Gingerspyce's caster/healer/quasi-tank build

[SocratesBastardSon]

You lose the bonus PRR from being proficient in with your armor. (40 If proficient and wearing heavy armor. 30 If proficient and wearing medium armor. 0 if not proficient.) And considering the reason Ginger is going with the heavy armor is for all the bonus PRR, you can see the drawbacks.

If you're dead set on medium armor, you could work around it by comparing the value of the extra 10 PRR from proficiency to the potential of having a higher dodge score. High end heavy armor has up to 6 MDB, and high end medium goes all the way to 14. If your potential gearset options reflect this, then you need to compare 10 PRR to 8 dodge. Meaning, if you can take hits and quickly recover while wearing the medium armor, then you should consider the option of straight damage avoidance from dodge. ...

If you had purchased the The Only Exception from the Anniversary Party, it has a truly amazing MDB, 14 for the level 20 version, 20 for the level 25, and so on. So if you were building a high-Dex version of a caster Druid, that would work wonders. But I'm not aware of anyone doing that. The reason is, you're much better off spending all of your stat points in WIS and CON, and then leaving the rest alone. The PRR and MRR from Heavy Armor and Shield easily makes up for whatever reflex you might scrounge together, and given reflex is the worst save for Druids, well, you're unlikely to make it useful.

What about picking up a couple levels of Rogue for trapping? The capstone for Season's Herald is uninspired, so I could see that. But again, you run into the poor reflex save problem and you then have to wear light armor, not medium.

So QuantumFX is exactly right, losing PRR, MRR and AC is a significant loss. I don't know what magaiti would like to spend the points on instead of NP, but don't overlook what else you get for that expenditure. The Nature's Defense stance with core 3 costs 11 APs, and gives you up to 40 hp, 29 MRR, 20 PRR, and +3 saves, not to mention any other enhancements, nor to mention the extra AC and heavy armor + shield-based PRR. It's a LOT to give up. Trust me, as you rise in levels with your defenses, healing, Rage, and spells, this build is a beast.

[QuantumFX]

If you had purchased the The Only Exception from the Anniversary Party, it has a truly amazing MDB, 14 for the level 20 version, 20 for the level 25, and so on. So if you were building a high-Dex version of a caster Druid, that would work wonders. But I'm not aware of anyone doing that. The reason is, you're much better off spending all of your stat points in WIS and CON, and then leaving the rest alone. The PRR and MRR from Heavy Armor and Shield easily makes up for whatever reflex you might scrounge together, and given reflex is the worst save for Druids, well, you're unlikely to make it useful.

I have some bad news. The Only Exception is Mithril, and will break your druidic oath. (Also, Druid friendly heavy armor at 20 will make you very, very sad.)

[MichelleOtter]

Thank you for the link