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I am in a new game and I am playing my first druid ever. I need help a strong build. I am not concerned with the strongest build possible, just help with making a totally playable druid. Here are my reqruirements:
1) 15 pt buy.
2) dwarf
3) must have animal companion, boar.
4) Party has Paladin, Ranger and Rog/Sorc
5) Rise of the Runelords is the campaign.
I will be splitting the healing with the Paladin and I want to be a shifter and summoner. I am looking to make a nice strong build.
Thanks for any help.
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Sounds like you'll be focusing on the spellcasting side of being a druid then.
I'd suggest you check this link out to get a handle on your druid needs.
Here's a link to Treantmaonk's guide to Druids. Note that it's in three parts and forces a decision between a Spell Casting focused Druid as opposed to a Brawler style Druid. That distinction is even more important with a 15 point buy (ouch).
Depending on how you envision your Druid, the feats, skills, and stat arrays with a 15 point buy are all there. I'm not familiar with Rise of the Runelords campaign. Do you start at first level? How far do the characters level up? That might influence your decisions as the Caster focused is weak out of the gate but can keep up at higher levels.
Here's the post where 256 comments weigh in on the Druid.
One thing worth point out about the Treantmonk guide is that he encourages you to give up your animal companion for the domain if you want to focus on casting (which it sounds like you'd hate). That being the case, his recommendation would be to focus on strength, and jumping into melee with your companion. Summoning would be a lesser concern with this approach (primarily b/c of your animal companion), and you'd still be able to heal out of combat if needed (you could always just pick up a wand).
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One thing worth point out about the Treantmonk guide is that he encourages you to give up your animal companion for the domain if you want to focus on casting (which it sounds like you'd hate). That being the case, his recommendation would be to focus on strength, and jumping into melee with your companion. Summoning would be a lesser concern with this approach (primarily b/c of your animal companion), and you'd still be able to heal out of combat if needed (you could always just pick up a wand).
Treatmonk's guide is great - I used it myself when I made my first druid for pfrpg. A couple of things to keep in mind, however.
1- Its never been updated to account for the Advanced Players Guide or any of the other recent books. There are a lot of options out there that Treatmonk hasn't covered.
2- The combat vs spellcasting division makes sense in many ways, but is really just an artificial distinction. I have had great success with spellcasting/combat hybrids. Various degrees of hybrids would be possible based on the point buy. for example, a casting heavy 15pt buy that can still fight might look like this (cast spells while boar fights)
str:14 (spend 5)
dex:12 (spend 2)
con:14 (spend 2, +2 race)
int:10
wis:17 (spend 7, +2 race)
chr:7 (spend -1, -2 race)
with a +2con, +2 wis, -2 chr you get some good points for free. If you really can't live with a 7 chr, leave it at 8, drop wisdom to 16 and raise your dex to a 13. You can do a lot with a character like this.
For your boar, you want to maximize damage with your one attack. You already get 1.5 x strength bonus in combat (only one attack), so power attack is the no brainer feat at level 2. For level one, dodge, lt armor proficiency, combat reflexes, or improved initiative are all solid choices. Put the boar's 4th level stat point in int, and then add cleave and vital strike at higher levels. Along with improved natural attack (to eventually get your gore to 2d6 + bonuses) the boar can hold his own in combat.
I hope this helped give you some good ideas.
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I would say you'd have to work pretty hard to screw up a druid build.
If you are going to be responsible for any healing, make sure to cast as many "goodberry" spells as you can before you head out so you have a nice bag full of healing berries. Also helps for rations since one berry is enough to keep you fed for a day. I'm not sure what level you are starting at, but I'm assuming it's higher than level 1 since you have a rogue/sorcerer in the party. For a few days at least you can provide healing without using any resources.
Here are some druid tactics I've used with my druid.
Entangle. Great spell. Especially if you have ranged combatants in your group. Entangle + Flaming sphere = awesomeness.
Be sure to have "stabilize" as one of your available level 0 spells.
Obscuring mist is a fantastic spell, both for allowing your party to make a getaway, and as a way for you to hide while casting full round summons spells.
If you are going to wade into melee, don't underestimate "shillelagh".
Summoning swarms can be very effective if you have the enemy bottled up. Entangle + swarm is another good combo. Again, I say, don't underestimate entangle.
As far as tactics are concerned, my druid is an archer druid so she alternates between summoning direct spell attacks and using her bow. She's not going to do as much damage with her bow as a ranger, but with her animal companion and some summoned animals on the job, her total damage is up there with anyone.
And, as if I haven't said it enough. Entangle + bow is also nice...