Avenger Druid Tips

JumboWheat01

My dragon disciple playthrough of Baldur's Gate was just awesome, I'll give it that. But it still wasn't quite what I was looking for. My eye has once again turned to druid (as it frequently does in games with druids in them,) and I think I'm just gonna slap myself and ignore that bizarre EXP table they have and just do it.

Normally I grab totemic druid and call it quits, but I'll admit to some degree of curiosity for an Avenger Druid. So I've come here looking for tips from those who do enjoy the avenger druid. I have come to enjoy spell casting classes a lot more in the BG games thanks to my dragon disciple, so I see the bonus spells as tasty goodies (and I ponder as to why the heck a druid didn't have Web in the first bloody place!) Is there anything in particular I should be aware of for this kit?

((P.S. I'm a bit of a "class purist," so dual-classing won't really be a thing with me. Plus I could only dual into a base fighter anyway, and that's dreadfully boring.))

Southpaw

Avenger druid is a nice druid with a good "mage-ish" twist to it. I have played the Avenger only through most part of BGEE (to max level), but found the mage spells very handy, especially on low levels.
Just keep your Avenger more in the back as a support character. He can withstand a hit or two (unlike sorcerors). I don't remember clearly, but I had started with daggers + one-weapon fighting to be able to use a normal dagger + throwing daggers (melee and ranged in one category) + later picked up a scimitar for better melee. Throwing daggers suck a bit in BGEE (as in - good but not awesome), but they are great in BG2 (if you get there) and even in SoD.
Other than that - use your spells to buff your characters and debilitate the others (web!)

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Koyote

Avenger is great and when you try it out, you will have a hard time going back to another type of druid.
Chromatic Orb is good for interrupting spell casters early saga and for killing trolls mid saga.
Web...well just web your way to victory through BG1 and SoD.
Use some sort of speed boosting if you are flinging lightning bolts, position is everything with this spell.
Improved Invisibility is amazing.
Chaos is amazing.
Chain lightning is ok.
Only tricky part is the shapeshifting. Some items carry over their bonus (assuming nothing radical has changed from 1.3 to 2.1) like Gauntlets of Weapon Expertise, Helm of Balduran, Ring of Protection, Kiel's Buckler. Note that this also holds true for armor, so beware of Leather armor when shapeshifting because you'll get the negative modifier for piercing carrying over. If you gear right, sword spider will destroy most things in BG1, SoD, and early SoA.

JuliusBorisov

We've played through BGEE in the Multiplayer game with @Tresset, @Gotural, @CrevsDaak and @GemHound.

The avenger druid was one character who probably pulled us through nearly all BG1 encounters. A very big amount of Web spells (druids get a lot of 2nd level spells) meant our fighters protected from Web and ranged characters quickly killed packs of enemies, including spellcasters.

But this druid is quite squishy because he can't use solid armour and doesn't have Mirror Images/Blur unlike wizards. Don't let him face enemies one on one. As soon as he gets Improved Invisibility, it becomes better but still it's not enough - you always have to cover him with other characters.

JumboWheat01

Well the squishiness doesn't bother me too much so far. Sure, my DD had better AC (innate bonus plus the robes for good mages,) but I'm loving the crowd control aspect so far, I went with more normal damage spells on my DD because they scaled better. And the spell flexibility! I had forgotten how enjoyable it is to be able to change your spell load-up if/when needed.

marzbarz

Squishy can also be handled by iron/barkskins, though you would want to use those on your fighters.

Gotural

I can confirm what @bengoshi said above and I would even go as far as saying that an Avenger can play the role of a more versatile Arcane Caster in BG1 if you play with a party.

Those Webs, Chromatic Orbs, Summons, etc, are extremely powerful, you get a huge supply of them and you get them very soon.

justfeelinathome

I love 'em! Probably my favorite class ever, given the amplified spell selection (again, Crowd Control is king) and the cool forms.

My elven Avenger, Dagda, is the Character I played in most games (I pregenerated snd played him in IWD: EE and exported him to be a Bhaalspawn, in BG: EE and SoD, so far; as well as, most recently, making him a Member in both BP campaigns)

Even though you won't be heading into melee much, I'd recommend getting at least one Draw Upon Holy Might for your special abilities, since it is eventually very powerful in your additional Shapeshifting forms (especially when it takes you to 19 strength and beyond).

The only thing I wasn't excited about was SoDs armor selection for Avengers. There's only one Armor on par AC-wise with what you get in Durlags Tower and while it's ability is nice, it doesn't feel like MUCH of an upgrade. Still, the upside is that you'll likely never get into conflicts about giving your PC an armor that someone else would have been better of using.

For SoD I just wish that

Changeling's Vest or the Green Dragon Armor were Leather instead of Studded Leather.