PFS - Building a Halfling Druid?

[Artemis_Dreamer]

Hi,

I'm interested in making a core rulebook Druid for the new Pathfinder Society Core Campaign. Maybe I'm a little slow, though, because I can't seem to find information on making my particular concept viable.

I have fairly low system mastery - I mainly need guides to build characters. However, guides seem to state that Halflings do not make ideal Druids.

Is there a way to make a Halfling with animal companion core build viable? Particularly one which is focused on combat rather than spellcasting?

I know I haven't posted any build details, and I'm sorry. It's just that I'm really lost here. I have the concept of a Halfling fighting alongside her "beloved puppy" (likely a wolf), but I really don't know where to take it, or if I should just scrap the idea.

Any and all advice would be welcome here.

[voideternal]

So this is a Pathfinder Society character, and the limitations are:
- Core Rulebook only
- Halfling
- Druid
- Combat > Spellcasting
And the concept is a Halfling fighting side by side with a wolf.

Being a little blunt, it's slightly hard making a character with these limitations, because Core Rulebook Combat-focused as a Druid tends to revolve around having high Strength, which a Halfling lacks.

The classic Core Druid combatant is a wild-shaping Strength-based attacker. It's not impossible going this route. I would pump Strength to 18 before the -2 Str racial adjustment, even if it costs a lot of points. I might be hesitant on picking Power Attack with this build though, because your Strength modifier is already 2 lower than other Strength-based builds.

An alternative is to play by the Halfling's racial bonus and go Dex-based. Unfortunately, with Core Rulebook only, the only reliable Dex-based form of offense is through archery. If you want to go this route, Ranger might be better than Druid. You'd get your wolf at level 4 instead of at level 1, and in exchange, you'll get many important ranged combat feats early, like Precise Shot, Rapid Shot and Manyshot. If you stay Druid, you might find that your wolf is penalizing your ranged attacks with a -4 penalty for shooting arrows into melee, and another -4 penalty for your wolf providing cover for the enemy.

[dwayne germaine]

This character isn't going to be the best druid build out there, the halfling doesn't get bonuses to anything that a combat druid needs to have high scores... That said, druids are a very strong class, and this character won't be a burden on any group they join.

Most of your ability score points are going to go into your physical characteristics. Strength needs to start at 13 or higher, so you are going to invest a lot of points into that since your racial modifier is -2. I think the way I would go is something along these lines

Str 14
Dex 16
Con 14
Int 9
Wis 14
Cha 9

So you spend 10 points on strength for a 16 and then loose 2 from the racial mod. 5 points into dex for a 14 bumped up to 16 from your race.
Con of 14 is a must have for any melee character in my opinion. You need to dump a few points now so you do that through Int and Cha. You get 4 points from dumping Cha down to 7 and then your racial mod brings it back up to 9, then I would sacrifice 1 more point from Int to get your wisdom up to 14, or you could leave Wisdom at 13 and have an 11 for Intellegence, but then you need a headband for wisdom as soon as you can afford one to get bonus second level spells per day. You will want those spells for buffing So I think the Int hit is worth it.

Take this all with a grain of salt. I don't play druids generally, so I am not familiar with all the tricks. I just think that the class is strong enough that even with a sub-optimal race choice they can work out OK

[Artemis_Dreamer]

Thank you both very much for your input.

Your advice has given me a new perspective - I think I'm going to be going the archer ranger route instead. Similar flavour, more viable concept.

That, at least, I think I can figure out myself. XD

Thanks again for putting everything into perspective.