Druid Help....

[Raker_]

So we are about to start the Serpent's Skull Adventure Path and I would like to play a Druid but have never made one before it is a 20pt point buy. just looking for some build ideas. It is set in the jungle.

Thanks again.

[ShadowcatX]

What do you want to focus on, casting or melee combat? Either way, I'd recommend you go read treantmonk's guide to druids, then make your build and post it here, and we'll help you with it then.

[Tagion]

well a quick look found the jungle druid archtype as well as a few shaman ones as well as the jungle domian and animal domains.

What are you trying to do with the character.

[Adamantine Dragon]

Druids have several nice options. It really boils down to how you want to play the character.

Treantmonk's guides are excellent, but are a bit out of date.

[Raker_]

i want to focus on spell casting

[BigNorseWolf]

Does your party have a good tank? An animal companion can be good to any druid, even one that wants to stay in the back and cast Save or suck and Save Or Die's all day long.

[jjaamm]

loved my dino shaman. Lots of dino's to summon as standard action. +4 on wild empathy. wildshape not till 6th, but than lots of shapes to choose from.

[Adamantine Dragon]

what kind of spell casting?

Summoning?
Buffing?
Debuffing?
Damaging the enemy?
Controlling the battlefield?
All of the above?

[ShadowcatX]

Dwarf would be the optimal caster race. Decide if you want the animal companion or a domain. If a domain consider which. Again treantmonk's guide would be helpful. (Even though Treantmonk rates animal down, feather is quite good and can get you the animal companion back, though it'll be level 7 before you're able to get it to full power, other subdomains might be worth investigating as well).

I'd probably recommend:

Str 14
Dex 12
Con 16
Int 10
Wis 18
Chr 6

(Alternatively, dump charisma to 5, and raise int to 12.)

This allows you to do a bit of melee at early levels while still being a good caster.

[BltzKrg242]

I'm in the same situation and on the same path:
http://paizo.com/forums/dmtz582d?Druid-help

I disagree that Dwarf is optimal, Human bonus feat and skill are super handy. The Favored class skill point will be useful as well.

I went extra Domain:Fire for extra spell-casty goodness. At low levels, with a decent Wis you get a few d6 ranged touch attacks that don't require components which will come in handy.
Dragon or Dino Shaman allow the Fire domain and have some nice benefits if you don't want to be a shape-shifter for a while.

I'm considering a one level dip into cleric at 2nd to get some additional cure spells, channel Energy, and some additional d6 ranged touch attacks (weather and water) and a bonus obscuring mist.

The human feat can be put to scribing scrolls to cover those infrequently used situational spells and to have them handy.

[StreamOfTheSky]

I think Dwarf is the best race, Oread for melee druid. If you go for a domain, you could take Feather (Animal) and then get Boon Companion feat and in the long run effectively gain +1/2 level to perception and some (mostly) crappy bonus spells in return for a feat and having a much harder time at the early levels.

Otherwise, I like Fire Domain since its two subdomains, Ash and Smoke, have no conflictions with each other and could both be applied to it and are cool. (Saw a thread where people said no, but their reasoning seemed faulty)

Any Druid should be a Menhir Savant, but especially a more cster-focused one.

[ShadowcatX]

BltzKrg242 wrote:

I'm in the same situation and on the same path:

http://paizo.com/forums/dmtz582d?Druid-help

I disagree that Dwarf is optimal, Human bonus feat and skill are super handy. The Favored class skill point will be useful as well.

I went extra Domain:Fire for extra spell-casty goodness. At low levels, with a decent Wis you get a few d6 ranged touch attacks that don't require components which will come in handy.
Dragon or Dino Shaman allow the Fire domain and have some nice benefits if you don't want to be a shape-shifter for a while.

I'm considering a one level dip into cleric at 2nd to get some additional cure spells, channel Energy, and some additional d6 ranged touch attacks (weather and water) and a bonus obscuring mist.

The human feat can be put to scribing scrolls to cover those infrequently used situational spells and to have them handy.

Humans are always great, but a dwarf with the bonus to two primary stats for a caster druid and a penalty to a dump stat, as well as the always powerful bonus to saving throws probably edges out human here, especially since I didn't suggest dumping intelligence. (Note: A human who uses his favored class for a hit point, and a dwarf who uses his favored class for a skill point break even on the skill points and hit points, but the dwarf is +1 fortitude save, and that's not counting any of the dwarf's racial bonuses.)

As to feats of choice, scribe scroll is certainly a valid option. However, there's not a ton (or any) must have feats for a druid caster at low level. Improved Initiative is always nice and more hit points are always good, but they're definitely not must haves.

I would heavily recommend against multi-classing a spell caster build. Sure, channel energy is great at low levels, but it'll never be worth it once you're slightly higher level. I would also recommend against taking a domain just to get a 1d6 power a limited number of times a day, animal companion is much (MUCH) better than that.

And yes, menhir savant is AMAZING. I hadn't really looked at it. I would definitely recommend it for a caster druid. And yes Oread (or half-giant if you can use 3pp) for a melee druid.