Druid With...Rogue?

[ThomasHunter]

Was thinking of using my LR+20 stone on my Arti to make him a druid for the druid past life feat. I wanted to do this as I so love my pure Horc Druid who is at level 22 right now. One of my favorite builds!

This time, I wanted to concentrate a bit more on melee with a staff. One idea I had was to dip into Rogue for a couple of staff enhancements. I actually thought of Monk first, but two things seemed better with Rogue: the staff speed attack enhancement and possible trapping. Could it be done? Obviously, I lose out on two feats by not going 2 Monk. Is it worth it?

After playing around with Ron's planner, I determined that I could make this work. Starting stats are:
STR 13
DEX 8
CON 15
INT 15
WIS 17
CHR 8

Feats (in order taken) would be:
1 -Augment Summons, Least Dragonmark of Passage
3 - Empower
6 - Mental Toughness
9 - Improved Mental Toughness
12 - Power Attack
15 - Maximize
18 - Cleave
21 - Epic Mental Toughness
24 - Great Cleave

All level ups in Wisdom. The Cleave line seems to be the most questionable. Note that this would be mostly a solo character and that I wouldn't run EE content either (I really hate it). Some questions that I have:
- Is my dog losing too much not going pure?
- Is the cleave line really worth it? Maybe Quicken instead and Imroved Crit. I think this seems better now that I write it!
- Not going pure rocks my boat as my pure Horc is so good.
- Is it viable and/or has anyone done something like this?

Thanks for any insight and help!

[Miow]

yes i'm running a 17druid 2 mk 1 rge right now he's level 12 and i'm enjoying it. Mine is a strength build though....i didn't see any sense in investing in wisdom for dc casting if i wanted to melee more.

[ThomasHunter]

Kind of makes me want to try even an 18/1/1 build. I'll have to see what is lost from the second level of Rogue enhancements.

[unbongwah]

Consider druid 15 / rog 5: STR-based w/Staff Spec, but strong healing & buffs from druid (Rejuv+Heal). Either ice elem form for Freezing Spray or fire elem form for Fires of Purity & Body of the Sun (your DCs will suck, but it's a Fort save so it'll still do some dmg). At least 32 APs in Acrobat for Staff Spec; ~15 APs into Nature's Warrior for Vengeful Hunter, Doublestrike boost, Fatal Harrier, and core enhs (+Pos Spellpower); remaining APs where you like.

If you're willing to give up lvl 8 spells, rog 5 / druid 13 / ftr or monk 2 would also work; two extra feats plus whatever you take from their PrE trees. Or rog 1 / monk 6 / druid 13 like this build outline (https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthread.php/423997-Drunken-Stick-(Yet-Another-Staff-Build)).

[ThomasHunter]

Yup, I see what you're doing there! Thanks for another suggestion. I do so like reading about your builds! I may post more on this once I run it through the planner to check it out. Thanks!

[Arianka]

14druid/4Rog/2Ftr

4 rog is for the skills, SA dice, evasion, and the uncanny dodge wich will give u 6% extra dodge at 20th level. also for 2 more pts of dex if u need it.

2 Ftr is for the 2 feats.

14 druid gets u to at least one of the elemental forms and at least 3 7th level spells.

[ThomasHunter]

Still haven't made a decision yet. So many good suggestions!

I'm really liking 5-6 monk for the highest tier in HM. Just really awesome stuff. Going 6 monk means that your staff is an implement which is also quite nice.

I could see my favorite being either 14D/6M or 13D/6M/1R. I only will really miss casting (maybe?) and my dog (he would be too wimpy).

That said, this could be a great second life and then I can decide what I like better and go for a third life (those Otto's on sale sure are tempting!).

[ThomasHunter]

Okay, I think I will try 13Druid/6Monk/1Rogue. In the grand plan, I will be TRing this guy again, so I thought that I should really try something else. So, gonna give the melee build a go. Thanks for the suggestions. Here is the levels and feats that I have planned:

1 - Rogue - THF, Least Dragonmark of Passage
2 - Monk - Power Attack
3 - Monk - Cleave, Toughness
4 - Druid
5 - Druid
6 - Druid - Empower Healing
7 - Druid
8 - Druid
9 - Druid - Great Cleave
10 - Druid
11 - Druid
12 - Druid - Maximize
13 - Druid
14 - Druid
15 - Druid - IC:Bludgeoning
16 - Druid (Fire Elemental)
17 - Monk - Light Path (no clue here though, but I liked the top of the tree that would give the drain level attack)
18 - Monk - Mental Toughness (?)
19 - Monk
20 - Monk - Lightning Reflexes (?)

All level ups in STR.
21-23 points in human nets GH and all dragonmarks!
34 in Henshin Mystic for the top of the tree (2 items there)
4 in Thief Acrobat for Qstaff speed which I would take quite early on
4 in Seasons Herald for Beguile
13-15 in Nature's Warrior for misc fun stuff and a Beast Stance (is Fatal Harrier now "best"?)

[Starla70]

I thought about trying this type build. Druid just hit 15th, and I love the fire based form. Thanks for the good ideas!