Joining an adventure path at 8th lvl need some toon advice

[Derper]

So im thinking of rolling a druid for a certain unnamed AP, not naming it to try to go in blind as possible besides the players guide.

The party consists of:
a two handed weapon fighter
an alchemist
a cleric
a summoner
and a wizard

Im thinking of rolling a druid as it looks like all the major roles are covered pretty well.

Heres the hitch, I like the saurian shaman archtype but it seems that joining a game at 8th lvl there wouldnt be much benefit to that archtype and it would be better for me to go just normal druid.

Many of the players in this game will probably have above average characters as far as competency I'm assuming. I'm not trying to trick out this toon but if Im gonna fill a jack of all trade kind of role it seems like a bad idea to be going in gimped. Should I be looking at a different class or just go straight druid or am I blowing this out of proportion.

[Interzone]

The only thing you lose out on is wild shaping into non-dinosaurs...
Maybe start as a Something 1/Saurian Shaman 7 and take Shaping Focus to get full wild shaping? Of course then you wouldn't able to have both Shaping Focus and Natural Spell right away, maybe take one of them and get the other as soon as you hit 9.

Or just don't worry about it... and play what you want to!
After all, you will be able to use Allosaurus form right away, and still become any tiny to large animal that is not a dino, lots of options.

[blackbloodtroll]

What in god's name is a toon, other than a cartoon?

[Derper]

Lol, sorry its MMO lingo infecting rpgs, yes its short for cartoon.

[Adamantine Dragon]

If your party is tricked out and has roles covered, including summoning, you could try a completely unconventional druid instead of a plug in build.

I love my 8th level archer/lion shaman druid. She contributes to the party several ways, and her ranged effectiveness has been key in several fights where her bow has been the primary ranged attack. Plus it keeps her positioned where she can buff or control the battlefield at need. And if meat shields can help, she can summon cats in a standard action.

She's not going to blow anyone away in pure damage, but in terms of versatility, she's hard to beat.

[blackbloodtroll]

You can always build up a special or physical wall with a pump switch moveset.

[Derper]

what in god's name is a "special or physical wall with a pump switch moveset." :D seriously though, no clue what that is.

[Derper]

Adamantine: was your archer druid just a druid with feats to bump up her archery or did you multiclass?

[Adamantine Dragon]

My archer druid is an 8th level lion shaman druid with racial longbow proficiency. No multiclassing. She has the following feats:

Point blank shot
Precise shot
Rapid shot
Many shot

She has a +1 thundering bow with lesser bracers of archery and a belt of dexterity which boosts her base 16 dex to 18. For targets within 30 feet she does a full attack at +11/+11/+6 and each of her four arrows does 10 average damage if they hit.

She typically buffs herself with "aspect of the Falcon" to gain another +1 to hit and doubles her crit range. She has been known to double crit in a full round attack.

If she had any decent str (hers is 10) she would use a str adjusted compound bow for more damage.

I think you could improve on this starting from scratch. She sort of organically grew this way. Some folks think "deadly aim" is a better feat than "many shot." Heck, if you are human, maybe you could have both.

UPDATE: oh yeah, the one magic item she is lusting after now is the boots of speed to give her another arrow shot per full attack. Such awesomeness... ;-)