major summoning classes (Clerics, Druids, Sorcerers, Wizards, and now of course Summoners). It looks like most of the time you're not going to get much mileage out of SF:Conjuration but there are a few winners in there here and there (Grease, Web, and Planar Binding being some favorites of mine)

[Dacke]

Don't forget Cure X Wounds vs. undead. That's Conjuration too :)

[Mr SmokeTooMuch]

Awesome idea. I had something similar for 3.5e that I got to via a link on ENWorld (which I don't have anymore). (...)


You're probably talking about the monster cards from the other game company; their site is down but it's still available; linkie (http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=18080&it=1). Don't know if the monster (summoning) pathfinderrules differ that much from 3.5, but if they don't, it may save Radu quite some time (augmneted summoning is not included in the stats, but IIRC the cards can be edited with adobe reader.

[Dacke]

You're probably talking about the monster cards from the other game company; their site is down but it's still available; linkie (http://www.kaytastrophe.com/vb/redirector.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.rpgnow.com%2Fp roduct_info.php%3Fproducts_id%3D18080%26it%3D1). Don't know if the monster (summoning) pathfinderrules differ that much from 3.5, but if they don't, it may save Radu quite some time (augmneted summoning is not included in the stats, but IIRC the cards can be edited with adobe reader.
No, not that. It was something someone created with a program that extracted data from the SRD, I think.
Ah, I found them around on my HD along with some other stuff that might be helpful.

[Harry]

Dude. :shock: I've needed something like these for years. My last Cleric, I copied and pasted up my own list, then did something similar for my last Druid, but it was a pain. Knowing these are already done - golden. Many thanks.

Btw, Radu - how does one open those files you've linked?

[Radu]

Do you have Microsoft Excel? or OpenOffice?

The wildshape analysis and spell focus tools were built using the MS office suite. If you're having troubles, I can try uploading them directly here as a .zip file. I thought a Google Doc would be easier though.

I'll see about re-uploading later tonight.

[Harry]

I use Excel.

Edit: It looks like .mdb files can't be opened in Office. It takes MS Access, which I'd not heard of until just now.

[Radu]

Ok then. Let me tinker with it and I'll convert it to a format that's more friendly. I'll re-post later tonight if I get the chance.

[Schizm]

Yeah, .mdb is a database file. Radu, you should be able to take the results of any given query and dump a report out in excel format pretty easily.

[Radu]

Harry- check the link again. I just uploaded an Excel version of my Spell Focus sheet you should be able to access.

Here it is:

https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B4oL4_tdpYnMNGZlYjRlMWUtN2JhZi00NDk0LWI5N TAtMmU1M2E4YjVhYTNh&hl=en

[Radu]

Ok, last update:

I saw online there are some super cheap pdf files where someone's already done the work, so I'm not going to. I bought the Summon Monster and Summon Nature's Ally monster lists, and I'll link here:


Summon Monster reference:
http://paizo.com/store/byCompany/09/4WindsFantasyGaming/v5748btpy8by3

Summon Nature's Ally reference:
http://paizo.com/store/byCompany/09/4WindsFantasyGaming/v5748btpy8ff6


Between these 2 PDF's and the other stuff I think I'm done.