Skipping pal is relatively easy it's just won't be comfortable to level without the precise shot and using RTA's without it will also be hard. Skipping monk not so much since your AC will suck even more than it already does otherwise. I guess you can just use the archer from the unfair guide instead since that has neither of the two and doesn't have to have any alignment either.

Hi InEffect,

I'm looking to do a caster druid build for my next run, and would like to ask your opinion on how to best go about it. I'm thinking something like Feyspeaker 18/Vivi 2 for cognatogen could work? I guess the playstyle would feature less control than a sylvan sorc and more summoning and cheesiness with creeping doom and whatnot.


I tried to map out the feats for the above mentioned Feyspeaker/vivi build (with Human as race) as such:

Lvl 1: Druid - Spell Focus Conjuration / Spell Specialization
Lvl 2: Druid -
Lvl 3: Druid - Augment Summoning
Lvl 4: Druid -
Lvl 5: Druid - Superior Summoning
Lvl 6: Druid -
Lvl 7: Druid - Heighten Spell
Lvl 8: Druid -
Lvl 9: Druid - Spell Focus Evocation
Lvl 10: Druid -
Lvl 11: Druid - Greater Spell Focus Evocation
Lvl 12: Druid -
Lvl 13: Druid - Elemental Focus - Lightning (for stormbolts)
Lvl 14: Druid -
Lvl 15: Druid - Greater Elemental Focus - Lightning
Lvl 16: Druid -
Lvl 17: Druid - Improved Initiative?
Lvl 18: Druid -
Lvl 19: Vivi - Extend Spell?
Lvl 20: Vivi -Cognatogen


Thank you for taking the time to read this.

For a caster druid, it just doesn't do much damage, but I guess it's otherwise fine. I'd probably go for GSF conjuration before evocation as druids slow mud thing whatever it's called is pretty good and would be more used than evocations as you'd want all 3 sources of added damage per dice(as in robes of arcane annihilation, ammy of four elements and dragon bloodline). I'd also probably used a level of dragon sorc instead of vivi for that +1 damage per dice as that's heaps better than cognatogen for a caster druid and you can use the last level for a monk just cause extra AC is never too bad to have.

given the amount of rods in the game extend is not needed, initiative is ok, toughness is fine, I guess you can also use spell pen and use arcane protectors instead of ruin as you probably don't want to be chaotic.

Thanks for the suggestions! Would you grab the levels in sorc and monk at 19 and 20 or earlier?

sorc at 16, cause you don't really care that much about level 9 spell tempo, it doesn't have that much. Monk whenever you feel like it. 19 is a pretty decent spot since you will have your level 9 spells by then and 1 extra CL isn't that impactful.

Hi Ineffect,
Just discovered your amazing work on builds, and I'd like to ask for a recommendation: I'm planning to mod Reggie in a rogue style from lvl 1, and was wondering if I should just copy the first 8 lvls of Nok Nok, to continue with your proper Nok Nok build, or if there is feats or comp that i should adjust. I know it can't be min-maxable, but it doesn't matter at my diff settings.
Thanks :)

Depends on the sort of rogue you want. If you want dex, then you want Monk(which one depends on the stat block)1/Ro3/Vivi16 for tears of blood+steelwind; Ro4 with oak also would work ok-ish, but you'd just lose a lot of AC from dex. If you just want damage and sneaks you can do deliverer12/Archae2/DD4/Monk2 with double sword for 1.5 str mod. I also like DG3/Deliverer12/Scion1/DD4, although fitting TWF would be hard there. Long story short secret sauce to the rogue is to not be much of a rogue class. The class itself is too fair and doesn't have much of value. Vivi simply does the exact same thing better and so does deliverer. And being dex is a net negative on damage, so the only thing the class had going is not exactly valuable outside of RP reasons.

I was thinking of a knife master, i should have precise.
Anyway, thanks for the answer ! Obv, 1 Monk lvl is quite necessary, and some of vivi too.

Well. yeah, you want KM if you go sai. d8 is better than nothing and it will change all your sneak dice regardless of where they came from, so there's no reason to go further than 3/4 Ro still.

Hi ineffect, I was wondering what you would recommend for a lawful evil campaign with only companions. I really like the nuker dragon sorcerer build but I've been having a tough time with party composition. I really don't like tristian, so should I just grab one merc and call it a day?

You can just grab a abadar LE priest for the ride. Won't be as impactful as erastil, but nobility is great and travel would provide elemental swarm, which is also nice.

Ok so since I'm trying to use everyone else as companions I got Reggie, Val, harrim, and jaethal as the squad. I can't tank until way later, so what do you think I should use them for if I bring the cleric? Val is tanking but im lost for everyone else.

Thanks for the response

Reg can do melee in time. Abandon ship on scion and go for Scion1/Sorc4/DD4/EK10/F1 with oak(from varn dlc). Scion is not even entirely wasted since you will be able to cast spells on magus list without ASF in light armor and it'll give you a total of 9 dragon bloodline progression for a bit of extra AC. Val can do bard things... Since you have no full caster and you need one you can make Jae a wizard. She's not too terrible at it since you can toss her that profane int staff which octavia can't use. Wizard because you are already a level behind, although going sorc is perfectly valid since you can get +2 cha from the evil outcome of her quest. It'd be easier to just do a vivi on her and toss harrim for a full arcane caster like octavia, who is the moist psychotic evil character in the game no matter what her character sheet says, but doing a sorc/wiz on Jae is perfectly valid.

Thanks a lot for the suggestions! I'm down to try crazy half-elf girl and jaethal as a vivisectionist. Should I just do standard AT build for octavia and pure vivi for jaethal?

Something like V16/Inq3/F1 would do fine. As to octavia, AT is the only thing she really can do. There's isn't much left up to interpretation with her.