Help me with a build! (New Poster)

[NatureWithoutMan]

Hey all, 

I'm new to the forums and new to the game. I have, however, looked at all the amazing builds you all have been posting and thought I'd crowdsource the build I will use for my first playthrough. I have been stuck in character creation for days, (happens to be part of any game I play) and although all your builds are remarkable, I just have my mind stuck on roleplaying a specific character. So here goes:

I am looking for a build for a frontiersman/hunter/outdoorsman. The concept is simple. A character that is self sufficient, living out in the wilderness, and surviving on hunting, fishing, trapping, woodworking, etc. Someone who is into bushcraft and homesteading, etc.

I have a hard time with many fantasy themes, because magic for me is something that pulls me out of my immersion. Perhaps I lack the imagination, i dunno. However, fantasy settings often remind me of my childhood spent hunting and fishing. And I tend to gravitate toward characters that live in these wilderness zones and don't have a magic inclination.

That being said, my MC should feel important, not only from a story view, but also from a tactical and gameplay perspective. Which often times means a spellcaster. I do not min and max, but would do so if it fits a roleplay. I like dialogue options and can't play a "dumb" character.  So i have played all the classes but only to the guilded vale. And I understand that my background can be hunter, explorer, etc. and it not have to do with the class. But what is the character you would make for a frontiersman, homesteader? A ranger? A rogue? A kind wayfarer?

 

I truly enjoy character creation, and would just appreciate seeing what you guys come up with! I do not know mechanics etc, but i am willing to take less than optimal choices for sake of rp but do wish to remain a useful member duriing battles. 

Thanks!!!

[Boeroer]

What about a druid? They are all about nature, and they even have a lvl 2 spell called "Taste of the Hunt". Druids are powerful and fun to play.

[rheingold]

Druid or Ranger? Both are flexible classes as well, druid in particular - can melee, cast spells and tank (a bit). Loads of options.

[Boeroer]

Spiritshifted Boar with maxed self heal can tank quite well while dealing tons of melee damage. But he needs more resting because of health issues. But since he needs to rest anyway because of spells that's ok. The other shifted forms also work, but the boar adds a bit more regeneration while doing additional wounding damage, too. But maybe the boar isn't exactly the type of animal that you would associate with hunting (ony as prey), so maybe the cat, bear or wolf fit better.

With a weapon and shield approach (like my Batsh!t Crazy build), combined with the caster-centered CC like Returning and Relentless Storm and Moonwell (+10 to all defenses) a defensively build druid can actually tank like a boss. Druid's Starting Deflection is 20. That's good - for a caster.

 

A druid with Hunting Bow (WF Peasant) when not shifted also works well. Of course the main source of damage will be his spells of his shifted form.

I even did an unarmed approach (Novice's Suffering). I didn't want to waste Durgan Steel on weapons you only use when not shifted. It worked out pretty well. Since the druid doesn't have very high melee ACC the bonus from N. Suffering helps - and if he grazes he almost does the same damage as if he would hit or crit because of the weird mechanics of unarmaed damage + unarmed bonus damage. The bonus damage gets applied AFTER graze or crit modify the base unarmed damage (5-8 ). So your damage is very consistent. And you can take the same talents for both: fists and claws.

Edited November 18, 2016 by Boeroer

[dropko]

Druid is what you want. 

It's one of the most fun classes to play.

Ranger might be more appropriate RP-wise, but it's a pretty dull play and you get an NPC that does this well enough soon enough.

 

ranger has skills targeted at distance battle and druid can get close when needed (and doing it very well).

Edited November 18, 2016 by dropko

[NatureWithoutMan]

Thanks for all the answers!

Okay, so Druid is a bit surprising (caster), but I'll give it a shot. So it looks like I should off-tank, but what about ranged? Can i switch between melee and ranged without sacrificing my effectiveness? 

And yes my ranger playthrough fits the rp-ing aspect (in Baldur's Gate I always played a stalker, archer, or fighter/thief)., and i enjoy the tactical positioning but with so few active abilities I'm afraid I'll loose interest. Anyway to make that class feel more exciting? Maybe high lore?

I'll look into your BatSht build more closely. Not a huge fan of having to rest constantly, but don't mind resting as a concept. 

In terms of skills, can i become a jack of all trades  and use my party for the tougher checks? I'd like to be able to sneak (hunt), be athletic (outdoorsman), have a lot of survival (again outdoorsman) and be able to set traps (trapper). Is it possible? Do these skill checks only work in the extremes 10s 12s or can i get by with 4s, 6s and 8s?

And finally, thanks again for all the responses. Great community you guys have built here!

 

[dropko]

my take:

 

in my PotD play my Druid is surprisingly effective both as caster and as damage dealing. it has high might, int and perception and because of this it is very effective casting spells and also doing damage while shapeshifted. because of low constitution and low resolve, it is not good as an off-tank because of low survivability. i didnt realise how good it was in Normal difficulty but now I take good advantage of its wildstrike when shapeshifted and the damage is great!

 

so i dont use it as off-tank, but as a finisher when both the tank and off-tank have everything engaged and i can just go in for the smash. also handy when fighting enemies that can teleport to your backline, it's handy to have the spiritshift there to deal with it.

 

as pure ranged with ranged weapon it's not exactly amazing, useful, but it also doesnt matter important that it's not. the cipher can do this purpose if you have one in your team, for instance. dont expect him to excel with a weapon at all, but it's not the purpose even. if you really want to use a bow or a gun, druid is not really the thing.

 

about scrolls, i'm not too fancy of those,only when really needed (and it's rarely needed) so i often just Lore up one or two characters and that's it. druid is not of them.

 

in terms of jack of all trades, you know what they say, "jack of all trades, master of none". dedicate one char to high Mechanics (no need >10 modded) so you can set, detect and collect traps (as well as hidden loot).

then you can either choose another high skill or have mid-level for other two as you just won't have enough points available to allocate.

athletics is handy for that skill that recovers endurance and for scripted events but that's it. no need to have it high for your druid, like 5-7 is enough for this as it wont have high endurance anyway (keep an eye to both so you don't over-allocate).

dedicate someone else in your team for high sneak so you can go around undetected and check what's ahead. ideally this is the same person as the your mechanics guy.

everything else should go to survival.

 

as usual, specialization > jack-of-all-trades. 

 

and having fun > everything else.

Edited November 20, 2016 by dropko

[kamuizin]

Druid is what you want. 

It's one of the most fun classes to play.

Ranger might be more appropriate RP-wise, but it's a pretty dull play and you get an NPC that does this well enough soon enough.

 

ranger has skills targeted at distance battle and druid can get close when needed (and doing it very well).

 

But if we base the choice of class of the NPCs that we can get, Hivarias (druid joinable NPC) can come at the same time that Sagani (Ranger Joinable NPC). Hivarias is a lot more fun, and he comes with an unique spiritshift that isn't allowed for anyone else that's more powerful than others.

 

I have little time on these forums, but barbarians appear to be pretty fun to play.

 

It would be an wilder class, that has a lot to do with the Glanfathan people and very functional, specially if you take Éder on begin and use him as a tanker.

 

For how to build the character, that i will let to people with more knowledge than me to say.

[dropko]

well, yeah, all of them have their fun-factor. even ranger can have some fun if you give some love to the micro-management of the pet (and using it as buff-AoE spell target or for cipher beams). I agree about Hiravias, he's even a cooler chap when compared with Sagani imo, but t comes slightly later.

 

but druids are more "interventive". they can cast and they can arrow-away like the ranger and go into the fray as a cool spiritshift. and their "spellbook" is fun as well (funnier than wizard's, in my opinion). i think that is better for the newcomer...

melee characters are "funnier" if making them more mobile, like a Rogue finding that flanked or the Fighter doing the charge or the Monk doing that teleport thing (and of course barbarian with the leap).

 

and for the RP character of the OP barbarian doesnt fit i think.

[NatureWithoutMan]

Hey guys,

 

I tried the Druid, but just can't get into being a caster. I feel too strong and like I don't fit into the story well. For me to be fully immersed in the game I need to be a character to discover their power rather than inherit it.

 

I'd like to be able to use ranged and melee. I guess kind of a skirmisher build. Flanking when possible but sturdy enough to survive.

 

Most of the non magic classes are a bit too auto attack heavy, so what are some active feats available (envenomed strike for example, which also fits a forest warrior making a poison from plants) that would give some additional combat options and/or roleplay well?

 

Can a barbarian get anything out of a bow? I like the rogue, but maybe too much of a glass cannon ? Ranger fits but just seems dull. Dps fighter? Kind wayfarer with Shepard? Soooo many choices. Sorry guys. Am I asking for too much and just drop this idea and play a monk since its an active (or reactionary) fighter class? I want to get into the game but feel paralyzed in my character creation purgatory.

[Piero]

Looks like your options are Barbarian, Fighter, Monk, Ranger and Rogue, any build is viable, and if you have the expansions you get companions of all the classes, without expansions you do not have Barbarian, Monk nor Rogue. The best advice i can think of right now is to try visualizing finish characters with the classes, backgrounds, races and attributes that fits you more, and reading the descriptions and concepts, you will sure reduce the final options and maybe find some character that like you enough to choose.

[QuiteGoneJin]

Spiritshifted Boar with maxed self heal can tank quite well while dealing tons of melee damage. But he needs more resting because of health issues. But since he needs to rest anyway because of spells that's ok. The other shifted forms also work, but the boar adds a bit more regeneration while doing additional wounding damage, too. But maybe the boar isn't exactly the type of animal that you would associate with hunting (ony as prey), so maybe the cat, bear or wolf fit better.

 

With a weapon and shield approach (like my Batsh!t Crazy build), combined with the caster-centered CC like Returning and Relentless Storm and Moonwell (+10 to all defenses) a defensively build druid can actually tank like a boss. Druid's Starting Deflection is 20. That's good - for a caster.

 

A druid with Hunting Bow (WF Peasant) when not shifted also works well. Of course the main source of damage will be his spells of his shifted form.

 

I even did an unarmed approach (Novice's Suffering). I didn't want to waste Durgan Steel on weapons you only use when not shifted. It worked out pretty well. Since the druid doesn't have very high melee ACC the bonus from N. Suffering helps - and if he grazes he almost does the same damage as if he would hit or crit because of the weird mechanics of unarmaed damage + unarmed bonus damage. The bonus damage gets applied AFTER graze or crit modify the base unarmed damage (5-8 ). So your damage is very consistent. And you can take the same talents for both: fists and claws.

You always come up with the neatest idea's, care to elaborate on this hybrid caster melee pig? Please.

[Boeroer]

I can do that. I'm at the other end of Germany at the moment but when I return home at Friday I might find some time to write down that druid. Already finished the playthrough before I started Tyranny.

[QuiteGoneJin]

I do believe you should do let's plays with some of your RP friendly builds, I bet they would get some views just from people here alone. 

[Boeroer]

If I only had the time. Maybe in summer - if anyone is still interested in PoE then.