Sammo's page

One more thing - do you think it makes sense to study a summoned creature - so I could summon a cheetah at level 5?

Well it would be good to know what area your character comes from, if your game is set in golarion, because there can be all sorts of interesting creatures there that you might not even know about.

If you really come from a temperate european area I think your GM should allow you to at least attempt knowledge nature checks, to try to transform into something not from there, because otherwise your character's backstory just puts them at a significant disadvantage compared to characters that come from areas with things like lions or tigers or even dinosaurs in them. The fauna isn't all that impressive around central europe when it comes to fighting power. Bears are really the best thing i could come up with but those still don't stand up to tigers.
Of course you shouldn't forget dire variations, a dire wolverine, once you can access large size might be interesting, assuming your GM would allow those to be in your home region.

It is the inner sea region, we started near Kaer Maga and we've been to Magnimar. We are know in Kaiden (!) which has been moved into the same world, a couple of weeks boat trip away.

The dire variations should hopefuly be able to work! And a bear until level 6 (I'm 5 at the moment). I will do some investigation :)

leopard stats can work for lynx and cougar as well.

wolf, badger are alright.
eagle. vulture? owl. falcon. dove. raven. stag. bear. ram. porcupine.
weasel. turtle / snapping turtle.

can you ask your GM to let you make knowledge nature checks (dc 10 + cr for common, dc 15 + cr for uncommon/rare ) , to know of an animal, enough to wild shape into it?
you may be able to use that to turn into stuff from the other guides.

will your GM let you turn into larger versons of an animal you've seen? since you're limited, but will eventually get access to higher sizes via beast shape/wild shape. being able to turn into a Large Wolf or Large Eagle can be handy.

I looked up cougar and lynx. I found lynx, but it was a small animal, so not very strong for wildshape. Cheers for the other suggestions - The larger animal ideas may be a good bet as Dire animals can be stronger, especially once I'm at level 6. I'm basically looking for animals with 3 attacks. The bear is also a good choice, and as my animal companian is also a bear, its thematic.

I like the idea of nature checks, but wouldn't I just be able to take 20?

I’m playing a druid, and the GM has said that I can only wildshape into animals that I would know from my local area. This does make sense because of the “being familiar” rule for decided what animals a druid can wildshape into. As we go through the campaign, I may come across rare animals, and I will then be able to access that form.

Every list I’ve found gives me no amazing options for animals. They all include things like Deinonychus, leopard, cheetah etc. which my character wouldn’t know. I would have thought with all the optimisation guides, that someone would have come up with a list of animals from a standard European climate to wildshape into. I know some don’t use dinosaurs, but then if you’re not using dinasaurs, why would you use a leopard (for example)? Unless you are from an area that has leopards.

So far I’ve been using wolverine as my primary form. Are there any better options?

Hi guys,

I've saved up around 3000 to 4000 gold and wondering what to try and spend it on. I have a +2 scythe but am obviously looking to start wildshaping more in future. I have a bear animal companian. Current feats are power attack, spell focus conj, and augment summoning.

Should I be looking for bear armor, magical items for me to increase AC, or maybe some magical armor for wildshaping?

Thanks, makes sense to me.

Hi All,

I'm reviving this post as it seems like the best place for this. I have a specific example where a druid seems a bit overpowered in terms of DPR. We've been playign a campaign and we're just up to level 4. My Druid has a +2 Scythe, and I have a bear animal companian. My strength is now at 18. So I'm hitting at something like +9 and the bear has 3 attached +9/+8/+8 I think. With a lot of monsters, we make 2 or 3 of the 4 attacks on average, and the damage is 2d4+8 for the sycthe, and the bear is 1d6+5 for bite and 1d4+5 for claws. At level 3 is was 1d4+3 and 1d3+3. The bear claims 50% of the kills in our 4 person party.

Our paladin has a +1 longsword with flame tounge once a day. If he hits, its 1d8+5 damage. So how can we increase the paladin to match my Druids DPR?