1 UnMonk / X Druid (Storm Druid)

[Red Griffyn]

I wanted to build a competent Caster/Melee Druid and I liked the idea of a Storm druid who controls the weather (mostly Air/Water/Lightning/Cold focus - similar to Storm from the X-men). My plan for the build was to be Dex based with a dip in monk to get around the AC issues others face. I wanted to essentially drop mist/fog/control spells onto the back line, then fly there in my primary shape as an air elemental and fight in the mist since at level 4 of the druid archetype I can see through it with no issue. I also want to get in the thick of things and cast various cold/rime spells to keeps the battlefield locked down until others can come help. I suspect it isn't as powerful as a STR based druid who picks up a million natural attacks from their form, but I thought it would have some good diversity in combat situations. It should be assumed the first major item purchased will be an Agile Amulet of Might Fists for dex to damage (until then I will have a high to hit but not great damage and full caster abilities). Let me know if there is something I can improve. I'm open to swapping the race, but Tengu has stats in the right spots and gives me 3 natural attacks at level 1. If there is a good way to get WIS to any of my social skills beyond a 1 dip in Conversion Inquisitor I'd be happy to hear about it so it has some more out of combat uses.

Here is the build:

UnMonk 1 / Druid (Storm Druid) X

Race
1 - Tengu

Racial Traits
1 - Glide
2 - Claw Attack

Traits
1 - Adopted (Bifurcated Magic - Select Druid and Sorcerer to push CL back in line)
2 - Beast of the Society (Wild Shape lasts twice as long for Small/Med creatures)

Stats (Level 1):
STR - 10
DEX - 18 (16 + 2 race)
CON - 10 (12 - 2 race)
INT - 12
WIS - 18 (16 + 2 race)
CHA - 7

Stats (Level 11):
STR - 10
DEX - 20 (16 + 2 race + 2 Ioun Stone)
CON - 14 (12-2 race + 4 Belt)
INT - 12
WIS - 24 (16 + 2 race + 2 Attribute + 4 Belt)
CHA - 7

Domains:
1 - Weather
2 - Wind (get another one at build level 10)

Feats:
1 - Weapon Finesse
1M - Combat Reflexes
3 - Combat Casting
5 - Natural Spell
7 - Feral Combat Training (Slam)
9 - Hammer the Gap or Piranha Strike
11 - FEAT?

Items:
+2 Dex Ioun Stone
+ 4 CON Belt
+ 4 Wisdom Headband
Ioun Stone Opalescent White Pyramid (Weapon Focus - Slam)
Bracers of Armour +2
Cloak of Resistance +3
Ring of Protection +2
Amulet of Mighty Fists (Agile)
Lesser Rod of Rime
Lesser Rod of Empower
Lesser Rod of Extend
Polymorphic Pouch
Deliquescent Gloves
Eyes of the Eagle

[Imbicatus]

Make sure the rest of your party is good with you misting the area. If they don't shell out for goz masks they will be as crippled as your enemies.

[Red Griffyn]

I guess that is fair. But I don't generally have pre approval in PFS. Is there any kind of item that can produce a mist in a 5 or 10 ft radius centered on me so I get partial or full concealment, but they don't? That way it won't impact as large a portion of the battlefield. I was thinking that when I get level 3 spells I can throw up spells like sleetstorm and then fly into the storm and collect a bunch of AoOs and hamper movement even more while the party deals with whatever I left out of it.

[Orfamay Quest]

Not that I know of in PFS. There is "mistmail," but unless you can figure out a way to make a chain shirt from something other than metal, that doesn't work.

[Conjoy]

I think the UnMonk combo works better with Flurrying a single natural Attack like a Bite for 1.5 Str damage. Does the UnMonk offer your build that much compared to getting your Druid levels online, or how about a level of UnRogue? Weapon finesse for free, you don't need/want Combat Reflexes because you won't be making the AoOp unless you have reach, but you don't want to be going for large creatures on a Dex build. But UnRogue does give you sneak attack damage which you can land from concealment.
Plus you do the job of Rogue for the party with your naturally high Dex and Wis which synergises really nicely with your small and tiny forms that are great for scouting.

[Grandlounge]

Smoke pellet or arrows have a smaller radius.

[XanaverForgedawn]

Orfamay Quest wrote:

Not that I know of in PFS. There is "mistmail," but unless you can figure out a way to make a chain shirt from something other than metal, that doesn't work.

Technically, I don't think it says that most armors are made of metal, so.............

You can make them out of anything, like say... air.

Air doesn't require a craft check, so time to make infinite air armor pieces, and sell them at full price.

Luckily, chain shirts so say that they are made of metal.

[Red Griffyn]

So the 1 level UnMonk dip provides:
- WIS to AC (eventually +6 or +7 in the build)
- Flurry of Blows (I will flurry with unarmed + fire or air elemental's slam)
- Free Feat (Combat Reflexes or Dodge seem like the best from the list I can pull)
- +1 BAB from UnMonk vs. Monk
- IUS

The biggest additive is I get IUS while in my desired elemental form on a flurry with their one natural attack (Slam). The forms pump DEX so I get Dex to AC, NA bonus to AC, and more DEX to damage with an agile AoMF.

You make a good point on UnRogue, but I don't like losing the BAB, IUS, and most of all WIS to AC since Druids can't wear metal armour.

Smoke pellets looks like they could work, but it'd be better if I could find a way to push producing smoke around me to a swift action or constant action. Maybe I could carry mistmail around and try to always have it in mist form? Not sure how it would interact with wildshape though.

[Red Griffyn]

Upon reflecting I think it is likely better to build this as a Dwarf then a Tengu. If I am going monk and using IUS to flurry, the 3 natural attacks from Tengu don't really net me much benefit unless I take an animal shaman with different Natural Attacks (e.g., the eagle or ape shaman give me slams and talons so I get additional attacks).

Being a dwarf would net me the better starting stats with slightly less DEX, but much better CON and toughness for free, and CHA gets double dumped which is really okay for this character):

STR - 10
DEX - 16
CON - 14
INT - 12
WIS - 18
CHA - 5

This saves me having to spend 8K on a ioun stone to bump CON and instead can put the money elsewhere or get a 16 CON if desired (get a +4 DEX belt instead of +4 CON belts as with the Tengu build).

Dwarf also gives me darkvision and some arbitrary AC/CMD bonuses.

I can also get the following alternate racial traits:
- Unstoppable (Free toughness feat, +1 to Fortitude Save which is the weakest save on the build)
- Stonesinger (+1 CL to earth descriptor spells. I wanted to focus on cold/lightning, but +1 CL is a free feat and the druid spell list has a lot of earth spells).
- Industrious Urbanite for a bonus to day jobs.

I lose out on:
- +2 perception/+2 Stealth
- 10 ft movement speed (not a big deal for a shape shifter who will fly)
- 3 NA (again I have flurry at level 1 with 2 limbs and the NA have smaller damage dice)
- Glide (really nice free feather fall effect) but less important to me since I'll be flying everywhere as an air elemental).

[Red Griffyn]

I figured out how to resolve the mist/fog issue. Buy a Lesser Selective Metamagic Rod (3000gp). This will let you cast spells up to Level 3 and exclude up to 4 characters in the AoE. That includes Sleet Storm or Obscuring Mist/Fog Cloud. It also helps out with any problems that might occur if you don't roll higher on initiative as you can drop it right on the melee and give your front liner's 25-50% miss chance without giving it to the enemy as well.

[Grandlounge]

Red Griffyn wrote:

I figured out how to resolve the mist/fog issue. Buy a Lesser Selective Metamagic Rod (3000gp). This will let you cast spells up to Level 3 and exclude up to 4 characters in the AoE. That includes Sleet Storm or Obscuring Mist/Fog Cloud. It also helps out with any problems that might occur if you don't roll higher on initiative as you can drop it right on the melee and give your front liner's 25-50% miss chance without giving it to the enemy as well.

I don't think that works see selective "duration of instantaneous" is a requirment.