Seeking Advice on an Aquatic-Focused Druid Character


Advice


Hello everyone!

I have a new player who will be joining my campaign shortly, and he will be playing a Druid. The campaign is a Legend of Zelda setting, and his race will be a Zora (aquatic, fish-like humanoids). For roleplaying purposes, he only wants his character to wildshape into animal forms associated with oceans, like sharks and such.

Now, most of my dungeons in this campaign do incorporate swimming/underwater areas, so his character will thrive in such situations. My question is, how do I help him build a character that will be effective when the party is not dealing with an aquatic area? I just want to make sure his character doesn't become a "fish-out-of-water" who can't contribute effectively in land-based combat.

I'm not looking for over-optimization, just some basic advice for when I sit down and help him create his character soon. Thanks a lot!


Shark Shaman with the ocean domain, using totemic transformation and strong jaws on himself will make him a fearsome bite character. It's a druid so it has the druid spell list, just a lot of it's abilities work better when underwater, and when water is present it will give him a moment to shine. It's still useful on land because it's a spellcaster, and a very powerful one too. It's not optimized, but I've seen a player pick one up (I had a new player and a few spare character's in my folder) and they had a blast with the half orc called jaws. Just make sure your player doesn't focus on water based spells that require one to be underwater. Using spells like hydraulic push are great for mid combat moving people around the battlefield and the ocean domain's surge power lets you reel people toward the party as well. It's not a super damage type, but it's a battlefield control type of character that lets the druid contribute by not only blowing stuff up, but by making sure the party is in the right place at the right time.


I like the Undine Adept. My wive plays one in our S&S Campaign and they ROCK in water and hold their own very well outside. Also the ability steamcaster shouldn´t be overlooked, it makes the druids fire based spells very potent in water.


Thanks for the suggestions, those are both really good. I was actually looking at the Shark Shaman myself. I believe he wants to build his character with more of a spellcasting focus anyway, and the Druid list has plenty of useful options. I like the idea of him being able to interfere with the enemies and move them about the battlefield.

Also, thanks for the advice on the steamcaster ability, Helikon. I will definitely have to take a look at that.


Probably not something you haven't/won't eventually stumble across anyway, but I figured I'd point towards the spells "Aqueous orb" and its big brother "Tidal wave" for some water based katamari fun to be had.


Good call. I've used Aqueous Orb with a Magus character before, but completely missed the fact that it's on the Druid spell list as well. That's a very fun spell, and will fit his character thematically.


Undine+Beacon of Faith+Menhir Savant+Water Domain (or one of its subdomains)= casting domain spells at +2 caster level, and one of them per day at +4 cl.

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