As I compared my neutral party's composition, I realized that A. we're missing divine spells, B. we're missing a full spell-casting class, and C. Some ranged support (who also isn't afraid to get into melee if needed). Although Cleric and Oracle do come to mind, they are usually the religious type, and the point of this neutral campaign we're playing is to not be constantly associated with the church and kingdoms and stuff. (In other words, we go where the wind takes us, and what better class would play that concept than a Druid?)
For those who aren't familiar with the party composition, here it is:
Fetchling Rogue/Ninja (Scout archetype for Rogue, but will probably be Ninja for Ki Tricks)
Human Monk (Standard, and will be taking Vow of Poverty)
Ratfolk Alchemist (Plaguebringer archetype)
??? Magus (Standard probably, going Dervish Dance spec I imagine)
So I've never really excelled at making Druids; they're probably the most difficult class to build since they are one of the most MAD classes in the game (depending on how they're built), and the roles they can fill are daunting, but hopefully being more of a support-type will limit that problem.
GM says 15-point buy, and we'll probably be running a modified Rise of the Runelords campaign or something. I'm not sure what archetype(s) or race to pick, if I should mainly focus on buffing and spellcasting (and maybe summons too?), or if I should plan to use my Wild Shape to get into melee, etc.
Druids are not MAD, Druids have options. If you want to be melee, you can, if you want to be a healer, you can, if you want to blast, you can.
Anyway, looking at your party, you guys are missing some front line too...
I recommend you go Ranged Warpriest instead of Druid. You don't have to be too religious, you can always worship, say, Abadar, and be some sort of neutral figure too. Abadar also gives you the Protection and Travel blessings (if you go Warpriest), which are very good for a ranged fighter.
The thing that makes Warpriest good is that they have a ton of feats to get good with a bow/arrow, while still being able to buff, heal and everything you expect from a divine caster.
If you want to go Druid anyway, then I'd like to remind you that you need to go Half-Elf to get proficiency in some good crossbow (so you are not that mad and you don't need to stack STR too, but going bow is an option too), then get the Nature's Fang archetype for Slayer Talents (which you will use for Crossbow Combat Style feats) and take the Eagle domain for ultra good ranged attacks and some great ranged boost spells.
If you prefer going Blaster, I recommend you take Storm Druid or something, and get the Cloud subdomain for some bursting.
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So one problem you are going to run into is that you are trying to do everything, which means you will probably do nothing well. Druid can be good melee but they often sacrifice Wis to Str (or Dex) to do so, making their offensive spells less useful. Going Wis to boost spellcasting (spells per day, DCs) comes at the cost of Str (or Dex) so that you can't melee as effectively.
However, you do have an Animal companion for melee so you could go Spell casting for buffs/summons/spells. For 15 points I would suggest and Plumekith Aasimar Druid, S 8 D 14 C 14 I 10 W 18 Ch 10 for 15 point buy. You start with Darkvision, See Invis as a SLA and and great wis. Grab Sp. Focus Conj at first level and plan to buff your Pet and the party with guidance, maybe throw and Entangle or obscuring mist and just a cure as needed. Grab leather lamellar armor and a heavy wooden shield for 18 AC at first level and some leather lamellar or mw studded for your pet depending on gold and proficiency.
As you level up grab Aug Summoning and Natural Spell, and then spend a lot of time wild shaped and summoning stuff from out of reach or casting spells.
At 9th you can grab powerful form feat and go around as an Air elemental, whirlwind stuff when you don't want to cast spells. Great for clearing out fog spells, esp since at 9th your immune to poison as well.
If you want some fun archetypes look at Menhir Savant, Worldwalker and for a different feel, Blight Druid. Storm druids are good blasters.
Dont forget you can buff your armor class between wild shape, wild dragonhide fullplate (need prof though) and barkskin plus other gear. I have a druid that buffs his AC, whirlwinds and grab monsters and "tanks" them. He once grabbed 2 stone golems and rather than have the party fight them he released them into the wild.
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I'll second the druids are not MAD, but have options comment. You need to decide what you want to do with the druid. You can either use wild shape to turn into a pouncing clawing monstrosity, whose not so good of a spell caster. Or you could turn into a tiny bird hurling area control and blast spells at opponents from safety some 100 feet above the battlefield. If you try and do both, you're not going to be very effective, especially with a 15 point buy.
Also, if you've never played a druid before, you can be the spell caster sort of druid, and still buff your AC into terrifying levels of power, while staying safely behind the action. That kind of seems like the best compromise for what you want to accomplish.
...Really good advice...
Continuing that thought, at 6th level, IIRC, you can turn into an air elemental, and once you get wild spell feat can reign down havoc from above. There are bonuses to AC and Dex with Elemental and Wild shape, even more important with a 15 point buy. Just focus on Wisdom, with a little Dex and Con and you'll be fine if you like this route.
I really like Storm Druid/ Monk1, taking Dragon Style and Ferocity and then turning into an air (or earth) elemental. You can then use flurry of blows unarmed strikes, potentially enhanced with Frostbite and Domain Strike: Storm Burst, and as a Monk, your Druid spells can be cast on your unarmed strike. As an air elemental with the Monk's AC bonus, you're extremely mobile and very defended. Earth elemental isn't quite as cool or mobile or thematic, but it's a wrecker with dragon style.
When I first made a Druid I decided to go as an offensive caster; I got horribly slammed into the ground when compared to other optimized blasters, so I'm probably going to be more of a support-type, since the Monk will be our tank, and the Magus will be the other front-liner. The Rogue/Ninja and Alchemist will be more ranged-types, but we're missing a full spellcaster, and Divine Spells at that, so I'll be filling in for that.
I might specialize in summons and buffs more than being a frontliner. To that end, I would like to discuss whether the Domain is more powerful than the Animal Companion, or vice-versa. Obviously, Animal Companion can serve as a shield, and can be powerful if invested in, but maybe the Domain might be more useful and provide me buffs and such that I can't normally get from my spell list.
I'm also uncertain as to what race would be a great selection for this. I'm debating Samsaran for the Mystic Past Life racial trait (getting utility spells from other classes is crazy good), but losing the constitution is a real bother, and gaining Intelligence doesn't seem to be that great. The other alternative seems to be Vanaras, and their racial stats seem to be ideal.
Also, outside of Natural Spell and maybe the Augment Summoning feat chain, what other feats would be great for a Druid spellcaster to get?
I believe I might have finalized the point-buy. Here it is pre-racials:
Strength: 8 (-1) [+2]
Dexterity: 12 (+1) [2]
Constitution: 12 (+1) [2]
Intelligence: 10 (0) [0]
Wisdom: 18 (+4) [17]
Charisma: 7 (-1) [+4]
If I take the Samsaran race, statistics would look like this:
Strength: 8
Dexterity: 12
Constitution: 10
Intelligence: 12
Wisdom: 20
Charisma: 7
If I take the Vanaras race, statistics would look like this:
Strength: 8
Dexterity: 14
Constitution: 12
Intelligence: 10
Wisdom: 20
Charisma: 5
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I believe I might have finalized the point-buy. Here it is pre-racials:
Strength: 8 (-1) [+2]
Dexterity: 12 (+1) [2]
Constitution: 12 (+1) [2]
Intelligence: 10 (0) [0]
Wisdom: 18 (+4) [17]
Charisma: 7 (-1) [+4]If I take the Samsaran race, statistics would look like this:
Strength: 8
Dexterity: 12
Constitution: 10
Intelligence: 12
Wisdom: 20
Charisma: 7If I take the Vanaras race, statistics would look like this:
Strength: 8
Dexterity: 14
Constitution: 12
Intelligence: 10
Wisdom: 20
Charisma: 5
Its 15pt buy, if you aren't going blaster really no need to pump wis, take a 16 for a total 18, tank the cha, you can give 14 dex, and con for that, or up str. To 10 and get 12 con.
I'm bumping this so as to not flood the advice section with threads for every little bit that I need to confer regarding my Druid.
I'm on the fence as to whether I should get an Animal Companion or just pick a Domain. The problem I have is that all of the Domains that the Druids get just suck. But the Animal Companion doesn't seem to be much better, since it doesn't really scale to a full-BAB martial type like I need it to do.
Since I plan to be more of a support/summon/crowd control character (and not a blaster), would the Domain spells and abilities be worth more than an extra (weaker-than-normal-but-permanent) body on the battlefield? If so, which Domain would best accomplish the ability to be a support type crowd control caster that can summon powerful creatures?