joleda wrote: ↑Thu Jul 22, 2021 4:49 pmSo it appears that Druid has a mechanical advantage over Wizard, Sorcerer, and Spirit Shaman due to Natural Spell. Druid has another advantage over Sorcerer and Spirit Shaman in that Druid only requires 5 levels, while Sorcerer and Spirit Shaman require 6. Any non-roleplay reason to take Sorcerer or Spirit Shaman?
If we keep the build as the same "EDM Blackguard 4/Shifter 20" -- then both the Sorcerer and the Spirit Shaman will actually increase their offensive spell DCs. Both the druidic and wizard spell lists have low level AoE spells that could be used to hamper your prey. From the top of my mind, wizard spell list has at least the spell
Grease, and the druidic spell list has stuff like:
Trip Vine and
Vine Mine. But the big perk of the Spirit Shaman and Sorcerer is the ability to cast spells spontaneously, which means that when you get dispelled you can easily recast the lost Bull's Strengths, Cat's Graces. and with the wizard spell list: Eagle's Splendour. With caster level of ten, if any area has dispells, your buffs will be dispelled, and spontaneous casters will have much easier time getting back those +2 modifier bonuses from Strength, Dexterity, and Charisma. The reason I did not mention these spells with the Druid 6/Blackguard 4/Shifter 20 was simply because of dispels, you never know which of your buffs gets dispelled and thus it is better to just stock up on Flame/Frost Weapon. So there are some perks to Sorcerers and Spirit Shamans.
Which leaves us with Wizards, and well, if you go 14 intelligence you get to learn two new languages and get additional +66 skill points to place wherever, and the possibility to increase your AC through Combat Expertise. So, if we look at the wizard spell book little bit closer, you have the previously mentioned ability score increasing spells, but also spells such as
Mage Armor,
Shield at level one, while "
Identify" gets a honorable mention here. On the second level you got spells like:
Ghostly Visage,
Mirror Image, and
Invisibility. On the third level you would have
Improved Mage Armor,
Heroism, and
Mass Curse of Impending Blades.
Wizard obviously suffers from lack of spontaneous spellcasting, so depending on the situation you might end up with memorized spells you have no use for whatsoever, but on the plus side you could learn pretty much every spell that I have listed above, and more easily cross-class into UMD with your extra skill points if you like to use wands.
As for Sorcerer and Spirit Shaman, we have to consider their limited number of known spells. A Sorcerer will know only 4 first level spells, 2 second level spells, and 1 third level spell. A Spirit Shaman will know 5 first level spells, 4 second level spells, and 3 third level spells. So all in all, there are some perks and losses to all four possible base classes, and the Druid build is not necessarily the best build for you if you consider your own individual preferences.
And finally, finally:
Spell casting ability score of 12 nets you one extra first level spell slot.
Spell casting ability score of 14 nets you one extra second level spell slot.
Spell casting ability score of 16 nets you one extra third level spell slot.
In order to get additional slots, you need 20 for a first level, 22 for a second level, and so on. Therefore, if the polymorph spell slot lost has been fixed, base ability score of 13 with appropriate +3 items might be the best way to go at it. Otherwise 13 or 14 in the base ability should be fine even without item items to boost it further.
