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So, one of my PC's is planning to run an urban druid for CotCT. The thing is, he wants to go with the love subdomain and become extremely charming. I love the idea but am having a hard time wondering how to make this character, especially for the lower levels (what is he supposed to do in a fight?).
So what can we do to help this build besides the obvious, like spell focus (enchantment)?
Consider the Feyspeaker archetype. I don't know if it plays well with urban druid or not, but it might be a way to get some good enchantment/illusion spells.
In a fight consider playing the role of buffer/healer (I know, I know, everyone pile on with "you should never heal inside combat--it's not true in my experience, but to each their own). Or you could do a controller instead--druids can be quite good at manipulating the environment, and that's a good way of helping in a fight while staying true to the idiom.
EDIT: My bad--feyspeaker and urban druid don't play well together. But the other advice stands. A buffer/controller druid can be just as much fun in a fight as a down-and-dirty melee beastbrute or a blaster.
So, one of my PC's is planning to run an urban druid for CotCT. The thing is, he wants to go with the love subdomain and become extremely charming. I love the idea but am having a hard time wondering how to make this character, especially for the lower levels (what is he supposed to do in a fight?).
So what can we do to help this build besides the obvious, like spell focus (enchantment)?
Keep in mind that a Druid can still be useful in melee if built correctly. If he has a passable Strength (14+) and maybe takes a dip in UCMonk, he'll be able to shred enemies with appropriate Wild Shape forms.
I'd be more worried about him being so MAD that he can't perform well enough on multiple fronts. At best, he can do two of the following decent enough: a party face, a support caster, and a frontliner.
The Urban Druid still gets an animal companion. In 3.5, which had really different Animal Companion rules, I had a druid that used a war dog (riding dog or mastiff in PF) and she was really effective in combat. Only 1 bite per round, but the free trip attempt was great, and with barding, she had the highest AC in the party, including a sword & board fighter.
So the animal companion does the fighting, and the druid does the party face and support casting.
(I also think in-combat healing can be very effective if used wisely.)
Druids get a decent number of skill points: 4 + Int + FCB + Human?
My druid was an elf, and did archery. He only had PBS & Rapid Shot, but that was all he really needed. (Rapid Shot works really well with produce flame too.)
Consider the Feyspeaker archetype. I don't know if it plays well with urban druid or not, but it might be a way to get some good enchantment/illusion spells.
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EDIT: My bad--feyspeaker and urban druid don't play well together. But the other advice stands. A buffer/controller druid can be just as much fun in a fight as a down-and-dirty melee beastbrute or a blaster.
Depending upon what you are doing, Feyspeaker might be preferable to Urban Druid (and might even fit just as well thematically -- cities do get some weirdos in them).
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The Urban Druid still gets an animal companion. In 3.5, which had really different Animal Companion rules, I had a druid that used a war dog (riding dog or mastiff in PF) and she was really effective in combat. Only 1 bite per round, but the free trip attempt was great, and with barding, she had the highest AC in the party, including a sword & board fighter.
So the animal companion does the fighting, and the druid does the party face and support casting.
(I also think in-combat healing can be very effective if used wisely.)
Druids get a decent number of skill points: 4 + Int + FCB + Human?
My druid was an elf, and did archery. He only had PBS & Rapid Shot, but that was all he really needed. (Rapid Shot works really well with produce flame too.)
Urban druids can't get an animal companion, and he really wants to have the Love subdomain.
But thanks for all the suggestions.
But I would try a courtly hunter (the archetype of a hunter). Cheerful and powerful companion, social animal focus, even less casting.
DOH! I forgot they trade out the Animal Companion for the Domain.
You can still get a lot of social skills and still do basic druid stuff: Bluff, Diplomacy, Intimidate, Spellcraft, and Survival (still useful in cities--just ask the homeless). Bump up Int above 11 or be human and add Perception, Sense Motive and/or some Knowledges.